Trading arm of Pemex bans new business with Trafigura

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The commercial arm of Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has temporarily banned new business with Trafigura AG, according to a document and a source, as investigations into the energy trader’s conduct in several countries deepen, reported Reuters.

The world's largest independent commodity traders here are facing scrutiny globally for alleged corruption after years of investigations into bribes of public officials in several countries in Latin America.

Pemex and other state oil companies have become wary of doing business with merchants, which include Trafigura and rival Vitol. Earlier this month, PMI Comercio International suspended new deals with Trafigura and its subsidiaries until further notice, according to company communication seen by Reuters. The document did not state a reason for the ban.

Mexico is the world’s fourth-largest importer of refined oil products and a prominent buyer of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Many foreign trading houses and oil companies buy Mexican crude from Pemex and also supply refined products or LNG for Mexican state companies.

Employees at PMI, which is in charge of Pemex’s fuel imports, were told to honor existing agreements with Trafigura but not take on new deals as of early July, a source familiar with the operations said.

Mexico’s longstanding business relationships with Trafigura and other energy traders have become increasingly difficult to sustain because of additional layers of compliance progressively imposed by the company and its units, several sources said.

The primary reason for the increased scrutiny is that Pemex and its subsidiaries are worried about exposure to companies under investigation for corruption elsewhere, two of the sources said. All sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Other Pemex units continue trading with the Geneva-based trader, another source said. Reuters was unable to determine the frequency and size of the trading relationship, but the Americas accounted for 31% of Trafigura’s oil revenues in 2020.

As MRC informed before, Pemex will invest USD2.64 billion to complete a coking plant at its Tula refinery as the country seeks to reduce its dependence on imported fuels, said earlier the state company's CEO. The project, which Pemex expects to finish by 2023, will allow Pemex to process 90% of the fuel oil produced at Tula and at neighboring Salamanca, Octavio Romero Oropeza said during the daily press conference held by Mexican President Manuel Andres Lopez Obrador.

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 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- McDermott International, Ltd has been selected by LACC, LLC, a joint venture between Westlake Chemical Corporation and Lotte Chemical Corporation, to provide engineering, procurement and construction for a seventh heater addition to its LACC Ethane Cracker Facility in Westlake, La, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Schematic image for seventh heater addition to LACC Ethane Cracker Facility in Westlake, La.

"We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with Westlake and Lotte Chemical through this latest contract award," said Mark Coscio, Senior Vice President for McDermott's North, Central and South America region. "Using McDermott's extensive experience in the petrochemical market, we will demonstrate our commitment to supporting a superior project delivery experience on behalf of our customers."

Engineering, procurement and construction project services will be led by McDermott's Houston engineering group with support from its Mexico City office. McDermott's preferred technology partner, Lummus Technology, will provide the heat transfer technology, SRT-III, central to the seventh heater addition.

The project will commence immediately and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2023.

As MRC reported earlier, Lotte Chemical Titan Holding (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), an affiliate of Lotte Chemical (Seoul, South Korea), announced that the group's ethane cracker and ethylene glycol (EG) plant at Lake Charles, Louisiana, commenced commercial operations in August, 2019. Lotte Chemical USA, a 40/60 joint venture (JV) between Lotte Chemical Titan and Lotte Chemical, holds the Lotte group's stakes in the plants. The USD3.1-billion ethane cracker is an 88/12 JV between Lotte Chemical USA and Axiall, a subsidiary of Westlake Chemical.

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 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.

Lotte is the first South Korean petrochemical company to enter the ethane-cracking business in North America using shale gas. Lotte Chemical operates naphtha crackers at Yeosu and Daesan, South Korea, and Lotte Chemical Titan operates a cracker at Pasir Gudang, Malaysia. Lotte says that the US cracker increases the group's overall ethylene capacity to 4.5 MMt/y, making it the seventh-biggest producer of ethylene worldwide.

Westlake Chemical Corporation is an international manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and building products with headquarters in Houston, Texas. The company's range of products includes: ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, chlor-alkali and derivative products, PVC suspension and specialty resins, PVC Compounds, and PVC building products including siding, pipe, fittings and specialty components, windows, fence, deck and film.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell announced it has been selected by Jiangsu Fenghai High-tech Materials Co. to supply the technologies for a polyolefin project to be built in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China, according to Apic-online.

The new facility will include the production of 400,000-t/y polypropylene (PP), based on LyondellBasell?s Spheripol technology, and 300,000 t/y of high density polyethylene (HDPE) using its Hostalen ACP process.

Cost of the project and a completion date were not available.

"We are delighted that Jiangsu Fenghai has awarded LyondellBasell these substantial licenses for their first polyolefin project," said Neil Nadalin, director of licensing at LyondellBasell.

As MRC reported earlier, in August 2020, LyondellBasell (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) announced that Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company LLC (DRPIC) has selected LyondellBasell’s world-leading PP and HDPE technologies for a new facility. The new plants will comprise of a PP plant that will utilize LyondellBasell’s Spheripol PP process technology to produce 280,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of PP and a 480-m.t./yr HDPE plant which will utilize LyondellBasell’s Hostalen ACP process technology and will be built in Al Duqm, Oman.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - SIBUR is investing Rb140 mln in the modernization of the flare unit at Tomskneftekhim as part of SIBUR's comprehensive environmental safety program, the company said in a statement.

In 2022, at the monomer production of the Tomsk enterprise of SIBUR, it is planned to modernize the flare unit with the replacement of the existing tip with a tip with an improved combustion system, which will minimize the effect of dense smoke.

Work on the modernization of the flare unit is scheduled for August 2022 during the scheduled shutdown repair of the production complex. The manufacturer of the flare cap for SIBUR's Tomsk plant is John Zink Hamworthy Combustion (JZHC), one of the world's leading suppliers of equipment for combustion systems, the main concepts of which are to reduce emissions and ensure clean air.

The flare system upgrade is part of SIBUR's comprehensive environmental safety program. At the moment, treatment facilities have been built or reconstructed in Kstovo, Perm, Tobolsk, flare systems in Perm and Tobolsk. Over the past ten years, the company has invested 23 billion rubles in environmental protection measures.

Earlier it was noted that TNH received revenue in the amount of 12.8 billion rubles in 2020, which is almost 400 million less than a year earlier. "Revenue (OOO Tomskneftekhim at the end of 2020) - 12.8 billion rubles (in 2019 - 13.2 billion). Net profit (amounted to) 1.7 billion rubles. (In 2019 - 1.9 billion ) ", - says the report of the company. It also follows from the document that Tomskneftekhim in 2020 reduced the number of personnel by 11% - to 1,449 thousand people, the volume of the payroll in this regard decreased by 16% - to 163.8 million rubles.

It was also reported that Tomskneftekhim last year increased the production of polypropylene (PP) to 149.7 thousand tons of granules, which is 1.7% more than in 2019. The volume of production of high-density polyethylene (LDPE) in 2020 amounted to 267.4 thousand tons, which is 1.9% more than the same indicator a year earlier.

According to the ScanPlast of MRC, Tomskneftekhim last month produced about 13,300 tonnes of propylene polymers against 12,800 tonnes a month earlier. During the period under review, the production of polypropylene at the Tomsk enterprise reached 64,800 tonnes, which is 1% more than in 2020.

LLC "Tomskneftekhim" was opened after the transformation of TNHK in 2003. It is a subsidiary of PJSC SIBUR-Holding, which is one of the backbone enterprises of the Russian Federation. At the end of 2019, the authorized capital of Tomskneftekhim amounted to 6.5 billion rubles, sales revenue - 13.2 billion rubles, net profit - 1.9 billion rubles.
MRC

1. Russian rouble, stocks down as oil retreats on OPEC+ output boost

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The rouble weakened to a one-week low against the dollar at one stage losing almost 1%, hit by retreating oil prices after OPEC+ overcame internal divisions and agreed to boost output, a move that also sent Russian stocks tumbling, reported Reuters. By 1529 GMT, the rouble was 0.8% weaker against the dollar at 74.63, a one-week low, and had lost 0.8% to trade at 88.16 versus the euro. Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 5.4% at USD69.60 a barrel. Oil prices were lower after OPEC+ ministers agreed on Sunday to increase oil supply from August to cool prices which have climbed to 2-1/2 year highs as the global economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

MRC