Friday, January 31, 2020
Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 49
1 Oil Price Fundamental Daily Forecast
https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/oil-price-fundamental-daily-forecast-hard-to-find-a-reason-to-be-long-over-the-weekend-629839
U.S. West Texas Intermediate and international-benchmark Brent crude oil futures are trading mixed on Friday, however, momentum is clearly to the downside as traders continue to worry about the coronavirus’ impact on global demand. Both futures contracts are in a position to post their fourth consecutive weekly loss.
2 Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast
https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/natural-gas-price-fundamental-daily-forecast-higher-close-will-indicate-selling-pressure-is-weakening-629824
Natural gas futures are trading nearly flat on Friday, shortly before the regular session opening, after hitting a new contract low earlier in the session. Even at multi-year lows, the selling pressure is so strong that even a relatively large storage withdrawal as reported by the government on Thursday, can’t stop the market from heading lower.
3 Lower Prices for PP, PS, PE, PET; Flat for PVC
https://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/lower-prices-for-pp-ps-pe-pet-flat-for-pvc
With ‘starring roles’ for PP and PS, prices of commodity resins were lower starting in 2019, with the exception of PVC, which stayed flat. For this month, and possibly February, resin prices of PE, PP, PS, PVC, and PET are generally projected to be flat. Driving the trend were continued lower feedstock prices globally, starting with crude oil, and globally higher supplier inventories, with lackluster seasonal demand.
4 Weekly resin report: Persistent demand for LD and LLD PE sends up prices
https://www.plasticstoday.com/resin-pricing/weekly-resin-report-persistent-demand-ld-and-lld-pe-sends-prices/151307291462302
During a very busy trading week, the flow of fresh railcar offers remained a tad on the light side, consistent with the weeks since the early December purge, reports the PlasticsExchange (Chicago) in its Market Update. Nevertheless, enough material was available to satisfy strong customer demand. Despite all upstream costs falling the week of Jan. 20, spot polyethylene (PE) prices were at a minimum fully steady to up $0.02/lb, while polypropylene (PP) prices gained an early cent and then relinquished it by the weekend.
5 Risk of oil supply disruptions can have an immediate effect on oil prices
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42675
Crude oil supply disruptions—realized or expected—can have large and immediate effects on crude oil prices. Two recent events, the September 2019 attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais (which disrupted crude oil volumes) and the January 2020 military operations in Iraq (which did not disrupt crude oil volumes), led to relatively large daily price changes and intraday price movements—movements within single trading days.
6 Oil Rebounds After WHO Update
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/oil_rebounds_after_who_update-31-jan-2020-160954-article/
Oil jumped after the World Health Organization said there’s no need for travel bans due to the coronavirus, but was still set for its worst month since May as the virus sapped the demand outlook.
7 Coronavirus Halts Flow Of Latin American Oil To China
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Coronavirus-Halts-Flow-Of-Latin-American-Oil-To-China.html
The flow of oil traveling from Latin America to China has stopped in the wake of the deadly outbreak of the coronavirus that has sunk oil prices to three-month lows, with no oil making its way from Brazil or Colombia to China since last week, according to Bloomberg.
8 CAPP forecasts oil and gas spending will rise $2B this year
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/capp-projection-oil-gas-spending-1.5446169
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) says it expects about six per cent more will be invested in Canadian upstream energy this year than in 2019, taking the total to about $37 billion, which is about half as much as in 2014 when investment levels reached $81 billion.
9Imperial Oil’s quarterly profit beats estimates on higher crude prices
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-imperial-oil-results-idUSKBN1ZU1RR
Canada’s Imperial Oil Ltd (IMO.TO) edged past quarterly profit estimates on Friday, benefiting from a recovery in Canadian crude prices following Alberta’s mandated production cuts.
10 Exxon quarterly profit falls 5.2% on weak refining, chemical margins
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-exxon-mobil-results-idUSKBN1ZU1OI
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) reported a 5.2% drop in fourth-quarter profit on Friday, as assets sales propped up flat year-over-year oil and gas output and weakness in its refining and chemicals businesses.
11 Shell’s profit hit by lower prices
https://www.lngworldnews.com/shells-profit-hit-by-lower-prices/
The company reported a net profit of $2.9 billion for the quarter under review, 48 percent down on the $5.6 billion reported in the corresponding quarter of 2018.
12 Saudi petrochemicals giant posts rare loss
https://middle-east-online.com/en/saudi-petrochemicals-giant-posts-rare-loss
Saudi petrochemicals giant SABIC said on Wednesday it posted a rare loss in the fourth quarter of last year, due to low prices and the allocation of a huge emergency provision.
SABIC, the second-largest listed firm in the kingdom after oil giant Aramco, said it posted a loss of $192 million in the last three months of 2019 after its revenues fell by 18.5 percent.
13 PTTEP books higher profit helped by acquisitions
https://www.offshoreenergytoday.com/pttep-books-higher-profit-helped-by-acquisitions/
PTTEP on Thursday reported its 2019 net profit of $1.57 billion, increasing by 40% from from $1.12 billion in 2018 with respect to escalating sales volume from acquisitions projects and the purchase of additional stakes in the Bongkot field.
14 China oil imports from top supplier Saudi Arabia rise 47% in 2019: customs
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-trade-oil-idUSKBN1ZU0EH
China’s crude oil imports from top supplier Saudi Arabia rose nearly 47% in 2019, with December shipments from the kingdom flat to a year earlier, customs data showed on Friday.
15 PU: U.S. Gulf Coast polyethylene projects face start-up delays
https://www.bicmagazine.com/industry/refining-petchem/pu-u-s-gulf-coast-polyethylene-projects-face-start-up-delays/
Petrochemical projects in the U.S. Gulf Coast to add polyethylene capacity expected to start by the end of 2019 have experienced issues including an explosion, pushing some production to later in 2020, as reported by Petrochemical Update.
16 Mexico’s Pemex chief pushes for state control over major offshore oil area Zama
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-oil-zama-idUSKBN1ZS298
Mexico’s state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, wants operational control over a major offshore oil area discovered by a consortium of private companies before development gets under way, its top official said on Wednesday.
17 Mexico sends rare cargoes of medium sour crude Isthmus to USGC
https://blogs.platts.com/2020/01/30/mexico-medium-sour-crude-isthmus-usgc/
Mexican state-owned oil producer Pemex exported three separate cargoes of the Mexican medium sour crude Isthmus to the US Gulf Coast between December and January.
18 US Oil and Gas Jobs Increase
https://www.rigzone.com/news/us_oil_and_gas_jobs_increase-30-jan-2020-160940-article/
The U.S. oil and gas industry employed 895,629 professionals in 2019.
That’s according to a new report from the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO), which highlighted that this figure increased by 8,453 jobs from 2018.
19 Is This The End Of Canada’s Oil Sands?
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Is-This-The-End-Of-Canadas-Oil-Sands.html
Another billion-dollar energy project is polarizing Canada once again, but this time, it’s got nothing to do with pipelines, or even LNG terminals. It’s the Frontier oil sands mine that the federal government of Justin Trudeau must approve or reject by the end of next month.
