MOSCOW (MRC) -- Leading tank storage player Vopak (Rotterdam, Netherlands) has reported net profit including exceptional items of EUR116 million (USD137 million) for the second quarter of 2020, a rise of over EUR10 million year on year (YOY), despite a 7% decline in sales to EUR292 million, said Chemweek.
Group operating profit (EBIT) including exceptional items increased EUR9 million YOY to €163 million for the quarter, and was up over EUR37 million on the first quarter of this year. Excluding exceptional items, net profit was EUR83 million, down over EUR6 million on the prior-year period, while EBIT fell EUR7 million YOY to slightly below EUR130 million.
The company says the proportional occupancy rate at its tank terminals was 90% for the quarter, an improvement of 6% over the prior-year period and also up 4% on the first quarter of 2020, with a “good performance” from its joint venture (JV) oil terminals and the continued strong performance of its JV gas and industrial terminals.
COVID-19 continues to have a limited impact on the company’s operations, with all 66 of its terminals operational, Vopak says. Operational and financial performance, cash flows, and its financial position “have not been significantly affected,” although the timing of the execution of some of its growth projects has been affected by generic local lockdown measures in various countries, it says.
Vopak recognized a EUR33 million exceptional gain in the second quarter for the remaining consideration relating to the divestment in December last year of its 49% equity share in the joint venture Vopak SDIC Yangpu terminal in Hainan, China, with EUR16.3 million of this amount expected to be received in the second half of 2020, it adds.
The company implemented cost control measures totaling EUR295 million during the first half of 2020 in response to the pandemic’s impact, and says it is now aiming for about EUR600 million for the full year. It will also continue to invest in growing its terminal portfolio worldwide, saying growth investment for 2020 “could amount up to EUR500 million."
“We captured opportunities in our oil storage portfolio, resulting in improved occupancy rates. At the same time, we experienced reduced throughput for chemicals, in particular in Houston and Singapore,” says Eelco Hoekstra, Vopak’s CEO. “Relative to our original plan, we missed some contributions due to delays in growth projects and out-of-service capacity as construction work was restricted in the second quarter. The value of these growth projects are not affected,” he says.
Vopak’s worldwide storage capacity at the end of the second quarter was 34.4 million cubic meters, down from a year earlier but up slightly on the first quarter of 2020, reflecting divestments in the first half of 2020 of 3.6 million cu meters and new capacity of 1.1 million cu meters.
As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell, Royal Vopak NV and Greenergy Ltd. said Monday that they completed the acquisition of the Coryton refinery in England, which was previously owned bankrupt oil refiner Petroplus Holdings AG. The transaction follows the earlier announcement by the consortium on 26 June 2012. The three companies plan to develop and invest in this facility - to be named Thames Oil Port - to create a state-of-the-art import and distribution terminal for oil products to be managed by Vopak.
We remind that Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to idle a sulfur recovery unit (SRU) at the joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery in 2021, said Shell spokesman Curtis Smith in July 2020. Currently, the refinery is operating at about 75% of its 318,000 barrel-per-day capacity because of reduced demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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