Belarus receives first US crude: report

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarus' Naftan refinery started unloading first ever barrels of US crude, operator Belneftekhim spokesman Alexander Tishchenko was quoted as saying June 11 by the Belta news agency, said S&P Global.

Register Now "US oil has already begun flowing at Naftan. At noon, we started unloading oil tanks that arrived earlier this morning," Tishchenko said. The 77,000-mt (around 565,000-barrel) cargo of Bakken crude, arrived at the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda on June 5 and is being delivered by rail together with the remaining barrels of Saudi oil purchased by Belarus in late April.

The first delivery contained 17 tank cars of US crude, with the rest arriving at Naftan over the next 10 days, Tishchenko said. This shipment marks the 12th tanker of oil Belarus has purchased in 2020 as the country continues to seek alternative suppliers after a disagreement with Russia on crude supply terms. Belarus has already received similar volumes from Saudi Arabia, Norway, and Azerbaijan.

In total, Belarus has purchased over 1 million mt, or 7.33 million barrels, of oil from alternative suppliers since the beginning of the year. In May, Belarusian refineries also received 1.13 million mt, or 267,190 b/d, of oil from Russia.

The volume necessary for the optimal running of Belarusian refineries is 2 million mt.

As MRC informed earlier, at the Polymir plant, which is part of Naftan, on June 16, two workshops stopped due to a decrease in the supply voltage. As a result of the reduction in ethylene production, the technological process was partially stopped in workshop No. 105 (production of propylene) and in workshop No. 402 (production of polyacrylonitrile fiber). There are no injuries.

According to the ICIS-MRC Price Report, Polymir last Monday cut the prices of the 109 and 158 LDPE for shipments to the domestic market to Brb1,772,000-1,876,000/tonnes, excluding VAT, FCA, respectively, for volumes of more than 200 tonnes. Brb1,816,000-1,923,000/tonnes for smaller volumes of prices. rub. per ton, excluding VAT, FCA.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spanish oil and gas company Repsol plans to invest EUR80 million (USD90 million) to build two new plants in the Bilbao area as part of efforts reduce its carbon emissions, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Repsol will build what it said would be one of the world’s biggest net-zero emissions fuel facilities, based on green hydrogen generated with renewable energy and carbon dioxide captured at the Petronor refinery in northern Spain, in which it owns a majority stake.

The second plant will generate gas from urban waste, replacing some of the traditional fuels used by the Petronor refinery, Chief Executive Josu Jon Imaz told a news conference on Monday.

“With this project, Repsol becomes a relevant player in reducing carbon emissions,” Imaz said.

Repsol had set a target to reduce its carbon emissions to a net zero by 2050 to contribute to the general struggle to avert global warming.

Companies aiming to achieve “net-zero” usually balance emissions from their operations by investing in technology that can store carbon, or in natural sinks such as forests.

Repsol said it could reach at least 70% of its goal using technology that was already developed or nearly mature, and then would implement carbon capture, use and storage to raise that figure, and turn to natural sinks if necessary.

The first project, fuel production from hydrogen and CO2, announced on Monday will be experimental and produce 50 barrels of synthetic fuel a day, Repsol said. The project will be “scalable in a later stage depending on the results obtained.”

The second project will be able to process 10,000 tons of urban waste a year and capacity could be increased to 100,000 tons a year, or all the urban waste produced in the area.

As MRC reported earlier, Repsol's refinery at Puertollano in central Spain will carry out an upgrade of its olefins unit. The modernization will be a part of planned maintenance of the cracker and chemical derivative plants at the end of 2020.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cash-strapped Sasol (Johannesburg) has received offers from companies including CP Chem, LyondellBasell, and Ineos for a large stake in Sasol’s Lake Charles, Louisiana, petrochemical complex, reported Chemweek with reference to Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter.

The companies are among those moving into a second round of bidding for a stake in the nearly completed complex, which could raise more than 29 billion South African rand (USD1.68 billion) for Sasol, according to Bloomberg.

In response to CW’s enquiry, Sasol says that the company does “not comment on ongoing commercially sensitive and/or M&A processes and we do not react to market speculation.” Sasol adds, however, that its expanded asset-disposal process has yielded good interest by strong contenders.

On 12 March 2020, Sasol announced that it was reviewing a variety of actions to address the challenges created by the impact of COVID-19 and the recent decline in the oil and chemical prices. “A package of measures have been developed that are intended to reposition the company over the following 24 months. One of these measures will be our existing asset disposal program… This includes the potential for exploring partnering options at Sasol’s…US-based chemicals business.”

The cost of the Lake Charles complex has sharply risen from early estimates to R192 billion and this, together with falling oil prices, has hurt Sasol’s finances. The Lake Charles complex is based on a 1.54-million metric tons/year ethane cracker, which started production last year. The ethylene will be used in six downstream plants on site to produce ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, ethoxylates, and low-density and linear low-density polyethylene (PE), as well as Ziegler and Guerbet alcohols. About 10% of the ethylene will be surplus to requirement and sold on the merchant market as well as supply Sasol’s share of its high-density PE joint venture (JV) with Ineos in Texas. The 50/50 JV is designed to produce 470,000 metric tons/year.

Sasol recently warned of a loss on the Lake Charles project in 2020. Despite the continuing ramp-up of the project, further price weakness means that the EBITDA contribution from Lake Charles for financial year 2020 has been revised to a loss of USD50–100 million, the company said.

As MRC wrote previously, in mid December 2019, Sasol announced that the LCCP Ethane Cracker was increasing production rates following the successful replacement of the acetylene reactor catalyst. Sasol’s Ethane Cracker with a nameplate capacity of 1.54 million tons per year achieved beneficial operation in August 2019 but has run approximately 50-60% of nameplate capacity due to under performance of the plant’s acetylene removal system. The company stated that the issue had been resolved then.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polypropylene (PP) imports to Russia rose in the first five months of 2020 by 15% year on year, totalling 85,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports, according to MRC's DataScope report.

In May, Russian companies further reduced their purchasing of PP in foreign markets partially because of the quarantine restrictions and weaker demand, imports were 14,200 tonnes versus 17,500 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, overall PP imports into Russia reached 85,300 tonnes in January-May 2020, compared to 74,200 tonnes a year earlier. The volume of purchasing of all grades of propylene polymers in foreign markets increased, with imports of homopolymer PP accounting for the most noticeable increase.

The overall structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

May imports of homopolymer PP were 4,900 tonnes versus 6,700 tonnes a month earlier, shipments of injection moulding homopolymer PP from Azerbaijan slumped. Thus, overall imports of homopolymer PP totalled 34,000 tonnes in the first five months of 2020, compared to 25,300 tonnes a year earlier.

Last month's imports of propylene block-copolymers (PP block copolymers) were 3,500 tonnes versus 5,400 tonnes in April, demand for pipe grade PP decreased from Russian companies. Imports of PP block copolymers into Russia reached 23,600 tonnes in January-May 2020, compared to 21,300 tonnes a year earlier.

May imports of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymer) grew to 3,800 tonnes from 2,700 tonnes a month earlier, with pipes producers accounting for the main increase in shipments due to very low prices in Europe. Overall imports of this grade of propylene copolymers were 14,600 tonnes in January-May 2020, compared to 13,100 tonnes a year earlier.

Imports of other propylene polymers totalled 13,100 tonnes over the stated period versus 14,400 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

1. Thai energy group PTT cuts 2020 investment

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-owned Thai oil and gas company PTT Pcl said it would cut its investment budget across the group by 10-15% this year and some projects will be delayed as partners face challenges from the coronavirus, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing. Chief Executive Auttapol Rerkpiboon, who took up the post last month, said the PTT group faced "double effects" from the oil price slump and the coronavirus outbreak.




MRC