Friday, February 21, 2020
Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 52
1 Oil Price Fundamental Daily Forecast
https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/oil-price-fundamental-daily-forecast-weaker-as-bullish-traders-lose-patience-over-production-cut-delay-634808
Weaker as Bullish Traders Lose Patience Over Production Cut Delay. Today’s early weakness suggests traders aren’t going to wait for the IMF to get the data it needs to say the global economy will weaken from the impact of the coronavirus. Furthermore, just last week, OPEC and the International Energy Agency predicted lower demand.
2 Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast
https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/natural-gas-price-fundamental-daily-forecast-weakens-under-1-878-strengthens-over-1-928-634823
Natural gas futures are trading lower on Friday after posting a dramatic technical closing price reversal top on Thursday. The price action indicates a shift in momentum to down after an impressive six-day short-covering rally. Prices fell sharply on Thursday despite a somewhat bullish government storage report after a change in the weather models shifted investor sentiment.
3 Weekly resin report: Solid trading week lays foundation for rising prices
https://www.plasticstoday.com/resin-pricing/weekly-resin-report-solid-trading-week-lays-foundation-rising-prices/151764288262425
A high volume of material changed hands last week, reports the PlasticsExchange (Chicago) in its Market Update. Supply improved and railcars came and went in groups, as buyers were eager to procure material. Sales favored railcars over truckloads and prime more so than off grade, and buyers still sought more as the week came to a close. Export demand was excellent and bids moved higher, lending support to the domestic market.
4 Russia: oil producers agree no need to hold early OPEC+ meeting
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-opec-russia-idUSKBN20E1CK
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday there was a common understanding among global oil producers that it would now no longer make sense for OPEC and non-OPEC producers to meet before their planned gathering in early March.
5 U.S. sanctions on Rosneft Trading seen shifting crude flows
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-usa-crude-idUSKBN20D2NI
U.S. sanctions on Russian Rosneft’s trading arm will disrupt a slice of global crude flows and may prompt refineries in Europe, India and the United States to shift purchases to other crude suppliers, traders said.
6 EIA expects natural gas production and exports to continue increasing in most scenarios
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42875
According to projections published in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2020 (AEO2020), total dry natural gas production in the United States will continue to increase until 2050 in most of the AEO2020 cases, primarily to support growing U.S. exports of natural gas to global markets.
7 AMERICAS: The week ahead in petrochemicals
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/021820-americas-the-week-ahead-in-petrochemicals
POLYETHYLENE: Market participants saw stable export pricing for polyethylene in the second half of last week amid unchanged rail car pricing. Some grades were expected to remain tight amid limited availability including for low density PE, linear LDPE butene and high density PE film.
8 Oil falls 2% on renewed uncertainties over coronavirus outbreak
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKBN20F06N
Oil prices fell on Friday as a rise in new cases of coronavirus and weak Asian economic data fuelled uncertainty about the economic outlook and as major crude producers showed no rush to cut output.
9 Shell: Global LNG demand to hit 700 mln tonnes by 2040
https://www.lngworldnews.com/shell-global-lng-demand-to-hit-700-mln-tonnes-by-2040/
The Hague-based LNG giant Shell expects the global LNG demand to double to 700 million tonnes by 2040, as gas’ role in shaping the lower-carbon energy system grows.
10 Global base oils supply to outpace demand while competition increases
https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2020/02/20/10473520/wbo-20-global-base-oils-supply-to-outpace-demand-while-competition-increases
The global base oils landscape will become increasingly competitive with a shift to Groups II and III while supply will outpace demand, the vice president at ICIS Consulting said on Thursday.
Stefano Zehnder said Groups II and III capacity expansions to 2025 will be 50% greater than demand growth, according to ICIS projections.
11 EIA projects U.S. energy intensity to continue declining, but at a slower rate
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42895
EIA’s recently released Annual Energy Outlook 2020 (AEO2020) projects that U.S. energy consumption will grow more slowly than gross domestic product (GDP) through 2050 as energy intensity continues its decades-long trend of decline through the AEO2020 forecast period. Energy intensity is a measure of how efficiently the economy uses energy to produce every dollar of GDP.
12 Is Europe turning its back on natural gas?
https://blogs.platts.com/2020/02/20/decarbonize-or-die-europe-natural-gas/
Natural gas – once praised as the key to an achievable energy transition in Europe – is increasingly falling out of favor.
EU policymakers have spent years extolling the virtues of gas, calling it the cleanest of the fossil fuels and a bridge to a lower-carbon future.
13 Global LNG glut drives cancellations at key U.S. shale terminals
https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/2/21/global-lng-glut-drives-cancellations-at-key-us-shale-terminals
A buyer of liquefied natural gas has canceled two cargoes from Cheniere Energy Inc., the biggest U.S. exporter, as a global glut pummels prices for the fuel and threatens to shut a key outlet for shale production.
14 Vitol Sees Oil Recovery This Year
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/vitol_sees_oil_recovery_this_year-21-feb-2020-161162-article/
The oil market is poised for a recovery but will have to first tackle a severe virus-induced demand slump, the chief of Vitol Group said.
15 Shelved Suncor thermal oilsands project wins Alberta government approval
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/meadow-creek-west-project-approval-1.5469187
Suncor CEO Mark Little, however, said earlier this month his company plans to delay development of Meadow Creek West and the previously approved 80,000-bpd Meadow Creek East projects until 2023 at the earliest because it is focusing on lower cost expansions of its existing oilsands facilities.
16 Rolls-Royce Reignites The Race To Build Mini-Nuclear Power Plants
https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2020/02/21/rolls-royce-reignites-the-race-to-build-mini-nuclear-power-plants/
Global manufacturer Rolls-Royce is the latest entrant in the tech race to provide small-scale nuclear power. Last month, the company announced plans to build 10-15 small modular reactors (SMRs) in the United Kingdom by 2029, with each unit compact enough to sit on the back of a tractor-trailer. The plants would be constructed on so-called “brownfield sites” in Cambria and Whales where aging or decommissioned nuclear power stations are still in place. Rolls Royce has thus far received £18 million ($23.1 m) from the British government, and is requesting £200 million ($258 m) more.
17 Repsol Profit Misses Estimates
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/repsol_profit_misses_estimates-20-feb-2020-161152-article/
Like several of its industry peers, Repsol has suffered the effects of lower prices for oil and gas and higher exploration costs, while declining processing margins have hit downstream results. The Spanish producer has also reported impairments as part of an ambitious plan to slash emissions, raising questions over future spending and strategy.
18 The Permian Pipeline Even Environmentalists Should Support
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Permian-Pipeline-Even-Environmentalists-Should-Support.html
The idea that an oil or gas pipeline could be positive news for the environment is completely alien to those who believe we should put an end to the fossil fuel era once and for all. Yet if you ask someone who happened to be close when two oil trains in Canada derailed recently about their opinion, they might disagree about the pipelines.
19 Brazil’s Oil Production Jumps 20% To New Record In January
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Brazils-Oil-Production-Jumps-20-To-New-Record-In-January.html
Brazil’s oil production jumped by 20.4 percent on the year to set a new production record of 3.168 million barrels per day (bpd) in January, thanks to the prolific pre-salt basin, oil regulator ANP said on Wednesday.
20 As cost rises, support falls for Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, survey finds
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-support-cost-survey-1.5468730
Support for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion across Canada has dropped to its lowest levels in nearly two years, according to a new survey by the Angus Reid Institute.
The poll cites the growing price tag — which has ballooned from $5.4 billion to $12.6 billion — as the biggest cause for the deflating public support.
21 US Oil Export Story Has Really Just Started
https://www.rigzone.com/news/us_oil_export_story_has_really_just_started-19-feb-2020-161131-article/
While U.S. crude oil production has soared 160 percent to 13 million b/d in the shale-era since 2008, total demand has remained flat at 19-21 million b/d. In turn, exports of crude and products have been mounting fast. The country’s immense refining infrastructure is yielding more gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, and other petroleum products now freed up for export to foreign markets.
22 A Middle East Financial Crisis Is In The Making
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/A-Middle-East-Financial-Crisis-Is-In-The-Making.html
A Dubai-based operator of ports and terminals around the world is returning to full state ownership with a proposed transaction and a subsequent delisting from Nasdaq Dubai.
23 Russia Is Defeating The U.S. In The Middle East Oil Game
https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Russia-Is-Defeating-The-US-In-The-Middle-East-Oil-Game.html
Historically, Russia goes to great lengths to hide or disguise its strategic intentions but it clearly feels empowered enough in the Middle East to very obviously stake its claim in the region – excluding, for the time being only, Saudi Arabia – by stating that a slew of Russian companies are to spend up to US$20 billion on oil projects in Iraq in the near term.
