MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Russian energy ministry expects the global oil market to balance in June or July as a result of rising consumption, as well as the drop in production in OPEC+ and other countries, said S&P Global.
"14-15 million b/d of oil has already left the market as a result of the OPEC+ deal, and also declining production in other countries. The surplus is currently around 7-12 million b/d, but the energy ministry expects that in June or July the market will balance thanks to rising consumption," the ministry said in a statement released after the energy minister Alexander Novak took part in a government meeting Monday.
The ministry estimates that although demand for oil in May continues to be low, it is up around 20% on April levels.
During the meeting, participants also discussed measures to support the industry in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Russia has already issued a temporary ban on imports of oil products, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, until October 1.
It also reduced required volumes of oil products sales via exchanges by half between April 1 and June 30. Companies are now required to sell 5% of gasoline, 3% of diesel, 5% of jet fuel, 1% of fuel oil and 2.5% of LPG produced on exchanges.
Other proposals include exemptions from meeting oil production targets in project documentation, creation of a fund to support the oil field services industry, and moving the excise on motor fuels from refineries to filling stations. The government has set a deadline of June 15 to finalize these support measures.
As MRC informed earlier, China's crude oil imports from Russia rose 17.7% year on year to 7.2 million mt or 1.76 million b/d in April, resulting in Russia overtaking Saudi Arabia to become the country's top supplier in the month.
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