Saudi Aramco to win unconditional EU clearance for USD69 billion SABIC deal

MOSCOW (MRC) -- World No. 1 oil producer Saudi Aramco is set to gain unconditional EU antitrust approval for its USD69 billion buy of a 70% stake in petrochemicals group Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), reported Reuters with reference to people familiar with the matter.

Aramco announced the deal to acquire the controlling stake from sovereign investor Public Investment Fund (PIF) in March last year, a move key to its diversification into refining and petrochemicals.

Riyadh-headquartered SABIC, the world’s fourth largest petrochemicals group, has operations in over 50 countries.

The European Commission, which is scheduled to decide on the case by Feb. 27, declined to comment.

Competition watchdogs in India and a number of other countries have already given the green light without demanding concessions.

Aramco’s downstream expansion strategy tracks rivals such as Exxon Mobil, BP, Total and Shell, which have over the years transformed themselves from merely oil companies to energy companies with extensive upstream and downstream operations.

As MRC wrote earlier, in October 2019, McDermott International announced that it had been awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco and Total Raffinage Chimie (Total) for their joint venture (JV) Amiral steam cracker project at Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Amiral is a JV in which Aramco holds 62.5% and Total the rest. The plant, designed to produce 1.5 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) of ethylene, will be one of the world's largest mixed-feed crackers.

Aramco and Total launched their USD5-billion Amiral JV project in October 2018. The steam cracker will be fed with a mixture of 50% ethane and refinery off-gases. It will supply ethylene to a downstream 1 MMt/y polyethylene manufacturing complex and other petrochemical products. The project aims to fully exploit operational synergies with the adjacent refinery, owned by Satorp, another JV between Aramco and Total. Third-party investors, including Daelim and Ineos, will locate plants at the value park adjacent to Amiral with a combined investment of USD4 billion. A final investment decision is expected in 2021.

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).

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) -- U.S. shale oil output growth will slow to 600,000 to 700,000 barrels per day in 2020 and to 200,000 bpd in 2021, the chief executive of U.S. oilfield services giant Schlumberger said, as per Reuters.

Lower oil prices and investor demand for higher returns have forced U.S. shale producers to scale back investment and production growth plans.

"Next year it will be 200,000 barrels per day," Olivier Le Peuch told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Riyadh, adding that was his estimate for now.

Schlumberger has played a role in bringing fracking technology to Saudi Arabia, Le Peuch said, and will be involved in future development in the kingdom.

We remind that, as MRC informed earlier, in October 2019, McDermott International announced that it had been awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco and Total Raffinage Chimie (Total) for their joint venture (JV) Amiral steam cracker project at Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Amiral is a JV in which Aramco holds 62.5% and Total the rest. The plant, designed to produce 1.5 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) of ethylene, will be one of the world's largest mixed-feed crackers.

Aramco and Total launched their USD5-billion Amiral JV project in October 2018. The steam cracker will be fed with a mixture of 50% ethane and refinery off-gases. It will supply ethylene to a downstream 1 MMt/y polyethylene manufacturing complex and other petrochemical products. The project aims to fully exploit operational synergies with the adjacent refinery, owned by Satorp, another JV between Aramco and Total. Third-party investors, including Daelim and Ineos, will locate plants at the value park adjacent to Amiral with a combined investment of USD4 billion. A final investment decision is expected in 2021.

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).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Algeria has restarted the Sidi Rezine oil refinery in Algiers after modernization works that lift annual output to 3.645 million tons from 2.7 million tons a year ago, Hydrocarbonprocessing reported.

Fuel importer Algeria aims to start exporting gasoline next year and diesel in 2024 after upgrades to its refineries, state news agency APS said, quoting Sidi Rezine plant manager Hassen Boukhalfa.

Inaugurated by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad, the Sidi Rezine refinery was shut down in 2018 for modernization work by China Petrolum Engineering and Construction (CPECC).

Algeria currently produces about 30 million tons of refined products a year and imports large quantities to meet growing domestic demand.

OPEC member Algeria’s gasoline output reached 2.7 million tons in 2019, against total domestic consumption of 4 million tons, Boukhalfa said.

It aims to stop imports this year and begin exporting in 2021 after completion of the upgrades at other refineries.

The modernization plan will also help to increase diesel production, paving the way for first exports in 2024, Boukhalfa said.

As MRC informed earlier, Turkey and Algeria will jointly establish a petrochemicals plant in Adana on the Mediterranean coast, Algerian Energy Minister Mohammed Arkab told state-run Anadolu Agency. Turkey’s Ronesans Holding and Algeria’s state-owned energy company Sonatrach will take part in the project, Arkab said on the margins of the Turkey-Algeria Business Forum. The facility is planned in Seyhan industrial zone for petrochemical development and will have production capacity of 450,000 tons per year of polypropylene (PP). The construction of the plant will be completed in two years and the facility is expected to become operational in July 2022, Arkab said.Sonatarch will supply the planned plant with 540,000 tons per year of propane that will be used to produce polypropylene, he added.

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).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP has decided to leave three US trade groups because of material differences over climate policies, said Reuters.

BP said its view on carbon pricing and that of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) were “at odds and currently we have no areas of full alignment."

"BP will pursue opportunities to work with organisations who share our ambitious and progressive approach to the energy transition," Looney said in a statement.

It will also not renew its membership in the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and Western Energy Alliance (WEA).

"AFPM is and has been committed to supporting policies that address climate change,” said AFPM Chief Executive Chet Thompson. “Because of that, it leads us to assume that this decision was made based on factors other than our actual positions on the issues."

BP, one of the largest U.S. refiners and petrochemical producers and fuel retailers, will remain a member of the American Petroleum Institute, the country’s largest energy association.

That decision prompted criticism from Greenpeace U.K. climate campaigner Mel Evans, who said API was the lobby group that helped overturn U.S. methane restrictions.

BP has called for placing a price on carbon emissions in order to push out the most polluting fossil fuel production including coal and encourage investment in renewable energy.

Royal Dutch Shell and Total last year both said they would not renew their memberships in the AFPM.

Oil and gas companies are under pressure from investors and climate activists to meet the 2015 Paris climate goal of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.

As MRC informed earlier, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40 per cent this year, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check

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).

BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said that the country would resume exports of its oil to China in March 2020, reported Reuters.

The ministry did not disclose the amount of oil supplies.

As MRC informed before, in January 2020, Kazakhstan suspended its oil exports to China after organic chlorides contamination was found in crude supplied by a Kazakh producer less than a year after the "dirty oil" crisis in neighboring Russia.

We also remind that South Korea's LG Chem said in January 2016, it had decided to drop a plan to jointly build a USD4.2-billion petrochemical complex in Kazakhstan, citing a prolonged slump in oil prices and a sharp increase in facility investments. In 2011, the chemical company said it would construct the complex near the western Kazakh city of Atyrau as part of a 50-50 joint venture with two Kazakh companies. The plan involved building ethylene and polyethylene plants with annual capacities of 840,000 tonnes and 800,000 tonnes, respectively. The project was announced in 2013.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing 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).
MRC