COVID-19 - News digest as of 15.09.2021

1. Crude oil futures rise in Asia on US pipeline outage and IEA bullish oil demand outlook for 2022

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were higher in mid-morning trade in Asia Sept. 15 after a storm-related power outage shut the US' largest oil pipeline and the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a bullish oil demand outlook for 2022, reported S&P Global. At 10:25 am Singapore time (0225 GMT), the ICE November Brent futures contract was up 28 cents/b (0.38%) from the previous settle at USD73.88/b, while the NYMEX October WTI contract was 30 cents/b (0.43%) higher at USD70.76/b. The Colonial Pipeline, a major supplier of refined products to the US East Coast that carries 1.5 million b/d of gasoline products from Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina on Line 1 and 885,000 b/d of refined products from Greensboro into New York Harbor on Line 2, shut its main gasoline and distillate line Sept. 14 due to a power outage caused by Hurricane Nicholas, which was subsequently downgraded to a Tropical Storm.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were higher in mid-morning trade in Asia Sept. 15 after a storm-related power outage shut the US' largest oil pipeline and the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a bullish oil demand outlook for 2022, reported S&P Global.

At 10:25 am Singapore time (0225 GMT), the ICE November Brent futures contract was up 28 cents/b (0.38%) from the previous settle at USD73.88/b, while the NYMEX October WTI contract was 30 cents/b (0.43%) higher at USD70.76/b.

The Colonial Pipeline, a major supplier of refined products to the US East Coast that carries 1.5 million b/d of gasoline products from Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina on Line 1 and 885,000 b/d of refined products from Greensboro into New York Harbor on Line 2, shut its main gasoline and distillate line Sept. 14 due to a power outage caused by Hurricane Nicholas, which was subsequently downgraded to a Tropical Storm.

Around 720,217 b/d or 39.6% of Gulf of Mexico output remains shut in following Ida, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Sept. 14.

The disruptions were reflected in American Petroleum Institute data released late Sept. 14 that showed a 5.44 million-barrel draw in US crude inventories for the week ending Sept. 10, while gasoline inventories fell 2.76 million barrels and distillate stocks fell 2.89 million barrels.

"Oil prices continue to find strength with a larger-than-expected drawdown in crude oil inventories shown from the API data," IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong said Sept 15.

On the demand side, the International Energy Agency Sept. 14 raised its global oil demand estimate for 2022 by 100,000 b/d to 99.4 million b/d and now sees demand rising by 5.2 million b/d in 2021 and 3.2 million b/d in 2022, a 105,000 b/d cut and 85,000 b/d increase, respectively.

"Signs are emerging of COVID-19 cases abating, with demand now expected to rebound by a sharp 1.6 million b/d in October and continuing to grow until end year," the IEA said in the report, adding that strong pent-up demand and continued progress in vaccination programs should underpin a robust rebound from the fourth quarter.

This came a day after OPEC hiked its forecast for 2022 global demand growth to 4.15 million b/d from 3.28 million b/d a month earlier and projected global oil demand would exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2022.

As informed earlier, Shell said it observed damage from Hurricane Ida to its transfer station West Delta-143 offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. West Delta-143 serves as the transfer station for all production from its assets in the Mars corridor in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico to onshore crude terminals. Shell said it is not yet safe to send personnel offshore to learn the full extent of the damage and estimate the effect on production.

We remind that in late August, 2021, US crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That's a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters.

We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly report, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shintech, a subsidiary of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. and the largest US polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer, has regained access to industrial gases needed to operate its PVC complexes in Plaquemine and Addis, reported S&P Global with reference to sources familiar with the company's operations.

That access, plus restoration of electric power, allowed the company to begin restart activities.

Those sources said the restarts would be gradual, as PVC complexes involve multiple plants that have to be restarted one by one while checking for any storm-related, as-yet-undiscovered damage.

At Plaquemine, Shintech operates the following production capacities: 500,000 mt/year cracker; 600,000 mt/year PVC; 1.77 million mt/year vinyl chloride (VCM); 2 million mt/year ethylene dichloride (EDC); 1.16 million mt/year chlorine; 1.28 million mt/year caustic soda.

And at Addis, the company has a PVC plant with the production capacity of 900,000 mt/year.

Besides, Shintech declared force majeure for caustic soda supplies on September 1, 2021.

As MRC informed previously, Shintech will start up the first phase of an expansion across the PVC production chain at its Louisiana complex in September, 2021.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall production of unmixed PVC totalled 580,500 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 4% year on year. At the same time, one producer reduced its output.

Shintech Inc. is the world's largest producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC is a general-use resin that is finding wide application in goods used in daily life and a significant number of industrial materials. Shintech is committed to operating safe and environmentally responsible facilities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall polyethylene (PE) imports to the Ukrainian market totalled 171,100 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, down by 6% year on year. Imports of all PE grades decreased, as per MRC's DataScope report.

Last month's PE imports to Ukraine grew to 25,900 tonnes from 23,400 tonnes in July, local companies increased their purchasing of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, overall PE imports were 171,100 tonnes in January-August 2021, compared to 182,400 tonnes a year earlier. Imports of all PE grades decreased without exception, with LDPE accounting for the greatest reduction in shipments.

The structure of PE imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

Last month's high density polyethylene (HDPE) imports remained at the July's level, totalling about 8,000 tonnes. Overall HDPE imports were 55,400 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021 versus 66,600 tonnes a year earlier.

August LDPE imports were 8,300 tonnes versus 7,300 tonnes a month earlier, Ukrainian companies raised their purchases in Azerbaijan. Overall LDPE imports reached 52,300 tonnes in January-August 2021, down by 4% year on year.

Last month's LLDPE imports reached 7,300 tonnes, compared to 6,400 tonnes in July, shipments of film grade LLDPE from the USA increased. However, overall LLDPE imports were 50,800 tonnes in January-August 2021, down by 2% year on year.

Imports of other PE grades, including ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA), totalled 12,600 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 9,300 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) --The Spanish Cabinet approved a draft law that introduces a new tax on plastic waste, among other environmental measures, said EsPlasticos.

The indirect levy will tax the manufacture, import or acquisition of non-reusable plastic packaging from other European Union countries for use in the Spanish market, according to the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition.

The ministry said that the proposed tax is similar to what other countries such as the United Kingdom and Italy are planning to introduce. It would require payment of EUR0.45 for every kilogram of plastic packaging, and is expected to bring in annual revenue of close to EUR724 million, based on 2017 figures.

The European Commission and international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been urging Spain for years to increase its green taxes and introduce greater penalties for the most contaminating activities.

On Tuesday, the ministry said that based on 2017 figures, revenue from green taxes represented 1.83% of Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP), compared with the EU average of 2.40%. “Spain has the fifth-lowest ratio of environmental revenue-to-GDP of the entire EU,” said the ministry in a release.

The Spanish government first started a public consultation on green taxes in late February, when it discussed the possibility of introducing a tax on single-use plastic packaging. In the end, this levy has been included in a broader draft law on waste and soil contamination. Following its Cabinet approval, the draft will now begin to make its way through parliament.

EsPlastics is a plastics industry-wide trade group founded by ANAIP, the recycling non-profit organisation Cicloplast, the research institute for plastics body Aimplas, as well the European trade group PlasticsEurope.

As per MRC, EU Plastic Tax approved by European Council: A Danger for the EU Single Market & Recovery. The plan foresees a EUR0.80/kg levy on non-recycled plastic packaging waste to be paid by member states into the EU budget.

As MRC informed earlier, an estimated 11 million metric tons (MMt) of plastic waste enter the ocean every year and this will almost triple by 2040, to 29 MMt, if immediate and sustained action is not taken, according to a newly published in-depth report.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
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