MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil says lower oil and gas prices could negatively impact its upstream earnings in the second quarter by up to USD3.1 billion compared to the first quarter of 2020, while its chemical segment earnings will be relatively stable, according to Chemweek.
The company advises in a US regulatory filing that the quarter-on-quarter change in chemical margins in the second quarter could impact its chemical segment earnings within a range of plus or minus USD100 million. It also gave the same financial range for the estimated effects of planned changes in scheduled maintenance on the chemicals business. ExxonMobil’s chemicals segment in May reported first-quarter earnings of USD144 million, down 72% year on year (YOY).
Lower refining margins could also hit its downstream earnings by up to USD900 million, according to the filing. In the first quarter ExxonMobil reported a downstream profit of USD1.3 billion.
The SEC filing covers factors related to market dynamics, seasonal patterns, and planned activities that the company’s management believes will impact second-quarter earnings relative to the prior quarter, and is not meant to be a comprehensive estimate.
The US major is scheduled to release its financial results on 31 July.
As MRC informed before, boiler work at the ExxonMobil-operated 830,000-metric tons/year ethylene plant at Mossmorran, UK, was scheduled for completion in June, 2020. Two of the three boilers at the plant exploded in August 2019, resulting in the plant being taken offline until the end of February. OPIS sources said in May that the plant was currently able to operate at full capacity with two boilers in operation but that the third boiler would be working by June.
We remind that in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 595,170 tonnes in the first five month of 2020, up by 10% year on year. Deliveries of all ethylene polymers, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), rose partially because of an increase in capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC