Cnergyico imports Pakistan's first private-sector Russian crude cargo

Pakistan refiner Cnergyico has imported the country's first private-sector shipment of Russian crude oil, it said on Monday, as the cash-strapped nation takes advantage of Moscow's discounts on its oil exports, as per Reuters.

The South Asian nation has started snapping up crude oil that Russia has discounted after its exports were banned from European markets over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Pakistan's first cargo, imported by the government, arrived in June and a second government-to-government shipment is under negotiation.

It had been assumed that private imports would not be commercially viable because, among other things, cargoes have to be split and transferred to smaller ships as Pakistan's ports cannot handle large tankers.

But Cnergyico used its single point mooring, which can accommodate deep-draft tankers, a company spokesman said in response to questions from Reuters. The crude is to be refined at the company's refinery in the southwestern city of Hub.

Processing the 100,000-metric-ton shipment of Urals crude "marks an important milestone for the company and for the country as well," said the spokesman. "It demonstrates the company's capabilities and readiness to refine different types and complexities of crude oil."

Cnergyico operates the largest refinery in Pakistan, with a capacity of 156,000 barrels per day (bpd), accounting for one-third of a national capacity of 450,000 bpd. It is the only refinery with its own single point mooring.

Cnergyico plans to sell gasoline and diesel refined from the Urals crude locally, and export furnace oil, or fuel oil, typically used in industrial boilers, power plants and ship engines. "There is ample demand for furnace oil in the global market, which can help Pakistan generate foreign exchange," the spokesman said.

Cnergyico conducted due diligence and consulted with external sanctions counsel to ensure the import of Russian oil did not violate sanctions, he said.

Pakistan aims to import 100,000 bpd from Russia this year, which would account for the bulk of its total imports, help address a foreign-exchange crisis and keep a lid on record inflation. Last year, Pakistan's total crude imports registered at 154,000 bpd.

The government paid in Chinese yuan for its first import of discounted Russian crude, which went to state-owned Pakistan Refinery Ltd.

We remind, Russia may introduce quotas on overseas fuel exports if a complete export ban imposed last week does not succeed in bringing down persistently high gasoline and diesel prices, its Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said. The government said in a statement late on Thursday that Novak told a meeting of senior managers at Russian oil companies that the ban on the export of gasoline and diesel had initially led to a fall in prices on the commodity exchange.

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Seaborne diesel and gasoil exports from Russian ports fell 27% in September from a month earlier to about 2.76 million tons due to a major overhaul of refineries and a fuel export ban, data from traders and LSEG showed, as per Reuters.

Idle primary oil refining capacity for September stood at 4.657 million tons, up 45% from August, according to Reuters calculations. Last month Russia temporarily banned exports of gasoline and diesel from Sept. 21 to cope with a domestic shortage, but later lifted restrictions on bunker fuel and high sulfur gasoil.

The ban on exports of Russian diesel is indefinite, with further government action dependent on a deficit being erased in the domestic market, according to Russian First Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin.

Russia may introduce overseas fuel export quotas if the ban does not succeed in bringing down domestic fuel prices, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said last week.

Russian pipeline operator Transneft stopped export shipments of diesel from Primorsk from Sept. 22, when ULSD loadings via the port reached 745,000 tons. Three more cargoes of diesel totaling 113,000 tons were loaded in Primorsk between Sept. 27 and Sept. 30, due to an exception for volumes which had loading orders before the export ban.

Total September ULSD loadings from the Russia's Primorsk fell by 46% month-on-month to 858,000 tons. Primorsk port is the main outlet for ULSD exports, while the Black Sea ports Novorossiisk and Tuapse also include high-sulfur gasoil shipments.

We remind, Russia may introduce quotas on overseas fuel exports if a complete export ban imposed last week does not succeed in bringing down persistently high gasoline and diesel prices, its Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said. The government said in a statement late on Thursday that Novak told a meeting of senior managers at Russian oil companies that the ban on the export of gasoline and diesel had initially led to a fall in prices on the commodity exchange.

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Oil and gas will remain a relevant part of the energy mix until potentially 2050, Musabbeh Al Kaabi, Executive Director of Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company(ADNOC) said on Monday during an energy conference in Abu Dhabi, said Reuters.

The announcement is part of Adnoc’s wider carbon management strategy, which aims to create a unique platform that connects all the sources of emissions and sequestration sites to accelerate the delivery of Adnoc and the UAE’s decarbonization goals.

Using best-in-class technology, the project will triple Adnoc’s carbon capture capacity to 2.3 mtpa, equivalent to removing over 500,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road per year. The project, to be built, operated and maintained by Adnoc Gas on behalf of Adnoc, will include carbon capture units at the Habshan gas processing plant, pipeline infrastructure, and a network of wells for CO2 injection.

We remind, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co has increased its buyout offer for Covestro AG to around 11 billion euros (USD12.3 billion). ADNOC's latest bid values Covestro at about 57 euros per share, the person said, up from a mid-50 euro per share range. Covestro had rejected ADNOC's initial takeover proposal last month, saying the offer was too low. A Covestro spokesperson declined to comment, while ADNOC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

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South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd. said on Sunday it will build a lithium phosphate iron (LFP) cathode materials plant in Morocco in partnership with China’s Huayou Group unit Youshan, said Kedglobal.

The materials will be subsidized by the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as the North African country is a free trade partner of the US, LG Chem added.

The plant is aimed at mass production from 2026 with an annual capacity of 50,000 metric tons. That is enough to be installed in 500,000 entry-class EVs, which come with a 50-kilowatt-per-hour capacity and a 350-kilometer range, LG Chem stated.

The materials from Morocco, which sits on the world’s largest reserve of phosphate rocks, will be supplied to North America. The cathodes will be used for LFP batteries of LG Energy Solution Ltd.'s Arizona-based plant that will begin operations in 2026, industry sources said.

The two affiliates of LG Group are aiming to rapidly increase their share in the global LFP battery market, currently dominated by China. LFP batteries are gaining popularity as they are cheaper than nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) batteries and have a low fire hazard, thus often used for affordable EVs.

In July, the firm started a process to sell off its core naphtha cracking center (NCC) in Korea, estimated at about 3 trillion won ($2.2 billion). In August, the company decided to look for potential buyers for its domestic film factories.

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SKC Ltd., a South Korean chemicals maker, is set to invest as much as USD70 million in Halio Inc., a US smart glass technology company, to expand the energy-saving solution business, said Kedglobal.

SKC said its board of directors on Tuesday decided on the investment plan with aims to foster the energy-saving solution based on smart windows as one of the company’s core eco-friendly businesses along with biodegradable materials, which reduce plastic waste.

“The investment, in addition to the technology we have developed so far, is expected to allow us to further advance our smart window business,” said an official of SKC, a unit of S
outh Korea’s second-largest conglomerate SK Group.

Smart glass controls the reflective properties of glasses with electrochromics to control the amount of light and heat passing through building windows. The color of glass darkens in hot weather to improve the cooling efficiency of buildings, while it becomes transparent in cold weather to enhance heating efficiency. Its appearance is similar to ordinary glass, but it made with technology using similar materials to that in battery production.

We remind, Russian government has approved some changes to its fuel export ban, lifting the restrictions for fuel used as bunkering for some vessels as well as diesel with high content of sulfur. It also lifted restrictions on the export of fuel already accepted for export by the Russian Railways and Transneft before the initial ban had been announced last week. The ban on all types of gasoline and high-quality diesel remains in place.

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