Motiva may shut largest U.S. refinery during storms Marco, Laura

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises may shut the largest crude oil refinery in the United States for the passage of Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura later this week, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The company’s 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in the coastal city of Port Arthur, Texas, could be drenched by both storms between Tuesday and the end of the week based on current forecasts, the sources said.

As MRC wrote before, citing the current economic downturn, Motiva Enterprises (Houston, Texas) said earlier in August that it will slash 10% of its workforce by 1 September, including jobs at its headquarters, terminals, and Port Arthur, Texas, facilities.

We remind that Motiva is evaluating opportunities to build a new polyethylene (PE) line within its proposed steam cracker and aromatics project in Jefferson County, Texas. The new PE capacity will be located at the company’s Port Arthur Refinery Complex in Jefferson County, Texas. The planned capacity of the unit was not specified, while the value of the project is reportedly estimated at around USD3.1 billion.

Besides, in late 2019, Motiva Enterprises acquired 100% of Flint Hills Resources chemical plant, adjacent to its Port Arthur, Texas, oil refinery. The Flint Hills plant operates a 1.57 billion-pound-per-year ethylene cracker, a unit producing nylon component cyclohexane, and a network of pipelines and storage caverns. Saudi Aramco, in its IPO prospectus, said the cash payment will be determined as per the project value at SAR 7.13 billion (USD1.9 billion).

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing 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.

Motiva Enterprises, LLC, is a fully owned affiliate of Saudi Refining Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States with revenue of USD24 billion. Previously, it was a 50–50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company (the wholly owned American subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell) and Saudi Refining Inc. (controlled by Saudi Aramco).
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China imports record high PVC from India in June amid nationwide lockdown

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China imported a record-high 27,207 mt of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from India in June - more than five times compared to 5,174 mt recorded in May - as India accelerated PVC exports amid pandemic-related nationwide lockdown, reported S&P Global with reference to the latest statistics data.

It is a rare move as the Indian PVC market is net short by close to 2 million mt/year.

India started its nationwide lockdown on March 25 and it was initially scheduled to be lifted on May 3, but the government extended the lockdown by another two weeks with new restrictions.

During the lockdown, India's PVC demand plunged, prompting cancellation of PVC deliveries to India. Suppliers had to move their cargoes to China to clear excess supplies.

Looking forward, market sources said China's PVC imports from India would likely slow as India's nationwide lockdown ended early-June.

In total, China's PVC imports for June also stood at a record-high of 172,941 mt, up from 92,254 mt in May, according to the latest statistics.

In other countries, China's PVC imports from the US stood at a three-month high of 23,672 mt, compared to 5,231 mt a month earlier, the statistics showed.

As MRC informed before, Sichuan Jinlu Group has halted operations at its Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) carbide based plant owing to flooding in the region. The company has undertaken an unplanned shutdown at the plant early this week. The exact duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained. Located at Deyang, China, the PVC carbide based plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's DataScope report, imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Russia totalled 13,800 tonnes in the first half of 2020, up by 5% year on year, whereas exports grew by 7% year on year.
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US chemical production up in July, says ACC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US chemical production is rebounding, according to the ACC’s US Chemical Production Regional Index (US CPRI). The figure, a three-month moving average (3MMA), increased 0.8% in July after dropping 2.0% in May and 1.6% in June, reported Chemweek.

Segments contributing to the increase included plastic resins, chlor-alkali, organic chemicals, industrial gases, synthetic dyes and pigments, consumer products, and fertilizers, says ACC. Production continued to decline in adhesives, coatings, other specialty chemicals, crop protection, synthetic rubber, and manufactured fibers.

ACC notes that goods manufacturing continued a broad-based recovery in July, with overall factory activity up 4.9% on a 3MMA basis.

Year-over-year (YOY), the US CPRI was down 5.9%, the fourteenth consecutive month of YOY declines, but an improvement over recent months.

As MRC wrote previously, US chemical volumes are expected to drop nearly 10% this year as global economic activity contracts due to the impacts of COVID-19, according to the American Chemistry Council's (ACC) Mid-Year 2020 Chemical Industry Situation and Outlook. Volumes should recover in 2021 with a return to pre-COVID-19 output levels in the US by the second half of 2021.

We remind that after the May fall in June, Russia"s output of products from polymers rose by 16.9% due to the easing of quarantine restrictions and seasonally stronger demand. However, this figure increased by 1.3% year on year in the first six months of 2020.
MRC

LyondellBasell beats Q2 earnings estimates

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell came out with quarterly earnings of USD0.71 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of USD0.61 per share. This compares to earnings of USD2.75 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items, as per ZACKS.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 16.39%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this oil refiner and chemical company would post earnings of USDUSD.36 per share when it actually produced earnings of USD1.52, delivering a surprise of 11.76%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times.

LyondellBasell, which belongs to the Zacks Chemical - Diversified industry, posted revenues of USD5.55 billion for the quarter ended June 2020, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.98%. This compares to year-ago revenues of USD9.05 billion. The company has not been able to beat consensus revenue estimates over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

LyondellBasell shares have lost about 30.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 0.5%.

As MRC reported previously, in early August, 2020, China’s Bora LyondellBasell Petrochemical, a JV between the privately owned Bora Enterprise Group and the world's petrochemical major - LyondellBasell, has started up its new steam cracker at the Panjin complex in northeast China. The steam cracker, when fully operational, is able to produce up to 1 mln mt/year of ethylene.

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.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

COVID-19 - News digest as of 24.08.2020

1. Petkim posts USD20M profit in Q2 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Turkey's first and only integrated petrochemical plant, Petkim, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), reported a TL 145 million (approximately USD20 million) profit in the second quarter of 2020, reported Chemweek. According to the statement made by the company on Monday, Petkim’s sales revenue reached TL 2.2 billion with domestic sales recording a 10% increase in the March-May period compared with the previous quarter. During the period, the plant, located in the Izmir province in the Aegean region, prioritized the production of medical supplies and raw material for packaging to help the country’s fight against the pandemic.




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