Ukrainian PE imports down by 8% in Jan 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polyethylene (PE) into the Ukrainian market dropped in the first month of 2020 by 8% year on year to 19,400 tonnes. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Last month's PE imports into Ukraine fell to 19,400 tonnes from 21,100 tonnes in January 2019 and 20,300 tonnes in December 2019. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers decreased, with high density polyethylene (HDPE) being the exception and LLDPE accounting for the greatest cut. Overall PE imports into the country reached 268,700 tonnes in 2019.

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

Last month's HDPE imports rose to 7,800 tonnes from 7,000 tonnes in January 2019 and 7,400 tonnes in December 2019. Local companies significantly raised their purchasing of film grade PE. Overall HDPE imports exceeded 95,000 tonnes last year year.

January LDPE imports were slightly over 6,000 tonnes, compared to 6,100 tonnes and 5,800 tonnes in January and December 2019, respectively. Overall LDPE imports reached 79,700 tonnes last year.

Last month's LLDPE imports totalled 4,300 tonnes versus 6,600 tonnes in January 2019 and 6,000 tonnes in December 2019. Overall LLDPE imports grew to 81,500 tonnes in 2019.

Imports of other PE grades, including ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA), totalled 1,200 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 1,300 tonnes in January 2019 and 1,000 tonnes in December 2019.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MEGlobal has announced its Asian Contract Price (ACP) for monoethylene glycol (MEG) to be shipped in March 2020, according to the company's press release.

Thus, on 12 February the company said ACP for MEG will be USD680/MT CFR Asian main ports for arrival in March 2020, down by USD 60/MT from February.

The March 2020 ACP reflects the short term supply/demand situation in the Asian market.

As MRC reported earlier, MEGlobal announced its February ACP for MEG at USD740/MT CFR Asian main ports, up by USD20/tonne from January.

MEG is one of the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, supply of PET continued to exceed demand for it in the Russian domestic market. A possible increase in PET chips processing volumes before the preform season is expected in March.
Export prices in China fell and fixed at a lower level after the end of the holiday period in the country because of limited shipments and partial quarantine in ports. It is expected that the upward trend of the dollar against the rouble, on the one hand, and a decline in Chinese prices, on the other, will lead to a slight change in the contract prices of PET chips next month.

MEGlobal is a fully integrated supplier of monoethylene glycol (MEG) and diethylene glycol (DEG), collectively known as ethylene glycol (EG).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ascend Performance Materials (Houston, Texas) says it has recently finalized an agreement with the state of Alabama on economic incentives for a planned USD175 million adiponitrile expansion at Decatur, Alabama, according to Chemweek.

The agreement, which satisfies a condition stipulated by Ascend’s board of directors when it approved the project, allows the company to begin construction during the second quarter of 2020.

Ascend expects to complete the project in late 2021.

As MRC wrote previously, in May 2016, Ascend Performance Materials said it had put plans to build a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant on hold because of market conditions. The two-train project at Chocolate Bayou, TX, with a combined capacity of more than 1 million m.t./year of propylene, was expected to become the largest such facility in the United States and cost an estimated USD1.2 billion. It has already been delayed once from the original onstream date of 2016 to mid-2019. Ascend is expected to use the UOP Oleflex PDH technology.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

Ascend Performance Materials is a global leader in the production of Nylon 6,6.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatargas has signed an agreement with Shell to deliver 1 million mt/year of LNG to Kuwait for 15 years, starting this year, reported S&P Global.

The LNG will come from Qatar Liquefied Gas Co. 4, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum (70%) and Shell (30%), Qatargas said Sunday in a statement.

The new agreement comes a month after Qatar Petroleum agreed to supply Kuwait Petroleum Corp. with up to 3 million mt/year of LNG over 15 years starting in 2022, as Kuwait seeks to rely more on gas for power generation.

"These agreements demonstrate our commitment to the state of Kuwait, which is a very important LNG market," Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Qatar's energy minister, said in the Qatargas statement.

Kuwait began importing LNG in 2009, in an attempt to lower reliance on crude to produce electricity and water. In 2017, it signed a 15-year LNG agreement with Shell for supplies to start this year.

Kuwait is set to bring online 4.5 GW of new gas-fired power plants in the next few years and, combining that with industrial demand growth, Kuwait's gas demand is expected to peak above 80 million cubic meters/day by 2025, or 27% higher than last year, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

"Qatar and Shell have historically been the largest suppliers of LNG to Kuwait, and the slew of deals we have had in the last month show how they are angling to maintain that dominance," according to Samer Mosis, senior LNG analyst at Platts Analytics. "For Qatar, pressure to sign new offtake agreements is increasingly dire, with over 20 million mt/year of existing deals expiring within the next five years, and that is before we take into consideration Qatargas's massive expansion plans, none of which are contracted for yet."

Qatar and Australia are vying to be the world's largest LNG exporter, with Australia No. 1 in January and Qatar largest last year for every month except July, according to Mosis. Qatar plans to boost its production capacity to 126 million mt/year by 2027, from the current 77 million mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2019, Mammoet safely completed a critical lift at Shell’s Pennsylvania Chemicals Project in Potter Township, utilizing its MSG80 to hoist a 2,000 ton quench tower into position. The facility is the first major US project of its kind to be built outside of the Gulf Coast region in 20 years. Once operational, the facility will boast an ethane cracker and three polyethylene units, and is expected to employ up to 600 employees.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Restarting Exxon Mobil Corp’s 502,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery after an early morning fire will depend on how quickly natural gas supply can be restored to the crude distillation units (CDUs), reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The fire broke out in a natural gas pipeline supplying the units before midnight on Tuesday, the sources said. The fire was put out on Wednesday morning, the company said. No injuries were reported.

Exxon had made preliminary plans to restart the Baton Rouge refinery’s large CDU, the 210,000 bpd PSLA-10, before the fire was extinguished, the sources said. The unit cannot be restarted until the natural gas supply is restored.

Most of the refinery’s units, including the three CDUs, were shut early on Wednesday, the sources said.

Exxon spokesman Jeremy Eikenberry declined on Wednesday to discuss the status of units at the refinery. He did say operations were continuing at the refinery and adjoining chemical plant.

Eikenberry also said Exxon would continue to meet its contractual commitments.

The 210,000-bpd PSLA-10 CDU is the largest of three at the refinery doing the primary conversion of crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstock for all other production units. The natural gas is used to operate the units as they breakdown crude oil.

One of the two 110,000-bpd gasoline producing fluidic catalytic cracking units (FCCUs) continues to operate at a minimal production level while one of the light ends units is also operating at minimum rates, the sources said.

The Baton Rouge refinery is the second-largest in Louisiana and the fifth-largest in the United States by capacity. It is Exxon’s second-largest refinery in the nation.

The company also operates a cracker at this site with the annual production capacity of 1 mln tonnes of ethylene и 575,000 tonnes of propylene, which was shut for maintenance on 11 February 2019 to mid-Apirl 2019.

As MRC informed before, in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

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