China issues second batch fuel export quotas for 2020, all to state firms

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China has issued 28 million tons of refined fuel export quotas in the second allotment for this year, little changed from the first batch of 27.99 million tons issued last December, according to four sources with knowledge of the matter, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The quotas were released last week to five state oil companies, PetroChina, Sinopec, China National Offshore Oil Corp, Sinochem Group and China National Aviation Fuel Corp, the sources said. The new quotas, of mostly gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, come as domestic fuel consumption is recovering from a plunge in demand caused by the novel coronavirus, while the Asian market is awash with unwanted transportation fuels.

Still, no private refiner was granted quotas, despite Beijing’s pledge last December to give wider market access to the private sector. Beijing normally issues three or more batches of quotas during a year. A total of 56 million tons were issued for 2019.

The new issue consists of 24.6 million tons under the general trade category and 3.4 million tons under the tolling system. Companies receive a tax refund for general trade transactions once exports are completed, while taxes are waived under tolling arrangements.

China’s exports of gasoline jumped 21% in the first quarter from a year earlier, while that of aviation fuel rose 6%, as refineries scrambled to increase sales to overseas markets amid tepid domestic demand due to coronavirus-led disruptions to transport and industry.

Separately, China has issued its first-ever export quotas for very low sulfur fuel oil totalling 10 million tons, including an allotment to a private refiner for the first time ever, to capture a transforming shipping fuel market under a new global emission rule.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and 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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MEGlobal Oyster Creek donated more than 1,500 Tyvek suits to local fire departments to assist them in meeting their personal protective equipment (PPE) needs, said the company.

Brazoria County Fire Marshall Martin Vela said the suits will be “extremely beneficial to fire and emergency services operations." “With the events unfolding, fire departments have been depleting their inventory of PPE and are unable to restock their supplies. This is very concerning when normal purchasing options have been extended or normal options are not available. Having proper PPE for unknown or known medical emergencies provides the fire service with a valuable level of protection for our first responders,” he said.

Vela added that more than half the county’s 26 departments are in immediate needs of the suits, and nine of those departments are 100 per cent volunteer. “Volunteer departments rely heavily on private donations throughout the year,” said Vela. “This tremendous donation has taken a small burden off their shoulders and filled a gap."

MEGlobal Site Leader Scott Daigle said his company was happy to be able to help. “In times like these we all need to step up and find ways to help each other,” he said. “We were hearing about PPE shortages among our emergency responders and we had extra Tyvek suits left from the site construction that was completed last year. It made perfect sense to give them to the people who are on the front lines right now."

MEGlobal has also donated USD5,000 to ACTIONS Inc. to support their efforts to provide meals and groceries to local senior citizens, as well as USD2,500 to the United Way of Brazoria County to assist with their COVID-19 response.

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

As per MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption decreased to about 53,890 tonnes in February 2020, down by 3% year on year. 100,830 tonnes of PET chips were processed in Russia in the first two months of 2020. February PET production in Russia dropped to 45,800 tonnes, down by 5% year on year. Russia's overall PET production fell in January-February 2020 by 13% year on year.

MEGlobal is a global leader in the manufacture and marketing of ethylene glycol (EG). With a worldwide network, MEGlobal markets its products throughout Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. MEGlobal embraces the principles of Responsible Care®, focusing on the safety of employees, neighbors, communities and the environment in every aspect of its operations. As a subsidiary of EQUATE Petrochemical Company (EQUATE), MEGlobal is part of the EQUATE Group which is the world’s second largest producer of EG.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- USA based Dow Chemical is planning to shut three polyethylene (PE) plants in the USA and Argentina to avoid piling inventories amid sluggish global demand conditions due to the COVID-19 related lockdown, reported Commoplast with reference to market sources.

According to the company, in the first quarter of the year, demand from the packaging and specialty plastics sector were stable to slightly improved, however, sales in the industrial intermediates and infrastructure remained weak.

The company plans to take off-line one PE line in Freeport, Texas, one gas-based PE line in Seadrift, Texas, and another gas-based PE line in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. Besides, two elastomer units in Louisiana would also be shut.

These plants have a combined capacity of 907,000 tons/year and would remain shut for one month.

As MRC informed earlier, in the first week of November 2019, Dow said the Glycol 2 plant at its Plaquemine, Louisiana, facility was in "recovery mode" after a vessel ruptured the morning of 3 November. The company said there were no injuries, nor have any offsite emissions been detected, and other production units at the site continue to run normally. The Glycol 2 plant includes an ethylene oxide production unit and downstream production of isopropanolamines and alkyl alkanolamines, according to a permit issued by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 557,060 tonnes in the first three month of 2020, up by 7% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments rose because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. Demand for LDPE subsided.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A recent strengthening in refinery margins in Asia is leading to a sense that the worst may be over for the embattled sector as more nations in the region start to emerge from coronavirus lockdowns, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

But the main risk now for both the crude oil and refined products industries is that the renewed optimism leads them to boost output to levels above the nascent recovery in demand. The profit margins, or cracks, for producing both gasoline and gasoil, the building block of diesel and jet kerosene, have bounced off record lows in recent sessions, as traders report tentative signs of a recovery in demand and more interest in securing cargoes.

The crack for making a barrel of gasoline from Brent crude in Singapore GL92-SIN-CRK rose to a loss of 24 U.S. cents a barrel on Monday, the highest in two months and up from the low of a loss of USD13.15 on April 14. The profit on producing a barrel of gasoil with 10 parts per million sulphur lifted to $4.37 a barrel on Monday, up 147% from the low of USD1.77 on May 5.

However, both refined products are still well below their highs so far in 2020. Gasoline is still loss-making, compared to a high of a profit of USD9.35 a barrel on Feb. 11, and the gasoil crack is some 73% below its high of USD16.15 from Jan. 3.

The improvements in cracks in recent days have lifted refinery margins close to breakeven, with a typical complex refinery in Singapore processing Dubai crude making a loss of just 6 cents a barrel, based on the prices of the underlying crude and products on Monday.

With the large discounts to benchmarks like Dubai crude being offered by major exporters such as Saudi Arabia, it’s likely that many of Asia’s refiners are able to make a profit from processing at current prices. This in turn may encourage them to ramp up operations, which were severely curtailed in April as the new coronavirus led to lockdowns across Asia, including major economies such as India, Japan and Australia.

As much as 4 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity in Asia was idled in April, according to estimates by analysts, and as much as 2.7 million bpd may be offline during the second quarter as a whole.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and 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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- On 9 April 2020, 23 member countries of OPEC+ discussed the economic recession caused by Covid-19 pandemic and agreed to cut oil production by 9.7 million bpd from 1 May 2020, in order to balance supply and demand on the global market, according to WorldPipelines.

The Republic of Azerbaijan, as a member of OPEC+, participated in the meeting and, along with other countries, committed voluntarily to production cuts in relevant proportions.

The Ministry of Energy, which represented Azerbaijan in the meeting, subsequently announced the terms of the agreement and the commitments undertaken by Azerbaijan. The Ministry proposed proportional sharing of the production cut quotas among the country’s oil producers. SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, was ordered to carry out the implementation of the production cuts by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The OPEC+ agreement considers temporary implementation of production cuts in three stages: first during May and June 2020, second between July and December 2020, third between January 2021 and April 2022. It was agreed to reduce production at a higher rate in the first stage, and to gradually restore production levels in the following periods. According to the international agreement, daily production in Azerbaijan should not exceed 554 000 bbls in May and June 2020, 587 000 bbls in July - December 2020 and 620 000 bbls between January 2021 and April 2022. These figures are applied only to crude oil, but not to gas condensate production.

Hence, the daily oil production is expected to be reduced by 96 000 bbls in May - June 2020, by 63 000 bbls in July - December 2020 and by 30 000 bbls from January 2021 to April 2022, as compared to the initial national production plan for 2020.

SOCAR's Azneft Production Unit will initially reduce its daily production by 17 000 bbls to 100 000 bbls. In the following period, it will gradually increase its production adding 5000 bpd to total output. Beginning from next year, it plans to add 6000 bpd more to daily production, which would bring Azneft’s total crude oil production to 111 000 bpd.

Daily production on the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli fields is expected to be reduced by 76 000 bbls in May and June. During the second stage of agreement, the operator of the fields – Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) – will be able to increase production by 27 000 bpd, adding 26 000 bpd in the next year. Thus, in 2021, the level of AIOC production is forecasted at 487 000 bpd.

Other operating companies will initially reduce their production by 3000 bpd and then increase it by 1000 bbls in July - December, adding 1000 bpd in the next year.

As a result of measures arising from the OPEC+ agreement, between the beginning of May and the end of December 2020 Azerbaijan's oil production will decrease by 17.4 million bbls, amounting to 141.8 million bbls in total. In 2021, the country's total crude oil production is forecasted at 30.7 million t or 226.3 million bbls. These figures do not include hydrocarbon production by the Shah Deniz consortium and the Umid Babek Operating Company, nor is the condensate production by SOCAR's Azneft PU and Bahar Energy Operating Company Limited included.

By the end of 2020, SOCAR's Azneft PU plans to suspend production at several oil and gas production facilities and conserve equipment in accordance with industrial requirements. The decision rationale for suspending particular fields is based on the assessment of field’s economic efficiency, technical sustainability, industrial safety and minimisation of negative impact on the environment.

The suspension of operations is envisaged to take place mainly on the onshore fields with high production costs, whilst the exploitation of offshore fields with higher profitability is going to resume.

SOCAR employees, who become unoccupied as a result of the temporary production cut, will be involved in the conservation of wells and equipment maintenance. Therefore, following the suspension of some fields, no massive staff reduction is currently expected. The unoccupied employees will be registered in the Employee Reserve Database (ERD). They will be directed to SOCAR’s other units and departments in accordance with due legal procedures. SOCAR is suspending the external recruitment of personnel in the areas, which can be occupied by the employees in the ERD. Other measures have been planned as well, such as reskilling the unoccupied workers at SOCAR’s professional training centres.

As MRC reported previously, SOCAR Polymer plans to reach the design load for low-pressure polyethylene (HDPE) no earlier than 2023. In 2019, SOCAR Polymer is expected to produce 48.2 thousand tons of low-pressure polyethylene and 110 thousand tons of polypropylene. In 2020, these indicators will amount to 97.4 and 140 thousand tons, respectively. In 2023, the company is expected to be able to reach its design targets and produce 120 thousand tons of polyethylene and 170 thousand tons of polypropylene. Thus, the production of HDPE relative to 2019 will grow by 2.5 times, polypropylene - by 54%.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 557,060 tonnes in the first three month of 2020, up by 7% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments rose because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. Demand for LDPE subsided. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 267,630 tonnes in January-March 2020, down 20% year on year. Homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC