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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eni is seeing an uptick
in fuel demand in Italy from lows during March when the country's lockdown hit
pump sales by up to 80%, reported S&P
Global with reference to Eni's CEO Claudio Descalzi's statement
Friday.
In March, Eni saw its fuel sales reduced on average by 70-80%
from normal levels, with gasoline sales hit more sharply than diesel consumption
as many delivery trucks were still operating, Descazli told a quarterly earnings
call.
"The good news is that is improving, by some percentage points, but
it's improving," he said referring to Eni's transport fuel
consumption.
"We think, by the end of May, the critical phase is finished
and we will start gradually to recover the consumption and go to a possible
normal situation by the end of the year."
The Italian government locked
down the country - one of the world's hardest-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic -- in
early March but is expected to start easing restrictions in the coming weeks
after the number of people confirmed as infected recently
peaked.
Reporting Q1 earnings Friday, Eni said its retail fuel sales in
Italy totaled 1.12 million mt, down by 19% year-on-year, with a notable fall in
motorway fuel sales and consumption declining from February.
As MRC informed before,
Italy's Eni on Friday lowered its production guidance for 2020 and announced at
least a 30% cut in planned capex for 2020 and 2021, in response to the collapse
in oil prices and the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The
Rome-based major said it expects oil and production to average between 1.75
million–1.80 million b/d of oil equivalent in 2020, down from initial forecasts
of around 1.9 million boe/d for the year.
Eni said it will also cut Eur2.3
billion from 2020 capex, 30% lower than the initial targets, and anticipates
further reductions of 30%-35% lower than original plans in 2021.
Eni said
in early April that most of its oil refineries in Italy were working at around
60% of their capacity as the coronavirus emergency continues. The pandemic has
shut down large parts of economies across the globe and prompted many
governments to slap tough restrictions on travel, triggering a steep fall in the
demand for refined oil products. In emailed comments, Eni said its biggest
refinery Sannazzaro, in northern Italy, was running at around 50% of its
capacity since it was also impacted by planned maintenance work.
Earlier,
in mid-March, the company said all its refineries in
At the same time,
operations at Italian petrochemical producer Versalis (part of Eni) have not affected by
emergency quarantine measures in the country at that period. Italian Prime
Minister Giuseppe Conte extended its emergency coronavirus measures in mid-March
and announced the closure of "non-essential" commercial businesses. This follows
the earlier announcement of a nationwide lockdown, limiting movement for around
60 million people. Under these measures people werel only allowed to leave their
homes for work or health reasons. Versalis has three steam crackers in Italy,
capable of producing 1.675 million mt of ethylene, 750,000 of propylene and
285,000 mt of butadiene a year.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for
producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month
of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low
density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity
utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian
market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year.
Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports. |
