Braskem America selects Charleston for its new global export hub

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem announced the selection of Charleston, South Carolina for its new global export hub facility to serve international customers, said Chemweek.

The hub will provide packaging, warehousing and export shipping services to support Braskem's polypropylene (PP) production facilities in the United States. With the design and development phase well underway, the new global export hub is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2020 and will have a capacity to support export shipments of up to 204,000 metric tons/year of PP and specialty polymers.

Braskem is partnering with the Port of Charleston and warehouse provider Frontier Logistics, which will construct, lease and provide services to Braskem under a five-year agreement. Ahead of the facility's completion, the company plans to continue to leverage its existing international export capabilities out of Houston, Texas, which will also be maintained following the launch of the new Charleston hub. The announcement of the new South Carolina facility complements Braskem's existing network of global export hubs which include facilities in North and South America and Europe.

Mark Nikolich, Braskem America CEO said, "As the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas and the leading producer of polypropylene in the United States, Braskem is focused on reinvesting in its business and leadership positions to support our clients worldwide. The build out of our new global export hub in South Carolina allows us to leverage our feedstock advantaged, polymer production assets in the US Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, to best meet our international clients’ needs."

The new export hub facility is being developed as Braskem works to complete Delta, its new PP production line at La Porte, Texas, which is nearing completion and is scheduled for the launch of commercial production in the third quarter of 2020.

As MRC informed earlier, Brazil’s sole polyethylene (PE) producer Braskem will raise LDPE and PP prices for the rest of May by Real 150/mt (USD26.61/mt), according to industry sources, while HDPE and LLDPE prices will remain unchanged. Braskem is currently renegotiating its naphtha contract with Petrobras, as prices in North America have edged up on higher crude. The Brazilian petrochemical company’s JV with Idesa in Mexico also has limited feedstock supply. In the beginning of May, the company reduced the price of all PE grades in May to address falling demand and a decline in international feedstock prices.

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.
Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials solutions provider and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, has restarted its acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plant following an unplanned outage, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in the US informed that, the company has resumed operations at the plant on May 25, 2020. The plant was shut on May 20, 2020 owing to a flooding caused heavy rains in the region.

Located at Midland, Michigan in the US, the ABS plant has a production capacity of 95,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, Trinseo (Berwyn, Pennsylvania) has joined the growing ranks of chemical companies providing financial and operational updates in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Like many of its peers, the company announced that it is drawing USD100 million on a revolving credit facility "out of an abundance of caution." Trinseo says all of its manufacturing facilities remain online except the API Plastics site in Mussolente, Italy, which has been closed by the government as a nonessential business.

According to MRC's DataScope report, overall ABS imports to the Russian market increased in the first four months of 2020 by 5% year on year to 10,900 tonnes. This figure was at 10,400 tonnes in January-April 2019. April imports of material to the Russian Federation rose by 5% to 3,300 tonnes from 3,100 tonnes a year earlier. March ABS imports into the country were 2,800 tonnes.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015.
MRC

1. Rosneft finds extended oil cuts painful

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rosneft does not have enough crude to ship to buyers with which it has long-term supply deals, making it hard for the Russian company to continue with record oil cuts beyond June, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Rosneft has told the energy ministry it would be difficult to maintain cuts to the end of the year, as it has had to cut shipments to major buyers, such as Glencore and Trafigura, despite good demand, two sources close to the talks said on condition of anonymity. "There is no doubt Rosneft will strictly fulfil all obligations under supply contracts with its foreign and Russian counterparties despite output cuts made by the company as a part of OPEC+ deal,” Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said in a statement on Friday. Glencore and Trafigura declined to comment. Russia’s Energy Ministry did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. President Vladimir Putin, who decides on oil policy, spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday about “close coordination” on output cuts, agreed in April to tackle oil market weakness because of the coronavirus pandemic.



MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Berry Global Group (Evansville, Indiana) has launched a collaboration with longtime customer Mondelez International to supply packaging containing chemically recycled plastic for use by one of Mondelez’s worldwide brands, said Chemweek.

The packaging will contain plastic material recovered using chemical recycling technology from Berry’s partnership with Sabic established in November last year, it says. “By recovering and diverting plastic that would have otherwise been sent to landfill or incineration, we are working towards our common goal of promoting a circular economy,” says Jean-Marc Galvez, president/consumer packaging international division at Berry.

Berry pledged mid-2019 to making all of its fast-moving consumer goods packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. In November last year it said it would collaborate with Sabic to use polyolefin resins made from chemically recycled waste plastic as part of ongoing circular economy initiatives by both companies. Sabic signed an agreement with UK-based Plastic Energy in 2018 for the supply of feedstock known as Tacoil, with the companies to build a semi-commercial plant in the Netherlands by 2021 refining and upgrading the feedstock produced from the recycling of low-quality, mixed plastic waste.

Berry manufactured a recyclable, coextruded stand-up pouch last year containing 30% post-consumer resin (PCR) sourced from initial batches of Sabic’s circular polymer, and committed in November to utilizing a portion of the recyclate materials, which it said had the potential to be used in polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE) applications in Berry’s European consumer packaging facilities.

As MRC informed earlier, Berry Global Group announced a collaboration with SABIC to drive the innovation and use of polyolefin resins made from chemical recycling. The companies boast a long partnership and focus on their shared values of sustainability and promotion of a circular economy. The partners will focus on innovation and use of polyolefin resins from chemical recycling. The move is a part of Berry’s sustainability strategy Impact 2025 announced earlier this year.

According to a MRC's DataScope report, April PP imports to Ukraine decreased to 8,100 tonnes under the pressure of quarantine restrictions due to coronavirus against 10,500 tonnes a month earlier.Due to the partial shutdown of capacities, local companies have seriously reduced purchases of all types of propylene polymers. Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 39,100 tonnes in January-April 2020, compared to 45,000 tonnes a year earlier.
Only supplies of stat propylene copolymers (PP random copolymers) increased, while the demand for propylene polymers decreased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US shale oil producers have moved in droves during the last couple of months to protect themselves from current market turmoil by hedging, using a variety of derivative instruments to protect against exposure to volatile oil prices, according to S&P Global.

As crude prices plunged from low demand as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the globe, producers cut 2020 capital budgets in half and released huge numbers of drilling rigs. They also shut-in their lower-margin production.
Many also used a variety of contractual arrangements to assure their oil and gas output – and therefore, their revenues –weren't roughed up too badly during a period of dismally low oil prices and near-term cloudy visibility.

"They want to be able to stop the bleeding" or at least minimize it, Thomas Watters, a managing director at S&P Global Ratings, said.

After the end of the first quarter, upstream operators hedged their 2020 estimated oil production at the highest levels in at least five years, investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a recent investor note.

The producers Goldman Sachs covers have hedged 66% of their projected oil production for the rest of this year, a "sharp increase in oil hedged," which was 48% pre-downturn, the bank said.

Also, "we saw a sharp pick-up in 2021 hedging for oil and natural gas," Goldman Sachs said. "Producers have 14% of 2021 estimated oil production hedged (versus 2% post Q4 2019 earnings) and 28% of 2021 estimated gas production hedged (versus 15% post Q4 2019 earnings)."

That puts 2021 hedging at slightly above-average levels seasonally for liquids and above-average levels seasonally for gas, said Goldman Sachs, adding that as of Wednesday, current hedged 2020 oil prices of USD44.19/b, assuming roughly USD31.77/b WTI for collars, were "well above" strip prices of USD33.57/b.

Pioneer Natural Resources, a large Permian Basin producer, said early in April that it enhanced protection of its output through derivative positions for Q2 - forecast as the most volatile for oil prices - with an assortment of swaps and collars.

Those positions would provide a forecasted cash uplift to Pioneer of around USD280 million if Brent prices averaged USD25/b during the quarter.

What that basically means, according to Shane Randolph, managing director at energy financial services firm Opportune, is that if prices rise, Pioneer "would make less money (or lose money) on the hedges depending on the instruments, and they would make more money on the physical commodity."

As of May 29, ICE front-month Brent has averaged USD29.57/b in Q2.

A swap is an agreement whereby a "floating" (i.e., market) price is exchanged for a fixed price over a specified time period. Collars protect against downside risks while maintaining some exposure to upside prices.

Pioneer has historically hedged a large chunk of its oil output, which is currently over 220,000 b/d. That has cushioned the company against price crashes and allowed double-digit percentage oil output growth in recent years.

Pioneer also has 135,000 b/d of oil production protected at $43/b Brent with upside for 2021, company officials said.

Midsized Permian Basin producer Laredo Petroleum said 100% of its oil output for 2020, or about 7.178 million barrels (30,700 b/d) is hedged, as is 5.603 million barrels (15,350 b/d) for 2021 so far.

Laredo produced 29,200 b/d of oil in Q1 and expects to average 26,000-27,000 b/d of output for 2020, including about 30,000 b/d in Q2.

Laredo "significantly" added to its 2021 hedges in recent months, CFO Michael Beyer said. Added were 8,750 b/d of Brent-linked hedges - 6,750 b/d of puts and 2,000 b/d of swaps.

Laredo bought the hedges with $50 million of expected free cash flow this year, resulting in a total 2021 Brent hedge position at a weighted average floor price of roughly USD53/b, Beyer said.

"(That move) secures significant cash flows in 2021, supporting a potential capital program that could keep average daily oil production in 2021 flat with the fourth-quarter 2020 exit rate while generating free cash flow" at WTI prices of USD30/b to USD35/b, he added.

EOG Resources, a large operator which historically hasn't been a large hedger, nonetheless did so as oil headed south over the last few months.

The company has now hedged more than 95% of its Q2 2020 oil production at an average price of $48/b and more than 50% of its Q3 output at USD47/b.

"This mirrors how we view the periods of greatest price risk," Tim Driggers, EOG's chief financial officer, said on its Q1 call. "We will begin to look at adding additional 2021 hedges later in the year if prices look attractive."

Midsized Parsley Energy also restructured existing 2020 hedge positions to secure cash flows and protect not only its 127,000 b/d of output for this year but even 2021 production, CEO Matt Gallagher said.

"Over 80% of our hedges in the second quarter are (now) swaps or two-way collars with unlimited downside protection," Gallagher said.

Also, Parsley moved "aggressively" to protect 2021 cash flow by adding swaps, he said: "(Those are) well in the money based on today's strip," he said.

The company now expects net settlement gains of nearly USD650 million during second-quarter 2020 through fourth-quarter 2021 under a go-forward USD30 WTI oil price and current basis differentials, company officials said.

That is an increase of over USD350 million in total downside protection from its hedge position as of February 19.

Among a handful of non-hedgers is Canada's Husky Energy. Rob Peabody, Husky's CEO, doesn't think it is wise to lock in futures prices amid what he called a "train wreck" market of severe oil price volatility.

But Husky, which has refining assets, is different from independent oil companies since it can run its oil through its own facilities, which cushions it some against price turbulence.

"Our investments have really been focused on that to get us to where we're breakeven ... sort of in the mid-USD30/bs now on a cash basis," Peabody said. "That feels in a pretty good place," he said.

As MRC informed previously, in late September 2019, Husky Energy continued to make steady progress towards a return to full operations at the Superior Refinery. The company received the required permit approvals to begin reconstruction activities at the site and work began immediately. Demolition of damaged equipment resulting from a fire in April of 2018 was largely complete then and the rebuild will take place over the next two years with an expected return to full operations in 2021.

We remind that global oil consumption cut by up to a third in Q1 2020. What happens next in the oil market depends on how quickly and completely the global economy emerges from lockdown, and whether the recessionary hit lingers through the rest of this year and into 2021.

Earlier this year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40 per cent in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

We also remind that, in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

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