Oil market in turmoil after Trump victory

November 14, 2016 12:36:19 AM

SEATTLE (polymers.in):  Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday as vote counting showed Donald Trump edging ahead in an unexpectedly tight US presidential election, throwing world markets into turmoil in a result reminiscent of June's Brexit vote.

Oil prices edged higher later on Wednesday as stocks and the dollar bounced back from a huge early slide following Donald Trump's surprise victory in the U.S. presidential election.

Oil prices dipped on Friday as the market refocused on a persistent fuel supply overhang that is not expected to abate unless OPEC and other producers make a significant cut to their output.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said 2016 oil production will fall by 580,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 8.84 million bpd. Last month, it had forecasted a 690,000 bpd year-over-year decline.

Crude oil output from producing cartel OPEC reached record figures in October only two months after it agreed to examine options to cap it, showing the “scale of the task ahead” if they want to achieve a freeze in production, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.

US polyethylene prices for exports dropped 3-5 cents/lb on all grades during the week on ample supply and a move by some producers to cut contract prices in November, ICIS sources said last Friday.

US polypropylene exports in September totaled 100,237 mt, data from the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers showed, down 2% from the 102,497 mt exported in August.

Export PVC prices out of the US continued to rise in major markets including Turkey and Egypt buoyed by strong Asian markets as well as globally tight availability which overshadowed declining upstream costs.

Buying sentiment among polymer traders in India has dampened following the government’s move to demonetise high-value currency notes, ICIS market sources said on Wednesday. Buying sentiments among polymer traders were said to be particularly affected, as a significant portion of transactions in the Indian domestic market are carried out on a cash-basis.

The decision by the Egyptian government to float the country’s currency on Thursday last week has left the polymers market in a ‘wait and see’ mode, sources in the country said on Tuesday.

In major markets, VCM prices firmed up with support from the strong stance of the downstream PVC market. Players reported higher spot VCM prices in Asia, the US and Europe despite the lack of support from the upstream ethylene market, where spot prices have been falling globally.

Japan’s propylene export was some 18.95% lower in September 2016, compared to export figures in August largely due to cracker turnarounds and healthy domestic demand, ICIS market sources said on Monday.

LPG-based ethylene margins in Asia tumbled during the week ended 4 November, while naphtha-based margins were mixed, the ICIS margins report showed on Monday.

LyondellBasell is performing start-up activities for its Corpus Christi olefins unit in Texas, after a planned turnaround and expansion project, according to a government filing on Monday.

Zhongtian Hechuang (Zhongtian Synergetic) is currently running its 350,000 tpa PP new plant, which has started up in end-Oct at 50% of its capacity, as per ccfgroup.com. The plant is now yielding trial production of homo PP injection-grade S1003, with a daily output around 500mt. All the products will be sold through Sinopec Sales company.

A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that Lotte Chemical Titan will be taking its unit off-stream in December 2016. The unit is likely to shut in early-December and expected to remain off-line until end-December 2016.

Courtesy: www.polymers.io