Ningbo Fortune to start up second PP line in Ningbo

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's Ningbo Fortune Petrochemical plans to begin test production at its second polypropylene (PP) line in Ningbo, China by mid-June, 2021, according to CommoPlast.

The production capacity of the new line will be 400,000 mt of PP per year.

In early May 2021, the company received commercial production at its first PP line in Ningbo of the same capacity.

As MRC reported earlier, the project for the construction of a new complex located in the industrial park Ningbo Daxie Development Park, Zhejiang Province, China has two stages. The construction and start-up of PP production, along with a new propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit, are included in the first stage of the project.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, 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.

Ningbo Fortune Petrochemical is a subsidiary of Oriental Energy Co. The registered capital of the company is RMB 1 billion.
MRC

1. PetroChina ordered to stop trading off oil quotas with independent refineries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chinese authorities have ordered a unit of state-run PetroChina to stop trading off crude oil import quotas with local refineries as part of a crackdown on excessive fuel production, a move that could cut the country's crude imports by 3%, reported Reuters with reference to sources. Beijing has stepped up scrutiny of crude oil quota use and imports by state and private firms this year to ease a fuel surplus that has weighed on the sector's profits and led to excess emissions that have undermined China's climate goals, said five industry sources with knowledge of the matter. PetroChina Fuel Oil Co Ltd is a major crude oil supplier to China's independent refineries.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures hit fresh multiyear highs during midmorning Asia trade June 9 as the US Energy Information Administration forecast a decline in global oil inventories in the second half of 2021 in its June Short-Term Energy Outlook, reported S&P Global.

The rally was further supported by signs that the US-Iran talks, which could bring sanctioned Iranian barrels back into the market, would take longer than expected.

At 11:12 am Singapore time (0312 GMT), the ICE August Brent futures contract was up 50 cents/b (0.69%) from the previous settle at USD72.72/b while the NYMEX July light sweet crude contract was up 47 cents/b (0.67%) at USD70.52/b.

Both contracts touched multiyear highs June 4 before settling lower. The ICE Brent contract last settled higher at USD71.97/b on May 20, 2019, while the NYMEX light sweet crude contract was last higher at USD69.49/b on July 19, 2018, S&P Global Platts data showed.

Prices regained their upward momentum as EIA's STEO, released June 8, reinforced expectations of a demand-led recovery in the oil markets that would result in a drawdown of global oil inventories.

Global oil production is expected to match the rising levels of global oil consumption, with oil production increasing largely as a result of easing OPEC+ production cuts, according to the STEO.

"We expect rising production will end the persistent global oil inventory draws that have occurred for much of the past year and lead to relatively balanced global oil markets in the second half of 2021," the EIA said in the report.

Furthermore adding to the bullish sentiment, the American Petroleum Institute reported an estimated 2.1 million-barrel draw in US crude oil inventories in the week ended June 4.

On the supply side, US-Iran negotiations to potentially lift sanctions on Iranian crude seemed unlikely to wrap up soon. This was also keeping the sentiment supported in the oil markets.

"It seems talks could drag on much longer which means the timeline for additional output from Iran keeps getting pushed back," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, in a June 9 note.

Meanwhile, the market continues to await OPEC's and the International Energy Agency's June Oil Market Reports, due to be released June 10 and June 11, respectively, to get a better sense of supply and demand fundamentals going forward.

As MRC informed earlier, Indian refiners, anticipating a lifting of US sanctions, plan to make space for the resumption of Iranian imports by reducing spot crude oil purchases in the second half of the year. The world"s third-largest oil consumer and importer halted imports from Tehran in 2019 after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 accord and re-imposed sanctions on the OPEC producer over its disputed nuclear programme.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kolon Industries Inc., a South Korean industrial materials company, said Wednesday that it had succeeded in developing and commercializing post-consumer recycled (PCR) polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films, according to The Korea Bizwire.

Kolon Industries, in collaboration with major cosmetics and household goods maker LG Household & Health Care Ltd. and a packaging material firm Lotte Aluminum Co., has been engaged in the development of the nation’s first PCR PET films since the second half of last year.

Starting from this month, Kolon Industries will supply its newly-developed PCR PET films for some of the household items and food containers produced by LG Household & Health Care and Lotte Aluminum.

According to Kolon Industries, the annual demand for PET films is estimated to have exceeded 6 million tons but the share of PCR PET films remains low at less than 1%. However, as eco-friendly materials are increasingly popular along with the trend of reducing the use of plastics, demand for PCR PET films is soaring, mainly in areas with low technical barriers.

As MRC reported earlier, in April 2021, SK Global Chemical Co., a petrochemical subsidiary of SK Innovation Co., and chemical and textile heavyweight Kolon Industries signed a strategic partnership on 7 April to produce biodegradable polybuthylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) plastic from the third quarter of this year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption grew to 263,660 tonnes in the first four months in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Bottle grade PET chips accounted for 78.3% of the increase in consumption due to the virtual absence of exports and higher imports. April estimated PET consumption was 80,150 tonnes, up by 34% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Australian government picked six carbon capture, use and storage projects on Monday to receive a total of AD50 million (USD39 million) in funds as it looks to accelerate development of the technology to cut emissions, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Carbon capture has been tested for years but is gaining momentum as the International Energy Agency and others see it as essential to helping the world achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Australia's gas producers see carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a way of keeping gas in the mix amid the transition to cleaner energy, potentially linking carbon credits from CCS to their gas exports and using gas to produce hydrogen, with the carbon released in the process captured and stored.

The conservative government has made it a priority area for technology investment. Canberra received applications to support AD1.2 billion of investment in CCS projects, Energy Minister Angus Taylor said. Australia's no.2 independent gas producer Santos Ltd and its partner Beach Energy won AD15 million for their AD210 million Moomba CCS project, which will initially store 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year in depleted oil and gas fields in the Cooper Basin in South Australia.

Santos expects to make a final investment decision on the project later this year, after the government spells out a methodology for CCS projects to generate carbon credits, which the company said was "essential to make the project stack up economically".

Glencore plc won up to AD5 million for the AD210 million CTSCo project, which plans to capture carbon emissions at a coal-fired power plant and store it deep underground in the Surat Basin in Queensland. If proven to be safe and sustainable, the Surat Basin could hold "very sizeable" volumes of CO2 and store emissions from a range of industries, a Glencore spokesperson said. Three of the projects plan to demonstrate capture and use of carbon dioxide in making construction materials like concrete, masonry and plasterboard.

As per MRC, Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co Ltd said it would invest in the development of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Britain. The Japanese company will take a 15.4% share in Storegga Geotechnologies which is developing the Acorn CCS project to store carbon dioxide emissions in depleted North Sea oil and gas reservoirs. CCS traps emissions and buries them underground but is not yet at the commercialisation stage.

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