EPS imports to Kazakhstan rise by 9% in Jan-Nov 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of expandable polystyrene (EPS) into Kazakhstan grew in the first eleven months of 2019 by 9% year on year, totalling 6,800 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

EPS imports into the country slumped by 33% in November 2019 from October 2019 to 537 tonnes. Imports of material to Kazakhstan were 564 tonnes in October 2018.

Russia and China were the main importing countries of EPS to Kazakhstan.

Thus, imports of Russian material to the Kazakh market fell in the first eleven months of 2019 by 18% year on year: from 5,700 tonnes in January-November 2018 to 4,700 tonnes. The share of EPS imports from Russia in the total shipments to the country slumped over the stated period to 69% from 91% a year earlier.

November 2019 shipments of Russian EPS into the country were 467 tonnes versus 609 tonnes in October 2019, whereas imports of material were 442 tonnes in November 2018.

At the same time, imports of Chinese material to Kazakhstan increased in January-November 2019 to 2,100 tonnes from 500 tonnes a year earlier. The share of Chinese companies in the overall EPS imports to the country grew sharply in the first eleven months of 2019 to 30% from 9% a year earlier.

November EPS shipments from China to Kazakhstan fell to 69 tonnes from 190 tonnes a month earlier, whereas imports of Chinese material were 103 tonnes in November 2018.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) to Kazakhstan decreased in the first eleven months of 2019 by 5% year on year to 8,700 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

This figure was at 9,200 tonnes in January-November 2018.

Imports of material to the country remained in November 2019 at the level of October, whereas November imports of this polystyrene (PS) grade almost doubled year on year: from 700 tonnes to 1,200 tonnes.

HIPS and GPPS are mainly shipped to Kazakhstan from Russia.

The share of the Russian Federation dropped by 13% year on year in the total imports in January-November 2019 to 74% (6,500 tonnes a year earlier).

November import of Russian material into the country decreased by 3% from October 2019 to 1,000 tonnes. In November 2018, HIPS and GPPS imports from Russia to Kazakhstan were 600 tonnes.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italy's Eni said Monday it has signed a new long-term contract for the purchase of 1.5 million mt/year of LNG from the Nigeria LNG (NLNG) project, less than a week after France's Total also agreed a new 1.5 million mt/year deal, reported S&P Global.

The LNG under both deals will be produced from the existing Trains 1, 2 and 3 of the NLNG facility at Bonny Island.
NLNG last year began remarketing LNG volumes from the first three trains as initial sales contracts with key buyers including Turkey's Botas and Portugal's Energia expire this year and next.

Eni already signed up for 1.1 million mt/year last December, while global trader Vitol also agreed late last year a 10-year deal for 0.5 million mt/year.

NLNG - a joint venture between state-owned NNPC (49%), Shell (25.6%), Total (15%) and Eni (10.4%) - currently has a production capacity of some 22.5 million mt/year, but plans to increase it to 30 million mt/year with the addition of a seventh train.

The shareholders in NNPC made the final investment decision for Train 7 in December last year.

Eni said the two deals with NLNG would allow it, from 2021, to "increase its global LNG portfolio and to support further the development of its presence in the main destination markets worldwide."

As MRC informed earlier, Italy’s Versalis (part of Eni) took its cracker in Dunkirk, France offline in early September, 2019, due to a fire which broke out at the company’s petrochemical plant. Local media sources also reported that the fire was brought under control with no reported injuries and the company was assessing the required repairs. The cracker has a production capacity of 380,000 tons/year of ethylene and 95,000 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 1,904,410 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.

ENI is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of EUR68 billion (USD 90 billion), as of August 14, 2013. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.
MRC

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