More Disruption and Uncertainty in Store for Petrochemicals
The impact of the coronavirus lockdowns on the oil, gas and chemicals industries’ integrated value chains is radically shifting relationships and profitability.It is also making planning virtually impossible, as BASF suggested last week.The environment around refining and chemical margins remains challenging, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden also said this week.“The key to the profitability of our chemicals plants and refineries is their integrated value chain from their feedstocks to the multiple products they produce…
Sinopec Net Profit Plungs Almost 50 pct
China's Sinopec Corp, Asia's largest refiner, posted a 47.8 percent fall in net profits in the first nine months of the year, as oil prices fell. The state-controlled company's net profit was 27.0 billion yuan ($4.25 billion), compared to 51.8 billion yuan a year earlier, it said in a filing with the Shanghai bourse. The company plans to cut back operations at its refineries by around 5 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the first half of the year as fuel inventories rise and demand for diesel slows…
European 'Refining Spring' Won't Save Plants from the Axe
Refining is propping up European oil majors hit by a sharp drop in the price of crude, but executives are making it clear -- more refineries will close as a result of overseas competition and weak domestic demand. Profit from processing crude oil into products such as diesel, gasoline and aviation fuel more than doubled on average in the fourth quarter of 2014 as the rapid decline in oil prices since June boosted margins.
Shell's Refining Business Looks for Strength in Chemicals
Royal Dutch Shell is betting on chemicals, lubricants and retail fuel sales to help it boost the performance of its downstream division where oil refining will remain a drag on earnings in many regions for years to come. Downstream, which combines oil refining, trading distribution and chemicals, generated income of $2.9 billion for Shell in the first half of 2014, compared to $10.4 billion in oil production or upstream.
China Shale Drilling Costs Expected to Fall
State-run oil company Sinopec Corp said on Monday it expects shale drilling costs in China to drop to $50 million per well from $80 million in three to five years. Chairman Fu Chengyu was speaking at the firm's results briefing after it reported a better-than-expected 36 percent rise in second-quarter profit as an improvement at its refining and marketing businesses more than offset a weakening chemicals division. (Reporting By Charlie Zhu)
