COVID-19 - News digest as of 30.04.2020

1. Brenntag to hold virtual shareholders meeting

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brenntag, the global market leader in chemical distribution, says that its annual shareholders' meeting will take place as planned on 10 June. But, due to the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the meeting will be held as a purely virtual event, without the physical presence of shareholders, according to Chemweek. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to protect the health of shareholders, employees, and the service providers involved, this year's shareholders’ meeting cannot take place as planned in Essen, Germany, says Brenntag.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant Chemicals India Limited announced that it has restarted operations at its production facilities in the country, following the partial relaxations from COVID - 19 related Nationwide Lockdown by Government of India, according to Kemicalinfo.

Clariant’s production facilities situated in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are back in partial operation with limited capacity and will continue with partial operations till complete relaxations are granted.

The company in its stock exchange statement said, "Pursuant to the partial relaxations from Nationwide Lockdown granted by Central Government and advisories issued by State Governments in order to prevent and tackle the spread of COVID - 19, the Companys manufacturing units/factories situated in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are back in partial operation with limited capacity."

"This partial operation will continue till complete relaxations are granted in this regard. The Company will continue to closely monitor the situation and take appropriate action as per regulatory guidance. The Company shall keep all the stakeholders informed about further update(s) through Stock Exchanges."

As MRC reported earlier, in early March 2020, Sabic announced that it has purchased additional shares in Clariant, increasing its holding in the company from 24.99% to 31.5%.

We remind that SABIC Europe, an affiliate of SABIC, conducted a maintenance work at its cracker No.3 at Geleen site in the Netherlands last autumn. The planned maintenance started in September and lasted around 2 months. The company operates two steam crackers in Geleen which are capable of producing 1,250,000 tons/year of ethylene and 675,000 tons/year of propylene in total.

Earlier last year, SABIC took off-stream its SABIC Olefins 4 cracker owing to technical issues on May 10, 2019. Further details on duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in beek, the Netherlands, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 690,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 360,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF said Thursday it will not be able to meet full-year sales and earnings guidance issued on 28 February and withdrew its outlook in advance of its first-quarter earnings report on Friday, reported Chemweek.

"It is currently impossible to reliably estimate both the length and the further spread of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as future measures to contain it," BASF said. "Consequently, concrete statements on the future development of sales and earnings cannot be made at present."

BASF has previously forecast 2020 revenues of EUR60–EUR63 billion, up 3.7% year-on-year (YOY), and EBIT before special items of EUR4.2–EUR4.8 billion, essentially flat with 2019 results. BASF's underlying assumptions for the economy at the time were global GDP growth of 2% and chemical production growth of 1.2%. IHS Markit's current forecast calls for a 3% decrease in global GDP this year.

BASF also announced yesterday that it would leave its dividend for the 2019 business year unchanged. The company’s board today proposed a dividend of EUR3.30/share for approval at the annual shareholders meeting of BASF SE, which will be held 18 June.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF has restarted its No. 1 steam cracker following a maintenance turnaorund. Thus, the company resumed operations at the plant on September 30, 2019. The plant was shut for maintenance in mid-August, 2019. Located at Ludwigshafen in Germany, the No. 1 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 235,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 125,000 mt/year.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing 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.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF generated sales of around EUR63 billion in 2018.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarusian refineries received 2 million tons of oil in April, of which 1.56 million tonnes came from Russia, a spokesman for state energy group Belneftekhim told reporters, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Belarus, which had a dispute with Russia over oil prices earlier this year, plans to reduce its Russian oil imports to 1.13 million tons in May, the spokesman said.

According to MRC"s DataScope report, February PP imports into the Republic of Belarus were about 9,700 tonnes, compared to 7,800 tonnes a month earlier, local companies raised their purchasing of PP in Russia. Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 17,500 tonnes in January-February 2020, compared to 16,000 tonnes a year earlier, demand for all PP grades increased, with homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) accounting for the greatest growth.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero Energy reported on Wednesday first quarter earnings that beat analysts' forecasts and revenue that topped expectations, said Investing.

Valero Energy announced earnings per share of USD0.34 on revenue of USD22.10B. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of USD-0.15 on revenue of USD20.27B. That with comparison to EPS of USD0.34 on revenue of USD24.26B in the same period a year before. Valero Energy had reported EPS of USD2.13 on revenue of USD27.88B in the previous quarter. Analysts are expecting EPS of USD-0.72 and revenue of USD19.2B in the upcoming quarter.

Valero Energy shares are down 38.21% from the beginning of the year , still down 43.26% from its 52 week high of USD101.99 set on November 5, 2019. They are under-performing the S&P 500 which is down 11.75% year to date.

Valero Energy follows other major Energy sector earnings this month Valero Energy's report follows an earnings matched by BP ADR on Tuesday, who reported EPS of USD0.24 on revenue of USD59.54B, compared to forecasts EPS of USD0.24 on revenue of USD48.03B.

ENI ADR had missed expectations on Friday with first quarter EPS of USD0.04 on revenue of USD15.04B, compared to forecast for EPS of USD0.17 on revenue of USD14.45B.

As MRC informed earlier, One worker was injured in a fire at Valero Energy Corp’s 125,000 barrel-per-day Meraux, Louisiana, refinery early Friday morning. Valero spokeswoman Lillian Riojas said the injured worker was taken to a local hospital. The extent of the person’s injuries was unknown. All other workers at the refinery were accounted for. Energy industry intelligence service Genscape said the refinery was shut at about the time the fire broke out, shortly before 1 a.m. CDT (0600 GMT).

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.
MRC