Europe gasoline exports to Mideast surge after Saudi attacks

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gasoline exports from Europe to the Middle East and Asia are set to surge this week after recent attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities crippled output at the kingdom's refineries, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Over 400,000 tonnes of gasoline and gasoline blending components have been booked in the past week for loading between Sept. 21 and Sept 26 out of northwest Europe with Mideast Gulf delivery options, shipping data shows. The flow is the equivalent of around 500,000 barrels per day.

It is unclear where the cargoes will end up, but traders said that Saudi Arabia's state-run oil company Aramco is seeking to buy large volumes of refined oil products.

Europe's exports of gasoline and blending components to Saudi Arabia averaged 60,000 bpd in the first five months of the year, according to data analytics firm Vortexa.

"A flurry of gasoline bookings that emerged this week for Europe to Middle East voyages could see more European gasoline make its way to Saudi Arabia," Vortexa said in a note.

Traders said the rise in shipping bookings was related to a sharp increase in demand following attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure on Sept. 14, which knocked out around 1 million bpd of Saudi Arabia's refining capacity.

As it was written earlier, gasoline exports from Europe to the U.S. East Coast rose sharply in early July after a fire at a major refinery in Philadelphia left a supply shortage in the densely populated region/
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian Oil Corp is likely to restart operation at its naphtha cracker, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India, informed that, the company has planned to complete turnaround in early-October, 2019. The cracker was shut in early-September, 2019 for a maintenance turnaround.

Located in Panipat, in the northern Indian state of Haryana, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 857,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 425,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported before, Indian Oil witnessed a massive blast in its refinery at Panipat, Haryana. A domestic source informed then that the blast took place in the naphtha cracker of the refinery in the afternoon, on 22 January 2018. One contractual employee of IOCL was reportedly killed in the accident while 5 others were injured.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, has introduced new members of its NAS family of SMMA (styrene methyl methacrylate) materials, as per the company's press release.

NAS transparent copolymers are a premium choice for applications demanding a strong, stiff, water-clear plastic.

NAS XC and NAS XC® UV are the latest additions to INEOS Styrolution’s NAS portfolio, "XC" standing for "Xtra Clear" and "XC UV" standing for "Xtra Clear with enhanced UV stability". The material is designed for applications in need of ultra clarity and very low haze.

Electronics is considered to be the focus industry for NAS XC. Applications like light guide panels (used in TVs, computers, phones, tablets, laptops and other mobile devices) will benefit tremendously from the product properties.

NAS XC UV provides enhanced UV and high UV colour stability making it an ideal material for exterior and interior applications in the Automotive industry. It may also be used as a co-extruded layer on a different material making it a suitable material for a broad range of household and construction applications, including e.g. shower trays.
James Wang, Regional Industry Lead APAC - Electronics & Household, welcomes the new material: "With the Electronics industry having a production stronghold in Asia, I expect the new NAS XC to play an important role in this region."

The INEOS Styrolution family of NAS materials includes NAS 21 (general purpose blending with SBCs), NAS 30 (best colour, clarity, luster and chemical resistance) and NAS 90 (tougher, blending with SBCs).

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in February 2019, INEOS Styrolution made its first production move into China with the acquisition of two 200,000-tonne polystyrene (PS) facilities from Total S.A.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 39,130 tonnes in July 2019, down by 1% year on year (39,600 tonnes in 2018). Consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 287,370 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 2% year on year.

INEOS Styrolution is the leading, global styrenics supplier with a focus on styrene monomer, polystyrene, ABS Standard and styrenic specialties. With world-class production facilities and more than 85 years of experience, INEOS Styrolution helps its customers succeed by offering the best possible solution, designed to give them a competitive edge in their markets. The company provides styrenic applications for many everyday products across a broad range of industries, including Automotive, Electronics, Household, Construction, Healthcare, Packaging and Toys/Sports/ Leisure. In 2018, sales were at EUR5.4 billion. INEOS Styrolution employs approximately 3,500 people and operates 20 production sites in ten countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh discussed cybersecurity and production bottlenecks during a visit to a major refinery and petrochemical plants on Iran’s Gulf coast, the official news agency IRNA reported, as per Reuters.

"Investigating the refinery’s civil defense situation and related topics is among the goals ... of the oil minister’s one-day trip to Bandar Abbas," IRNA reported.

Iran’s civil defense body is in charge of issues including cybersecurity.

IRNA said Zanganeh inspected several petrochemical plants and the 350,000-barrels per day Persian Gulf Star refinery, which helped Iran declare self-sufficiency in gasoline after the inauguration of its third phase in February.

In 2016, Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran’s civil defense, said Tehran had detected malicious software from two of its petrochemical complexes, but added that this was not linked to petrochemical fires.

Iran has long been on alert over the threat of cyber attacks by foreign countries. The United States and Israel covertly sabotaged Iran’s nuclear program in 2009 and 2010 with the now-famous Stuxnet computer virus, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges that were enriching uranium.

As per MRC DataScope, at present, Iran is the third largest country supplying polystyrene (PS) to Russia after Belgium and South Korea. Thus, the share of Iranian material was 14% in January-August 2019, whereas that of Belgium was 37% and of South Korean - 22%. Shipments of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) from Iran to Russia increased in August almost by four times from the previous month, totalling 920 tonnes versus 240 tonnes in July.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PetroChina Dushanzi Petrohemicals, an affiliate of the Chinese petrochemical giant PetroChina, has brought on-stream its Polystyrene (PS) plant in Xinjiang, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China, informed that, the company has resumed operations at the plant on September 20, 2019. The plant remained under maintenance for about two months.

Located in Xinjiang province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 130,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, PetroChina Lanzhou Petrochemical, another subsidiary of PetroChna, conducted an unscheduled maintenance at its PP plant in China from end-April to mid-June. Located at Gansu province in China, the PP unit has a production capacity of 110,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

PetroChina Company Limited, is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer.
MRC