Rompetrol reports loss for petchems business despite higher volumes

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rompetrol Rafinare (Navodari, Romania) reports a net loss of $37.3 million for its petrochemicals business for the full year 2020, narrowing from a loss of USD48.4 million the previous year, on sales that fell USD24.0 million to USD149.2 million, according to Chemweek.

Figures for the fourth quarter were not available. EBITDA for the year was negative at USD26.3 million, a slight improvement on 2019’s EBITDA loss of USD29.1 million.

The net loss comes despite a year-on-year (YOY) rise in Rompetrol’s production volumes of polymers and ethylene, it says. Total production of polymers was 143,000 metric tons in 2020, up 13% compared with the prior year, due mainly to an improved operating schedule for the company’s low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant, it says. Total processed polypropylene (PP) volumes fell YOY to 117,000 metric tons from 153,000 metric tons in 2019, while total ethylene production volumes rose in 2020 to 66,000 metric tons from 38,000 metric tons the previous year. Total product sales volumes was 160,000 metric tons for the year, down slightly on 2019.

Rompetrol reported a group net loss for the year of USD220.1 million, widening from a loss of USD48.9 million in 2019, on sales that declined to USD3.46 billion from USD5.19 billion a year earlier. The loss was largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its refining business, which reported a net loss of $203.6 million, compared with a loss of USD16.9 million in 2019.

As MRC informed earlier, the petrochemical activities of Romanian Rompetrol Group have been integrated in the refinery arm since November, 2013, in a move designed to cut costs and increase the overall efficiency of the group’s operations. "The integration of the two companies represents the continuation of Rompetrol Group’s strategy to concentrate the production activity in a single activity", said then Rompetrol in a statement.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Rompetrol, the only producer of PP and PE in Romania, is majority owned by Kazakhstan’s KMG International Group with a 54.63% shareholding, with the Romanian government owning the remaining 44.7%.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has posted a strong rise in its fourth-quarter earnings and sales, beating consensus and in line with preliminary figures released earlier this month, and is forecasting a significant rebound in annual earnings and sales for 2021, said Chemweek.

Net profit soared in the quarter to EUR1.06 billion (USD1.29 billion) from €150 million in the prior-year period, with sales rising 8% year on year (YOY) to EUR15.91 billion. EBIT before special items was EURE1.11 billion, up 32% YOY and also beating analysts’ consensus estimates, with the rise due primarily to significantly increased earnings in the materials, chemicals, and industrial solutions segments on higher volumes and prices, it says. EBIT before special items in BASF’s materials segment rose to €489 million from EUR80 million a year earlier, chemicals segment EBIT increased 97% YOY to EUR227 million, and industrial solutions EBIT grew 85% YOY to EUR200 million.

For 2021, BASF says it expects full-year sales to grow to between EUR61.0-64.0 billion, up from EUR59.15 billion in 2020, with EBIT before special items for the year forecast at between EUR4.1-5.0 billion, increasing from €3.56 billion in 2020. The year-ahead earnings outlook is lower than consensus of EUR5.0 billion but “potentially conservative,” according to Bernstein Research (London, UK). The sales outlook is slightly ahead of consensus, it says. “Encouragingly, January volume development also looks to be positive,” it adds.

“BASF was able to close out the year on a strong note,” says BASF chairman Martin Brudermuller. The company’s overall sales volumes rose 7% YOY in the fourth quarter, with growth seen in all regions. “In Greater China, we continued to see double-digit volumes growth. Sales volumes rose in almost all segments in the final quarter of the year,” he says. For some commodity product lines, such as isocyanates, BASF was able to significantly expand margins, he adds. Prices increased by 7%, driven mainly by the surface technologies, agricultural solutions, and materials segments, according to Brudermuller.

BASF says it expects the global economy to recover in 2021 but that “uncertainty about future developments remains exceptionally high.” The company’s outlook for this year assumes growth in customer industries, “especially the automotive industry,” says Brudermuller. The global economy is expected to see significant growth of 4.3% compared with 2020, with worldwide chemical production expected to grow 4.4% in 2021, “well above the prior-year level,” he says. Global chemical production declined 0.4% in 2020, according to BASF.

For the period 2021-2025, BASF says it plans capital expenditure (capex) of EUR22.9 billion in total, with APAC accounting for 41% of the investments, mostly in China, and Europe 39%. BASF plans capex of EUR3.6 billion overall in 2021, a rise of 15% over 2020, it says.

BASF's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are expected to stabilize at between 20.5-21.5 million metric tons in 2021, according to the company.

As MRC wrote before, late last week, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted last Wednesday due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other’s capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year, according to IHS Markit data.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) reports a fourth-quarter net loss of CD25.8 million (USD20.7 million), down from a loss of CD12.6 million in the prior-year quarter on higher finance costs, said Chemweek.

Revenue totaled CD319 million, down 10% year over year (YOY) from CD355 million. Chemtrade attributes the decline in revenue to lower sales volumes and selling prices for caustic soda and hydrochloric acid, and lower sales volumes of sodium chlorate, regen acid, and merchant sulfuric acid.

@The year has started with some weather-based challenges and the continuing uncertainty about the duration and extent of the pandemic’s effects on the economy,” says Scott Rook, who becomes Chemtrade’s president and CEO on 1 March. “The pandemic uncertainty means that the outlook for some of our businesses is difficult to predict for 2021, although we are confident that our water solutions business should continue to perform well."

Revenue in the sulfur products and performance chemicals segment totaled CD101 million, down 14% YOY from CD117 million on lower sales volumes for regen and merchant acid, a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, says Chemtrade. Adjusted EBITDA totaled C$27.6 million, down 19% from CD34.2 million.

The water solutions and specialty chemicals segment reported fourth-quarter revenue of CD99 million, down 3% YOY from CD102 million on lower sales volumes of water solutions products. Adjusted EBITDA came to CD20.3 million, up 39% from CD14.6 million on higher margins for water products.

Revenue in the electrochemicals segment totaled CD119 million, down 12% YOY from CD136 million. Chemtrade cites a 21% decrease in chlor-alkali sales volumes, a 12% decrease in caustic soda prices, a 12% decrease in hydrochloric acid prices, and 6% lower sodium chlorate sales volumes. Adjusted EBITDA came to CD22.3 million, down 35% from CD34.1 million. A turnaround at the North Vancouver plant reduced chlor-alkali production, which was also constrained by weaker hydrochloric acid demand from the fracking industry. Sodium chlorate sales volumes remained low owing to increased working from home during the pandemic, which led to reduced demand for paper and thus bleached pulp production.

As MRC informed earlier, Chemtrade Logistics has announced force majeure circumstances for the supply of caustic soda, chlorine and hydrochloric acid from its plant in North Vancouver (North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada). In a statement, the company said that the force majeure was caused by a technical failure of the equipment.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.

Chemtrade operates a diversified business providing industrial chemicals and services to customers in North America and around the world. Chemtrade is one of North America's largest suppliers of sulphuric acid, spent acid processing services, inorganic coagulants for water treatment, liquid sulphur dioxide, sodium nitrite, sodium hydrosulphite and phosphorus pentasulphide. Chemtrade is a leading regional supplier of sulphur, sodium chlorate, potassium chloride, and zinc oxide. Additionally, Chemtrade provides industrial services such as processing by-products and waste streams.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp has restarted the gasoline-producing and diesel-producing units at its 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) oil refinery in Beaumont, Texas, reported Reuters with reference to two sources that are familiar with the plant’s operations.

Exxon did not reply to a request for comment on Sunday.

Almost all of the refinery’s units have restarted since being shut by freezing weather on Feb. 15, the sources said.

The 120,000-bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) and 65,000-bpd diesel-producing hydrocracker restarted on Saturday, the sources said.

As MRC wrote before, ExxonMobil's operational shutdowns include polyethylene (PE) facilities amid power outages prompted by the deep freeze that has enveloped the US Gulf Coast. "This event has caused widespread power outages across Texas and Louisiana" Feb. 15," the letter, dated Feb. 16, said. "As a consequence, several ExxonMobil Chemical operations have experienced loss of power and other key utilities, impacting our ability to resume full operations." ExxonMobil operates three PE units in Mont Belvieu, Texas, with combined capacity of 880,000 mt/year, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

Exxon is among many petrochemical producers that shut Feb. 14 and subsequent days because of sustained extreme sub-freezing temperatures in the region. ExxonMobil previously confirmed Feb. 16 that the company had shut all refining and chemical operations at its Baytown and Beaumont, Texas, complexes. Ethylene produced at Baytown feeds the Mont Belvieu PE operations.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world"s oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP has successfully completed an autonomous vehicle trial at its Lingen refinery in Germany, working with Oxbotica, a global leader in autonomous vehicle software. The trial was a world-first in the energy sector and the latest addition to the bp ventures technology portfolio, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

During the trial the vehicle travelled over 180km fully autonomously, safely navigating the extensive and complex environment of the bp refinery, including busy junctions, narrow paths, railway crossings, and multiple terrains, during both day and night and in unpredictable weather conditions. Oxbotica was able to deploy its autonomy software platform and integrate with the existing infrastructure within two hours of arriving on site.

Following the success of the trial, bp aims to progress to deploying its first autonomous vehicle for monitoring operations at the refinery by the end of the year.

The self-driving vehicles will enhance human operations and improve safety by increasing the monitoring for irregular conditions, faulty equipment and security threats, making it more frequent and around the clock. The autonomous vehicles’ enhanced analytics will help the site reduce the size of its current fleet.

Morag Watson SVP digital science and engineering, bp said: “This relationship is an important example of how bp is leveraging automation and digital technology that we believe can improve safety, increase efficiency and decrease carbon emissions in support of our net zero ambition.

“Lingen has 30 km of roads. Intelligent technology like this helps us make the incremental but equally critical improvements to our operations, so we can continue to focus on delivering the energy the world needs in the way that it wants. I am looking forward to working with Oxbotica to explore how we can unlock the full potential of autonomy.”

“This relationship is an important example of how bp is leveraging automation and digital technology that we believe can improve safety, increase efficiency and decrease carbon emissions in support of our net zero ambition," Morag Watson SVP digital science and engineering.

The announcement follows bp’s recent USD13m equity investment in Oxbotica. The partnership will give Oxbotica access to bp’s operations, retail sites and customer network, helping to unlock its potential.

Ozgur Tohumcu, CEO at Oxbotica said: “As part of our first refinery trial in Lingen, we showcased how autonomy improves safety, reduces emissions and improves productivity. The investment from bp will allow us to scale our autonomous software platform across the energy ecosystem with a number of planned use cases and unlock the true power of universal autonomy.”

Beyond the trial, bp believes that Oxbotica’s technology can help it to create an inherently safer operating environment for field workers through its reliable, repeatable, and predictable application.

The software can be installed into any vehicle and can work indoors, outdoors, underground, in any weather condition and any time of day or night. It has zero dependence on external infrastructure such as GPS or third-party mapping and is completely sensor- and platform-agnostic.

Erin Hallock, managing partner at bp ventures added: “Oxbotica’s technology makes autonomous vehicles safer due to improved vision, more efficient due to reduced downtime and less carbon intensive through forensic control of acceleration, braking and driving patterns. We are delighted to partner with a business at the forefront of the future of mobility that can modernise bp through autonomy and look forward to scaling the software across bp’s ecosystem.”

As MRC reported before, in early February, 2021, Rosneft Oil Company and BP signed a Strategic Collaboration Agreement focused on supporting carbon management and sustainability activities of both companies. The agreement builds on years of partnership between the two companies and formalises key elements of their collaboration on sustainability and work to identify carbon reduction activities and low carbon opportunities.

We remind that in late January 2020, Russian oil producer Rosneft said that its German subsidiary Rosneft Deutschland GmbH had completed the deal to acquire a 3.57% stake in Germany’s Bayernoil Raffineriegesellschaft mbH from BP.

We also remind that a fire at Ufaorgsintez (a subsidiary of ANK Bashneft, part of PJSC "NK Rosneft") did not lead to a shutdown of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) production capacities. On 25 January, two containers with a methane-hydrogen fraction caught fire at the Ufa plant, and the blaze was extinguished in the morning of 26 January. The plant's customers said the fire was not critical for polymer production. PP production has been operating normally, whereas the LDPE production has temporarily reduced its capacity utilisation, thus, production of 158 grade polyethylene (PE) was suspended.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

BP is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, serving millions of customers every day in around 80 countries, and employing around 85,000 people. BP’s business segments are Upstream (oil and gas exploration & production), and Downstream (refining & marketing). Through these activities, BP provides fuel for transportation; energy for heat and light; services for motorists; and petrochemicals products for plastics, textiles and food packaging. It has strong positions in many of the world's hydrocarbon basins and strong market positions in key economies.
MRC