Trafigura receives fuel oil export contract from Petroecuador

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ecuador's state-owned oil company Petroecuador has awarded a contract to commodity trader Trafigura for exporting fuel oil, the volume of which will depend on how much it refines each year, reported Reuters.

The 25-mos contract will include the delivery of between 30% and 50% of the annual production of fuel oil, mostly used in power generation, in the Esmeraldas refinery, Ecuador's largest, which has a capacity to refine 110,000 bbl of crude per day.

Trafigura was the only company of 36 invited to bid on the contract that presented an economically viable offer, with a premium of 41 cents per bbl, Petroecuador said in a statement.

"In opening this bid we considered the minimal storage capacity of fuel oil number six at the Esmeraldas refinery," the company said.

"Continuously exporting shipments of this product will allow operation of the plant to be constant and not paused due to lack of storage."

Esmeraldas produced 12.1 MM bbl of fuel oil between January and October this year.

The plant resumed full operating capacity in September. Output was limited following severe damage to the refinery's fluid catalytic cracking unit due to a failure in Ecuador's electricity grid.

As MRC informed earlier, Trafigura is preparing to sell its 24.5% indirect stake in an Indian oil refining joint venture with Russia's Rosneft to an Italian group. Trafigura holds the stake in Nayara Energy, which owns India's third largest refinery, a port and a network of more than 6,000 fuel stations across India, indirectly through a 49.84% holding in Singapore-based Tendril Ventures Pte Ltd.

We remind that India's Nayara Energy hopes to operate its 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in western India at close to 100% capacity in 2021 as fuel demand is picking up.

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The ALPLA Group, the global packaging solutions and recycling specialist, has announced that it is strengthening its footprint in Asia, according to Polymerupdate.

Thus, the Austrian recycler will open an office in Singapore on 1 January, 2022, to serve as its administrative hub for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, including its operations in China, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The APAC region will be managed by Roland Wallner, currently ALPLA Managing Director North East Asia.

With 2,750 employees, ALPLA APAC is well situated to develop the packaging of tomorrow for the Asian market.
Alongside extending the reach of Alpla’s industry-leading moulding technology, a strong focus lies on the further development of circular economy activities in the region.

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, the estimated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) consumption in Russia increased to 56,960 tonnes in September 2021, up by year on year. Russia's overall PET consumption reached 592,560 tonnes in the nine months of 2021, up by 12% year on year.

Headquartered in Hard, Austria, ALPLA specializes in blow molded bottles and caps, injection molded parts, and preforms and tubes. ALPLA operates its own recycling plants for PET and HDPE in Austria, Poland, Mexico, Italy and Spain, and in the form of joint ventures in Mexico and Germany. Other projects are being realised elsewhere around the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Gazprom neftekhim Salavat has started the final stage of commissioning of the catalytic cracking complex, the company said in a statement.

The commissioning of a catalytic cracking complex will increase the production of commercial high-octane motor gasolines that meet Euro-5 requirements, as well as significantly reduce the burden on the environment.

When debugging the operation of the equipment and bringing the complex to normal technological mode, in particular, the first start-up of the centrifugal compressor of wet gas, part of the gases is temporarily directed to the flare stack for the period of setting the parameters of the compressor, as a result of which the gases are burned with intense smoke generation. Combustion of gases on a flare stack is a controlled process and is an integral part of start-up operations. The impact on the environment does not exceed the permitted standards.

The catalytic cracking complex is designed for the production of a high-octane component of motor gasoline and liquefied hydrocarbon gases - propane-propylene and butane-butylene fractions, which are a valuable raw material for petrochemicals.

The implementation of the project will increase the production of commercial high-octane motor gasolines that meet Euro-5 requirements and, accordingly, the output of light petroleum products. The complex meets all the requirements of environmental and industrial safety. The project provides for specialized gas cleaning facilities, electrostatic precipitators, in which all harmful impurities will be screened out. There are no environmental risks. The catalytic cracking complex will replace two outdated units: Katcracking-1 and Katcracking-2, built in the 50s of the last century.

Earlier it was written that RusGazDobycha plans to create a gas chemical cluster on the basis of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat (GNS), one of the largest oil refining and petrochemical complexes in the Russian Federation, for which almost 30 billion cubic meters of "ethane" gas will be supplied from Yamal. In particular, the gas processing complex that RusGazDobycha will build at the gas pumping station will process ethane-containing gas from the Nadym-Pur-Taz region and the Tambeyskoye field (Yamal).

According to the ICIS-MRC Price Report, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat (GNS, Salavat, Bashkortostan) resumed production of low-pressure polyethylene (LDPE) after shutting for a long planned maintenance works. GNS 1 October resumed production of low-pressure polyethylene (LDPE) after shutting for scheduled preventive maintenance. The idle capacity was quite long and started on the 20th of July. The annual production capacity is 45,000 tonnes.

OJSC Gazprom neftekhim Salavat (formerly OJSC Salavatnefteorgsintez) is one of the leading petrochemical companies in Russia, which carries out a full cycle of hydrocarbon processing. The list of commercial products manufactured by the enterprise includes more than 140 names, including 76 names of the main products: motor gasolines, diesel fuels, kerosene, heating oil, toluene, solvent, liquefied gases, benzene, styrene, ethylbenzene, butyl alcohols, phthalic anhydride and plasticizers, polyethylene, polystyrene, silica gels and zeolite catalysts, corrosion inhibitors, elemental sulfur, ammonia and urea, glycols and amines, a wide range of plastics household products, surfactants and much more.

MRC

1. Cepsa chemicals Q3 earnings decreased on weaker phenol, acetone margins

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cepsa’s chemicals division third-quarter earnings fell 6%, quarter on quarter, on the back of falling margins in phenol and acetone and lower solvents output, said the company. Year on year, however, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) rose sharply compared with Q3 2020, when Spain was only emerging from one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe to contain the pandemic. The company did not disclose sales figures. Cepsa is privately owned by The Carlyle Group and Abu Dhabi's investment fund Mubadala and it is not bound by financial reporting like publicly listed companies are.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were higher in midmorning trade in Asia Nov. 19, extending gains from the overnight session after heavy mid-week losses, as investor confidence returned in a market still stuck in deficit, reported S&P Global.

At 10:15 am Singapore time (0215 GMT), the ICE January Brent futures contract was up 40 cents/b (0.49%) from the previous close at USD81.64/b, while the NYMEX December light sweet crude contract rose 37 cents/b (0.47%) at USD79.38/b.

"Crude oil edged higher as the market debates the implications of releases from strategic oil reserves. The market also shrugged off concerns that new COVID-related restrictions would hurt demand," said ANZ Research analysts Brian Martin & Daniel Hynes in a note.

Oil markets have been through a rollercoaster few weeks as oil prices struggled to break past their post-pandemic highs of around USD86/b reached in late October.

Since then, the ICE Brent and NYMEX light sweet crude benchmarks have slid by close to 10% as a slew of bearish headlines, particularly the threat of a release of oil reserves by major oil consuming economies, pressured prices lower.

Analysts said that traders have mostly priced in the impact of any government action by now.

The US oil rig continued to climb as drillers took advantage of oil prices still hovering at multi-year highs despite recent declines. The domestic oil rig count rose by 16 to 541 for the week ended Nov. 17, energy analytics and software company Enverus said.

As MRC informed before, US commercial crude stocks fell 3.48 million barrels to 413.96 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 17, to more than 8% below the five-year average, Energy Information Administration data showed. Stocks were last lower Oct. 5, 2018.

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, EIA said in a monthly report earlier this year, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC