OPEC discussing deal to increase crude oil production by 2 mln b/d by December

MOSCOW (MRC) -- OPEC and its allies appear in striking distance of a deal on production quotas, discussing proposals that call for an output increase of about 2 million b/d from August to December to meet recovering global oil demand, three sources told S&P Global.

If agreed, the OPEC+ alliance's collective production cuts would shrink by about one-third by the end of the year to about 3.76 million b/d, from July's 5.76 million b/d.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the deal was not yet finalized and that Saudi Arabia was seeking some flexibility to rescind all, or part of the output increases, if Washington and Tehran revive the nuclear deal that relieves sanctions on Iran's oil exports.

An advisory technical committee met June 29 to review the latest forecasts devised by the OPEC secretariat, the base case of which sees oil demand rising 6 million b/d in 2021, with world economic growth at 5.5%.

According to the analysis, which was seen by Platts, if OPEC+ countries hold production levels flat through the rest of the year, global oil demand would exceed supply by 1.6 million b/d in Q3 and 2.2 million b/d in Q4.

Ministers are also considering whether to extend the OPEC+ supply cooperation accord beyond its April expiry to the end of 2022, delegates said.

We remind that 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) -- Clariant and India Glycols Limited (IGL), a leading company in the manufacturing of green technology-based chemicals, announced the creation of their 51-49% joint venture for renewable ethylene oxide (EO) derivatives after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals, said the company.

The joint venture will operate under the name Clariant IGL Specialty Chemicals Private Limited. "The successful closing of this joint venture strengthens our core portfolio and makes Clariant one of the leaders in green ethylene oxide derivatives. As part of our strategy, we are committed to adding value through sustainability. Our partnership with India Glycols will make us one of the leading surfactant suppliers in India, with a focus on renewable solutions for home and personal care”, said Conrad Keijzer, CEO of Clariant.

Originally announced in March 2021, the joint venture is now effective and combines IGL’s renewable bio-ethylene oxide derivatives business, which includes a multipurpose production facility including an alkoxylation plant located in Kashipur, Uttarakhand (India), with Clariant’s local Industrial and Consumer Specialties business in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. This combination is to become one of the leaders in green ethylene oxide derivatives and be a leading supplier of these renewable materials to the rapidly growing consumer care market in India and neighboring countries.

Clariant will fully consolidate the joint venture as of July 1, 2021 and expects an incremental addition to the top-line of the Business Area Care Chemicals in the range of around CHF 50 million for the FY 2021. “I am very pleased with the swift manner in which both parties were able to obtain all necessary regulatory approvals. This allows us to now move ahead and leverage IGL’s position as the largest manufacturer of green EO in the world in a value-generating combination with Clariant", commented U.S. Bhartia, Chairman of India Glycols Limited.

Christian Vang, Global Head of Clariant’s Business Unit Industrial & Consumer Specialties, added: "We experience a growing demand among our customers for home and personal care applications based on renewables. With the joint venture officially established, we will press ahead to fulfill this with innovative, sustainable and high-quality solutions based on the unique capabilities of both partners."

The joint venture will be led by Nitin Sharma, currently Head of Clariant’s Industrial and Consumer Specialties business in South Asia, who added: “Profitable growth through sustainability is the key target for all of us in this newly formed company. The entire team will work together to leverage the contributions made by both partners to the joint venture into innovative solutions that serve the growing markets around us.” Mr. U.S. Bhartia acts as the joint venture’s Chairman.

Clariant IGL Specialty Chemicals Private Limited has approximately 200 employees. It markets Clariant’s entire range of Industrial and Consumer Specialties products in the previously mentioned countries, while all other global markets are 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 per MRC, Clariant, a specialty chemicals major, is selling its pigments business to a consortium consisting of pigment maker Heubach Group (Langelsheim, Germany) and private investment firm SK Capital (South Korea). The combined business will operate under the Heubach name and create a leading global pigments business with annual sales of more than EUR 900 million (USD1.09 billion).

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) -- ExxonMobil's Beaumont, Texas refinery is operating at about 60% of its 369,024-bpd capacity as a lockout of union workers nears the end of its ninth week, said sources familiar with plant operations, said Reuters.

Exxon spokeswoman Julie King said operations at the Beaumont refinery are normal. Exxon is operating the refinery with temporary workers, including managers, engineers and refinery unit operators hired after the lockout began.

Reducing production is a routine step refineries take during labor disputes. Several refineries reduced production by 50% during strikes in 2015.

As it was written earlier, Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) restarted the small crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 502,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery on Thursday, following a month of work. An Exxon spokeswoman declined to discuss the status of specific units at the Baton Rouge refinery. The 90,000-bpd PSLA-8 CDU was shut on May 18 for planned maintenance scheduled to last at least 30 days, the sources said.

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.

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) -- Sasol Ltd. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Paul Victor will step down after more than two decades with the fuel and chemical maker, reported Bloomberg.

He will be succeeded by Royal Bafokeng Platinum Ltd.’s CFO Hanre Rossouw, Sasol said Thursday in a statement. Victor has agreed to remain with the company until June 30, 2022, when it reports annual results.

Victor held the role of CFO through a turbulent time for Sasol, as the company’s shares were battered by oil price volatility and it struggled to contain cost overruns at the Lake Charles Chemicals Project in Louisiana. Ballooning debt forced the company to consider a USD2 billion rights offer and accelerate a disposal of global assets.

Rossouw, who will join Sasol in April, has restructured RBPlat’s balance sheet by refinancing debt, introducing a new capital allocation framework and a new dividend policy, Sasol Chairman Sipho Nkosi said in the statement. Rossouw has also held roles as portfolio manager at Investec Asset Management and CFO of Xstrata Alloys.

As MRC wrote previously, 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 Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide feedstock to the company's six new derivative units at its Lake Charles multi-asset site.

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.

Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- By the end of 2021, Royal Dutch Shell will have just one operating crude oil refinery in the United States: The 227,400-bpd refinery in Norco, Louisiana, said Reuters.

Sources familiar with Shell’s plans say the company will likely hang on to the Norco refinery because of its role in supplying the company’s chemical plants. "Norco is integrated with them," one of the sources said of the refinery, 25 miles (40 km) west of New Orleans.

In addition to producing gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, the Norco refinery produces ethylene and propylene that go to the adjoining Shell Norco chemical plant and to the nearby Shell Geismar, Louisiana, plant. A Shell spokesman did not reply to a request for comment.

In May, Shell announced the sales of its Anacortes, Washington, refinery as well as the controlling interest in the joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery. The company also sold its chemical refinery in Mobile, Alabama.

All three sales are to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. Shell’s shift out of refining to emphasize petrochemical production anticipates a fall in demand for fuels refined from crude oil as motor vehicles shift away from carbon-intensive fuels.

As early as 2014, Shell identified Norco’s gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) as the more profitable at two Louisiana refineries then operated by the Motiva partnership between Shell and Saudi Aramco.

The partnership split in 2017 with Shell keeping the Norco and Convent refineries in Louisiana. Shell shut the Convent refinery in December after overhauling the FCC in 2018. Shell has configured the shut Convent refinery for a possible sale or restart, the company has said.

As MRC informed previously, in late May, 2021, Shell agreed to sell its controlling interest in a Texas refinery to partner Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) for about USD596 million. And in early May, Shell announced the sale of its 149,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Washington to Hollyfrontier Corp.

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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC