Iran exports over USD9 bln of petchem products in 10 months of Iranian calendar year

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran's petrochemical industries earned approximately USD9.19bln from exporting petrochemical products to the international markets in the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2013-January 20, 2014), reported Ein News with reference to data from Iran Customs Administration.

The data showed that gas condensate made up USD8.52bln of Iran’s petrochemical exports.

In terms of non-oil exports, Iran exported USD5.905 bln of various products to China, USD4.79 bln to Iraq, USD2.923 bln to the United Arab Emirates, USD2.128bln to India and USD2.22bln to Afghanistan.

Iran’s non-oil exports, which weighed 75.51mln tons, were 15.33% higher than a year ago.

Iran earned USD12bln from exporting petrochemicals in the last Iranian calendar year which ended on March 20, 2013.

Nearly 60 countries, mainly from South and Southeast Asia, imported Iran’s petrochemical products in the previous Iranian calendar year.

The country has significantly expanded the range and volume of its petrochemical production over the past few years, and the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) has become the second largest producer and exporter of petrochemicals in the Middle-East after Saudi Arabia.

As MRC wrote previously, the European Union is set to temporarily ease restrictions on Iranian exports of petrochemical products, but a prohibition to sell technologies related to the sector into the Islamic Republic will remain in place. Sanction-relief measures will allow EU-based companies to buy, import, insure and transport petrochemicals from Iran - all prohibited since 2012.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Due to lower petrochemical and refinery production sales, as well as refining margins, revenues of Unipetrol (PKN Orlen's affiliate) decreased by 5% year on year and in Q4 amounted at CZK 25.070 bn, according to the company's report.

The results were also negatively influenced by difficult refining macroeconomic conditions. Petrochemical segment continued to be the key profit maker of the group. Company also recorded improvement in performance of retail segment.

"We are consequantly aiming at improvement of our financial performance. In Q4 2013 Unipetrol achieved some significant milestones important for realization of our strategy for the years 2013-2017. We signed purchase agreement with Shell, which increased our share capital in Ceska Rafinerska to 67.555%. The transaction broughts Unipetrol the qualified majority of votes, allowing significant improvement of the company's operational management," said the Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Unipetrol, Marek Switajewski.

In Q4 Unipetrol Group posted operational profit EBITDA LIFO of CZK 252m.

Operational profit EBITDA LIFO in the petrochemical segment amounted to CZK +514m in 4Q13. The results of the segment were positively affected by very good petrochemical margins, development of FX – stronger EUR vis-a-vis CZK and USD, higher steam cracker utilization and fixed and variable costs savings within operational excellence initiatives. In year on year comparison the company recorded negative impact of lower olefin margins, higher renewable energy surcharges and negative impact of CO2 allowances. Company recorded sales decrease of petrochemical products to 420,000 tonnes in Q4 (-7% year on year) due to slightly lower sales of polymers.

As MRC wrote before, on 3 October 2013, Unipetrol signed a license agreement with Ineos, based on which it acquired the right to use a production process and technology for the new polyethylene unit (PE3). Purchase of the license is the first achieved milestone and represents the official start of the project’s execution. The new polyethylene unit will assist in the process of increasing utilization of the steam cracker and it will contribute to a better interconnection between the petrochemical and refinery segments of the Unipetrol Group. The most modern technology will also improve production safety and reliability.

Within next years, as communicated in Unipetrol Strategy, the majority of investments will be undertaken in petrochemical area. Thus, Czech downstream oil group Unipetrol expects petrochemicals to become the largest source of revenue for the company in 2013-2017.

Unipetrol , a.s. is a group of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 Unipetrol became a part of the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is oriented mostly towards oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas the Unipetrol Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading firms in the Czech Republic in terms of its revenues, and employs almost 4,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The United Arab Emirates, a Gulf Opec oil producer, said it was looking at the possibility of importing natural gas from North America, in what would be one of the most striking developments since the start of the US shale boom, according Upstreamonline.

The United States and Canada are producing record amounts of gas from shale rock formations, pulling down North American prices to levels that have attracted the interest of foreign buyers.

Around a dozen long-term deals, each worth billions of dollars, have recently been signed behind closed doors between US producers and buyers in China, Japan, Taiwan, Spain, France and Chile as global demand for gas increases.

"We may follow the same trend of considering investments in the United States and Canada to bring some of that gas back home," UAE oil minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui told the news wire on Monday at an energy conference in London.

Rapidly rising demand and slow production growth have made the Opec member a net importer of gas over the past few years.

The UAE's Abu Dhabi National Energy Company has already invested in Canada's oil and gas sector but so far has not been publicly involved in North American natural gas export projects. "The United Arab Emirates is seriously thinking about that now," the minister said.

The UAE last year awarded a contract to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Fujairah on its east coast. It already gets a modest volume of Qatari gas by pipeline, which helps feed its power and desalination plants.

As MRC wrote before, the growth in U.S. shale-gas exploration and production has lowered domestic gas prices and enables producers there to use gas as feedstock. That has put pressure on petrochemical producers in Saudi Arabia who get gas for a government- subsidized price of USD0.75 per million British thermal units.
As MRC wrote before, Saudi Arabia intends to remain a world energy powerhouse for the foreseeable future, partly by exploiting new technology which has unlocked vast quantities of oil and natural gas in North America. Saudi Arabia will push ahead this year with exploratory drilling of shale and other unconventional gas reserves which could be twice the size of its conventional gas reserves, which total 286 trillion cubic feet.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The signing of a gas production-sharing agreement between Ukraine and an international consortium led by US supermajor ExxonMobil has been postponed for the second time in a row, according Upstreamonline.

"We will sign it (the agreement) in February," Ukraine's fuel and energy minister Eduard Stavytsky told reporters on Monday. He did not give a reason for the fresh delay.

The government orginally intended to sign the deal, which is expected to bring Ukraine several billion cubic metres of gas per year, in November. Stavytsky postponed the decision until January due to mass anti-government protests in Kiev.

In 2012, Ukraine selected a group of companies led by ExxonMobil to explore conventional gas deposits in the southern Skifska area on the Black Sea shelf, which has a potential output of 3 Bcm of gas per year.

The postponed deal would have formalised a production sharing agreement for these deposits.

In December, Russia agreed to cut gas prices for Ukraine by a third after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich walked away from a trade agreement with Europe. Kiev said that a deal for cheaper Russian gas would not affect its standing agreements Western energy companies for shale gas exploration.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - DowAksa Advanced Composites Holdings B.V. signed an agreement to invest 134 million rubles in the charter capital of Nanotechnology Center of Composites (NCC) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Composite holding said in a statement.

NCC is a joint project between the Composite holding and the Rusnano Infrastructure and Education Programs Fund (FIEP).

Composite said that as a result of the agreement, DowAksa, HCC and FIEP will each own one third of NCC's total chapter capital.

In January 2013, Dow Chemical, DowAksa, Rusnano and Composite signed a memorandum of intent (MOI) to develop a comprehensive strategy to launch production of carbon fiber intermediates, composite materials and solutions in Russia.

The document envisages the possibility of joint investment into Rusnano's portfolio companies that are part of Composite: CJSC Prepreg-SKM and NCC. At that time, the companies were planning to consider the possibility of working together on the Russian and world market in the power, oil and gas, aerospace and transportation sectors, as well as in projects to create building and transportation infrastructure.

NCC, which is based at the Technopolis Moscow technology park, was launched in the summer of last year. The project's budget was more than 2.75 billion rubles, of which Rusnano accounted for 1.1 billion rubles.

NCC plans to launch its second production line soon. The necessary equipment for producing polymer composite materials has been determined.

The Rusnano Infrastructure and Education Programs Fund was created in 2010 and handles the development of innovative infrastructure in the field of nanotechnology. In particular, the fund carries out a program to create nano-centers that should play the role of technology parks, venture companies and technology sites for startups. The program includes the establishment of more than 12 nano-centers with similar capabilities and working according to the same system, but specializing in different areas.

DowAksa Advanced Composites Holdings BV. is a joint venture between American Dow Chemical and Turkish AKSA Akrilik Kimya Sanayii A.S., which produces acrylic fibers. DowAksa develops and supplies its products and services, particularly carbon fibers, on the composite materials market.
MRC