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MOSCOW (MRC) -- OPEC's secretary
general said on Tuesday he was cautiously optimistic the oil market would
recover this year from the slump in demand brought about by the coronavirus
pandemic, reported Reuters.
Monthly meetings of the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies led by
Russia - a grouping known as OPEC+ - are there to stop an imbalance from
re-emerging, OPEC's Mohammad Barkindo told a virtual forum.
"We all agree
that the recovery is fragile, there are still more uncertainties, but we are
cautiously optimistic that the recovery will materialise this year," he
said.
Oil prices have rallied to an 11-month high this month, helped by a
Jan. 5 decision by most members of OPEC+ to hold production steady in February
and a pledge by Saudi Arabia to voluntarily cut output.
Barkindo,
speaking at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum, said that OPEC+ needed to
be flexible and was seeking stable markets.
The energy minister for OPEC
member the United Arab Emirates earlier told the same event he saw the start of
the market recovery this year.
"This year the way we see it is a year of
recovery, whether it's going to be the end of the year where we are supposed to
reach the balance or the beginning of 2022," Suhail al-Mazrouei said.
The
minister of the Gulf producer also said he sees good oil demand growth in China
and India as more countries begin their coronavirus vaccination campaigns.
As MRC informed
previously, oil producers face an unprecedented challenge to balance supply
and demand as factors including the pace and response to COVID-19 vaccines cloud
the outlook, according to an official with International Energy Agency's (IEA)
statement.
We remind that the
COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented decline in demand affecting all
sections of the Russian economy, which has impacted the demand for
petrochemicals in the short-term. However, the pandemic triggered an increase in
the demand for polymers in food packaging, and cleaning and hygiene products,
according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. With Russian
petrochemical companies having the advantage of access to low-cost feedstock,
and proximity to demand-rich Asian (primarily China) and European markets for
the supply of petrochemical products, these companies appear to be
well-positioned to derive full benefits from an improving market environment and
global economy post-COVID-19, says GlobalData.
We also remind that in
December 2020, Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz agreed to cooperate on
potential investments in Uzbekistan including a major expansion of
Uzbekneftegaz’s existing Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex (SGCC) and the proposed
construction of a new gas chemicals facility. The signed cooperation agreement
for the projects includes “the creation of a gas chemical complex using
methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, and the expansion of the production
capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex”.
Ethylene and propylene are
feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene
(PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report,
PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and
reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the
greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia
increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months
of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase
in imports. |
