PDVSA restarted crude blending at its Sinovensa and Petropiar plants

PDVSA restarted crude blending at its Sinovensa and Petropiar plants

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA has restarted crude blending at its Sinovensa and Petropiar plants after a gas supply outage to the Jose oil export terminal halted operations, according to a document seen by Reuters.

The resumption comes as a very large crude carrier (VLCC) set sail after delays loading at Jose and a second VLCC prepared to leave, partly alleviating a bottleneck of vessels that had built up due to the gas outage, low inventories and quality issues, the internal PDVSA document showed.

Both supertankers are carrying crude cargoes bound for Asia and a third vessel of the same size is set to depart by the end of the month to cover a similar route.

As of May 23, Petrolera Sinovensa's blending plants, operated by a joint venture between PDVSA and China National Petroleum Corp for converting extra-heavy crude from Venezuela's Orinoco oil belt into exportable Merey crude, were processing 139,000 barrels per day, the document showed.

PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Petropiar crude upgrader, a facility near Jose that is part of a joint venture between PDVSA and Chevron Corp and which also halted output last week due to the gas outage, also restarted on Monday, according to a separate document seen by Reuters and a person familiar with the matter.

The temporary gas outage at Jose resulted from a fire at PDVSA's Amana Operating Center (COA) in eastern Monagas state that authorities blamed on lightning.

As per MRC, Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela has restarted gasoline production at the FCC unit of its 310,000 bpd Cardon refinery. The unit was producing between 15,000 and 20,000 bpd of gasoline, according to union leader Ivan Freites, who said the unit started back up on Wednesday evening. PDVSA earlier in the week began producing at least 25,000 bpd of gasoline at Cardon’s reformer unit.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

Bridgestone sells synthetic rubber business to LCY Chem

Bridgestone sells synthetic rubber business to LCY Chem

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japanese tyre major Bridgestone plans to sell its China-based synthetic rubber business, Bridgestone (Huizhou) Synthetic Rubber Co., Ltd. (BSRC), to LCY Chemical Corp., said the company.

Bridgestone Corp. is selling its synthetic rubber production business in China to Taipei-based materials and chemicals supplier LCY Corp., in line with the group's mid-term (2021-2023) business plan to ‘rebuild earning power’.

As part of the deal, the Japanese manufacturer will sell all shares of Bridgestone (Huizhou) Synthetic Rubber Co. Ltd (BSRC) to LCY Chemical Corp. by 14 Dec, said a 15 June statement.

BSRC has one synthetic rubber production plant in Huizhou, Guangdong Province and posted sales of Yuan399 million (EUR51 million) in 2020.

Operational since late 2008, the plant manufactures 50 kilotonnes per annum of styrene butadiene rubber, and supplies to Bridgestone's tire production factories in China.

Through the sale, Bridgestone expects BSRC to “make new synergy with LCY” and maximise growth, given the Taiwanese company’s “excellent expertise for materials and chemicals business."

Bridgestone said the move is part of its mid-term business plan which will see the Tokyo-based group enhancing the earning power of its core tire business through cost-cutting and restructuring measures.

As per MRC, American Bridgestone Firestone, a subsidiary of Japan's Bridgestone Corporation, halted production at its Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA on February 15 due to cold weather in the region. The company confirmed that the 134,000 tonnes BSK per year plant is out of service due to problems associated with extreme weather conditions in the US Gulf of Mexico. Although electricity was restored to the plant, cold weather and power outages in the area resulted in the cutoff of water and other circulation needed to keep the plant running.

Styrene-butadiene rubber has an excellent combination of functional properties in a variety of applications. This rubber is considered the best general purpose rubber due to its excellent properties of high abrasion resistance and high filling percentage.

Styrene is the main raw material for the production of polystyrene (PS).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, last week's prices of Russian EPS remained at the level as of early June. Prices of SIBUR-Khimprom's spot EPS quantities were at Rb167,000-175,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Plastik, Uzlovaya shipped material at Rb178,000-180,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, depending on the grade.

Bridgestone Firestone is an American subsidiary of the Japanese Bridgestone Corporation. Firestone Tire and Rubber and Bridgestone Tire Company Ltd. USA were merged in 1990 to become Bridgestone Firestone North American Holdings Ltd.
MRC

PPG to expand coatings production capacities in The Netherlands and Poland for packaging applications

PPG to expand coatings production capacities in The Netherlands and Poland for packaging applications

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PPG has announced an expansion of its coatings manufacturing capacity in Europe for packaging applications, according to BusinessWire.

The investments at sites in The Netherlands and Poland will support growing customer demand in the region for the latest generation of coatings for aluminum and steel cans used in packaging for beverage, food and personal care items. Financial details related to the expansions were not disclosed.

The projects include a further expansion of the company’s location in Tiel, The Netherlands, which will increase the plant’s production capacity for PPG INNOVEL non-BPA internal coatings for beverage cans by 30%. Expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, the project follows a 50% expansion completed at the end of 2020.

The Tiel plant also will double its production capacity for PPG iSENSE external coatings that are used for the exterior of metal cans for beverage and personal care packaging. That project is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

PPG Innovel is the most widely used, non-BPA internal beverage can spray technology in the world, providing flavor-neutral properties and suitability for a broad range of filling products. PPG iSense specialty overvarnish coatings offer differentiating sensory surface effects for can exteriors, including textured finishes that help brands stand out on increasingly crowded store shelves.

PPG also will double capacity at its Cieszyn, Poland, plant to support the growth of the PPG NUTRISHIELD line of non-BPA, internal, food can coatings. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2021.

These latest investments follow a project completed last year to expand packaging coatings capacity at the company’s Bodelshausen, Germany site. That project doubled production capacity for white lacquers that are used on the external surface of personal care and caps and closures packaging. The research and development (R&D) facility at the site has also been expanded and now represents the company’s European R&D packaging center of excellence. Its official inauguration will be later this year.

As MRC reported earlier, in January 2021, PPG Industries announced it will acquired Worwag (Stuttgart, Germany), a producer of liquid, powder and film coatings for industrial and automotive applications.

Besides, PPG said 24 December, 2020, that it ha completed the acquisition of specialty transport coatings maker Ennis-Flint.

BPA is the main feedstock for the production of polycarbonate (PC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PC granules (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus) totalled 34,000 tonnes in the first four months of 2021, up by 11% year on year (30,500 tonnes a year earlier).
MRC

Asia Distillates-Gasoil cash differential falls but ends week higher on improving demand in the region

Asia Distillates-Gasoil cash differential falls but ends week higher on improving demand in the region

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cash discounts for cargoes of Asia's 10 ppm gasoil slipped on Friday on weaker physical deal values in the Singapore trading window, but ended the week higher on signs of improving demand in Asia, reported Reuters.

The 10 ppm cash differential was at a four-session low of minus 4 cents a barrel below Singapore quotes on Friday, down from minus 2 cents in the previous session. The differential climbed to a more than two-week high premium of 5 cents a barrel on Wednesday. Sentiment, however, was capped by concerns of rising regional supplies as refiners in north Asia resume operations following seasonal refinery turnarounds.

China's diesel exports plunged 38% in May from a month before to their lowest level this year, as reduced fuel output during the refinery maintenance season forced refiners to prioritise domestic consumers. China shipped out 1.68 million tonnes of diesel last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Friday. That compares with 2.72 million tonnes in April, but was still higher than 1.45 million tonnes in May last year. May gasoline exports were at 1.55 million tonnes, edging up 5% from April and more than double the low base in May 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic curbed travel demand overseas. Jet kerosene exports were up 1.8% year-on-year at 570,000 tonnes. Chinese refiners have been carrying out overhauls since late March, affecting more than 1 million barrels per day of crude processing capacity in April and May.

Gasoil stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub dropped 7.4% to 2.1 million tonnes in the week ended June 10, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed. ARA jet fuel inventories dipped 2.1% this week to 1.1 million tonnes.

In Singapore, middle distillate inventories jumped 15% to a four-week high of 12.96 million barrels in the week to June 16, according to Enterprise Singapore data. The 1.69 million barrel increase in distillate inventories was the largest weekly build up in 14 months.

Brent crude's premium to Dubai quotes DUB-EFS-1M rose on Friday to the highest in 21 months on the back of stronger demand this summer, effectively keeping Atlantic Basin grades out of Asia's reach, according to traders and Refinitiv data.

As MRC informed previously, Asia's cash differentials for jet fuel flipped into premiums for the first time this year in early May, partly supported by firmer deals in the physical market, while prompt-month spread for the aviation fuel stood at its narrowest contango in more than two months.

We remind that slumping fuel consumption during the pandemic is accelerating the long-term shift of refining capacity from North America and Europe to Asia, and from older, smaller refineries to modern, higher-capacity mega-refineries. The result is a wave of closures, often centering on refineries that only narrowly survived the previous closure wave in the years after the recession in 2008/09.

We also remind that PetroChina has nearly doubled the amount of Russian crude being processed at its refinery in Dalian, the company's biggest, since January 2018, as a new supply agreement had come into effect. The Dalian Petrochemical Corp, located in the northeast port city of Dalian, was expected to process 13 million tonnes, or 260,000 bpd of Russian pipeline crude in 2018, up by about 85 to 90 percent from the previous year's level. Dalian has the capacity to process about 410,000 bpd of crude. The increase follows an agreement worked out between the Russian and Chinese governments under which Russia's top oil producer Rosneft was to supply 30 million tonnes of ESPO Blend crude to PetroChina in 2018, or about 600,000 bpd. That would have represented an increase of 50 percent over 2017 volumes.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

Pembina and TC Energy team up for carbon transportation and sequestration project

Pembina and TC Energy team up for carbon transportation and sequestration project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canadian midstream energy company Pembina Pipeline and energy infrastructure major TC Energy (formerly TansCanada) plan to build a “world-scale” carbon transportation and sequestration system in Canada’s oil-rich Alberta province, said the company.

Pembina Pipeline Corp. and TC Energy Corp. have announced a plan to develop a carbon transportation and sequestration system in Alberta.

The companies say the project will form the backbone of Alberta's carbon capture utilization and storage industry. It will be capable of transporting more than 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Pembina and TC Energy plan to retrofit existing pipelines as well as build new systems to connect the province's largest sources of industrial emissions to a sequestration location northeast of Redwater, Alta.

They say that by using existing assets it speeds up timing of the project, reduces environmental and community impacts and is cheaper. Pembina and TC Energy hope to have the first phase to be operational as early as 2025.

As MRC informed earlier, the proposed merger of Canadian energy companies Pembina Pipeline and Inter Pipeline (IPL) could lead to the construction of a second propane dehydrogenation and polypropylene (PP) plant in Alberta. The Canadian company Inter Pipeline Ltd will complete the construction of a polypropylene (PP) plant in Alberta province, Canada by the end of the year, and the polypropylene production itself will begin in early 2022. In addition, the construction of a propane dehydrogenation unit is due to be completed next month. The polypropylene production capacity will be 525 thousand per year.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.

Pembina Pipeline has been a gas supplier to the North American power system for over 60 years. Pembina owns and operates pipelines that transport a variety of hydrocarbon fluids, including conventional and synthetic crude oils and others, produced in Western Canada and North Dakota.
MRC