Saudi Aramco shares debuts 10% higher in local trade; values firm at USD1.88 trillion

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco's shares traded at Riyals 35.2 (USD9.39) at its debut on the local stock exchange, 10% higher than its initial public offer of Riyals 32, valuing the company at USD1.88 trillion following an IPO for a 1.5% stake in the world's biggest oil producer and most profitable company, reported S&P Global.

Aramco shares are trading under the symbol 2222, according to the local stock exchange known as Tadawul. The IPO valued the company at USD1.7 trillion.

The shares will be capped at a 10% plus or minus daily price fluctuation limit.

Aramco's USD25.6 billion IPO, which is the biggest after Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's USD25 billion sale in 2014, is a cornerstone of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 aimed at weaning the kingdom off its oil income.

Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman had initially said the company could be valued at USD2 trillion, with a stake sale of up to 5%.

However, lukewarm international investor interest in the IPO prompted the Saudi government to postpone the IPO that was slated to take place in 2018 and make it a local listing rather than an international and domestic flotation as was first touted by the crown prince.

As MRC informed before, Saudi Aramco, which temporarily lost half of its oil production following the September 14 attacks on two key oil facilities, is running its local refineries at full capacity and is forging ahead with plans to start up new refineries. The company is also starting up a joint venture refinery in Malaysia next year. According to Aramco's bond prospectus released in April, the refining and petrochemical joint venture with Petronas - the Malaysian national oil company - collectively known as PRefChem, was supposed to start this year.

The PRefChem joint venture includes a 300,000 b/d refinery, an integrated steam cracker with capacity to produce 1.3 million mt of ethylene located in Johor, Malaysia. Aramco was supposed to provide a significant portion of PRefChem's crude supply under a long-term supply agreement. Jazan and PrefChem will help Aramco reach a gross refining capacity of 5.6 million b/d, it said in the prospectus. The company currently owns and has stakes in four refineries abroad with a total refining capacity exceeding 2 million b/d.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of polyethylene (DPE) into Russia grew in January-November 2019 by 17% year on year to 667 ,000 tonnes.
The greatest increase in supply occurred for high density polyethylene (HDPE), according to MRC DataScope.

November imports of polyethylene grew to 64,300 tonnes against 56,640 tonnes a month earlier; the volume of HDPE purchases and linear polyethylene (LLDPE) increased. The total volume of imports of ethylene polymers reached 667,000 tonnes over the eleven months of this year compared to 567,700 tonnes a year earlier, imports of HDPE and LDPE increased, and imports of other grades of ethylene polymers decreased in external supplies.

The structure of PE production by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

November HDPE imports rose to 30,200 tonnes from 28,200 tonnes a month earlier, shipments from the USA increased significantly. Overall PE imports in the country grew to 325,200 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 42% year on year. The largest increase in HDPE supplies accounted in the pipe and film segments of consumption.

Last month, linear polyethylene imports rose to 15,700 tonnes compared to 11,100 tonnes in October, and supplies of North American polyethylene almost doubled. Total imports of LLDPE in the country exceeded 156,900 tonnes in Jan-November 2019, up 6% year on year.

November LDPE imports increased to 11,000 tonnes from 10,200 tonnes a month earlier. The total volume of LDPE imports exceeded 99,600 tonnes in the eleven months of this year, up 22year on year, the main increase in supplies accounted for film polyethylene.

Last month's imports of other ethylene polymers were 7,500 tonnes, compared to 7,100 tonnes in October. The overall imports of other ethylene polymers exceeded 85,200 tonnes over the stated period versus 90,400 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Plastic and metal packaging firm Hoffmann Neopac has acquired Netherlands-based CM Packaging, said Packaging-gateway.

Following the acquisition, Hoffmann plans to integrate the two companies into a single entity by 1 January 2020.

The companies have not disclosed the financial details of the deal. Hoffmann Neopac CEO Mark Aegler said: “The team at CM Packaging has been a tremendous partner through the years, and with them joining the Hoffmann Neopac family we now have a production site in the EU in the metal sector and can also successfully implement our internationalisation in this area.

"In the tube business, we have been doing this for several years and now produce high-quality tubes in Switzerland, Hungary, India and the USA."

Hoffmann Neopac has also announced an infrastructure investment. The company will build a three-piece can-making line at CM Packaging’s facility in Dronten, the Netherlands.

The investment is expected to meet the demands for the growing infant food sector by expanding capacity. Hoffmann Neopac former CTO Andreas Geiger will serve as managing director of the Metal Packaging division.

Hoffmann Neopac Tins sales head Tomas Pivko will lead the sales team. The three owners of CM Packaging will remain part of the company.

CM Packaging Sales and Marketing director Herbert van de Beek said: “The acquisition of CM Packaging by Hoffmann Neopac will combine the clear strengths of both companies and improve our position in an increasingly challenging market.

As MRC informed earlier, INEOS Styrolution has partnered with post-consumer plastics recycling company Agilyx to build a polystyrene (PS) chemical recycling facility in Channahon, Illinois.

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, Ineos Styrolution"s general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) imports into Russia increased in the first ten months of 2019 by 2 times year on year to 10,600 tonnes. This figure was 4,900 tonnes in January-October 2018. Ineos Styrolution is the largest GPPS supplier to Russia. European material accounted for 45% of the total GPPS shipments over the stated period versus 30% in the first ten months of 2018. However, October Styrolution"s GPPS shipments to the Russian market decreased by more than 2 times to 700 tonnes from 1,500 tonnes a month earlier, the company"s imports into the country were 700 tonnes in October 2018.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s crude oil imports hit a record high on a daily basis in November, as refiners operated at high run rates to use up annual import quotas, reported Reuters.

The world’s top oil buyer imported 45.74 million tonnes of crude, equivalent to 11.13 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Sunday.

That compared with 10.72 million bpd in October and 9.61 million bpd in November last year.

For the first 11 months of 2019, China brought in a total of 461.88 million tonnes, or 10.09 million bpd, up 10.4% from the same period last year, the data showed.

As the year draws to a close, private refineries, known as teapot refiners, are ramping up output to use up their crude import quotas for the year in order to be able to apply for more quotas next year.

State-backed oil refiners, meanwhile, have maintained stable throughput levels.

Looking ahead, Sinopec’s Maoming refining plant has scheduled an overhaul in December, but two mega-refineries - Zhejiang Petrochemicals and Sinopec’s Zhanjiang refinery - are expected to start purchasing more crude in December to prepare for a ramp-up in their operations.

Customs data showed that China sold 7.31 million tonnes of refined oil products overseas in November, up 63.5% from a year earlier.

Exports for the first 11 months were 60.22 million tonnes, up 14.2% from the same period last year.

Total natural gas imports, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline, in November rose 3.3% from the same period last year to 9.45 million tonnes, customs data showed.

In the period of January-November, natural gas imports reached 87.11 million tonnes, up 7.4% from same period last year.

On Monday, Russia started to transport pipeline gas from Siberia to northeastern China.

As MRC informed before, Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd (ZPC) started up its No. 1 cracker in Zhoushan, China last month, though it is reported that the company is still working to stabilize the operation rate. The cracker has an annual capacity of 1.4 million tons/year of ethylene and 900,000 tons/year of propylene.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ford is looking to partner with McDonald's to recycle coffee chaff, the husk of coffee beans that peels off during roasting, said Businessinsider.

"By heating the chaff to high temperatures under low oxygen, mixing it with plastic and other additives and turning it into pellets, the material can be formed into various shapes," Ford told The Verge.

To start with, the chaff will be recycled and molded into headlamp housings for Ford products, which will produce lighter components and, in turn, improve the cars' efficiency. Both companies want to carry on collaborating with one another for a more sustainable future.

It might sound ambitious but, at Ford, the idea of using coffee to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars is no laughing matter.

The American car manufacturer is planning to partner with McDonald's to recycle coffee chaff — the husk of coffee beans that peels off during roasting — and mold the residue into headlamp housings.

"By heating the chaff to high temperatures under low oxygen, mixing it with plastic and other additives and turning it into pellets, the material can be formed into various shapes," the manufacturer told The Verge.

Once heated, mixed with other components, and converted to bioplastic, the residue will allow car manufacturers in producing components that are 20% lighter.

Though the weight reduction might not seem significant, it will improve the energy efficiency of vehicles and in turn reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Ford's interest in recycled materials isn't actually anything new; founder Henry Ford, was already using soybean-based products by the early 1940s.

Since 2011, soy foam has also been used by the company in manufacturing some of its products' interiors.

Though electric vehicle sales continue to grow across the globe, a Greenpeace report indicates that the automotive industry's global carbon footprint still contributed to 9% of the world's CO2 emissions in 2018.
MRC