BASF Q4 sales expected to rise on higher volumes, prices

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German chemicals giant BASF said operating income saw a better-than-expected gain during the fourth quarter, boding well for its upcoming dividend policy review, said the company.

Quarterly earnings before interest and tax, adjusted for one-off items, rose 32% to 1.11 billion euros (USD1.35 billion), beating market consensus and slightly above the highest analyst estimate, BASF said in an unscheduled statement on Wednesday, citing preliminary figures.

Quarterly sales increased by 8% to 15.9 billion euros as higher volumes and product prices outweighed the effect of weaker overseas currencies.

“The BASF Group’s operating business performed better than expected in the fourth quarter of 2020,” the company said in a statement.

The company expects to post an EBIT loss in the full year of 2020, mainly due to the non-cash-effective impairments and provisions for restructuring in the third quarter of last year.

As per MRC, BASF says it has chosen BTC Europe as its new distributor in Europe for aromatic isocyanates and polyols for polyurethane applications. The collaboration comes into effect on 1 February 2021 and will comprise BASF’s polyurethane product brands Lupranat, Lupranol, and Lupraphen. The new agreement will enable the company to “react to the wish of our customers of providing the entire product portfolio from a single source,” says Oliver Peter, BASF’s account manager/European isocyanates.

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.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

Air Liquide buys stake in green hydrogen player in France

MOSCOW (MRC) - Air Liquide has acquired a 40% equity stake in renewable hydrogen development company H2V Normandy, a subsidiary of H2V Product (Paris, France), which plans to build an electrolyzer complex of up to 200 megawatts (MW) in France to produce and supply green- and low-carbon hydrogen for industrial applications, reported Chemweek.

No financial details for the transaction have been given.

The electrolyzer project is planned to be built in the industrial zone of Port-Jerome, Normandy, to supply hydrogen for industrial and future heavy mobility applications, Air Liquide says. The project aims to develop new energies to decarbonize industrial activities, mainly in chemicals and refining, on the Seine Valley axis in Normandy, one of Air Liquide’s historical industrial basins in France, it says. The planned development would enable 250,000 metric tonnes/year of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to be avoided, it adds.

The investment “demonstrates Air Liquide’s long-term commitment to hydrogen energy and its ambition to be a major player in the supply of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, in order to contribute to the decarbonization of the industry and mobility markets,” it says.

Air Liquide has previously deployed a solution for CO2 capture, CryocapTM, on its existing Port-Jerome hydrogen production facility.

With France “resolutely committed to energy transition with an ambitious hydrogen plan,” Air Liquide is investing locally to develop the activity, says Air Liquide’s Francois Jackow, executive vice president and an executive committee member. The investment is in line with the company’s commitment to supply renewable or low-carbon hydrogen to support the decarbonization of industry and promote hydrogen as a key element in the energy transition, he says.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2020, Air Liquide finalised an agreement with Sasol to acquire the biggest oxygen production site in the world with a plan to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 30%. After the announcement on July 29, the international major industry gas company has now entered into a business purchase agreement with Sasol to acquire the oxygen production site in Secunda, South Africa.

We remind that Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker with the capacity of 1.5 mln tonnes per year reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol's new cracker, the heart of LCCP, is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities that came online and will provide feedstock to the company's six new derivative units at Sasol's Lake Charles multi-asset site.

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.
MRC

CPC to build USD2.9-billion naphtha cracker at Kaohsiung, Taiwan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan has bought a piece of land in Kaohsiung on which it plans to build a new naphtha cracker to replace its No. 4 cracker at a cost of NTD82.3 billion (USD2.94 billion), said Chemweek.

CPC's No. 4 cracker in Kaohsiung's Linyuan District has been in operation for 37 years and has an annual ethylene production capacity of 380,000 metric tons, which cannot meet the demand of its customers, CPC spokesman Chang Ray-chung said.

Given the strong demand for basic chemical raw materials and the potential demand from a new circular industrial park being developed in Dalinpu that is focused on innovative materials, CPC decided to build a new naphtha cracker to sustain adequate supply, Chang said.

The company is required, however, to build a new plant before it dismantles the old one, and getting a site for the new plant was pressing, Chang noted. It chose for the project a 31-hectare lot it purchased in 2017 from chemical manufacturer China American Petrochemical Co. Ltd.

Chang said the state-owned company is set to start the new project in 2022 by applying for an environmental impact assessment and hopes to break ground in 2025 and begin production in 2028.

Once the new plant starts production, it is expected to produce 1 million metric tons of ethylene per year, 163 percent more than currently produced at the old facility, according to Chang.

As MRC informed earlier, Taiwan’s state-run CPC Corp plans to relocate equipment of its oil refinery and third naphtha cracker in Kaohsiung, Taiwan to set up a large-scale petrochemical complex in Indonesia. This step will better utilize the two plants’ equipment after their expected closure, preventing them from being scrapped.

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.
MRC

Repsol upstream production slips 8% at 648,000 boe/d in 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spanish integrated energy group Repsol reported Jan. 19 that its estimated upstream oil and gas production in 2020 decreased 8% year on year at 648,000 b/d of oil equivalent - its lowest annual total since the 2015 purchase of Talisman - with Libyan interruptions and the oil price impact from the pandemic weighing on volume, according to S&P Global.

The full-year total was nonetheless in line with the company's postpandemic revised target of 650,000 boe/d, which it sees through to 2030.

By region, Europe and Africa showed the largest production decline in 2020, falling 29% year on year to 86,000 boe/d. Repsol's share in the Libyan El Sharara field can supply up to 39,000 boe/d net to Repsol, but output suffered interruptions throughout the year following a shutdown at the field in January 2020 and a blockade of oil terminals.

Output from Europe and Africa regions did increase 37% from the third quarter to 96,000 boe/d in the fourth quarter, but this was still a decline of 23% year on year.

Other regions also returned negative numbers for 2020, with Latin American production down 11% year on year at 295,000 boe/d and production in the Asia/rest of world region dropping 5% year on year at 69,000 boe/d.

The one region that posted increased production was North America, where Repsol boosted output 9% year on year at 198,000 boe/d after the company upped its interest in Eagle Ford during 2020, and reported resilient operating economics at two other US operations - Marcellus and Buckskin.

For the fourth quarter, however, all four of its global regions reported declining volume on an annual basis for a combined total of 628,000 boe/d, which was a 14% decline from a record quarter in Q4 2019 of 730,000 boe/d.

All production figures are provisional with confirmed results due to be published Feb. 18.

In the downstream business, Repsol said its refining margin in Q4 2020 returned to positive, rising to an estimated USD1/b from minus 10 cents/b in Q3, although this compared with a USD5.60/b margin in Q4 2019.

The full-year average refining margin indicator in 2020 was USD2.20/b, down from USD5/b in 2019.

The refinery utilization rate for the year came at 74%, including 73.6% in Q4. This compared with an 88.4% rate for full-year 2019 and 85.7% in Q4 2019.

The conversion rate was even more heavily impacted by the pandemic-related economic slowdown, falling to 86% in 2020 and 77.3% in Q4, compared with 103.3% in 2019 and 104.3% in Q4 2019.

Repsol owns and manages five refining complexes in Spain - Cartagena, Coruna, Bilbao, Puertollano and Tarragona - with a total capacity of about 896,000 b/d, but has trimmed back production to meet market needs, particularly on a sharp plunge in jet fuel demand, which is currently at about 25% of its prepandemic levels in Spain.

As MRC reported earlier, Repsol shut down its cracker in Tarragona (Spain) for maintenance in the fourth quarter of 2019. The turnaround at this steam cracker, which produces 702,000 mt/year of ethylene and 372,000 mt/year of propylene, was pushed back from Q3 2019. The exact dates of maintenance works were not disclosed.

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

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC

New LPG dual fuel very large gas carrier ordered for Borealis by IINO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis AG (Borealis) and IINO Kaiun Kaisha, Ltd.(IINO) are delighted to announce the order for a 91,000 CBM Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) in South Korea, as per Borealis press release.

The liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) dual fuel VLGC, set for delivery in the first quarter of 2023, is committed on time charter to Borealis.

This ship is IINO’s second VLGC with a LPG dual fuel engine. LPG as a fuel reduces emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM), sulphur oxide (SOx) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) compared to conventional heavy fuel oil. In addition, DSME’s unique Shaft Generator Motor (SGM) system is to be fitted on the ship. The SGM enables the generation of electric-power from the LPG dual fuel engine during navigation and contributes to lower fuel/lubricant oil consumption and lower emissions.

This innovative shipping solution will support Borealis future sourcing of feedstock for their , currently under construction. Borealis looks forward to the partnership with IINO to develop and operate a safe, environmentally friendly and reliable, VLGC shipping solution, based on the latest technology.

IINO has been engaged in LPG Shipping with local and overseas LPG Charterers, End-users and Traders for many years based on medium to long term contracts. This year, IINO has set the target of reducing 40% Green House Gas emissions per transport unit in its operating ships by 2030 compared to 2008. The additional eco-friendly VLGC would be an important step to achieve a sustainable society.

Borealis is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced and circular polyolefin solutions and a European market leader in base chemicals, fertilizers and the mechanical recycling of plastics. With head offices in Vienna, Austria, Borealis employs 6,900 employees and operates in over 120 countries.

As MRC reported earlier, Borealis has fully resumed production at its steam cracker in Stenungsund, Sweden. Thus, the cracker with the capacity of 625,000 mtyear of ethylene was restarted on 15-17 January, 2021. Meanwhile, the status of the force majeure on the products from this cracker remains unclear at the moment. Force majeure at Stenungsund was declared after a fire started at the cracker on 10 May last year. A restart of the cracker was initially planned for the fourth quarter of 2020, a Borealis spokesperson told OPIS in September.

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.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
MRC