Oil heads for biggest weekly loss since mid-January

By Polymers (ScrapMonster Contributor)

September 05, 2016 01:31:19 AM

SEATTLE (polymers.in):  - Oil trades near 45/bbl after US crude stockpiles gain. Oil tumbled, heading for the biggest weekly decline in eight months, after U.S. government data showed crude supplies at the highest seasonal level in more than 20 years.

- Oil heads for biggest weekly loss since mid-January. Brent and WTI are on track for their biggest weekly losses since mid-January, hit by oil inventory builds and weak U.S. manufacturing data.

Oil Supply

- Iraq's August crude oil exports inch up to 3.230 million b/d. Iraq's crude oil exports from its southern Persian Gulf terminals inched up by 28,000 b/d to 3.230 million b/d in August, provisional data from the oil ministry showed Thursday, but continue to fall short of previous record highs as greater volumes are allocated for domestic use.

North America Polymers

- PP, solid PS prices rise; PET bottle resin drops. After an uneventful July, North American resin markets became active again in August, with prices for polypropylene and solid polystyrene climbing while prices for PET bottle resin fell. The North American PP resin market was able to end its pricing slide in August, with average selling prices moving up an average of 3.5 cents per pound.

- Equistar seeking 4-cents/lb North American PE increase in October. The increase applies to all grades of polyethylene and is in addition to a 5 cents increase being sought by North American producers in September, the company said in a letter to customers that was obtained by S&P Global Platts.

- Weekly PE/PE resin report. According to The Plastics Exchange, the spot resin markets continued to transact at a rapid rate. Polyethylene prices were mostly steady to higher with penny gains seen in certain grades. With effort, polypropylene prices gained as much as a cent; however, the market is in for a shock as at least one producer has revised its $.04/lb PP price increase to now include the imminently large jump in Sept PGP monomer costs.

Asia Polymers

- China’s new capacities put pressure on PP, LLDPE imports and prices. According to ChemOrbis Import Statistics, the cumulative homo PP imports made by China during the first 7 months of 2016 indicate a yearly decrease of more than 17% at around 1 million 600 thousand tons. Plus, they are at their lowest level since 2008 which is attributed to the growing domestic capacities of China in line with the start-up of new coal to olefin/polyolefin sites.

- Polypropylene prices gain 10-20$ in Asia. PP prices witnessed a rise across the Asian region. Prices firmed on the back of high upstream prices of propylene and firmer overseas producer import offers in the region. Supporting the rise in prices were improved buying trends in Asia.

- High density polyethylene prices climb in Asia. This week, HDPE prices climbed in Asia. A combination of triggers were responsible for the price rise including improved regional buying trends, gains recorded in ethylene feedstock rates, strong import offers from overseas suppliers coupled with a rise in prices of other PE grades.

Africa Polymers

- LDPE markets face supply tightness in major importing countries. Players operating in major importing countries such as China, Turkey and Egypt report that they have been facing supply tightness for LDPE over the last few weeks. Several reasons are being cited behind lower LDPE stocks while it is widely concurred that availability issues for LDPE partly stem from the fact that the majority of new capacities built in recent years are mostly for HDPE and LLDPE products.

- Highlights from ChemOrbis’ Egypt Petrochemicals Conference. ChemOrbis’ Egypt Petrochemicals Conference took place at the Fairmont Nile City Hotel in Cairo on August 30, 2015 with the participation of key market players from both Egypt and the region. The event provided networking opportunities to the attendees during several coffee breaks, an open buffet lunch and a networking cocktail.

Feedstock

- Asian ethylene margins up on spot, co-products. Asian ethylene margins moved up for naphtha-based and LPG-based product during the week ended 26 August, the ICIS margin report showed on Tuesday. Much of the increase came as spot ethylene prices gained $25/tonne during the week.

- Asian PTA prices edge higher on Monday. A rise in upstream prices of PX and improved regional buying sentiments pushed sellers of PTA to revise their prices higher.The price gain was further supported by higher fellow polyester MEG feedstock values.

- US ethylene margins up for four straight weeks. US spot margins for ethane-based ethylene rose by 9.0% in the week ended 26 August, marking the fourth consecutive week of increases as spot prices continued to surge, the ICIS margin report showed on Tuesday.

Polymers Supply

- KPIC to shut down HDPE plant in Ulsan for maintenance. A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company is likely to shut its plant in October 2016 for a period of around 8-10 days. The exact date of the shutdown could not be ascertained.

Courtesy: www.polymers.io