MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraq, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, expects to export 2.8 million b/d of crude oil in June as it seeks to firmly commit to the OPEC+ cuts after it failed to comply with its quota in May, the country's oil minister Ihsan Ismaael told al-Sharqiya TV on June 14, said S&P Global.
The country also plans to reduce domestic crude consumption by switching to gas as feedstock to produce electricity, Ihsan Ismaael told the private TV network.
Ismaael reiterated Iraq's commitment to the OPEC+ production cuts, although the country had flouted its quota in the past.
"It is in our interest to commit as OPEC's second largest producer," Ismaael said. "Non-commitment is a slippery slope." Iraq pumped 4.213 million b/d of crude oil in May, above its OPEC+ quota of 3.592 million b/d and exported 3.63 million b/d, oil marketer SOMO said on June 7.
OPEC and its allies, including Russia, agreed on June 6 to roll over their 9.6 million b/d in collective production cuts through July, to help bolster the market as it emerges from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the deal, Angola, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Nigeria committed to compensate for their lack of compliance in May with extra cuts below their quotas in July, August and September.
As MRC informed previously, global oil consumption cut by up to a third. 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 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 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.
MRC