PP imports to Ukraine decreased by 1% in January-August

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ukraine's polypropylene (PP) imports totalled about 88,800 tonnes in January-August of this year, down 1% year on year.
All PP grades accounted for the decrease in shipments, according to a MRC's DataScope report.

August PP imports into the country fell to 13,300 tonnes from 14,400 tonnes a month earlier, the main decrease in imports were seen in the shipments of homopolymer PP. Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 88,800 tonnes in January-August 2020, compared to 90,100 tonnes a year earlier. Demand for all grades of propylene polymers decreased, but propylene block copolymers (PP block copolymers) accounted for the largest reduction.

The structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.
August imports of homopolymer PP to the Ukrainian market decreased to 9,200 tonnes from 11,100 tonnes a month earlier, local companies reduced their purchasing of PP in Azerbaijan, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Total homopolymer PP imports were 68,300 tonnes in January-August, compared to 69,300 tonnes a year earlier.

August imports of PP block copolymers into the country amounted to about 1,900 tonnes compared to 1,400 tonnes in July, local companies reduced the volume of purchases of injection moulding polypropylene. Over the reporting period, about 8,800 tonnes of propylene block copolymers were imported against 9,100 tonnes for the same period in 2019.


August PP random copolymers imports increased to 1,900 tonnes from 1,700 tonnes a month earlier, local companies raised their purchasing of pipe PP random copolymers. Overall PP random copolymers imports reached 10,200 tonnes in January-August 2020, compared to 10,600 tonnes a year earlier.

Ukraine's imports of other propylene copolymers for the period were about 1,400 tonnes in the first eight months of the year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Zhongke Refinery and Petrochemical has started selling on-spec polypropylene (PP) materials in the open market with limited quantity from its new plant in China, reported S&P Global with reference to sources.

Thus, first lots of commercial material enterd the market in early September, 2020.

The company successfully completed the trial run at its newly constructed PP plant, consisting of two lines, and proceeded to commercial production within the month of August.

Thus, No. 1 PP unit with an annual capacity of 350,000 tons/year started producing commercial cargoes on 18 August 2020. The initial output might be homo-PP yarn before the company switches to PP fiber grades. And No. 2 PP line with nameplate capacity of 200,000 tons/year was scheduled to produce commercial cargoes on 24 August 2020, making homo-PP injection and high MI PP copolymer.

As MRC wrote previously, Sinopec Zhongke successfully conducted trial runs at its new 350,000 tons/year No. 1 PP unit on 9 June, 2020.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group"s key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global specialty materials company, once again increased September list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) sold in China, as per the company's press release.

The price increase is effective for orders shipped on or after 15 September, 2020, or as contracts otherwise allow, and is incremental to any previously announced increases.

Thus, September VAM prices rose for the Chinese region by RMB700/mt.

As MRC reported earlier, the company also raised its VAM prices for China on 2 September, 2020, by the same amount.

According to MRC's DataScope report, June EVA imports to Russia fell by 22,5% year on year to 2,940 tonnes from 3,800 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation dropped in January-June 2020 by 8,16% year on year to 17,440 tonnes (18,980 tonnes a year earlier).

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2019 net sales of USD6.3 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures fell during mid-morning trade in Asia Sept. 17 despite the draw on US' crude inventories, as the market awaited news from the impending OPEC+ meeting, reported S&P Global.

At 11.23 am Singapore time (0323 GMT), ICE Brent November crude futures were trading at USD41.63/b, down 59 cents/b (1.47%) from the Sept. 16 settle, while the NYMEX October light sweet crude contract was at USD39.53/b, down 63 cents/b (1.49%).

The decline comes after both crude oil markers surged USD1.69/b and USD1.88/b, respectively, overnight after the US Energy Information Administration released data showing that US commercial crude inventories had declined 4.39 million barrels during the week ended Sept. 11.

"Following yesterday's API draw of 9.5 million barrels, some energy traders were not impressed with the EIA report of a 4.4 million drop in stockpiles," Edward Moya, senior market analyst from OANDA, said in a Sept. 17 note.

In the same note, Moya said: "WTI crude is back above the USD40/b level, but it might struggle here as energy traders start to doubt that the OPEC+ deal will last much longer. The Saudis are not going to save the day and the lack of compliance with the cheaters, UAE and Iraq, will mean oversupply concerns are possibly just around the corner."

OPEC and its allies will have an online monitoring meeting on Sept. 17 to assess the situation, and determine whether their current production cuts are sufficient to prevent an oil supply glut amid increased expectations of non-OPEC supply.

Analysts have indicated that they expect the meeting to yield little change with focus primarily on compliance.

"Beyond reaffirming compliance and perhaps some resolution on catching up on quota volumes, we should expect limited new news and certainly nothing to significantly bump the crude market out of its current funk and push Brent back to USD45/b," Stephen Innes, chief global markets xtrategist at AxiCorp, said in a Sept. 17 note.

Earlier this year, as MRC wrote before, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40 per cent in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Key OPEC+ ministers will convene online Sept. 17 in the face of stalling global oil demand, patchy compliance with output cuts, and Libya's potential return to the market after a month-long blockade that shut down almost all of its crude production, reported S&P Global.

But despite frustration among members that oil prices have failed to rise as much as hoped, delegates say the OPEC+ alliance is unlikely to reintroduce deeper cuts to buttress the oil market's comeback from the coronavirus pandemic.

Already-slipping compliance among some members would make imposing any tighter quotas more difficult, and talks among the nine-country Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, co-chaired by the alliance's biggest members Saudi Arabia and Russia, are instead likely to focus on shoring up discipline, they added.

OPEC and its nine allies achieved 101% of their pledged 7.7 million b/d cuts in August, according to delegates, but not all members shared the burden equally.

The UAE has emerged as a potential flashpoint, with its traditionally strong compliance blemished by what its energy minister has already confessed is a 100,000 b/d breaching of its quota in August.

Nigeria also has work to do to bring its production down in line with its quota, as do a handful of other countries.

And while Iraq was in full compliance in August, it has said it will likely need more time to implement the so-called compensation cuts - due by the end of September - that the OPEC+ deal requires for pumping above its quota in previous months.

Saudi Arabia, which has declared its tolerance for OPEC+ free riders over, has cracked the whip on compliance over the last few months, pressuring recalcitrant members, both privately and publicly, to improve their performance.

But oil prices have been mired between USD40-USD45/b since June, far below what many countries have budgeted for, and the global economy is still encountering headwinds in controlling the coronavirus impact. The 7.7 million b/d in collective cuts are scheduled to remain in place through the end of 2020, after which they will ease to 5.8 million b/d for 2021 and the first quarter of 2022.

Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman will have to tread a fine line in enforcing compliance, while not upsetting members too much, particularly with close ally UAE undermining his pressure campaign, one delegate said on condition of anonymity.

"The Saudis are going to push them to comply, [but] there are a lot of angry countries," the delegate said.

Another delegate said he expects the talks over compliance and future compensation cuts to be "complicated."

The JMMC is tasked with monitoring market conditions, tracking member compliance and recommending any changes to the OPEC+ deal, if needed.

Its meeting comes as the International Energy Agency, the US Energy Information Administration and OPEC itself have downgraded their global oil demand forecasts, seeing a much weaker recovery.

In its latest monthly oil market report on Sept. 14, OPEC projected that 2020 oil demand would come in 400,000 b/d lower than it had predicted in August, while 2021 was revised down by about 770,000 b/d.

"From the OPEC monthly outlook, you can easily make (out) that demand will not come back," a third delegate said. "The concern will be the pace of demand growth until it is back."On the supply side, US production could rebound faster than previously expected, the OPEC report stated, while Libya could be a wildcard in the months ahead.

Rebel militia leader Khalifa Haftar has said his Libyan National Army could drop an oil blockade of the country's ports, in place since January, that has caused about 1 million b/d of its crude production to be shut in.

The LNA in August agreed to a ceasefire with the UN-backed Government of National Accord, though state-owned National Oil Corp. has yet to lift a force majeure on crude exports.

Any return of Libyan barrels would make the OPEC+ coalition's market rebalancing job more challenging, at a time when it is already grappling with how to manage struggling global oil demand.

As MRC informed before, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, the UAE's biggest energy producer, and Abu Dhabi conglomerate ADQ will set up an investment platform to fund local chemicals projects amid a push to invest USD45 billion in downstream activities. The joint venture will oversee the development of projects in the planned Ruwais Derivatives Park, which is part of the Ruwais industrial hub in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, ADNOC said in its statement in late July. The venture will allow ADNOC to further its aims to boost operations in petrochemicals and other downstream lines. It didn't disclose funds being made available.

We remind that in early May, 2020, ADNOC began a gradual restart of its Ruwais oil refinery complex after a scheduled maintenance shutdown. The Ruwais complex, which has capacity of 835,000 barrels per day, was shut down early this year, the ADNOC spokesman said.

And in late July 2019, ADNOC said its Ruwais refinery west cracker was offline for maintenance.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC