May crude oil exports to Saudi Arabia plunge to 9-year low as OPEC+ cuts begin

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports plunged to a nine-year low in May as the historic OPEC+ cuts began, reported S&P Global with reference to data released July 16 by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative.

Shipments dropped to 6.02 million b/d, the lowest since October 2010, from a record 10.237 million b/d just a month earlier. The 23-country OPEC+ coalition enacted a 9.7 million b/d production cut accord starting in May in response to the coronavirus crisis.

The drop in exports came as the kingdom's output declined to 8.486 million b/d, the lowest since December 2010, from the all-time high of 12.07 million b/d in April. The kingdom still managed to boost crude stockpiles to 147.561 million barrels from a 16-year low of 143.502 million barrels a month earlier.

OPEC and its allies will ease their record production cuts on schedule in August after they helped pushed oil prices back above $40/b from historic lows in April, ministers said July 15, confident that recovering global demand will soak up the additional supply.

The kingdom's oil product exports climbed to 1.456 million b/d, a 14-month high, from 1.098 million b/d in April.

Oil products include LPG, naphtha, motor and aviation gasoline, kerosene and diesel oil. The amount of crude processed by the kingdom's own refineries in May advanced to 1.929 million from 1.84 million b/d in April, the JODI data showed.

Saudi Arabia's direct use of crude burned for power generation climbed to a seven-month high of 407,000 b/d in May from 355,000 b/d in April.

Combining the exports, refinery intake and direct-use figures indicates Saudi Arabia supplied 8.356 million b/d to the market in May, down from 12.432 million b/d to the market in April.

The JODI database is maintained by the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum.

As MRC wrote previously, oil demand has rebounded close to 90 million b/d, partly reversing a slump in consumption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Saudi Aramco's president and CEO Amin Nasser's statement in the transcript of an interview published on June 30.

We remind thatSaudi Aramco’s acquisition of petrochemical maker SABIC will accelerate the company’s downstream strategy and transform it into a global petrochemical player, said an official of the state oil giant's statement to al-Arabiya TV.

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

Chevron restarts Pasadena, Texas, refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Corp restarted the 112,229 barrel-per-day (bpd) Pasadena, Texas, refinery night after completing a multi-unit overhaul that was extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The entire refinery was shut from mid-April until late last week with the last units returning to production on Tuesday, the sources said. The overhaul was originally to finish in mid-June, but was extended to mid-July.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2020, Chevron Corp cut its capital spending budget by USD4 billion, leading a wave of cost-cutting announcements across the reeling oil-and-gas industry as the coronavirus pandemic had slashed demand and triggered a dramatic slide in oil prices.

We remind that US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

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.

Headquartered in San Ramon, California, Chevron Corporation is the the second-largest integrated energy company in the United States and among the largest corporations in the world. Chevron is involved in upstream activities including exploration and production, downstream activities including refining, marketing and transportation, and advanced energy technology. Chevron is also invested in power generation and gasification processes.
MRC

P&G targets carbon-neutral operations by 2030

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Procter & Gamble (P&G) has pledged to ensure that its operational emissions are neutralised by 2030 - an aim is striving to achieve through investment in nature-based climate solutions, said the company.

Building on an existing pledge to halve Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (power-related) emissions by 2030 against a 2010 baseline, the new commitment will see P&G using a mixture of insetting and offsetting to bring residual emissions across these scopes to net-zero. P&G estimates that its annual Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions will be 30 million metric tonnes in 2030, once it has completed the shift to 100% renewable electricity.

While some insetting and offsetting initiatives centre around renewable energy and clean fuel, P&G has chosen to back nature-based projects which serve to protect, improve or restore habitats. Key focus areas will be peatlands, wetlands and forests.

"The company’s intent is to work with NGO partners to ensure any project it advances under this effort is appropriately vetted to ensure the project, its impacts, and any accounting methodologies used are credible and consistent with best practice,” P&G said in a statement. The consumer goods giant is working with Conservation International, WWF and the Abor Day Foundation already and says it is open to forging additional partnerships.

"Our role as leaders is to make a lower-emission economy possible, affordable and desirable for everyone,” P&G’s chief sustainability officer Virginie Helias said. “It is our responsibility to protect critical carbon reserves and invest in solutions that regenerate our planet."

While the new target does not cover Scope 3 (indirect) emissions, P&G is working with the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to develop and deliver against new ambitions in this area. The firm’s previous carbon footprint mapping exercises have proven that the vast majority – 85% - of its Scope 3 emissions are associated with consumer use and disposal of products. As such, it sees communication with consumers as a key level for reducing emissions, providing on-pack and online information on responsible use.

Russia's output of chemical products rose by 4.4% year on year in May 2020 . Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 5.4% in the first five months of 2020. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the output in January-May.
MRC

Indonesian Chandra Asri reaches on-spec LLDPE output

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP) has reached on-spec output at its 400,000 tons/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit following several weeks of facing technical difficulties that severely affected the availability of the grade, reported CommoPlast.

“However, we are still working to optimize operation rates. It might take a little bit of time,” a source close to the producer said. Meanwhile, market participants are not expecting spot availability to normalize anytime so soon as the producer might need to clear out the previous backlogs.

As MRC informed before, CAP began conducting a trial production at its newly expanded polyethylene (PE) plant in Cilegon in March 2020 to produce metallocene PE grade (MLLDPE). The company expanded PE capacity in 2019 by adding one more production line that pushed the total output to 736,000 tons/year. CommoPlast was informed that the newest 400,000 tons/year high density polyethylene (HDPE)/ linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) swing line would be utilized for the MLLDPE trial production purpose.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, May LLDPE shipments to the Russian market rose to 31,290 tonnes from 30,450 tonnes a month earlier, production increased. Overall LLDPE shipments to Russia totalled 153,080 tonnes in the first five months of 2020, down by 5% year on year. Production and exports increased by 2 times.

CAP is the largest integrated petrochemical company in Indonesia and operates the country’s only world-scale size Naphtha Cracker. The CAP plant is strategically located in Banten province, providing convenient access to key customers.
MRC

COVID-19 - News digest as of 17.07.2020

1. Total refining margin sinks to six-year low as sales slump, crude rebounds

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total, Europe's biggest refiner, saw its average refining margin slump to the lowest level in six years during the second quarter when demand for fuels collapsed due to COVID-19 lockdowns while oil prices began to recover, reported S&P Global. Total's "variable cost margin" for its European refineries in the second quarter fell to USD14.30/mt or about USD1.95/b, down from USD26.30/mt in the previous quarter and USD27.60/mt in the year-earlier period, it said July 15 in a trading statement.

MRC