Saudi oil giant to reduce spending after 2020 profit fall

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco is betting on an Asian-led rebound in energy demand in 2021 after it reported a steep fall in last year's net profit and scaled back its spending plans, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The COVID-19 pandemic took a heavy toll on the company and its global peers in 2020, but oil prices have rallied this year as economies recover from last year’s downturn and after oil producers extended output cuts.

“We are pleased that there are signs of a recovery,” Aramco CEO Amin Nasser told an earnings call. “China is also very close to pre-pandemic levels. So in Asia, East Asia in particular, there is strong pickup in demand.”

He said demand in Europe and United States would improve with more deployment of vaccines. Global oil demand is expected to reach 99 million barrels per day by the end of this year, he said.

Aramco lowered its guidance for capital expenditure in 2021 to around USD35 billion from a range of USD40 billion to USD45 billion previously, according to a disclosure to the kingdom’s Tadawul bourse. Capital spending in 2020 was USD27 billion.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2019, McDermott International announced that it had been awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco and Total Raffinage Chimie (Total) for their joint venture (JV) Amiral steam cracker project at Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Amiral is a JV in which Aramco holds 62.5% and Total the rest. The plant, designed to produce 1.5 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) of ethylene, will be one of the world's largest mixed-feed crackers.

Aramco and Total launched their USD5-billion Amiral JV project in October 2018. The steam cracker will be fed with a mixture of 50% ethane and refinery off-gases. It will supply ethylene to a downstream 1 MMt/y polyethylene manufacturing complex and other petrochemical products. The project aims to fully exploit operational synergies with the adjacent refinery, owned by Satorp, another JV between Aramco and Total. Third-party investors, including Daelim and Ineos, will locate plants at the value park adjacent to Amiral with a combined investment of USD4 billion. A final investment decision is expected in 2021.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco"s value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Versalis will keep the Porto Marghera cracker running until spring 2022, said Chemanager-online.

In the spring of 2018, Versalis announced that maintenance was due in 2022 and that the future of the cracker would be determined. The cracking unit was first shut down in 2014 and has been closed for almost a year.

Since about 2016, ethylene products have been mainly exported to Asia under procurement agreements.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Versalis is a petrochemical company, a 100% subsidiary of the Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA. The company manufactures a wide range of petrochemical products and is also one of the world's leading elastomer companies.

Eni S.p.A. (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) is an Italian oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. Eni operates in 70 countries around the world.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INVISTA has completed its project to bring the company’s most advanced adiponitrile (ADN) technology to its site in Victoria, Texas, on schedule, as part of the site’s regularly planned maintenance turnaround, said the company.

The site will manage a controlled start-up and ramp-up of ADN production.

ADN is a key ingredient for nylon 6,6 fibers and plastics used in industries like automotive production, electronics and electrical connectors. Applications also include automotive airbag fiber, specialty apparel fibers and high-performance coatings.

INVISTA's latest ADN technology has also been deployed at its site in Orange, Texas; at Butachimie in France (owned 50 percent by INVISTA and 50 percent by BASF), and will be deployed at its ADN plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in China, which is targeted to begin production in 2022. This technology brings improved product yields, reduced energy consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions, enhanced process stability and reduced capital intensity, compared to existing technologies.

As per MRC, INVISTA Performance Technologies (IPT), a technology and licensing group of INVISTA, and Hengli Petrochemical (Huizhou) Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of the Hengli Group (Hengli), reached a licensing agreement for INVISTA's P8 technology for two purified terephthalic acid (TPA) production lines. ). These two lines will be built in Xiachun, Dai Bay, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, China. Hengli operates five more TPA lines on Changxing Island, Dalian, each using INVISTA TPA technology with a total capacity of 12 million tonnes per year.

PTA is one of the main raw materials for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

According to MRC's ScanPlast, the estimated PET consumption in Russia increased by 3% in January 2021 compared to the same indicator a year earlier. In total, according to the results of the first month of this year in Russia, the total estimated consumption of PET amounted to 57,420 tonnes.

INVISTA is one of the world's largest producers of polymer fibers, resins and intermediate raw materials for the production of synthetic polymer materials. The head office is located in Wichita (Wichita, Kansas, USA). The company is currently part of the Koch Industries concern.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a focused, sustainable and innovative specialty chemical company, and India Glycols Limited (IGL), a leading company in the manufacturing of green technology-based chemicals, have announced a strategic partnership to establish a 51-49% joint venture (JV) in renewable ethylene oxide (EO) derivatives, as per Clariant's press release.

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, India Glycols will contribute its renewable Bio-EO Derivative business to the joint venture, which includes a multipurpose production facility including an alkoxylation plant located in Kashipur, Uttarakhand (India). In return, Clariant will contribute its local Industrial and Consumer Specialties business in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, held by Clariant India Ltd., as well as a net cash payment to attain a 51% stake and thus majority ownership.

Clariant International Ltd. will be the sole Clariant shareholder in the JV. Mr. U.S. Bhartia would be the designated chairman of the joint venture.

By combining production and distribution capacity, the JV is expected to become a leading supplier of renewable materials to the rapidly growing consumer care market in India and neighboring countries.

The partnership is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

“This opportunity to partner with India Glycols is an important step in Clariant’s journey to strengthen our core portfolio, while adding value with sustainability. It enhances the capacity of our Industrial and Consumer Specialties business in India and beyond, whereas the access to renewable Ethylene Oxide broadens our global offering to customers and this makes Clariant a leader in “green” Ethylene Oxide Derivatives”, said Conrad Keijzer, CEO of Clariant.

The joint venture will market Clariant’s entire range of Industrial and Consumer Specialties products in the previously mentioned countries, while all other global markets shall be served by Clariant.

To support production, India Glycols has agreed to a long-term supply agreement for ethylene oxide made from bio-ethanol as well as further utilities.

As MRC reported earlier, in October 2020, Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland) announced the construction of a new state-of-the-art catalyst production site in China. This project represents a significant investment which further strengthens Clariant’s position in China and enhances its ability to support its customers in the country’s thriving petrochemicals industry.

The new facility will be primarily responsible for producing the Catofin catalyst for propane dehydrogenation, which is used in the production of olefins such as propylene. Thanks to its excellent reliability and productivity, Catofin delivers superior annual production output compared to alternative technologies, resulting in increased overall profitability for propylene producers, says the company. Construction at the Dushan Port Economic Development Zone in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province was scheduled to commence in Q3 2020, and Clariant expects to be at full production capacity by 2022.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A unit of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire has declared bankruptcy, citing the impact of US sanctions on Venezuela, reported Reuters with reference to a court filing.

In a March 9 filing published last week by the Court of First Instance of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, PDVSA-owned Bonaire Petroleum Corporation (BOPEC) said it could no longer pay its debts because sanctions had cut off its "access to international trade," as well as cash held in bank accounts.

The court granted BOPEC's request for a moratorium on creditor payments in a filing that noted BOPEC said it was negotiating with "a party that may make the necessary liquid assets available" to allow the company to "satisfy its preferred creditors and offer a settlement to its unsecured creditors."

Neither PDVSA nor Venezuela's oil ministry immediately responded to requests for comment.

At its peak, BOPEC had the capacity to store some 10 million barrels of oil and load large vessels from its deep water docks. The company last year was ordered to remove stored oil due to the risk of leaks from its tanks.

PDVSA's contract to operate Curacao's 335,000 barrel-per-day Isla refinery and a neighboring storage terminal ended in December 2019, and PDVSA unit Citgo Petroleum Corp - now under the control of the US-backed opposition to Maduro - last year transferred control of Aruba's San Nicolas refinery to the island's government.

As MRC informed earlier, pressured by strict US sanctions, Venezuela's oil exports plunged by 376,500 barrels per day (bpd) in 2020, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and internal documents from state-run PDVSA, financially squeezing President Nicolas Maduro.

We remind that in December 2020, a tanker chartered by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) was loading Venezuelan crude for export, documents from state-run PDVSA show, providing evidence of the two countries' latest tactics to expand their trade in defiance of US sanctions. Venezuela and Iran had deepened their cooperation last year as Venezuela had exchanged gold and other commodities for Iranian food, condensate and fuel.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC