Rosneft looks to boost Venezuelan output

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian top crude producer Rosneft expects oil output at its projects in Venezuela, where production has been stagnant in recent years, to reach 1 million barrels per day by 2019-2020, said Upstreamonline.

Venezuela, whose economy is heavily dependent on oil production, is hoping that new projects in the Orinoco crude belt will help increase output, Reuters reported. A statement from Rosneft cited president Igor Sechin, a long-standing ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as saying after a trip to Latin America last week that oil production at Rosneft's joint ventures in the Orinoco belt would reach 280,000 bpd in 2016 and rise further in 2017.

"Such dynamics of assets and production development would allow us to reach the level of at least 1 million bpd in 2019-2020," Sechin is quoted as saying at a conference.

Venezuela is the world's eleventh largest crude exporter but foreign companies operating there have faced price controls and currency devaluations along with threats of nationalisation, leading several to quit the country.

Lukoil and Surgutneftegas have announced that they were leaving the consortium of Russian oil companies in Venezuela, citing a need to focus on other projects, Reuters reported.

Currently, Rosneft and Gazprom Neft are jointly working in the Junin-6 consortium developing heavy oil in the Orinoco basin. Rosneft is also involved in another Orinoco block to run, Carabobo 2.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Nelson Merentes said that Venezuela would produce an average 3.1 million bpd of oil in 2014, roughly similar to this year. Oil exports from the country are seen at 2.5 million bpd.

As MRC wrote before, Russian oil giant Rosneft is to pump nearly USD3 billion into developing a trio of oilfields in East Siberia. The Moscow-based behemoth is to spend 92 billion rubles (USD2.79 billion) on the three fields by 2015. The field developments are set to feed into the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline feeding Asian markets.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The overall increase in production of key products from polymers in Belarus was 5.8% in January-October 2013, reported MRC analysts.

Producers of plastic windows, pipes, hoses and fittings accounted for the largest increase in production.

According to the National Statistics Committee of Belarus, the output of windows, window frames and window sills rose up to 47,100 square meters in October (an increase of 2% from September). The overall production of these products grew to 413,600 square meters in the first ten months of 2013, up by 14.2% year on year.

Last month's output of pipes, hoses and fittings from polymers dropped by 12.6% from September and amounted to about 1,100 tonnes. This figure exceeded 11,800 tonnes in January-October 2013, up by 11.5% year on year.

October output of boxes, contrainers, plastic trays rose to 65.8 million units, up by 10.2% from September. The overall production of these products from polymers was 583.1 million units in the ten months of the year, up by 8.9% year on year.

The output of reinforced polymer and non-combined films in October virtually remained at September's level and totalled about 7,300 tonnes. The overall films production exceeded 73,800 tonnes in January-October 2013, up by only 0.6% year on year.

Last month's production of plastic doors and their boxes fell to 3,600 square meters from 4,200 square meters in September. The overall output of these products dropped by 4.8% in the ten months of 2013 to 32,700 square meters.
MRC

Moscow (MRC) -- The demand for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in Belarus increased by 20% to about 35,000 tonnes, according to MRC analysts.

Imports of unmixed PVC to Belarus grew to 4,400 tonnes in Septemer. Total PVC imports to Belarus reached 35,000 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, compared with 29,200 tonnes year on year.

The main increase in PVC imports occurred for supplies from Germany. Imports of PVC to Belarus from Germany increased more than one and a half to 17,600 tonnes in the first nine months of the year. The main supplier of German PVC is a subsidiary of a major Russian producer of window profiles.

The second largest supplier of PVC to Belarus was a Polish producer Anwil. Total imports of Polish PVC to Belarus grew to 11,800 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, compared with 8,300 tonnes year on year.

Imports of US PVC decreased to 1,900 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, from 5,100 tonnes year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Production of PET chips at Russian plants dropped in January-October 2013 by 7% year on year and totalled 354,000 tonnes, according to MRC ScanPlast.

A sharp drop in production has been registered since early August. It was caused by a series of force majeures and shutdowns for scheduled maintenance at Russian polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plants.

October was no exception. October outpute of PET fell by 43% year on year and totalled 21,900 tonnes. Such low levels of production in October were caused by several factors. Firstly, Senege shut down its production because of a failure in the first week of October. Secondly, Bashkir Polief resumed operations only in the second half of the month. Thirdly, SIBUR-PETF has reduced significantly its capacity utilisation in October.

November PET production in Russia will remain low this year and will not reach PET output of November 2012. Kaliningrad plant Alco-Naphtha shut down its production for a turnaround on 11 November. The plant remained idle for almost the whole month, intending to restart production in late November. In its turn, Senege did not finish maintenance works in October. The plant did not produce PET chips for almost the whole of November, which will affect the country's overall output of PET.

This Autumn long outages will allow market players to reduce their stocks. Seasonal stronger demand is expected in the spot market in early December because of preparations for the New Year holidays and a lack of available quantities in the market.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Consumption of polycarbonate in Russia increased by 8% to 82,000 tonnes in the first ten months in 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, according to a MRC ScanPlast.

The main consumption sector of PC-granulate in Russia continued to be building (about 16%) and the production of electrical appliances and lighting engineering (about 18%).
Demand for injection moulding polycarbonate for the production of electrical appliances has improved. The leaders in the imports of injection moulding polycarbonate were Sabic, Bayer and Samsung.

Russian market of PC-granulate continued to be dependant on imports, because Russian producers are unable to meet the growing demand for quality feedstock from converters. Russia's imports of PC-granulate exceeded 39,000 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, which was almost half of the total consumption.

Russia's exports totalled almost 14,000 tonnes in the firts ten months of the year. Total PC production in Russia was about 56,000 tonnes in the first ten months of the year.

MRC