Indian Oil plans to restart PP plant in India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian oil Corp Ltd (IOCL)is likely to complete maintenance at its polypropylene (PP) plant in mid-August 2017, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that the plant is expected to resume operations following a maintenance turnaround. The company has undertaken a planned shutdown at its plant in mid-July 2017

As per earlier plans, the plant was supposed to shut in early-July 2017.

Located at Panipat in the northern Indian state of Haryana, the PP plant comprising two units has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year each.

As MRC wrote previously, IOCL shut its PP plant at Panipat refinery in northern India for a two-week turnaround in early September 2016.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem S.A. was downgraded by research analysts at BidaskClub from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Friday, said Rinconhillneighbors.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. ValuEngine raised Braskem from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. Zacks Investment Research raised Braskem from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a USD24.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Braskem from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of USD21.33.

Shares of Braskem traded up 1.51% on Friday, reaching USD24.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 80,052 shares. Braskem has a 1-year low of USD12.61 and a 1-year high of USD25.68. The company’s 50 day moving average is USD22.81 and its 200-day moving average is USD21.25.

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Braskem by 5.2% in the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 6,010 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at USD122,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its stake in Braskem by 1.5% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 9,889 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at USD211,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Eqis Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Braskem by 15.4% in the first quarter. Eqis Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,652 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at USD278,000 after buying an additional 1,818 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Braskem during the first quarter valued at $294,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Braskem by 0.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,065 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at USD326,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. 0.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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MOSCOW (MRC) — Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline vowed on Thursday to block construction of the controversial project if Nebraska regulators approve the proposed route later this year, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The state's regulators wrapped up a final public hearing a day early on Thursday on TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL pipeline after four days of contentious exchanges between lawyers. Nebraska's Public Service Commission will make its final decision by Nov. 23.

After the hearing, two dozen landowners and other pipeline opponents vowed non-violent civil disobedience if the commission rules in favor of TransCanada. The action, they said, would be similar to months-long protests in North Dakota led by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe against the Dakota Access pipeline.

"Standing Rock was a dress rehearsal compared to what this will be," said Jane Kleeb, chair of Nebraska's Democratic party and founder of the Bold Alliance anti-pipeline group, her voice cracking. "We are not going to let an inch of foreign steel touch Nebraska soil."

The proposed 1,179-mi pipeline, linking Canada’s Alberta oil sands to US refineries, has been a lightning rod of controversy for nearly a decade. The project has pitted landowners and environmentalists worried about greenhouse gas emissions, oil spills and environmental contamination, against business advocates who say it will lower fuel prices, shore up national security and bring jobs.

Lawyers representing about 90 landowners opposed to the pipeline that would traverse their farms and lawyers for TransCanada sparred over the four days of the court-like hearing, held in a hotel ballroom and presided over by a retired judge. There was heavy security at the hearing, which was open to the public.

Intervenors in the hearing ranged from the landowners—mainly ranchers and farmers—to native American tribes and TransCanada representatives. Each group made its case to the five elected members of the Public Service Commission about whether or not the proposed pipeline was in the "public interest."

David Domina, Omaha-based attorney for the landowners, said TransCanada failed to do that. “TransCanada … put on their best case,” he said. “I should think Nebraskans would be disappointed in their best case. I don’t think they sustained their burden of proof,” he said.

Just recently, TransCanada officials said they would only decide in December whether to proceed with the project after gauging demand from oil shippers and awaiting a decision from Nebraska's Public Service Commission.
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MOSCOW (MRC) — Fluor Corporation announced that the Ma’aden Wa’ad Al-Shamal Phosphate Company’s (MWSPC) Umm Wu’al Phosphate Project in Saudi Arabia has started production of ammonia, merchant-grade acid and fertilizer, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Fluor is providing overall program management services for this USD8 B megaproject, in addition to engineering, procurement and operations and readiness services for various scopes.

Production has begun on diammonium phosphate fertilizer, merchant-grade acid and ammonia. Phosphate serves as a key element in fertilizer for agricultural crops. As one of the largest integrated phosphate fertilizer plants in the world, the facility will help meet global food supply needs by delivering 3 MMmtpy of diammonium phosphate and nitrogen, phosphorous and potash fertilizers.

With a peak site workforce of 28,000 from more than 50 nationalities, Fluor implemented its world-class safety programs, including its Life CriticalSM program, to support the project. As a result of these programs, the project has achieved more than 46 million consecutive work hours without a lost-time incident.

MWSPC is a joint venture between The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden), The Mosaic Company and Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian state-owned refiners are planning to spend USD35 billion on expanding their petrochemicals output in anticipation of a boom in demand for products ranging from plastics to paints, Reuters reports. The three companies taking part in the strategy are Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum, said Oilprice.

According to interviews with executives from these companies, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum will each invest USD15 billion in expanding petrochemical-producing capabilities, eyeing an increase in this business’ share in total revenues of 10 percent. Refiner IOC will spend about USD4.7 billion in petrochemicals expansion, aiming to bring its share in revenues from 25 percent currently to a third in five to seven years.

Earlier this week, IOC secured government permission to import one very large crude carrier (VCCC) of U.S. crude oil every month this year, as Indian firms started buying American crude for the first time. India is the latest addition of Asian customers for U.S. crude, after OPEC’s production cuts pushed prices up for the heavy sour crude oil from the Middle East.

According an Indian oil ministry official, even after shipping costs are added, Indian refiners find U.S. crude cost competitive now.

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A senior member of the country’s Chemical and Petrochemical Manufacturing Association, an industry body, estimated demand for petrochemicals is set to expand by 10 million tons until financial 2019/20, which means the domestic petrochemicals market will grow to USD65-70 billion.

Indian’s refiners have traditionally focused on fuel and cooking oil production. At the moment, India is among the top fastest-growing economies in the world, but its use of petrochemicals is about a fourth of the global average, the CPMA member, S. Mitra, also told Reuters. Half of this is imported, and New Delhi is determined to reduce its reliance on imported oil and products.
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