Oil surges to 17-month high as Saudis eye deeper cuts

SEATTLE (polymers.in):   On Monday, oil advanced to the highest since July 2015 after Saudi Arabia signaled it’s ready to cut output more than earlier agreed and non-OPEC countries including Russia pledged to pump less next year.

Oil prices fell by 3% on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve's decision to hike interest rates and after a jump in crude inventories at the biggest American storage center renewed concerns that a glut was forming.

The Baker Hughes US oil rig count jumped 21 rigs to 498 on Friday - the biggest single-week rise since July 2015 and one which likely occurred because of oil prices that stayed mostly above $50/b in the wake of a much-applauded OPEC agreement.

The global oil market will move into deficit during the first half of 2017, with demand potentially outstripping supply by some 600,000 b/d, if OPEC and non-OPEC producers manage to stick to the historic output cut deal struck in recent weeks, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.

US polypropylene (PP) margins mostly increased during the week ended 9 December, the ICIS margin report showed on Monday.

According to The Plastics Exchange, spot resin trading continued to exhibit bipolar behavior as activity slowed significantly from the rapid rate of the previous week. Offers remained heavy through mid-week and then started to dry up. This triggered the first uptick in spot pricing across the full slate of PE and PP grades in more than 2 months.

China’s polyethylene (PE) import prices held steady last week, halting recent heavy losses, with limited fluctuations expected for the rest of December, market sources said on Monday.

A Taiwanese major has approached the Asian PVC markets with its January PVC prices in a surprising move as of today. Defying the expectations of rollovers to small decreases in the light of the pressure from the firming upstream markets, the producer lowered its prices by $50/ton.

Polypropylene (PP) prices spiked in Far East Asia this week. Bullish energy costs coupled with a surge in propylene feedstock numbers and strong demand trends in key markets like China, prompted sellers to steer their offer prices higher.

PVC prices plunged in Asia this week. Prices fell sharply on account of a steepdrop in PVC import offers from overseas producers coupled with softer buying interest in the region.

US monoethylene glycol (MEG) prices are likely to see an increase in January, despite slow downstream demand.

China's Jiangsu Shenghong Chemical Fiber Co settled its 2017 long-term contracts with major Japanese and South Korean producers for buying paraxylene, keeping its pricing terms unchanged from the 2016 contracts, a company source said Monday.

Propylene prices witnessed a rise in Asia on Monday. Prices gained mainly on account of firmer upstream crude and naphtha rates.

In Europe, many steam crackers are expected to be offline in the March-May period of 2017 for turnarounds. Currently, spot ethylene prices in the region have been on a softening trend since late October, according to weekly average levels on ChemOrbis Price Wizard.

Eastman Chemical does not expect customers to be affected after an accident last week at a polyethylene terephthalate unit in South Carolina, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Courtesy: www.polymers.io