Crude oil surges as OPEC decides on sticking to production cut

SEATTLE (polymers.in):  Crude oil is spiking after OPEC says it's sticking to its agreement to cut production
- Oil prices rose more than USD 1/bbl on Tuesday after OPEC said it was sticking to its agreement to cut production.
- OPEC nations with output curbs had been above 90% and oil inventories would decline further this year.
- Brent crude oil jumped USD 1.13/bbl to a high of USD 57.31 before easing to trade around USD 57.15.
- US light crude was up USD 1 at USD 54.40, having rise by about 0.5%. 

Indian Oil to deliberate on Rs 52,000 crore expansion of Paradip refinery in Odisha on withdrawal of tax sops
- Indian Oil Corp has threatened to reconsider plans to invest Rs 52,000 crore on expansion of Paradip refinery in Odisha. 

OPEC/non-OPEC oil cut compliance to rise in coming months
- OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barking Tuesday said any decision to extend a landmark oil production cut agreement past June will depend on global stock levels.
- OPEC’s 13 members to cut a combined 1.2 million bbl/day from October. 

OPEC's Pushing for Full Compliance With Oil Cuts, Barkindo Says
- Oil has held above USD 50/bbl since OPEC and 11 other nations started trimming output.
- Oil is still far from an equilibrium price and inventories remained very high in January. 

Crude Oil Could Plunge to as Low as USD 30 a Barrel
- Crude prices could plunge toward USD 30/bbl, a rout of about 40% from current levels. 

US Stocks Add to Records, Dollar Gains With Oil: Markets Wrap
- The S&P 500 Index rose after results from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc. bolstered confidence the American consumer can stoke growth.
- Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Russell 2000 Index also closed at all-time highs.
- Home Depot added 1.3% and Wal-Mart rose 3%. 

Oil Closes at Eight-Week High as OPEC Aims for Full Output Cuts
- Futures advanced 1.2% in New York.
- Oil has held above USD 50/bbl in New York, trading in a tight USD 5 range.
- April WTI contract climbed 55 cents to end the session at USD 54.33/bbl.
- Brent for April settlement gained 48 cents or 0.9% to USD 56.66/bbl.

Feedstock (Ethane, Ethylene, Propane, Propylene, PX, PTA, MEG, EDC, VCM)
PX prices assessed steady in Asia
- PX prices were assessed at USD 890/MT levels, while CFR Taiwan prices of PX were assessed at USD 910/MT levels. 
- CFR South East Asia prices of PX were steady from last steady from last week at USD 905/MT levels. 

European ethylene spot trades at premium to contract price amid tightness
- European ethylene spot traded Monday at a premium of EUR 80/MT to the monthly contract price of EUR 1020/MT. 

US spot ethylene margins sink with product prices
- US spot margins for ethane based ethylene fell by 15% in the week ended 17 February.
- Ethane cracker feedstock costs rose by 1.0% during the week, while spot ethylene co-products rose by 2.9%
- US contract margins for ethane based ethylene fell by 0.3% week on week.

Polymers Supply
Chinese consortium to build Petronas flexi HDPE plant
- Petronas has signed the engineering procurement, construction and commissioning contract for PC flexible HDPE plant.
- The plant, with 400,000 MT per annum capacity would produce a range of multimodal HDPE products. 

Russia January PE imports up by 12% year on year
- January imports of PE intro Russian market increased by 12% year on year to around 30,900 MT with HDPE and EVA imports growing.
- January PE imports into the country increased to 30,800 against 27,400 in January 2015.
- LDPE production in Russia was about 5,500 MT against 6,200 MT year on year.

Courtesy: www.polymers.io