MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar ordered that production capacity at the Sumood refinery in Baiji be increased to 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) as soon as possible, reported Reuters with reference to the ministry's statement.
Production capacity is currently at 75,000 bpd and expected to reach 140,000 bpd over the coming few months, the ministry said in a statement.
As MRC wrote before, in early June 2020, Iraq and Kazakhstan submitted their plans to the OPEC+ alliance on how they will implement deeper oil production cuts in the coming months, following through on pledges to make good on violating their quotas in May. Kazakh energy minister Nurlan Nogayev had said June 9 that his country pumped 3.13 million barrels over its quota over May 1-12. Iraq produced nearly 600,000 b/d over its quota in May, according to Platts latest survey of OPEC output, and oil minister Ihsan Ismaael said June 15 that crude exports in June had already been slashed in an effort to comply with the deal. The OPEC+ alliance's overall compliance with the cuts was 87% for May, the committee said.
We remind that in late May, 2020, Borealis said it will not proceed with the development of a multi-billion-dollar integrated steam cracker and polyethylene (PE) project in Kazakhstan. “The decision to discontinue this project is based on a thorough assessment of all aspects of the prospective venture and impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic as well as the increased uncertainty of future market assumptions,” Borealis states.
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.
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