Europe deep-sea naptha to Asia seen declining in April

(ICIS) -- Asian naphtha backwardation is expected to widen further, helped partly by lower deep-sea European inflows in April, while a global crude rally has sparked off higher prices of the petrochemical feedstock, traders said on Thursday.

Backwardation spreads - referring to a market where prompt prices are higher than future prices - between second-half April and second-half May contracts widened to $7/tonne (┬5/tonne) from plus $4.50/tonne on the previous week, ICIS data showed.

Meanwhile, the second-half April contract was valued at $1,000-1,004/tonne CFR (cost & freight) Japan on Thursday morning. The contract closed at $990-992/tonne CFR Japan on Wednesday, according to ICIS data. No deals were done.

The Asian naphtha crack spread versus Brent crude futures closed at $133.50/tonne on Wednesday, up $15.62/tonne from last week, ICIS data showed.

Before that, some 200,000-300,000 tonnes of European arbitrage naphtha was expected to be shipped to Asia in April.

MRC

(ICIS) -- European March monoethylene glycol (MEG) contract discussions have reached a stalemate with producers pushing for a greater price rise than customers are prepared to pay, sources said on Thursday. February's contract settled up by ┬35/tonne at ┬1,070/tonne ($1,486/tonne).

One of the producers said that demand from the downstream polyethylene terephthalate (PET) market was performing well, despite shortages of PET's raw material, purified terephthalic acid (PTA). It added that a spate of upstream ethylene oxide (EO) and MEG shutdowns would contribute to a tighter MEG market in March.

A second supplier was in search of the mid-┬1,100s/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe).

Spot was talked up to ┬960/tonne CIF (cost, insurance and freight) NWE, according to data from ICIS.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Several US market participants have agreed to settle March polymer grade propylene (PGP) contracts at 72.5 cents/lb ($1,598/tonne, ┬1,167/tonne), a 5 cent drop from February, sources said on Wednesday. However, some sellers were still pushing for a higher price than the initial settlement, a buyer said.

Initial chemical grade propylene (CGP) settlements were heard at 71.0 cents/lb, down from 74.0 cents/lb in February.

The CGP seller that settled separately at 70.0 cents/lb in February would move up to 71.0 cents/lb under the initial March settlement, sources said.

The initial settlements represent a more conservative decrease than many downstream market watchers had forecast.

Over the past week, polypropylene (PP) buyers and sellers cited expectations of a 5-10 cent/lb drop on March contracts. US PP demand was hammered by a 17 cent/lb contract increase in January, with February US PP operating rates estimated to be lower than 70%.

MRC

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- The current rise in global crude oil prices could see Iraq add as much as US$8 billion to its coffers, Aswat Al Iraq reported the Secretarty-General of Iraq's Council of Ministers as saying. "The increase of the crude oil prices in the world shall add more than $8 billion to the Iraqi budget this year, Ali Al-Allaq told Al-Sabah newspaper on Tuesday. He said that the extra cashflow would add to the budget to implement the various projects the country has planned.

"If we suppose that the increase on each barrel of oil shall add $10 to its price, assigned in the current budget, being $76 per barrel, the expected increase for this year shall reach US$7.2 billion dollars," Allaq said. He added that the Iraqi government expects this budget figure to increase.

Iraq's current oil production stands at 2.5 million bpd, with exports on average at 2 million bpd, however production is expected to rise to 3 million bpd by the end of this year. Iraq has not exported 2.2 million bpd oil since the 2003 invasion.

MRC

(DuPont) -- DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions announced the introduction of DuPont PV5400 series thin ionomer-based encapsulant sheets designed to protect sensitive thin film solar modules, while offering manufacturers new ways to cut costs, speed throughput and deliver more power over the life of each unit. This is the latest of several recent additions to the company's already broad and growing portfolio of photovoltaic (PV) solutions developed in line with the company's aim to help reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels.

DuPont offers the solar industry's widest range of encapsulants for traditional and thin film photovoltaic module design. DuPont PV5400 series ionomer-based encapsulants are the latest in a broad and growing portfolio of products represented by DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions, which connects science and technology from across the company on a global scale to help support the dramatic growth in the photovoltaic industry.

MRC