By Polymers (ScrapMonster Contributor)

August 24, 2016 01:20:43 AM

SEATTLE (polymers.in):Oil is getting crushed

- Oil had been rallying throughout August, climbing from USD 41.51/bbl on August 2 to over USD 50/bbl in recent weeks.

G20 summit in Hangzhou to have limited impact on East China's oil products market

- To improve air quality during the summit to be held over September 4-5 in Hangzhou city, the Shanghai municipality government have taken measures to limit production from cement, coke, steel, iron, and petrochemical.

- Sinopec’s 320,000 bbl/day Shanghai refinery is cutting its operation rate. 

OPEC Drives Bullish Sentiment in Oversupplied Market

- Sweet crude for Sept delivery surged 9%, closing at a nearly two-month high of USD 48.52/bbl.

- ICE Brent crude futures settled at USD 50.88/bbl.

- Gasoline inventories fell by 2.7 million bbl during the same week.  

The relationship between oil and stocks has broken down

- Crude oil prices continued to fall, with WTI crude futures for October delivery down 2.5% to USD 47.83/bbl.

- The main stock indexes were little changed on Monday as crude oil slid, with the S&P 500 flat in mid-morning trading. Oil Extends Biggest Loss in Three Weeks Before U.S. Supply Data

- October futures fell as much as 1.7% in New York.

- Oil rose more than 20% to enter a bull market on Thursday.

- Brent for October settlement lost as much as 65 cents or 1.3% to USD 48.51/bbl.  

Feedstock (Ethane, Ethylene, Propane, Propylene, PX, PTA, MEG, EDC, VCM)

US ethylene peaks to near 13 month high amid prolonged steam cracker outage

- US spot ethylene has touched its highest level since late July 2015 following talks of extended outage.

- Initial talk of the outage duration at 816,000 million tap ethylene plant was heard near the two-week mark. 

Naphtha cracks in Asia rise to two-week high

- Asia’s naphtha cracks for front-month H1-October jumped 68.5% last Thursday to a two week high of USD 26.8/ton.

- The high supplies are expected to persist through 2016 and the current crack value was still sharply below the USD 82/ton level seen during the same period last year. 

Veolia to provide wastewater treatment system for LACC ethane cracker and Lotte MEG plant

- Veolia has been chosen to engineer and procure a wastewater treatment package for a 1,000 kata LACC ethane cracker and associated MEG plant being constructed in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Polymers Demand

The New World Of Demand, Trade And Competition

- The global HDPE market will be tighter in 2020 compared with 2016, resulting in worldwide operating rates increasing to around 93% from 88%.

- North America will see its surplus rise to 2.4 million MT from 1.5 million MT.

- China’s deficit is set to increase to 5.7 million MT from 5 million MT.  

Polymers Supply

Colombia's Ecopetrol sets maintenance on LDPE unit

- Ecopetrol operates two units of LDPE. One plant called Poly-1, produces 21,360 MT/year. The second, Poly-2 has a capacity of 43,440 MT/year.

- Poly-2 will be down for 10 days for a scheduled maintenance.  

SKGC plans to shut PP plants in South Korea for maintenance

- SKGC has scheduled a maintenance turnaround at its PP plants in September 2016.

- The plants are planned to be shut on 18th Sept and is likely to remain off-stream until 24 Oct. 

Courtesy: www.polymers.io