Belarusian refineries lose US80 mln because of European Union sanctions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarusian oil refineries have lost USD80 million due to European Union sanctions, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Nazarov was quoted as saying last week, reported Reuters.

State news agency Belta also quoted him as telling parliament that despite the sanctions, local refineries would process 16.8 million tonnes of oil this year, an increase of 0.5 million tonnes compared with 2020.

The European Union in June banned companies from doing business with Belarusian oil products as a part of wide-ranging economic sanctions on Belarus, cutting one of the top fuel suppliers in Eastern Europe from the market.

As MRC informed previously, in 2015, the US Treasury Department suspended sanctions against nine Belarusian companies and issued a license to cooperate with them, which was renewed annually.

Earlier it was also reported that at the beginning of 2020, the state concern Belneftekhim approved a strategy for the development of the petrochemical complex for the period until 2030. Among the priority projects is the construction of a new pyrolysis unit at Polymir. The corporate publication of the concern noted that "an ethylene-propylene unit will be built at the Polymir plant, this will allow to fully provide the existing production with raw materials." The capacity of pyrolysis, as well as the timing of its construction, are not given. The development plan of the petrochemical complex of the Republic of Bashkortostan also includes a project for the production of ABS plastics, which is planned to be implemented on the basis of the Naftan oil refinery. In addition, it is planned to launch polycarbonate production capacity at the refinery.

OJSC "Naftan" is one of the largest oil refineries in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Commissioned in 1963, the enterprise was incorporated in 2002. The state share in OJSC "Naftan" is 99.83%, the rest of the shares belong to the individual employees of the enterprise. In 2008, a large petrochemical enterprise Polymir was included in Naftan. Naftan produces more than 70 types of products, including various types of fuel, lubricating oils and bitumen, aromatic hydrocarbons and petrochemical products. The company exports 70% of its products, mainly to the CIS countries and the European Union.
MRC

AdvanSix Q3 earnings increased on firm pricing

AdvanSix Q3 earnings increased on firm pricing

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AdvanSix’ third-quarter net income swung to a USD43.9m profit on the back of strong pricing and volumes amid tight industry supply, said the company.

Raw material pricing pass-through increased by 22% year on year during the quarter following rising prices for benzene and propylene, the raw materials for key feedstock cumene.

Improved demand for ammonium sulphate, nylon and caprolactam drove an 8% increase in sales volumes.
Planned plant turnarounds are expected to impact full-year profits by USD30m.

“"Our performance was supported by strong pricing and volume improvement including continued contributions from differentiated products amid favourable end-market conditions and tight industry supply,” said CEO Erin Kane.

Strong chemical intermediates demand is expected to continue but supply and demand for acetone in North America are likely to become better balanced.

North American nylon market conditions are expected to remain tight for the foreseeable future, while agricultural sector fundamentals are forecast to stay strong through the 2022 planting season.

“We continued to execute well in the third quarter while supporting our customers to successfully navigate
the current set of industry dynamics," said Erin Kane, president and CEO of AdvanSix. "Our performance
was supported by strong pricing and volume improvement including continued contributions from differentiated products amid favorable end market conditions and tight industry supply. Our earnings results were above the high-end of the outlook we provided at our September 28th Investor Day driven primarily by better-than-expected pricing, net of raw material costs, as well as the timing of ammonium sulfate sales."

We remind that AdvanSix, a new resin and chemical division of Honeywell, completed a planned turnaround at its phenol and acetone plant in Frankford, PA, USA. The maintenance works at the plant with a capacity of 1.1 billion pounds of phenol per year (about 500,000 tons per year) and 608 million pounds of acetone per year (308,400 tons per year) began at the end of March 2017 and was expected to take 2 -3 weeks. This plant is the third largest producer of phenol and acetone in North America. AdvanSix uses cumene derived from benzene and propylene to produce phenol and acetone.

Phenol is the main feedstock component for the production of bisphenol A (BPA), which, in its turn, is used to produce polycarbonate (PC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast, the total consumption of PC granulate in Russia decreased in January - August 2021 (excluding imports and exports to Belarus) by 14% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 62,000 tonnes against 72,100 tonnes a year earlier.
MRC

SABIC to invest about USD1.37 at its Teesside plant in northeast England

SABIC to invest about USD1.37 at its Teesside plant in northeast England

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The British government said that Saudi petrochemical firm Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), the world's fourth-biggest petrochemicals firm, would invest nearly 1 billion pounds (USD1.37 billion) at its Teesside facility in northeast England with the aim of decarbonisation, reported Reuters.

"Fantastic to see nearly GBP1 billion invested in SABIC's Teesside facility, creating and safeguarding 1,000 jobs," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet on Wednesday evening.

"It's a huge vote of confidence in the UK's chemicals and processing industry, which is pioneering innovation in clean, green technology," he added.

SABIC confirmed the investment in a statement to Reuters and said its total investment in the UK is around 1 billion pounds. The company said the investment would include strengthening operations at Teesside and enabling its chemical cracker transformation.

"This will reduce its carbon footprint by up to 60% in phase one, making it one of the world’s lowest carbon-emitting crackers," it added.

Earlier this month, the UK government set out a net-zero strategy under which it aims to help the country gain a competitive edge in low-carbon technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

As MRC informed earlier, in late September 2021, SABIC said its joint venture project with ExxonMobil in the US Gulf Coast had started commissioning activities and preparing for an initial startup. The project includes the establishment of an ethylene production unit with annual capacity of about 1.8 MMtpy, which will feed two polyethylene (PE) units and a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit, it said in a statement.

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 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

Huntsman profits gain on higher prices and volumes in Q3

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman reported significantly higher year on year profits in the third quarter based largely on strong product price increases across its operating divisions, said the company.

Third quarter 2021 net income was USD225m from USD57m in the third quarter of 2020 on sales up 51% at USD2.29bn. There were double-digit sales increases for the company’s five reporting segments with strong local currency prices driving the upswing.

"Despite pockets of disruption in our supply chain and cost inflation, we see strong pent-up demand across most of our businesses with favourable pricing dynamics," CEO Peter Huntsman said.

“In addition, we are benefiting from cost reduction programmes and synergies from the acquisitions we completed over the past 18 months. As indicated in our second quarter earnings call, we resumed share repurchases and we used free cash flow generated in the quarter to repurchase approximately $102 million of our stock during the quarter at an average price of USD25.64 per share."

As per MRC, Huntsman is expanding its performance products facility in Petfurdo, Hungary, said the company.
The multimillion-dollar investment project will expand capacity for polyurethane (PU) catalysts and specialty amines, scheduled for completion in mid-2023.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2020 revenues of approximately USD6 billion.
MRC

Shell to restart Norco, Louisiana refinery this week

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s storm-idled 230,611 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana refinery plans to begin restarting the crude distillation unit (CDU), gasoline- and diesel-producing units as early as last weekend, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The restarts of the 240,000-bpd DU-5 CDU, 112,000-bpd gasoline-producing residual catalytic cracking unit (RCCU) and 40,000-bpd diesel-producing hydrocracker will continue into this week, the sources said.

A Shell spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.

The Norco refinery’s 25,000-bpd coker and 40,000-bpd reformer will also be restarting in this week, according to the sources.

The refinery was damaged on Aug. 29 by Hurricane Ida, which crossed over Norco, located 21 miles (34 km) west of New Orleans. The refinery was shut the day before the hurricane struck.

The refinery has completed restarting the 55,000-bpd diesel hydrotreater and two sulfur recovery units.

The adjoining Shell Norco chemical plant has restarted Gas Olefins-1 unit and plants to restart the Gas Olefins-5 unit during next week, the sources said.

As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell plans to reduce its refining and chemicals portfolio by more than half, it said in July 2020 without giving a precise timeframe. The move is part of the Anglo-Dutch company's plan to shrink its oil and gas business and expand its renewables and power division to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply 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 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

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