|
MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thailand imported
792,600 b/d of crude and condensate in October, a 50.8% jump from a year
earlier, with demand for light sweet crude from the US and Nigeria picking up
sharply after the restart of the country's 215,000 b/d Rayong refinery, reported
S&P Gllobal.
The country's
crude oil imports in October rose by 46.8% year on year to 725,673 b/d, while
condensate imports more than doubled to 66,927 b/d from 31,263 b/d in the same
month a year earlier, according to data released Nov. 23 by the customs
department.
A sharp monthly increase in Thailand's refinery feedstock
imports from its major light sweet crude suppliers including the US and Nigeria
stood out, with state-run refiner and upstream company PTT indicating that the
country is in need of replenishing some light and middle distillates stocks
after refinery runs fell sharply late in the third quarter.
Thailand
received 35,357 b/d of crude oil from the US in October, up 90.2% from 18,586
b/d imported in September, the data showed. Imports from Nigeria also more than
doubled to 62,251 b/d from 24,655 b/d in September.
In the first 10
months, Thailand imported 92,951 b/d from the US, up 33% from the same period a
year earlier, placing the North American producer in the top three supplier list
for the year.
"Looking at the WTI-Dubai and WTI-Brent spreads, light
sweet US crude may not be as competitive as it was in the previous 2-3 years,
but we believe [crude import] diversification should be maintained over the
longer run," a trading manager at PTT told S&P Global Platts.
In
mid-October, PTT's subsidiary IRPC Public Co. Ltd. competed repairs to its
215,000 b/d Rayong refinery and restarted units that were shut in early
September due to a fire, a company official told Platts previously.
The
operating rate of the Rayong refinery averaged 88% over the first half of 2020,
down from the 94% in H1 2019, IRPC said in an operations update on Oct.
14.
With the units back online, however, market participants expect
operating rates at the facility to be steadily increased to at least 80% of
capacity, matching levels prior to the fire.
"Light crude and condensate
are essential these days for petrochemical feedstock naphtha output ... demand
for petrochemicals for plastic, as well as hygiene-related chemical production
is rising rapidly during the [coronavirus] pandemic," a plant operation manager
at IRPC said.
In addition, PTT Global Chemical plans to raise run rates
at its 280,000 b/d refinery in Map Ta Phut to over 90% in December, from 80%-90%
in November, due to some improvement in margins, a source close to the matter
said Nov. 24.
However, it remain uncertain how far the country's refinery
run rates would need to be increased as domestic transportation fuel demand
remains fragile, industry and refinery sources said.
The ongoing
political protests and fresh coronavirus outbreaks could emerge as challenges to
Thailand's gasoline demand in the near term, sources added.
Reflecting
the headwinds, driving activity in Thailand has been on a downtrend since the
end of August and was seen at 7% below baseline levels Nov. 22, mobility data
from Apple showed.
Thailand produced 120,677 b/d of crude oil in the
first nine months of this year, down 3.1% year on year, with major output coming
from Sirikit (29,553 b/d, 0.4% higher year on year), Erawan (24,656 b/d, down
0.1% year on year) and Tantawan (17,984 b/d, down 15.5% year on
year).
Its condensate output between January and September declined 16.6%
year on year to 85,529 b/d, with the main production coming from Erawan (40,758
b/d, down 21% year on year) and Pailin (12,544 b/d, dropping 28.2% from a year
ago), according to data released Nov. 12 by the Energy Policy and Planning
Office.
Domestic crude production data for January-October is scheduled
to be released next month.
As MRC informed before,
PTTGC might start up the newly constructed cracker in Map Ta Phut, Thailand this
December, 2020. The company kickstarted the project in early 2018 as part of
PTTGC’s USD4.5 billion projects to “retrofit” its Map Ta Phut site. The new
cracker operates on flexible feeds, primarily to utilize the surplus naphtha
from its refinery. The unit has an annual capacity of 500,000 tons/year of
ethylene and 261,000 tons/year of propylene.
Ethylene and propylene are
feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene
(PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine
months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE)
shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market
reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula:
production minus exports plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1
January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer. |
 |
