OPEC finalizes output cut deal

SEATTLE (polymers.in):  Oil soared more than 10 percent on Wednesday to over $50 a barrel and its highest in a month as some of the world's largest producers agreed to curb production for the first time since 2008 in a bid to support prices.

Oil prices slipped on Friday as some investors opted to cash out after Brent touched 16-month a high on Thursday, with optimism over this week's OPEC-Russia accord on cutting output giving way to questions on the "sticking point" of implementing the deal.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week despite a notable increase in stocks at the key Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures, the Energy Information Administration's data showed on Wednesday.

US polypropylene margins fell across the board during the week ended 25 November amid higher naphtha and propane feedstock costs and steady PP contract and spot prices, according to the ICIS margin report on Monday.

According to The Plastics Exchange, both Polyethylene and Polypropylene will see a contract decrease for November. Houston warehouses are jammed full with a line of railcars awaiting packaging, but are there export orders against all that material?

PE prices turned down in mid-November in China whereas spot ethylene prices have been firmer in Northeast Asia over the past two weeks. This is the fourth time this year that PE and ethylene have taken divergent paths, according to ChemOrbis Price Wizard.

HDPE prices witnessed a sharp fall this week in Asia. A week on week drop in crude prices, a decline in prices of naphtha weighed down on Asian HDPE rates. A drop in regional buying interest also contributed toward the price fall.

Polypropylene prices in Asia this week dropped. Bearish upstream crude and naphtha rates coupled with lackluster buying interest in major markets like China and India, together pulled prices lower across the Asian region.

Polypropylene prices in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were largely stable during the week, ahead of a traditional demand lull in December, market ICIS sources said on Thursday.

US spot margins for ethane-based ethylene fell by 2.4% in the week ended 25 November, the ICIS margin report showed on Monday, resuming their multi-week downtrend after the previous week’s increase.

Spot ethylene import prices in northeast Asia are up for a second week as Chinese buyers are replenishing their stock on the back of strong downstream operations in the lead-up to the 2017 term contract discussions, according to players on Friday.

State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) plans to almost triple its petrochemical production to an annual 11.4 million tonnes by 2025 from 4.5 million tonnes at present, group chief executive Sultan Al Jaber said on Monday.

A Polymerupdate source in Israel informed that the company has scheduled to shut its cracker next week. The planned maintenance is expected to remain in force for a period of around 15 days.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that GAIL has planned to resume production at the cracker on December 5, 2016 following an unplanned outage.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that run rates at the cracker were brought down to around 70% since early last week owing to a technical issue and it is expected to maintain the same rates until planned maintenance in February 2017.

Courtesy: www.polymers.io