Lower diesel exports from China proving a boost to Asia refiners

Lower diesel exports from China proving a boost to Asia refiners

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Slumping diesel exports from China are proving a boon to other refiners in Asia, with the profit from producing the fuel rising to the highest in 18 months, reported Reuters.

China has been Asia's second-highest exporter of gasoil, the building block for middle distillate fuels that include diesel, heating oil and jet kerosene, but its shipments have slumped in recent months amid lower refinery processing and a lack of export permits.

China's diesel exports dropped in August to the lowest since May 2015, slumping to 540,000 tonnes, equivalent to about 135,000 barrels per day (bpd), from 1.39 million tonnes in July, according to official customs data released on Sept. 18.

Diesel exports have been on a downward trend since March this year, when they were 2.81 million tonnes, or about 680,000 bpd. The total for the first eight months of the year is now 3.5% below the same period in 2020.

A recovery in China's diesel exports isn't on the cards for September, with commodity consultants Kpler estimating shipments of around 134,600 bpd, roughly in line with August's depressed level.

The absence of Chinese cargoes is boosting profits for other export-focused refiners in Asia, with the crack, or profit margin, for producing a barrel of gasoil from Dubai crude at a Singapore refinery rising to an 18-month high of USD7.96 a barrel on Sept. 17.

The crack did slip back a tad to USD7.92 on Monday, but it is still more than double the 2021 low of USD3.44 a barrel recorded on Aug. 24. That's a rally of 130% in the past four weeks.

The move has helped drive overall profits for a typical Singapore refinery using Dubai crude to more than double the average for the past year. The overall margin for refining a barrel of Dubai was USD5.54 on Monday, up from an average of USD3.19 for August and USD2.04 for the past 365 days.

While the profit for producing diesel is recovering, the same cannot be said for gasoline, with the crack for making the motor fuel from Brent crude at a Singapore refinery dropping to USD6.87 a barrel on Monday, down from a 2021 peak of USD9.92 on Aug. 5.

China's exports of gasoline have also been declining, dropping to 570,000 tonnes, or about 156,000 bpd, in August, from 740,000 tonnes in July and the lowest since February 2019. Gasoline exports have been in a downward trend since January, when they were 1.89 million tonnes, equivalent to about 518,000 bpd.

It's not just China that is exporting less gasoline, with shipments from India expected by Refinitiv Oil Research to drop for a fourth straight month in September, while Singapore is also forecast to export less in September than in August.

Asia's overall fuel demand has been lagging the recovery seen in Europe and North America, given several major countries remain in some form of lockdown.

We remind, as MRC informed earlier, that China's domestic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) market hit a record-high Sept. 22 following the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, due to concerns over supply after the government ordered some provinces to cut power consumption. Several provinces including Xinjiang, Ningxia, and Shaanxi, where major carbide-based PVC producers are based, were asked to shut, or reduce industrial operations due to higher-than-planned energy consumption in the first half of 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.
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Industrial production growth in Russia rose to 4.7% in August

Industrial production growth in Russia rose to 4.7% in August

MOSCOW (MRC) - In August 2021, industrial production in the Russian Federation increased by 4.7% compared to August 2020, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said in a statement.

In July 2021, according to revised data, growth was 7.2%. An increase of 6.8% was previously reported. Compared to July this year, industrial production increased by 1.2%. In January-August, industrial production grew by 4.5%.

In May 2020, there was the peak of the fall in the industry - it fell by 7.8% versus May 2019 after falling by 4.4% in April 2020. In June 2020, the decline in industry slowed down to 6.7%, in July - to 5.7%, and in August - to 4.0%. Therefore, economists expected a slowdown in the annual growth rate of industrial production in August to 5.5% from 6.8% in July, 10.2% in June and 11.9% in May.

The consensus forecast for the dynamics of industrial production for 2021 has not changed compared to the survey a month ago and is 4.6%. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade in September significantly raised the forecast for the growth of industrial production in 2021 - up to 4.2% from 2.0% (including due to a faster rebound in the extractive industry). The forecast for industrial growth for 2022 has been reduced from 3.6% to 3.3%, for 2023 - from 2.9% to 2.4%, for 2024 - from 2.7% to 2.2%.

Industrial production increased by 0.5% to the "dock" July 2019 after increasing by 1.1% in July, according to Rosstat. In January-August 2021, the industry grew by 1.9% compared to January-August 2019.

The growth of industrial production in August 2021 compared to the period before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was 0.5% (August 2021 to August 2019). At the same time, manufacturing industries increased production volumes compared to the same period in 2019 by 3.9%, the energy sector - by 3.2%, industries related to water supply and sewerage, waste disposal and pollution elimination - by 12.7%.

Among the manufacturing industries, the largest growth in the index versus August 2019 was shown by: the production of medicines and materials used for medical purposes - (+ 64.9%), the production of beverages - (+ 25.7%) and furniture - (+ 24.2 %).

Earlier it was reported that in July 2021, industrial production increased by 6.8% compared to the same period last year.
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Eni and Atlantia unit to jointly develop aviation biofuel

Eni and Atlantia unit to jointly develop aviation biofuel

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italian energy group Eni and Atlantia's airport unit Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) have signed an agreement to develop biofuel for aviation to fight climate change, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the two Italian groups' statements.

Airports operators and airlines are under pressure to contribute to the EU's goal to cut economy-wide net carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels.

In July, the European Commission proposed to force suppliers to blend a minimum of 2% of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) into their kerosene from 2025, rising to 5% in 2030 and 63% in 2050. read more

Eni and ADR said they would work together on decarbonisation and digitalisation projects for the airports managed by ADR, including Rome's Fiumicino and Ciampino.

Under the agreement, ADR plans to introduce sustainable fuels for aviation and ground handling at Rome airports in the coming months.

Eni has been converting its refineries in Italy to produce biofuels as part of its drive to become net carbon neutral by 2050.

It produces Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil biofuel in its Venice and Gela bio-refineries using its own in-house technology and can also produce sustainable aviation fuel with the same technology from waste and plant-based raw materials.

As MRC reported earlier, Eni is evaluating conversion of its Livorno refinery in northwest Italy into a biorefinery, as part of the Italian company's wider strategy to make its activities more environmentally sustainable. Eni has already converted two of its Italian refineries and is looking to almost double its biorefining capacity to around 2 million mt/year by 2024, and expand this to at least five times by 2050, as part of its pledge to achieve complete carbon neutrality by 2050.

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 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.

Eni, abbreviation of Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi, in full Eni SpA, Italian energy company operating primarily in petroleum, natural gas, and petrochemicals. Established in 1953, it is one of Europe's largest oil companies in terms of sales.
MRC

ALPLA takes over Spanish Plastisax

ALPLA takes over Spanish Plastisax

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The ALPLA Group, the global packaging solutions and recycling specialist, is taking over Plastisax S.L, said the company on its site.

The Spanish company produces plastic bottles for the cosmetics, home and personal care segments. The takeover will enable an increased use of recycled material in production operations and a strengthening of the circular economy in the region.

With the purchase of the Spanish bottle manufacturer, ALPLA is consolidating its market position in eastern Spain and expanding its production capacities mainly for packaging solutions made from the plastic high density polyethylene (HDPE). A smaller product area also includes bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Extrusion blow moulding (EBM) and stretch blow moulding (SBM) are used as production technologies. The company has 58 employees who will be taken over by ALPLA.

Said Marc de Voogd, General Manager France & Iberia at ALPLA: ‘With the integration of Plastisax into our group, we are expanding our customer base and improving our geographical footprint to serve our regionally based customers even better. With the new location near Alicante, we are now very well positioned along the Mediterranean coast in addition to the existing plants near Barcelona and Valencia.’

As MRC reported earlier, in August 2021, packaging supplier ALPLA Group announced a purchase of the Wolf Plastics Group for an undisclosed amount in a move to expand the company's product portfolio in Central and Southeastern Europe. Headquartered in Kammern, Austria, Wolf also has production facilities in Hungary and Romania.

We remind that the ALPLA Group is also investing more than EUR5m in an extrusion system for food-grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) made of used PET bottles at its site in Anagni, Italy.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption totalled 411,200 tonnes in the first six month of 2021, up by 12% year on year. Russian companies processed 62,910 tonnes in June, compared to 85,890 tonnes a month earlier.

Headquartered in Hard, Austria, Alpla specializes in blow molded bottles and caps, injection molded parts, and preforms and tubes.
MRC

TechnoNIKOL will build a second thermal insulation plant in the Ulyanovsk region

TechnoNIKOL will build a second thermal insulation plant in the Ulyanovsk region

MOSCOW (MRC) - TechnoNIKOL, Europe's largest manufacturer and supplier of roofing, waterproofing and heat-insulating materials, has modernized the TechnoNIKOL-Ulyanovsk Plant as part of a large-scale investment program in 2021, the company said.

The set of measures taken made it possible to increase labor productivity by 20%, to increase the volume of products by 25%, as well as to master the production of heat-insulating materials from extruded polystyrene foam with a thickness of up to 500 mm. The volume of investments amounted to Rb262 mln.

Renovation of two production lines of the TECHNOPLEX plant made it possible to increase the processing speed of thermal insulation boards and, as a result, to increase the volume of products by 25%. Also, a planer-grower was introduced to the second technological unit for the production of milled facade slabs.

In addition, the company introduced the technology of thermal bonding, which, due to the layer-by-layer connection of standard plates, makes it possible to obtain materials up to 500 mm thick with high thermal insulation characteristics and low rates of water absorption.

"Now the demand in the thermal insulation segment exceeds supply, and the existing capacity is not enough to meet the growing market needs. The shortage of building materials, which appeared in 2020, continues to grow. Therefore, we plan to increase capacity: we will open new enterprises in Russia and abroad and modernize existing ones. In the next 5 years, we will allocate up to 60 billion rubles for these purposes. In the region, in addition to the planned modernization at the extruded polystyrene foam plant, we are working with the local government to build another plant, "commented Sergey Kolesnikov, co-owner and managing partner of TechnoNIKOL.

"The demand for insulation based on extruded polystyrene foam is constantly increasing. The main points of growth are the increase in energy efficiency standards and the active development of light embankments in road construction, where XPS boards with a thickness of up to 500 mm are used as a thermal insulation layer, which, due to their thermal performance, as well as their ability to withstand long-term loads and resistance to aggressive media can be used in all climatic zones of the Russian Federation, - said Alexey Kasimov, Operations Director of the Polymer Insulation Division of TechnoNICOL Corporation.

Earlier it was reported that TechnoNICOL plans to install two new extrusion lines in Poland and Russia. The Italian company BG Plast (Italy) signed a contract with TechnoNICOL for the supply of two extrusion lines for the production of dimpled sheet membranes with and without a geotextile joint, 2000 mm and 4000 mm wide.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, July total estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in Russia increased by 4% compared to the same month last year and amounted to 46,540 tonnes. The total consumption of PS in the country amounted to 328,980 tonnes, up 23% year on year in January - July 2021.

The TechnoNICOL production company operates 56 production sites in 7 countries of the world (Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Poland). The company also has 22 representative offices in 18 countries of the world, 20 Training Centers, 6 Research Centers, equipped with high-tech equipment and qualified personnel. The centers regularly develop and implement new products and solutions for the construction industry. The company's products are supplied to 117 countries. TechnoNICOL headquarters are located in Russia, Poland, Italy, China and India.
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