MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sibur (Moscow), Russia’s largest petrochemicals producer, today announced its financial and operational results covering the first quarter, said the company.
The company reported a loss of 52.281 billion Russian ruble (USD704.1 million) compared with a profit of RR46.02 billion in the year-earlier quarter. It attributes the loss to currency effects. Adjusted EBITDA was down 16.5% to RR39.823 billion due to lower margins for most product groups. EBITDA margin slipped from 33.7% in the first quarter of 2019 to 31.0% in the latest quarter but remains consistently high against the industry average.
Revenue declined 7.8% to RR120.67 billion due to negative pricing dynamics in ruble terms in the midstream and the plastics, elastomers, and intermediates segments. This was partially offset by revenue growth of 30.4% year on year (YOY) in the olefins and polyolefins segment, driven by higher sales of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE).
The company has completed the start-up and commissioning work at key production facilities at ZapSibNeftekhim (ZapSib), its flagship petrochemical complex at Tobolsk. ZapSib in the first quarter of 2020 produced 115,000 metric tons of PP and 259,000 metric tons of PE, part of which is en route to clients and was not reflected in the sales volumes for the reporting period. Sales of PP grew by 87.3% to 243,000 metric tons and of PE by more than 100% to 132,000 metric tons. In January 2020, Sibur completed construction of its new thermoplastic elastomers production facility at Voronezh and launched trial production.
In its update on the next large investment project, the Amur gas chemical project at Blagoveshchensk on the Chinese border, Sibur says that Sinopec received all the necessary corporate approvals to enter into a joint venture for the project with Sibur. The company also has more clarity about the regulatory regime for the recoverable excise duty on ethane and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for all petrochemical projects in Russia. The Ministry of Finance has finalized and just submitted draft amendments to the Russian Tax Code for the parliament's approval. The two developments could pave the way for the project to proceed. All the technologies have now been selected and engineering companies appointed.
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