Chemical News
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Norse Energy seeks permits to drilling New York's Marcellus Shale Jul 26,2011
Norse Energy has applied for a permit to drill for natural gas in New York's Marcellus and Utica formations even though it may be months before the state will issue a permit, a company spokesman said Monday. The company submitted an application for a permit July 14, Norse Executive Vice President S. Dennis Holbrook said, said the company is prep...>>>
China imports 648,561 b/d crude from Iran in June, highest in 2 years Jul 26,2011
China's crude oil imports from Iran jumped 53.2% year on year to 2.65 million mt or an average of 648,561 b/d, the highest in more than two years, figures released by the General Administration of Customs over the weekend showed. June's crude oil imports were the highest since May 2009, when China imported 3.1 million mt or an average of 730,16...>>>
Murphy to sell Wisconsin refinery to Calumet Specialty Products Jul 26,2011
Murphy Oil has agreed to sell its 35,000 b/d refinery and related assets in Superior, Wisconsin, to Calumet Specialty Products for $214 million, the companies said Monday. The deal also includes the refinery's crude and fuel stocks, valued at $260 million as of June 30, El Dorado, Arkansas-based Murphy and Indianapolis-based Calumet said in sep...>>>
Jet ex-refinery price expected to slightly rise in Aug Jul 26,2011
Ex-refinery price of jet is forecast to inch up in August, the first month with new pricing mechanism affective. Based on Singapore jet prices during Jun 25-Jul 24, post-tax import cost of the fuel is about Yuan 7,768/mt, versus Yuan 7,640/mt of the current ex-refinery price, C1 calculated. The National Development & Reform Commission, China'...>>>
Sinopec's oil product sales increase 10.2% yoy in H1 Jul 26,2011
Sinopec sold about 75.1-mil mt of oil products accumulatively in the first six months of 2011, up by 10.2% from a year ago, according to preliminary statistics by Sinopec. Retail and direct sales increased 20.38% and 1.21%, respectively, while wholesale volume down by 16.19%, the statistics showed. The changes indicated Sinopec's emphasis on ...>>>
China cuts Jun fuel oil imports by 3% on month: GAC Jul 26,2011
China imported 2.22-mil mt of fuel oil in June, down by 3% from the previous month, according to the data released by the General Administration of Customs. The drop was mostly because Shandong-based independent refineries showed weaker feedstock demand as the domestic oil product market was bearish in June, C1 learned from industry sources. ...>>>
US ethylene prices rise 7% ahead of planned turnarounds Jul 25,2011
HOUSTON-US ethylene spot prices rose this week on potential demand related to scheduled cracker maintenance over the next three months, market sources said on Friday. Ethylene for July traded as high as 61.50 cents/lb ($1,356/tonne, €949/tonne) this week, rising on average by 7% from deals done at 55.50–59.50 cents/lb a week earlier. Th...>>>
Japan June steam cracker run rates down to 92.8% from May amid shutdowns Jul 25,2011
Japan's naphtha-fed steam crackers ran at an average rate of 92.8% in June down from 94.5% from a month earlier and from 95.1% in June last year, the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association, or JPCA, said in its website Friday. There are 15 naphtha-fed steam crackers in Japan with a combined ethylene production capacity of 7.72 million mt/year...>>>
NWE spot benzene spikes $40/mt as buyers step in to cover shorts Jul 25,2011
A flurry of short covering has boosted the Northwest European benzene price by around $40/mt, market sources said Friday morning. The market ignored a fall in the Asian market and stable European naphtha market to make a series of upwards surges over the morning. Trades for 1,000 metric tonne CIF ARA August barges were done at $1,243/mt, $1,2...>>>
Argentina polymer output fell 3.4% in June: government Jul 25,2011
Argentine polymer and synthetic rubber production fell 3.4% in June compared with the year-earlier period, the state statistics office Indec said Friday. Output fell 2.2% compared with May and was up 0.6% in the first half of 2011 compared with the year-earlier period, Indec said in a report that did not give raw data. The economy is expected...>>>
EURO GAS: Prompt, curve soften despite modest gains on Brent Jul 25,2011
Prompt contracts on the Continental European gas markets traded Friday little changed from the price levels seen over the previous week as fundamentals offer little direction and liquidity remains limited. The UK's NBP system was relatively balanced Friday morning with forecast demand falling short of the seasonal norm, and offering little direc...>>>
US FERC wants CFTC to publish list of excluded gas, power contracts Jul 25,2011
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission should publish a list of the types of electricity and natural gas contracts and transactions that will not be classified as swaps under the CFTC's developing over-the-counter derivative regulatory regime, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Friday. A list of commercial merchandising agreement...>>>
China refiners cut July crude runs to 79% on maintenance Jul 25,2011
Chinese state-owned refiners' crude runs are expected to be cut further to an average of 79% in July, compared with 82% in June, a Platts monthly survey showed. The survey covered PetroChina's 12 refineries, Sinopec's 19 refineries and CNOOC's Huizhou refinery, with a combined processing capacity of around 340 million mt/year (6.83 million b/d)....>>>
Stronger WTI/Dubai spread moves Napo crude to Far East: sources Jul 25,2011
The relative strength of Dubai versus WTI has encouraged exports of Napo from Ecuador to the Far East, Latin American crude market sources said Friday. Core Petroleum is loading an Aframax-sized cargo of Napo, 19 API and 2% sulfur, around August 11 from the port of Esmeraldas to the Far East, said market sources. On Friday morning the WTI/Dub...>>>
USAC high sulfur fuel oil likely to weaken on imports: trade Jul 25,2011
US Atlantic Coast high sulfur residual fuel oil is likely to weaken soon relative to the US Gulf Coast due to a flow of incoming barrels, sources said Friday. The New York high sulfur premium should come under pressure as "European high sulfur is coming this way in forms of Russian and refinery RMG," a source said. The source added the Come...>>>
Negative import margins of M100 fuel oil in Shandong worsen on higher costs Jul 25,2011
Negative import margins of Russian M100 fuel oil (medium-sulfur 180CST fuel oil) have worsened notably in Shandong in the past two weeks, because of price gains in Singapore, C1 observed. Based on related prices on Jul 21, the theoretical import margins settled at minus Yuan 371/mt, versus minus Yuan 126/mt on Jul 5, C1's assessment showed. The...>>>
Sinopec to begin commissioning 5-mil-mt/yr refining project at Beihai Petchem in Sep Jul 25,2011
Sinopec Beihai Petrochemical's 5-mil-mt/yr refining project in Beihai City of South China's Guangxi region is expected to start trial run on Sep 25, 2011 and begin commercial operation on Dec 18, a source closed to the refinery said. The project includes 5-mil-mt/yr crude distillation unit, 1.7-mil-mt/yr fluid catalytic cracker, 2.6-mil-mt/yr ga...>>>
Shell extends Aug Singapore steam cracker shutdown to 40-45 days: sources Jul 22,2011
Shell Chemicals plans to extend the August shutdown of its its naphtha-fed steam cracker at Pulau Bukom, Singapore, to 40-45 days from around one month, sources close to the company said Thursday. The steam cracker, which is able to produce 800,000 mt/year of ethylene and 450,000 mt/year of propylene, is scheduled to shut around August 11. The crac...>>>
South American phthalic anhydride makers hurt by tying OX CP to US, Europe Jul 22,2011
South American phthalic anhydride producers were being hurt by having their orthoxylene contracts tied to US and European orthoxylene contracts, industry sources said. South American PA makers are faced with a continuous stream of Asian-origin, mainly Korea made, phthalic anhydride that arrives in South America at just over the price of their OX...>>>
Ukraine's Naftogaz borrows heavily to pay for Russian gas imports Jul 22,2011
Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrayiny is borrowing heavily in order to pay for imports of Russian natural gas in July, the company reported Thursday. The borrowing, mostly from state-owned banks, indicates that Naftogaz has been failing to collect enough money from consumers to cover the costs of Russian gas imports. It ill...>>>