Reliance and Saudi Aramco call off deal amid valuation differences

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries and Saudi Aramco have called off a deal for the state oil giant to buy a stake in the oil-to-chemicals business of the Indian conglomerate due to valuation concerns, sources with knowledge of the matter said, as per Reuters.

Talks broke down over how much Reliance's oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business should be valued as the world seeks to move away from fossil fuels and reduce emissions, they said. Instead, Reliance will now focus on signing multiple deals with companies to produce specialty chemicals for higher margins, one of the sources said.

Aramco, the world's top oil exporter, signed a non-binding agreement to buy a 20% stake in Reliance's O2C business for USD15 B in 2019. Last week, the companies announced they would re-evaluate the deal, ending two years of negotiations.

The collapse of the deal reflects the changing global energy landscape as oil and gas companies shift away from fossil fuel to renewables. Valuations of refining and petrochemical assets have gone down especially after the recent COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, a second source involved in the deal discussions said. Despite this, Reliance had stuck to the USD75 B valuation for the O2C business made in 2019, he said.

"Evaluation by consultants showed a significant cut in valuation...more than a 10% cut," he added. "Reliance has highlighted the difficulty of separating Jamnagar from the clean energy business as a reason to not complete the transaction, although we suspect business alignment and valuation were also key reasons," Bernstein wrote in a recent note, referring to Reliance's huge refining complex in Gujarat state. A second source familiar with due diligence said the procedure was halted in "early stage assessment".

Reliance was seeking advice from Goldman Sachs and Aramco was seeking help from Citigroup, sources said. The banks declined to comment. Jefferies has cut its valuation of Reliance's energy business to USD70 B from USD80 B, while Kotak Institutional Equities has cut the enterprise value of O2C business to USD61 B. Bernstein values that business at USD69 B.

Without confirming whether the deal has been called off, Saudi Aramco said it has a longstanding relationship with Reliance and will continue to look for investment opportunities in India. Reliance said it would continue to be Saudi Aramco's preferred partner for investments in the private sector in India and will collaborate with Saudi Aramco & SABIC for investments in Saudi Arabia. Reliance is the biggest Indian buyer of Saudi oil.

As per MRC, Reliance Industries (RIL) has taken off-stream one of its polypropylene (PP) plants in Jamnagar, India for a scheduled maintenance. Thus, this unit with an annual capacity of 400,000 tons/year of PP was shut on 5 August 2021 and will remain idle for approximately one month. The local supply is expected to take a hit from the shutdown, especially when demand is recovering from the COVID-19 outbreak.

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) -- Serbia has agreed on all terms on the sale of the petrochemicals producer HIP Petrohemija to Russian-controlled Serbian oil and gas company NIS, according to SeeNews with reference to President Aleksandar Vucic's statement.

"Everything has been agreed and I can say that this is an important piece of news for the workers of the company," Vucic said in a video file posted on the website of Tanjug news agency on Wednesday.

Dragan Stevanovic, state secretary at the economy ministry, said last month that the government officially started talks for the sale of Petrohemija to NIS, in which Russia's Gazprom owns a 56.15% stake.

"A total of 10% of the costs of Petrohemija depends on the price of gas, and the only people with whom we can reach such an agreement are the Russians," Vucic said.

NIS placed the sole bid in the government tender for selecting a strategic partner in HIP Petrohemija in October. The strategic partner intends to inject EUR150 million (USD168 million) in the capital of HIP Petrohemija, acquiring a stake of up to 90% in the company's capital.

As MRC informed earlier, in 2014, HIP Petrohemija began preparations for the integration of production with the Serbian NIS. The expansion and deepening of the industrial and technological ties of the companies, initiated by the government, was to be completed by March 2014. The facilities of both companies are located in the town of Pancevo, northeast of Belgrade.

It was also reported that in late 2012, HIP Petrohemija completed the modernization and expansion of a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant. The capacity of the new unit increased by 30% and became over 90,000 tonnes per year. Somewhat earlier, an ethylene plant with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year was put into operation. The HDPE plant and ethylene plant had been closed since early September 2011 when the renovation and expansion project began.

The Serbian government owns a 75.27% stake in the capital of HIP Petrohemija, NIS owns 20.86%, Russia's Lukoil controls 3.09%, while the remainder is in the hands of smaller shareholders.

HIP Petrohemija owns petrochemical complexes in Pancevo, Elemir and Crepaja. It specialises in producing high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and other petrochemical products with an annual production capacity of 700,000 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LG Chem, a South Korean petrochemical major, had increased the capacity utilisation at its naphtha cracker in Daesan, South Korea to 50% by 25 November after restart and aims to ramp up the operating rates to 100% on Friday, according to CommoPlast.

LG Chem restarted this cracker on 22 November 2021 after a couple of delays due to a trouble at the cooling tower.

The unit was taken offline in late September for a routine maintenance. And on 23 November, it received commercial production.

LG Chem’s Daesan cracker has an annual output of 1.2 million tons/year of ethylene and 600,000 tons/year of propylene.

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.

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.
MRC

1. Crude oil futures drop in Asia on reports of new COVID-19 variant from South Africa

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures plunged in mid-morning trade in Asia Nov. 26 as investors were spooked by reports of a new COVID-19 variant from South Africa that appeared to evade immune responses, sparking a sharp sell-off in the broader financial markets, reported S&P Global. At 10:05 am Singapore time (0205 GMT), the ICE January Brent futures contract was down USD1.13/b (1.37%) from the previous close at $81.09/b, while the NYMEX January light sweet crude contract was USD1.52/b (1.94%) lower at USD76.87/b. "South Africa made headlines yesterday with reports about a new coronavirus variant, resulting in UK authorities banning flights and instituting quarantine measures for travelers from selected African countries," OCBC Research analysts said in a note.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures plunged in mid-morning trade in Asia Nov. 26 as investors were spooked by reports of a new COVID-19 variant from South Africa that appeared to evade immune responses, sparking a sharp sell-off in the broader financial markets, reported S&P Global.

At 10:05 am Singapore time (0205 GMT), the ICE January Brent futures contract was down USD1.13/b (1.37%) from the previous close at $81.09/b, while the NYMEX January light sweet crude contract was USD1.52/b (1.94%) lower at USD76.87/b.

"South Africa made headlines yesterday with reports about a new coronavirus variant, resulting in UK authorities banning flights and instituting quarantine measures for travelers from selected African countries," OCBC Research analysts said in a note.

Oil prices were falling in line with the broader financial markets as investors exited riskier assets following reports of the new virus variant.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1.11% as of 0205 GMT, while Japan's Nikkei was down 2.29%.

"At present, there is just a small number of known cases and nothing is known about its transmissibility, a key factor determining whether variants flourish or wither. But the new variant is considered notable enough that it is being urgently investigated in terms of both its transmissibility and vaccine efficacy against it," ANZ analysts Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes said in a note.

The latest development will further cloud hopes of a swift economic recovery as vaccinations around the world pick up pace. Europe is in the midst of battling its fourth, or for some fifth, wave of COVID-19 infections, with Portugal the latest to reimpose fresh restrictions Nov. 25.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, earlier this month, TotalEnergies and Daimler Truck AG signed an agreement on their joint commitment to the decarbonization of the road freight in the European Union. The partners will collaborate in the development of ecosystems for heavy-duty trucks running on hydrogen, with the intent to demonstrate the attractiveness and effectiveness of trucking powered by clean hydrogen and the ambition to play a lead role in kickstarting the rollout of hydrogen infrastructure for transportation.

We also remind that TotalEnergies has recently inaugurated the extension of Synova in Normandy, the French leader in recycled polypropylene (PP) production. TotalEnergies is therefore doubling its mechanical recycling production capacity for recycled polymers, to meet growing demand for sustainable polymers from customers, such as Automotive Manufacturer (Auto OEM) and the construction industry.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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