Friday, March 22, 2019
Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 9
1 Resin Pricing
https://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20190322/NEWS/190327645/pvc-pet-resin-prices-up-pp-down-in-february
North American commodity resins squeezed some action into the short month of February, with prices for PVC and PET bottle resin both going up, while polypropylene prices declined.
Regional PVC prices moved up an average of 2 cents per pound for the month, while PET ticked up 1 cent and PP slid 1.5 cents. Prices for all grades of polyethylene and solid polystyrene in the region were flat for the month.
2 US Emerging as a LNG Powerhouse
https://www.rigzone.com/news/us_emerging_as_a_lng_powerhouse-22-mar-2019-158435-article/
The LNG export market is projected to surge over the next three decades. Last month month, ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum announced that they will proceed with construction of the >$10 billion Golden Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility on the Texas Gulf Coast. This project would export up to 2.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of LNG, and is just one of more than 50 LNG export projects to be approved by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
3 US midstream boom gathers pace
https://www.petroleum-economist.com/articles/politics-economics/north-america/2019/us-midstream-boom-gathers-pace
The US midstream sector is on a building spree, connecting rapidly growing oil, gas, and natural gas liquids (NGL) production to demand and export centres. Companies and analysts expect liquids and gas output in the prolific Permian, Bakken, and Marcellus/Utica shale regions to amply justify infrastructure already under construction. But they caution that the sector’s growth beyond 2021 faces challenges as projects compete for financing and new volumes, and the US refining sector further adjusts to the country’s light tight oil (LTO) and gas bonanza.
4 LyondellBasell technology selected by Lianyungang Petrochemical Co., Ltd.
https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/petrochemicals/20032019/lyondellbasell-technology-selected-by-lianyungang-petrochemical-co-ltd/
LyondellBasell has announced that Lianyungang Petrochemical Co., Ltd (a company of Zhejiang Satellite) has selected Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process’ (Hostalen ACP) technology from LyondellBasell for a 400 000 tpy high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant to be built at Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China.
5 Canada’s Natural Gas Crisis Is Going Under The Radar | OilPrice.com
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Gas-Prices/Canadas-Natural-Gas-Crisis-Is-Going-Under-The-Radar.html
While Canada’s oil crisis has stolen much of the media spotlight in recent months, Canadian natural gas producers have been going through a similar predicament—not enough takeaway capacity amid growing production, and as a result, plunging domestic prices.
6 Two-Sided Trade in China Highlights Concerns Over Fed Policy, Trade Relations
https://www.fxempire.com/news/article/two-sided-trade-in-china-highlights-concerns-over-fed-policy-trade-relations-563326
The price action suggests traders will need a few more days and sessions to interpret the recent change in Fed positioning and to absorb the further developments with regard to trade and geo-political factors
7 Murphy Oil sells Malaysia assets to PTTEP for $2.1 billion, turns toward home
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-murphy-oil-malaysia-pttep-idUSKCN1R216S
Murphy Oil Corp is exiting Malaysia with a $2.13 billion sale of its oil and gas assets there to Thailand’s PTTEP and said it will use the proceeds to pay down debt, buy back shares and fund potential deals in the United States.
8 Braskem Moves Closer to Developing ‘Green’ PET: Plastics Technology
https://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/braskem-moves-closer-to-developing-green-pet
With Danish technology partner, Braskem has started up renewable MEG demonstration unit.
9 Mexico could pay Pemex debt from $15 billion stabilization fund
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-oil-idUSKCN1R303B
Mexico’s deputy finance minister said on Thursday the government was considering using part of a $15.4 billion public income stabilization fund to pay some debt obligations for heavily leveraged state oil company Pemex.
10 AMLO risks a fall as he tries to pull Pemex back from the brink
https://www.worldoil.com/news/2019/3/21/amlo-risks-a-fall-as-he-tries-to-pull-pemex-back-from-the-brink
Pemex is personal for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who grew up in Mexico’s oil heartland at a time when the state company was a source of national pride.
11 Japan LNG
https://www.naturalgasworld.com/japan-future-uncertainty-but-potential-upside-lng-condensed-68811
Japan is by far the world’s largest single LNG importer and has been the undisputed titan of the Asian LNG market for decades, its policies determining everything from industry investment models to contract terms and prices. So the projections in a recent study by the Institute for Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ) make for sober reading. Not only does the IEEJ Outlook 2019 project that Japanese gas demand — all supplied by LNG – will fall in absolute terms from 117 bn m3 in 2016 to 96 bn m3 in 2050, but Japan’s share of overall Asian gas demand will plummet from 18% to 5.5% over the same period.
12 U.S. ‘’Oil Weapon’’ Could Change Geopolitics Forever
https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/US-Oil-Weapon-Could-Change-Geopolitics-Forever.html
In a dynamic that shows just how far U.S. oil production has come in recent years, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday that in the last two months of 2018, the U.S. Gulf Coast exported more crude oil than it imported.
13 LNG Sector Dangerously Dependent On Chinese Demand
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/LNG-Sector-Dangerously-Dependent-On-Chinese-Demand.html
The liquefied natural gas industry has become too reliant on demand for the fuel from China, industry executives warned at last week’s CERAWeek, advising players in the LNG field to try and broaden their markets before they begin suffering the impact of this overreliance.
14 “Perfect Storm” Drives Oil Prices Higher
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Perfect-Storm-Drives-Oil-Prices-Higher.html
Oil prices have already hit four-month highs, forcing a range of analysts to overhaul their expectations for this year.
“The latest Brent rally has brought prices to our peak forecast of $67.5/bbl, three months early,” Goldman Sachs wrote in a note. The investment bank said that “resilient demand growth” and supply outages could push prices up to $70 per barrel in the near future.
15 OPEC: Members to restore market stability during 2019
https://www.offshoreenergytoday.com/opec-members-to-restore-market-stability-during-2019/
OPEC said on Monday that the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) convened in Baku, Azerbaijan, for its thirteenth meeting on March 18. The Committee reviewed the monthly report prepared by its Joint Technical Committee (JTC) and recent developments in the global oil market as well as prospects for the remainder of 2019.
