LLDPE production rose by 17% in January-October in Russia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's overall linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) production totalled 4,946,000 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

October total LLDPE production in Russia decreased to 35,300 tonnes, whereas this figure was at 47,300 tonnes a month earlier, all producers decreased their capacity utilisation. Thus, overall PE output reached 4,946,000 tonnes in January-October 2021, compared to 4,242,000 tonnes a year earlier. All producers raised their output of PE, but ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the greatest increase in production.

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

October LLDPE production at ZapSibNeftekhim's facilities reached 18,400 tonnes against 29,300 tonnes a month earlier. In general, the total output of linear polyethylene at the Tobolsk plant reached the level of 272,600 tonnes in January-October, up 21% year on year.

Last month, LLDPE production at the facilities of Nizhnekamskneftekhim decreased to 13,700 tonnes against 18,100 tonnes in September, the Nizhnekamsk producer stopped production in October for a short repair. Thus, overall production of this PE grade totalled 187,600 tonnes over the stated period, up by 4% year on year.

Kazanorgsintez for ten months of this year produced 34,400 tonnes of linear polyethylene against 19,500 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

US crude oil stocks rise, fuel draws down on stronger refining activity

US crude oil stocks rise, fuel draws down on stronger refining activity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US crude oil stocks rose last week but gasoline and distillate stocks fell even as refining activity increased on strong overall fuel demand, reported Reuters with reference to the Energy Information Administration's statement on Wednesday.

Crude inventories rose by 1 MM bbl in the week to Nov. 19, compared with analysts' expectations for a decrease of 481,000 bbl.

Fuel stocks have continued to decline as product demand remains strong. Gasoline stocks fell by 603,000 bbl, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 461,000-bbl drop. Stocks of gasoline are at their lowest since November 2017.

"Demand for gasoline and diesel fuel continues to be good in this holiday season and I expect that with drivers taking to the roads over the holiday, we're going to see gasoline inventories decline next week," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.

Overall, gasoline product supplied, a measure of US demand, has averaged 9.3 MMbpd over the last four weeks, or in line with pre-pandemic levels.

"The gasoline demand is phenomenal - it's been unrelenting since the summer, and we are not seeing any decline now," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital Markets in New York.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 2 MM bbl, versus expectations for a 1 MM-bbl drop, the EIA data showed. Overall distillate stocks are now at their lowest since November 2018.

Refinery crude runs rose by 243,000 bpd, EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates rose by 0.7% points.

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

Shell to build pyrolysis oil unit in Singapore to convert plastic waste to chemicals

Shell to build pyrolysis oil unit in Singapore to convert plastic waste to chemicals

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell plans to build a pyrolysis oil upgrader to turn plastic waste into chemical feedstock at its petrochemical complex in Singapore, part of its shift from oil and gas to renewables and low-carbon energy, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company is also considering building a CCS regional hub and a 550,000 tpy biofuels plant at its 60-year-old Pulau Bukom manufacturing site, one of five remaining energy and chemical parks owned by Shell globally. The projects form part of Shell Singapore's plans to cut emissions from its own operations by half by 2030, from 2016 levels on a net basis, Shell Downstream Director Huibert Vigeveno said.

"This year, we have already halved our crude processing capacity, which is in line with Shell's global targets to reduce emissions," he said at a ceremony to break ground for the pyrolysis oil upgrader project. Energy companies are facing increasing pressure from investors, activists and governments to shift away from fossil fuels and rapidly ramp up investment in renewables.

Shell has pledged to halve emissions from its global operations by 2030, as well as reduce its net carbon footprint by 45% by 2035. The Singapore pyrolysis oil upgrader will produce 50,000 tpy of treated pyrolysis oil in 2023, the company said. The unit is Shell's first globally. It did not give an investment figure for the Singapore project.

Pyrolysis melts plastic waste into products such as pyrolysis oil, which can be upgraded as raw material for plastics and chemicals, although the process isn't commercially proven and consumes a lot of energy. Shell also plans to build two chemical conversion units in Asia to convert waste plastics into pyrolysis oil for the Shell Energy and Chemical Park Singapore at Bukom and Jurong Island, similar to units in the Netherlands with joint venture partner BlueAlp which will be operational in 2023.

Other projects being planned in Singapore include a CCS hub to reduce emissions. To meet Shell's global ambition to make around 2 MM tons of sustainable aviation fuel a year by 2025, the company is looking at investing in a facility to produce 550,000 tons of biofuels a year from waste and vegetable oils, Vigeveno said. Shell has previously announced it will trial the use of hydrogen fuel cells for ships in Singapore and is exploring developing a solar farm in a landfill near Bukom.

As per MRC, Royal Dutch Shell, the world's petrochemical major, has restarted its cracker in Pulau Bukom, Singapore after resolving technical issue. Thus, this cracker with an annual output of 960,000 tons/year of ethylene and 550,000 tons/year of propylene came back on-line on 5 November, 2021. It was shut on 1 November, after a flare occurred at the plant. The company was earlier rumored to have reduced the ethylene and propylene allocations to its downstream buyers at the adjacent locations following the incident, however, with the prompt restart, the impact might be smaller than initially expected.

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.

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

BASF accelerating implementation of its CO2 reduction targets with new project organization

BASF accelerating implementation of its CO2 reduction targets with new project organization

MOSCOW (MRC) -- With a new project organization, BASF is bundling and accelerating its extensive cross-company activities to reduce its CO2 emissions by 25% by 2030 compared with 2018 and become climate neutral by 2050, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The unit, called “Net Zero Accelerator,” focuses on implementing and accelerating projects relating to low-CO2 production technologies, circular economy and renewable energies. “With the new project organization, we are continuing to accelerate and create more powerful structures within BASF to achieve our ambitious goals,” said Dr. Martin Brudermuller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE. “This further step demonstrates the determination to drive forward our transformation to a climate-neutral company.”

The Net Zero Accelerator unit will be led by Dr. Lars Kissau as President, reporting directly to the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors. Under Kissau’s leadership, existing and new projects to achieve the CO2 reduction targets will be launched and driven forward at corporate level worldwide in the future. The aim is to move the projects into the implementation phase over the next few years.

By pooling expertise around renewable energies, alternative raw materials and CO2 reduction technologies, BASF will increase the speed of implementation and achieve scaling effects more quickly, thus making an important contribution to climate protection. In parallel, the operating divisions will continue to work on divisional projects to implement BASF’s ambitious CO2 reduction targets.

Ongoing cross-company projects managed by the new unit include BASF’s activities in the field of circular economy such as ChemCyclingTM or CO2-free technologies such as methane pyrolysis.

Renewable energies are another field of activity. BASF has initiated various projects in this area and signed specific agreements in recent months. Examples include a contract with Vattenfall to acquire a 49.5% stake in the Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm with a total capacity of 1.5 gigawatts and a 25-yr electricity supply contract to purchase 186 megawatts of capacity from Orsted’s planned Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.

The new project organization, based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, will start on January 1, 2022, initially with around 80 employees.

As MRC reported earlier, BASF is strengthening its global catalyst development and helping customers to bring new products faster to the market. As part of this strategy, BASF is building a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site. The new Catalyst Development and Solids Processing Center will serve as a global hub for pilot-scale production and process innovations of chemical catalysts. The new building is scheduled for completion by mid-2024.

We remind that BASF aims is to electrify its production processes for basic chemicals, which are currently based on fossil fuels.

We also remind that in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted earlier that month due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other"s capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year.

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 the first nine months of 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 PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

Oil prices decreased on expected deal to tap emergency crude reserves

Oil prices decreased on expected deal to tap emergency crude reserves

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices dropped, reversing gains in the previous session, on growing talk the United States, Japan and India will release crude reserves to tame prices despite the threat of demand faltering as COVID-19 cases flare up in Europe, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The U.S. Department of Energy is expected to announce a loan of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on Tuesday, and will be coordinated with other countries, a Biden administration source familiar with the situation said. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 43 cents, or 0.6%, to USD76.32 a bbl at 0128 GMT. Brent crude futures fell 30 cents, or 0.4%, to USD79.40 a bbl.

Brent and WTI both rose 1% on Monday on reports that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and their allies, together called OPEC+, could adjust their plan to raise oil production if large consuming countries release crude from their reserves or if the pandemic dampens demand.

With talk of a coordinated crude release having succeeded in driving prices back below USD80 a bbl and an actual release only expected to have a temporary impact, analysts are turning their attention to the potential hit to demand from a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases in Europe. "As Europe, and in particular Eastern Europe, struggles to halt the spread of COVID-19, the risk of lockdown-like measures looms large," said Rystad Energy analyst Louise Dickson.

She said demand in November for road and jet fuel in Europe is expected to fall to 7.8 MMbpd from 8.1 MMbpd in October, although part of that is a normal decline for this time of year. "If a new wave of lockdowns are enacted in Europe, oil prices will not be spared during the remainder of the flu season in the North Hemisphere," Dickson said in emailed comments.

As per MRC, crude oil futures were higher in mid-morning trade in Asia Nov. 24, extending gains of more than 3% overnight, after major oil-consuming economies announced a smaller-than-expected release from their strategic petroleum reserves. Some bearish pressures also came from an unexpected build in US crude oil and gasoline inventories last week. At 10:23 am Singapore time (0223 GMT), the ICE January Brent futures contract was up 14 cents/b (0.17%) from the previous close at USD82.45/b, while the NYMEX January light sweet crude contract was 25 cents/b (0.32%) higher at USD78.75/b.

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