Air Liquide signs new long term contract in Kazakhstan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Liquide signs new long term contract with Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries (KPI) to build, own and operate a new nitrogen unit in the growing chemical basin of Karabatan, close to the Atyrau refinery, said the company.

Air Liquide Munay Tech Gases will invest 15 million euros in a new unit to supply up to 8,000 Nm3/h nitrogen to the new 500,000 ton per year polypropylene plant under construction by KPI in the first Integrated Gas-Chemical Complex Construction Project in Atyrau region, aiming at becoming a world-class petrochemical basin.

Air Liquide Munay Tech Gases, a company jointly owned by Air Liquide (75%) and KazMunayGaz, the Kazakhstan national oil & gas company (25%), has been successfully supplying for over one year hydrogen to the Pavlodar Oil and Chemistry Refinery, an affiliate of KazMunayGaz.

This new project, planned to be operational by the second quarter of 2021, marks the second milestone in the development of the Group in Kazakhstan.

"We are delighted to participate in this project and to be part of what is an important development for this new promising chemical basin. Air Liquide will bring its technological know-how and expertise to contribute to the modernization of the industry in the country. This important milestone also illustrates the strengthening of our joint-venture with KazMunayGaz and the continuing growth of our activities in Kazakhstan," Francois Jackow, Executive Vice-President and a member of the Executive Committee supervising industrial activities in Europe said.

As MRC informed earlier, Air Liquide in 2018 signed a new long-term agreement with LyondellBasell, one of the world’s largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies, to supply oxygen to LyondellBasell’s new large-scale petrochemical plant which will be constructed in Channelview, Texas. LyondellBasell’s new propylene oxide/tertiary butyl alcohol plant (PO/TBA), is expected to be the largest of its kind plant in the world when completed.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,436,390 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, declared a quarterly cash dividend of USD0.62 per share on its common stock, payable November 7, 2019, as per the company's press release.

The dividend is payable to stockholders of record as of October 28, 2019.

As MRC informed earlier, Celanese Corporation has been progressing in restarting on-site production units after experiencing an emergency incident on Saturday, September 21, at its Clear Lake facility in Pasadena, Texas. The Fairway Methanol unit has restarted and has been approaching full operating rates. The acetic acid and vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) production units are planned for restart at reduced rates during October, with full operating rates expected for all production units at Clear Lake within the fourth quarter of 2019.

We remind that Celanese Corporation experienced an emergency incident at approximately 12:00 noon Central time on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Celanese Clear Lake facility in Pasadena, Texas.

According to MRC's DataScope report, July EVA imports to Russia increased by 4% year on year to 3,490 tonnes from 3,350 tonnes in July 2018, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation decreased in January-July 2019 by 14, 3% year on year to 22,440 tonnes (26,170 tonnes in the first seven months of 2018).

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2018 net sales of USD7.2 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total has announced the closing of the acquisition of Anadarko’s 26.5% operated interest in the Mozambique LNG project for a purchase price of USD3.9 billion, according to HellenicShippingNews.

This closing comes after Total reached a binding agreement with Occidental on May 3, 2019, to acquire Anadarko’s assets in Africa (Mozambique, Algeria, Ghana and South Africa) and signed the subsequent Purchase and Sale Agreement on August 3, 2019. This first transaction follows receipt of all requisite approvals by the relevant authorities and partners.

"Mozambique LNG is one of a kind asset that perfectly fits with our strategy and expands our position in liquefied natural gas", said Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman & CEO of Total. "As the new operator, we are fully committed to the Mozambique LNG project and we will bring the best of our human, technical, marketing and financial capacities to further strengthen its execution. Total will of course work on the strong foundations established by the previous operator and its partners, in order to implement the project in the best interest of all those involved, including the government and the people of Mozambique."

Mozambique LNG is the country’s first onshore LNG development. The project includes the development of the Golfinho and Atum fields located within Offshore Area 1 and the construction of a two-trains liquefaction plant with a capacity of 12.9 million tonnes per year (Mt/y). The Area 1 contains more than 60 Tcf of gas resources, of which 18 Tcf will be developed with the first two trains. The Final Investment Decision (FID) on Mozambique LNG was announced on June 18, 2019, and the project is expected to come into production by 2024.

The Mozambique LNG project is largely derisked since almost 90% of the production is already sold through long-term contracts with key LNG buyers in Asia and in Europe. Additionally, the project is expected to have a domestic gas component for in-country consumption to help fuel future economic development.

Total operates Mozambique LNG with a 26.5% participating interest alongside ENH Rovuma Area Um, S.A. (15%), Mitsui E&P Mozambique Area1 Ltd. (20%), ONGC Videsh Ltd. (10%), Beas Rovuma Energy Mozambique Limited (10%), BPRL Ventures Mozambique B.V. (10%), and PTTEP Mozambique Area 1 Limited (8.5%).
Closing operations are still ongoing in relation to Anadarko’s assets in the other countries (Algeria, Ghana, South Africa).

Total is the second-largest private global LNG player, with an overall portfolio of around 40 Mt/y by 2020 and a worldwide market share of 10%. With 22 Mt of LNG sold in 2018, the Group has solid and diversified positions across the LNG value chain. Through its stakes in liquefaction plants located in Qatar, Nigeria, Russia, Norway, Oman, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Australia or Angola, the Group sells LNG in all markets.

As MRC wrote before, last Wednesday, France's Feyzin refinery was in the process of halting units and the steam cracker is running at reduced rates. Local media reported earlier that the refinery had been halting operations since Monday due to a strike. The company said it regrets the decision by labor unions to call a strike while discussions are ongoing with refinery staff about a planned indefinite closure of a unit due to lower product demand.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,436,390 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea's crude oil imports from the US in September more than doubled from a year earlier, while intakes of Saudi crude dropped 17.6% year on year due to the September 14 attacks on Saudi's major oil facilities, reported S&P Global with reference to customs data.

Customs data also showed the Asian country's intake of Iranian barrels remained at zero last month for a fifth straight month on Washington's sanctions.

South Korean refiners imported 1.62 million mt, or 11.87 million barrels, of US crude oil in September, compared with 5.11 million barrels a year earlier, according to the data.

The shipment made the US, South Korea's third-biggest crude supplier following Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The September shipments were also up 7.3%, compared with 11.06 million barrels imported in August.

The rise came after South Korea bought as much as 14.78 million barrels in July, the biggest volume since the country began US crude imports in 2015, breaking the previous record high of 13.61 million in December 2018.

The Asian nation's crude imports from the US have sharply increased since July last year when the Washington moved to re-impose sanctions on Iran which made South Korea buy more US crude to make up for the loss of Iranian barrels.

For the first nine months this year, South Korean imports of US crude soared more than three times to 97.94 million barrels, compared with 31.89 million barrels a year earlier, according to data compiled by S&P Global Platts.

The sharp increase was partly driven by more purchases of Eagle Ford condensate and DJ Common condensate as an alternative to Iran's South Pars condensate.

South Korean importers have also recently increased purchases of WTI Light and Eagle Ford Light and Medium as well as light sweet Bakken and WTI Midland ahead of the IMO 2020 marine fuel regulation, according to refiners.

South Korea's crude imports from Saudi Arabia dropped 17.6% year on year to 2.84 million mt, or 20.82 million barrels in September, from 25.26 million barrels a year earlier, according to the customs data.

The reduced shipments came after the attacks on Saudi Arabia's pivotal Abqaiq processing facility and Khurais oil field last month, which knocked out half of the kingdom's crude oil production.

Meanwhile, South Korea did not import any crude oil from Iran in September for a fifth straight month as waivers on US sanctions on Tehran expired early May.

In total, South Korea imported 10.48 million mt (76.82 million barrels or 2.56 million b/d) of crude oil in September, down 5.3% from 81.11 million barrels a year earlier.

Over January-September, South Korea's crude imports fell 3.1% year on year to 804.51 million barrels, down from 830.19 million barrels in the same period a year ago.

The September imports were down 20.9% from August imports of 97.07 million barrels.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- GlobalData identifies Fujian Billion Petrochemicals Co. Ltd. as the second highest capacity contributor among the global companies for planned and announced PTA capacity additions by 2023, said the company.

‘Fujian Billion Petrochemical Fujian PTA Plant’, will account for the company’s entire capacity additions by 2023. The project is expected to start operations in 2020, with a capacity of 2.50 mtpa.

ChengHong Holding Group Co. Ltd. stands third, contributing a capacity of 2.40 mtpa from an announced project by 2023.

As MRC informed before, Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co. Ltd. is expected to lead the global planned and announced purified terephthalic acid (PTA) capacity additions during the period 2019 to 2023, contributing around 22% of the global growth by 2023. Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co. Ltd. is expected to add a capacity of 5.00 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from two planned projects by 2023.

PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's DataScope report, Chinese bottle grade PET deliveries to Russia increased 34% in the first eight months of 2019 to 95,600 tonnes. China accounted for 90% of the total imports, compared to 85% a year earlier.
August imports of material from China decreased by 41% to 7,600 tonnes from 12,800 tonnes in July. Jiangsu Sanfangxiang, Yisheng, Wankai and Sinopec were the leading Chinese suppliersof material to the Russian market.

MRC