COVID-19 - News digest as of 25.09.2020

1. Crude prices recover even as bearish fundamentals persist

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil futures recovered slightly during the mid-morning trade in Asia Sept. 22, after the prospect of renewed lockdowns amid a potential resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic drove futures down Sept. 21, reported S&P Global. At 11:16 am Singapore time (0316 GMT), ICE Brent November crude futures were trading at USD41.54/b, up 10 cents/b (0.24%) from the Sept. 21 settle, while the NYMEX October light sweet crude contract was at USD39.57/b, up 26 cents/b (0.66%). This uptick in crude futures comes after the November Brent and the October WTI plummeted USD1.71/b and 1.80/b to close at USD41.44/b and USD39.31/b, respectively, on Sept. 21, following fears of renewed lockdown restrictions during the winter months, when the coronavirus is expected to spread faster.

MRC

PTTGC starts turnaround at LDPE plant in Thailand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) has shut its low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit for a maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that, the company halted operations at the unit on September 24, 2020. The unit is likely to remain under maintenance till mid-October, 2020.

Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the LDPE unit has a production capacity of 345,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, PTTGC unexpectedly shut its LDPE unit in the morning of 9 September due to minor plant issue. The unit was expected to restart by 10 September.

Besides, PTTGC undertook a planned shutdown at its LDPE plant for turnaround on July 7, 2019. The plant remained shut for around 3 weeks.

PTT has a total capacity of 800,000 mt/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE), 345,000 mt/year of LDPE and 800,000 mt/year of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) at the same site.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, July estimated LDPE consumption in Russia decreased to 43,380 tonnes from 55,380 tonnes a month earlier. Angarsk Polymers Plant and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat cut thei shipments to the domestic market because of shutdowns for maintenance. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption grew to 335,000 tonnes in January-July 2020, up by 6% year on year. Despite the long outages, LDPE production increased, and imports also rose.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

Celanese raises September LDPE prices in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, has announced an increase in its September low density polyethylene (LDPE) prices in China, as per the company's press release.

Thus, the company's LDPE prices rose by CNY700/mt for China, effective September 15, 2020, or as contracts otherwise allow.

The price increases above are for orders shipped on or after September 15, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced rises.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese has also raised its September prices of ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA) by the sam amount.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Russia, demand for LDPE has remained very weak in the spot market since the beginning of the month. Converters made purchases exclusively under the existing orders for finished products, they refused to put LDPE and finished products into their warehouses. Buyers were confident that in October, with the end of the shutdowns for maintenance at several production capacities, supply of PE would increase significantly and prices would substantially decrease.

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

Tomskneftekhim resumes PE and PP production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tomskneftekhim (subsidiary of SIBUR Holding) had resumed its low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) production after a scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's customers said the Tomsk producer had resumed PP and polyethylene (PE) by Thursday, after the completion of the scheduled maintenance works. At the same time, LDPE production capacities have not yet reached 100% utilisation. The scheduled outage started on 2 September.

It should also be noted that shutdowns for maintenance at the other Russian LDPE and PP production capacities are still ongoing. Last week, Ufaorgsintez and Kazanorgsintez completely shut their LDPE production capacities for scheduled turnarounds.

The Ufa producer intends to resume operations at some of its LDPE production capacities by the beginning of next week, and a full resumption of production is planned only on 10 October. The plant's annual production capacity is 90,000 tonnes. Ufaorgsintez also took off-stream its PP production on 12 September, the outage will also last until 10 October.

The Kazan producer also intends to carry out maintenance works at its LDPE production capacities in two phases, and a full resumption of production after the turnaround is scheduled for 9 October. The plant's annual production capacity is 225,000 tonnes.

LLC "Tomskneftekhim" was opened after the transformation of TNHK in 2003. It is a subsidiary of PJSC SIBUR-Holding, which is one of the backbone enterprises of the Russian Federation. The size of Tomskneftekhim's authorized capital was Rb6.5 billion in 2019, sales revenue - Rb13.2 billion, net profit - Rb1.9 billion.
MRC

Output of products from polymers in Russia up by 1.9% in January-August

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of products from polymers grew in August 2020 by 4.1% year on year. However, this figure increased by 1.9% year on year in the first eight months of 2020, reported MRC analysts.

According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, August production of unreinforced and non-combined films rose to 126,300 tonnes from 118,200 tonnes a month earlier. Output of films products grew in January-August 2020 by 8.3% year on year to 863,200 tonnes.
Last month's production of non-porous polymer boards, sheets and films exceeded 38,700 tonnes versus 36,400 tonnes in July. Thus, overall output of these products reached 271,900 tonnes over the stated period, up by 3.5% year on year.

August production of porous polymer boards, sheets and films was 31,700 tonnes, up by 4.3% month on month. Overall output of these products reached 197,800 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, compared to 174,800 tonnes a year earlier.

August production of plastic bottles and flasks grew to 1.92 bln items from 2 bln items a month earlier. Overall output of these plastic products totalled 14,64 bln units over the stated period, compared to 13,82 bln units a year earlier.

Last month's production of polymer pipes, hoses and fittings was 71,800 tonnes versus 68,400 tonnes in July. Overall output of these products was 454,900 tonnes in January-August 2020, up by 6.5% year on year.

August production of sacks and bags from ethylene polymers reached 2,3431,000,000 units, compared to 2,747,000,000 units a month earlier. Overall output of these plastic products totalled 19,835 bln units in the first eight months of 2020, compared to 16,644 bln units a year earlier.

Last month's production of linoleum and floor coverings was 18,4 mln square metres, compared to 16,4 mln square metres in July. Overall output of these products totalled 98,8 mln square metres over the stated period versus 98 mln square metres a year earlier.

August production of plastic windows and door blocks reached 2,749 mln square metres and 104,800 square metres, respectively, versus 2,749 mln square metres and 104,400 square metres a month earlier. Overall output of these plastic products totalled 16,770,000 square metres and 624,400,000 square metres, respectively, compared to 15,171,000 square metres and 625,800 square metres a year earlier.
MRC