Petro Rabigh names new chairman

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co.’s (Petro Rabigh) board of directors accepted on Wednesday the resignation of chairman Abdulaziz Al Gudaimi, effective as of Feb. 1, according to Agraam.

Petro Rabigh, the 50:50 joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, clarified in a bourse filing that the resignation was submitted on Jan. 19 for personal reasons.

Ibrahim bin Qassim Al Buainain will be appointed as the new chairman. Al Buainain holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and 2 masters’ degrees in business administration and innovation and leadership.

In 1989, Al Buainain joined the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) as operation engineer in Ras Tanura Refinery, then held several positions at the same company. He has more than 26 years of experience in the oil and gas field.

The board’s decision will be submitted to the upcoming general assembly meeting for approval, the statement added.

As MRC wrote previously, Petro Rabigh completed all construction works for capacity expansion at its ethane cracker in late March 2016, after which the cracker's capacity rose to 1.6 million mt/year from 1.3 million mt/year. The expanded cracker began production in late April, 2016.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.

PetroRabigh, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, has an annual output capacity of 18 million tonnes of refined products and 2.4 million tonnes of petrochemicals. Thus, the complex currently has a cracker to produce 1.6-million t/y of ethylene, as well as downstream production of polyethylene, polypropylene, propylene oxide, ethylene glycol and butene-1.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA said its financial debt fell less than 0.1% in 2019 from the prior year to some USD34.5 billion, though it remained in default on its bonds as sanctions freeze it out of the global banking system, said Reuters.

PDVSA, which is short for Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., has stopped paying interest on most its bonds, and together with Venezuela’s government has accumulated billions of dollars in late interest payments.

The company’s announcement, in the form of an advisory in a local newspaper last week, said it owed almost USD25.2 billion to bondholders, up slightly from USD24.7 billion at the end of 2018.

PDVSA said its commercial debts with foreign joint venture partners, including Chevron Corp and China National Petroleum Corp, dipped to USD2.65 billion by the end of 2019, down from USD2.66 billion at the end of the prior year.

The company, which has not published a complete annual report since 2017, did not detail other obligations, such as pending debt to providers, an issue that has contributed to declining output in recent years.

PDVSA defaulted on some of its bonds in 2017 and on the rest of its bonds in 2019. It is in default on USD6 billion in interest and principle.

Venezuela reported to OPEC an average crude production of about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019, its lowest level in almost 75 years amid sanctions imposed by the United States to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro, lack of investment capital and staff, and mismanagement.

As MRC informed before, in May 2019, Curacao’s state-owned Isla oil refinery received an exemption from US sanctions on PDVSA, the Caribbean island’s government said in a statement. The US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on PDVSA in late January in a bid to force out socialist President Nicolas Maduro, who has overseen a collapse in the OPEC member nation’s economy. The license for the refinery, along with two other related companies, will allow the facility to continue to do business with US companies through Jan. 15, 2020.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil has increased its estimated recoverable resource base in Guyana to more than 8 billion oil equivalent barrels and made a further oil discovery northeast of the producing Liza field at the Uaru exploration well, the 16th discovery on the Stabroek Block, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new recoverable resource estimate includes 15 discoveries offshore Guyana through year-end 2019. The Uaru discovery is the first of 2020 and will be added to the resource estimate at a later date.

"With recent high-quality finds at Tripletail and Mako contributing to our recoverable resources, our investments will continue to provide benefits for the people of Guyana,” said Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures at ExxonMobil. “The Uaru discovery is another positive step as we begin a new decade with the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and our co-venturers."

Uaru encountered approximately 94 feet (29 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoir. The well, drilled in 6,342 feet (1,933 meters) of water, is located approximately 10 miles (16 kilometers) northeast of the Liza field, which began producing oil in December 2019.

Production from the Liza Phase 1 development is currently ramping up and will produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day in the coming months, utilizing the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).

The Liza Unity FPSO, which will be employed for the second phase of Liza development and will have a production capacity of 220,000 barrels of oil per day, is under construction and expected to start production by mid-2022.

Pending government approvals and project sanctioning of a third development, production from the Payara field north of the Liza discoveries could start as early as 2023, reaching an estimated 220,000 barrels of oil per day.

Four drillships in Guyana continue to explore and appraise new resources as well as develop the resources within approved projects. A fifth drillship is expected to be deployed later this year.

The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers). ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45 percent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Limited, holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds 25 percent interest.

As MRC informed earlier, ExxonMobil resumed PE production at its site in Notre Dame de Gravenchon, France after a temporary shutdown due to commercial reasons. Thus, this plant wa taken off-stream at the end of the 2nd week of December 2019.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), following up on the release disclosed on 12/20/2019, informs the beginning of the non-binding phase related to the sale of all shares of BSBios Industria e Comercio de Biodiesel Sul Brasil S/A (BSBios) by its wholly-owned subsidiary Petrobras Biocombustiveis S.A. (PBio), as per Bnamericas.

Potential buyers qualified for this phase will receive a descriptive memorandum with more detailed information about the aforementioned company, as well as instructions on the divestment process, including guidelines for preparing and submitting non-binding proposals.

This disclosure is in accordance with the guidelines for the divestiture of Petrobras and PBio and with the special regime for the divestiture of assets by federal mixed-capital companies, provided for in Decree 9,188/2017.

This transaction is in line with the portfolio optimization and the improvement of the company's capital allocation, aiming at maximizing value for our shareholders.

PBio holds a 50% stake in BSBios and will sell it together with its partner, RP Biocombustiveis SA, which owns the remaining 50%, through a competitive process carried out exclusively by PBio.

As MRC informed before, the chief executive of Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro said in early December 2019 he wants to sell the company's stake in petrochemical company Braskem within 12 months, adding that he strongly disagreed with reported plans to delay the sale.

We also remind that Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia. And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker. The project, announced in 2013, had been on Braskem's back burner for several years.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant is reviving the sale of its pigments unit, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, which may fetch up to 900 million Swiss francs (USD927.7 million) as the Swiss chemicals maker slims down after failing to combine with peers, said Reuters.

Deutsche Bank, mandated by Clariant to find a buyer, will launch the auction next month, one of the sources said. Information memorandums are going to private equity groups such as Cinven, Bain, Triton, Ardian and SK Capital in the first quarter, several people said.

Clariant’s pigments business, which makes dyes including for the car and building industries, may be valued at 800-900 million francs, or around 8 times core earnings.

The auction was initially slated for a year ago, but Clariant put it on a back burner after rival BASF put a similar business on the block, then sold it to Japanese printing ink maker DIC Corp (4631.T).

While BASF’s unit was sold at a valuation of 9-10 times core earnings, Clariant’s more-commoditised business may fetch less amid a tough economic climate, one of the sources said.

Analysts from Vontobel this month suggested Clariant’s pigments unit could fetch 900 million francs, bringing the total haul from disposals to at least 2.8 billion francs.

Slimming down could have its price in independence, they added. "Clariant is a very attractive takeover target after the disposals in 2020," Vontobel said.

Clariant declined to comment on the auction’s time frame or valuation. The Muttenz, Switzerland-based company is also seeking a new CEO after the last one bolted in August following a difference of opinion with Chairman Hariolf Kottmann, who is now running Clariant on an interim basis.

Clariant’s failed merger with Huntsman (HUN.N), in the face of activist investor resistance, and the joint venture it abandoned in August with Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) have led to asset sales beyond what the Swiss company originally envisioned.

Clariant is concentrating on its faster-growing segments including catalysts, ingredients for shampoos, and chemicals for the oil and gas industries, while unloading commoditised operations.

As MRC informed earlier, Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland) agreed to sell its entire Masterbatches business to PolyOne Corp. (Avon Lake, Ohio). The transaction values the Masterbatches business at USD1,560 million, representing about 12.2 times the last twelve months reported EBITDA (ending September 2019) on a cash and debt free basis. This amount is payable at closing, which is expected by Q3 2020.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
MRC