MOSCOW (MRC) -- Since Saras launched its very low-sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) blend in early September its sales have topped 120,000 tons, reported Reuters with reference to an executive at the Italian refiner.
VLSFO is the name given to a range of new fuel blends that refiners have created to comply with International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules which kicked off at the start of the year limiting sulfur content in shipping fuel to 0.5%.
"Saras’ flexible and complex refinery configuration allows cost effective VLSFO production," Massimo Vacca, planning, benchmarking and sustainability manager for Saras told reporters.
"We are very pleased with this new product," he added.
Saras is targeting 550,000 tonnes of VLSFO and 180,000 tonnes of marine gasoil (MGO) in annual sales, according to company figures.
Profit margins for VLSFO have surprised market participants on the upside, and prices have even traded at parity with the usually more expensive MGO at some ports.
Saras is able to produce a 380-cst specification and has so far received "very positive feedback from its clients and no complaints concerning the stability of its VLSFO," Vacca said.
Saras operates the 300,000 barrel per day Sarroch refinery in Sardinia.
As MRC informed before, in early 2017, Rosneft JV Projects S.A. (Luxembourg), an indirect subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Company, announced the agreement to sell to institutional investors 114,120,000 ordinary shares in Saras S.p.A., representing 12% of the total share capital in Saras S.p.A., at a price of EUR 1.53 per share through an accelerated bookbuilding.
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