Chevron halts east Romania shale gas search after protests

MOSCOW (MRC) - U.S. oil major Chevron suspended its search for shale gas at a site in eastern Romania after opposition from local residents, said Reuters.

The company earlier this year won approval to drill exploratory wells in the impoverished eastern county of Vaslui and also has rights to explore three blocks near the Black Sea.

Thousands of people have rallied across Romania in recent months to protest government backing for shale gas exploration and plans to set up Europe's largest open cast gold mine in a small Carpathian town.

In the small town of Pungesti, where Chevron was expected to begin work on its first exploration well, locals blocked access to the site earlier this week. Chevron aimed to set up the first well by the end of the year.

"Chevron can today confirm it has suspended activities in Silistea, Pungesti commune, Vaslui county," the company said on Thursday.

"Chevron is committed to building constructive and positive relationships with the communities where we operate and we will continue our dialogue with the public, local communities and authorities on our projects."

The Pungesti local council decided on Thursday to hold a referendum on Nov. 24 on whether to allow Chevron to explore for shale. The referendum would not be binding, and the company said it has all the necessary permits it needs for the works.

Shale gas faces local opposition due to environmental concerns around hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting water and chemicals at high pressure into underground rock formations to push out gas.

Many countries in central and southeastern Europe see shale gas as a way to wean themselves off Russian supplies, though Romania only imports about a quarter of what it uses due to conventional reserves.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that Romania could potentially recover 51 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, which would cover domestic demand for more than a century.

As MRC wrote before, a second regional council in Ukraine on Thursday approved a government draft for a USD10 billion shale gas production-sharing agreement with US supermajor Chevron, clearing the way for it to be signed. Deputies in Lviv region voted by 66-to-3 in favour of the draft, which calls for shale exploration in the Olesska block in the west of the country. A council in the neighbouring Ivano-Frankivsk region, whose approval was also necessary, backed the deal last month in a 62-to-1 vote with 11 abstentions.

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States, and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation. Chevron is one of the world's six "supermajor" oil companies.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's leading chemical company and the global leader in plastic additives, has successfully completed the expansion of its antioxidant capacity in Singapore, reported the company on its site.

Irganox 1010 is now produced at BASF’s site along with other antioxidants on Jurong Island as part of BASF’s global production network.

The facility enjoys a strategic central location with excellent infrastructure. With global plastics production projected to grow above GDP level in Asia and the Middle East, BASF will ensure continuous and reliable supply of antioxidants for its customers in the polymer industry. In doing so, BASF further optimizes its production footprint in Asia Pacific.

According to its Asia Pacific strategy, BASF plans to invest EUR10 billion in the Asia Pacific region by 2020 in order to ensure that around 75% of its products sold in the region will be locally produced.

BASF has a global network of regional antioxidants production sites including Shanghai (China), Jurong (Singapore), Kaisten (Switzerland), McIntosh, AL (USA), and Lampertheim (Germany). In line with this new investment, the current production of Irganox 1010 at the Isohara plant, Japan will be consolidated in Singapore.

As MRC wrote previously, in mid-September, SIBUR, a leading Russian gas processing and petrochemicals company, and the German chemicals giant BASF signed a long-term cooperation memorandum to supply additives used for polymer production and processing at SIBUR’s production facilities. The deal provides for supplies of additives used to produce polypropylene, polyethylene, synthetic rubbers, thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), and ABS plastics at SIBUR's production facilities, with BASF ensuring also technical support.

Besides, BASF is investing several hundred million euros in expanding its additive production sites over the next five years.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State oil company PDVSA and Spain's Repsol are discussing a USD1.2 billion financing deal for a joint venture in Venezuela, reported Upstreamonline with reference to a top government official's statement.

The announcement was made by Petroleum Minister Rafael Ramirez during a visit to Caracas by Repsol boss Antonio Brufau, Reuters reported.

The funds would go to the Petroquiriquire joint venture, which runs mature oil fields in the east and west of the South American OPEC member country, the news wire added.

Ramirez said the financing was aimed at increasing the joint venture's output by 75,000 barrels per day, from a total of about 40,000 bpd currently produced at its three fields.

If signed, the new deal would add to about USD10 billion in loans that PDVSA has agreed this year, including with Chevron and Schlumberger of the United States and China's CNPC, as it seeks to boost stagnant national oil output of some 3 million bpd.

Repsol is working with PDVSA in an offshore natural gas project and is a key part of a consortium seeking to tap Venezuela's vast Orinoco extra heavy crude belt.

Separately, the minister said he would also be discussing financing with visiting executives from Italy's ENI in November for their joint ventures.

As MRC informed earlier, Repsol is planning a comeback in Asia after divesting most of its assets in the region in the 1990s to invest in Argentina. Repsol was forced to exit Argentina last year after the government there expropriated a controlling stake in its Argentinian subsidiary YPF. Most of the company's revenue and production is generated from its businesses in Latin America, the North Sea and US, but the company is now rebalancing its portfolio by increasing its focus on West Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Falling prices of feedstock (terephthalic acid, monoethylene glycol and paraxylene) last week led to a decline in bottle grade PET prices in China and South Korea, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Spot prices of paraxylene in Asia fell to USD66/tonne in the end of last week. Price quotation of PTA was cut by USD25/tonne, which also resulted in a price decline of PET.



Major importers of PET chips reported the decline in the prices for CIS countries. Russian converters said PET prices fell an average by USD10/tonne in China and USD10/tonne in Korea.

The most attractive export prices in China were heard around USD1,340/tonne FOB China. The lower end of Korean PET prices was at USD1,370/tonne FOB. Falling import quotations put pressure on the price of Russian PET.

Russian PET producers voiced spot prices at Rb64,000-66,000/tonne FCA, including VAT and are in no hurry to cut quotations. At the same time, converters expect contract prices to fall in November and practically have not purchased in the spot market in October.

Price offer from Chinese suppliers for Ukrainian converters with the freight was heard at USD1,410-1,440/tonne CIF Odessa, excluding VAT. PET prices from African and Middle Eastern producers for Ukraine were at USD1,460-1,480/tonne CIF Odessa, excluding VAT.

At the same time, suppliers of PET chips were ready to make concessions to customers to support the demand. Converters also said that they will consider these offers in the case of price reductions.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The seasonal factor and weak demand continued to put pressure on North American polyvinyl chloride (PVC) prices. Offers for shipments in the first half of November dropped below USD1,000/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The forthcoming end of the "season " in the PVC market and weak demand from companies of the CIS markets, particularly, the Russian market, have forced North American suppliers to reduce prices further. By mid-October, offers for PVC shipments from the United States in the first half of November had reached USD970/tonne.

Prices for Russian companies were heard in the range of USD970-990/tonne CFR St Petersburg and USD985-1,000/tonne CFR Novorossiysk this week. Offers for Ukrainian companies for shipments in the first half of November were heard in the range of USD985-1,000/tonne CIF Odessa.

However, many market participants have refrained from purchasing PVC in the USA so far, despite such major price cuts over the last two months. Companies hope that next week's prices for North American PVC will go down to USD950-970/tonne CFR.
MRC