Ocean Petro Gulf to operate Jafza bitumen terminal

Spanish Market: Oil products
04/10/24

Dubai-based trading firm Ocean Petro Gulf (OPG) has leased an oil products and bitumen storage facility terminal in the Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) from energy logistics firm Tristar, and will be the operator, according to market sources.

OPG is planning to expand by building a 10,000t bitumen storage facility at the terminal in the near term. OPG has agreed with Tristar to construct the bitumen storage tank on expectations of rising demand in that location.

The terminal was previously owned by Shell and was acquired by Tristar in mid-2022. The terminal has been leased out to OPG as of October under a long-term operator arrangement, but the duration of the lease was undisclosed.

The terminal currently has a bitumen storage capacity of 11,000t, and can import and export about 350,000 t/yr of oil products.

The operatorship agreement also includes an integrated 90,000 t/yr polymer modified bitumen (PMB) plant, drums filling facility and an emulsion plant. The terminal also has a bitumen and PMB testing facility.

By Sathya Narayanan

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04/10/24

Nis steps up bitumen, restarts PMB output at Pancevo

London, 4 October (Argus) — Serbian refiner Nis has stepped up bitumen production and supply at its 110,000 b/d Pancevo refinery after taking delivery of a cargo of bitumen-rich Iraqi Kirkuk crude. A market participant said the Kirkuk cargo was shipped from a Mideast Gulf loading point. A political stand-off since March 2023 has meant northern Iraq crude cannot be supplied into the Mediterranean region via the pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan, southeast Turkey. The switch to the bitumen-rich crude, after lighter grades had been run through Pancevo in recent months, has also allowed Nis to restart its polymer-modified bitumen (PMB) manufacturing plant at Pancevo this week. The higher quality grade, which is produced by adding polymers like styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) in the initially produced bitumen mix, is increasingly used on some road, highway and airport projects. The PMB plant had been shut since June because the lighter crudes feeding the refinery failed to yield the right specifications and quality of PMBs after mixing with SBS. Nis plans to run another bitumen-yielding Iraqi crude, Basrah Medium, along with Kirkuk this month, helping significantly boost bitumen production for supply into the country's domestic and export markets — mainly Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The heavier crudes will yield very high-sulphur grades of petcoke, the market participant said. By Keyvan Hedvat Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Экспортная пошлина на нефть в Казахстане в октябре снизилась

04/10/24

Экспортная пошлина на нефть в Казахстане в октябре снизилась

Riga, 4 October (Argus) — Ставка экспортной пошлины на нефть в Казахстане в октябре уменьшилась до $77/т с $82/т — в сентябре. Среднее значение котировок сорта Kebco (cif Аугуста) и Североморского датированного в период мониторинга цен с 20 июля по 20 сентября составило $77/барр. по сравнению с $82/барр. — в период предыдущего мониторинга, по данным министерства финансов Казахстана. С сентября 2023 г. ежемесячная ставка пошлины на экспорт нефти и нефтепродуктов в Казахстане меняется при изменении средней мировой цены на $1/барр. вместо прежних $5/барр. в пределах диапазона $25—105/барр. При средней рыночной цене нефти $25—105/барр. размер ставки вывозной таможенной пошлины рассчитывается по следующей формуле: ВТП=Ср*К, где ВТП — размер ставки вывозной таможенной пошлины на нефть и нефтепродукты в долларах США за тонну; Ср — средняя рыночная цена нефти за предшествующий период; К — поправочный коэффициент 1. При значении средней рыночной цены на нефть до $25/барр. размер ставки вывозной таможенной пошлины равен нулю. При цене свыше $105/барр. применяются ставки вывозной пошлины в диапазоне от $115/т до $236/т. Средняя рыночная цена определяется министерством финансов Казахстана ежемесячно на основании мониторинга котировок Kebco и Североморского датированного в течение двух предыдущих месяцев. Полученный результат мониторинга в соответствии с поправками математически округляется до целого числа. По условиям действующих контрактов от уплаты пошлины освобождены крупнейшие экспортеры сырья: Тенгизшевройл (ТШО), Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO) и акционеры NCOC, разрабатывающего месторождение Кашаган. Экспорт сырья из Казахстана в январе — августе снизился до 46 млн т с 47,1 млн т — годом ранее, по данным Ситуационно-аналитического центра топливно-энергетического комплекса Республики Казахстан (САЦ ТЭК). ТШО, КРО и NCOC за указанный период отправили за рубеж 38,7 млн т без уплаты экспортных пошлин. Пошлина на вывоз из Казахстана бензина, дизтоплива, авиакеросина и других дистиллятов в октябре также уменьшится до $77/т с сентябрьских $82/т. Ставка экспортной пошлины на экспорт мазута из Казахстана с 8 сентября составляет $30/т. Согласно внесенным в сентябре изменениям в приказ министерства национальной экономики Казахстана, указанный размер вывозной пошлины на мазут будет действовать в течение всего года. Ставка экспортной пошлины на экспорт вакуумного газойля из Казахстана в октябре составит $60/т. ________________ Больше ценовой информации и аналитических материалов о рынках нефти и нефтепродуктов стран Каспийского региона и Центральной Азии — в еженедельном отчете Argus Рынок Каспия . Вы можете присылать комментарии по адресу или запросить дополнительную информацию feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Группа Argus Media . Все права защищены.

US light vehicle sales surged in September

03/10/24

US light vehicle sales surged in September

Houston, 3 October (Argus) — Domestic sales of light vehicles rebounded in September, increasing to a seasonally adjusted rate of 15.8mn on the strength of greater truck purchases. Sales of light vehicles — trucks and cars — rose from a seasonally adjusted annual of rate 15.3mn in August, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today. Sales have whipsawed the previous four months, but September's rate largely was in line with the 15.7mn unit rate in September 2023. The US Federal Reserve last month cut its target rate for the first time since 2020, bringing it down by 50 basis points from its 23-year highs as inflation has been easing. Lower inflation and Fed easing, which ripples across credit markets, make it more affordable for people to purchase new vehicles. Fed policymakers have penciled in another 150 basis points worth of cuts through 2025, as they hope to head off any weakening in the labor market that could scuttle the wider economy. Higher overall sentiment about the US economy, fueled by a robust 3pc growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter, healthy labor conditions and consumer spending also have encouraged consumers to spend. Sequentially, light truck sales increased by 3.1pc to a 12.8mn unit rate in September, while sales of cars rose by 4.4pc to a 3mn unit rate in the same time period. By Alex Nicoll Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Mexico’s oil products by rail up 11pc Jan-Aug

03/10/24

Mexico’s oil products by rail up 11pc Jan-Aug

Mexico City, 3 October (Argus) — Mexico transported 11pc more gasoline, diesel and petrochemicals by rail in the first eight months of 2024 than in the same period a year prior. Mexico's railroads moved 11.8mn metric tonnes (t) of those products year to date August, up from 10.7mn t in the same period a year earlier, according to national railway association (ARTF) data. Year-to-date August growth slowed this year from the 12pc annual growth in the same period in 2023. ARTF said that oil and related products accounted for 13pc of the total 91mn t of cargo shipped from January-August 2024, but it did not disclose shipment data by specific product. The products share of overall cargo is just above the 12pc of all cargo shipped in the first eight months of 2023. The Tamaulipas state petrochemical hub transported most of Mexico's oil products by rail from January-August, with about 3.49mn t, or 30pc, of the total volume. The hub, adjacent to key US export centers, is home to state-owned Pemex's 190,000 b/d Madero refinery. The state of Veracruz, where Pemex operates its 285,000 b/d Minatitlan refinery, was the second-largest transporter of oil and refined products by rail, at 22pc, or 2.6mn t. Pemex typically transports around 4pc of its refined products — imported or domestically produced — by rail. Private-sector data are not available. Diesel demand for cargo transport reached 485mn l (12,600 b/d) from January-August, a 3.2pc hike from the same period last year. Meanwhile, demand for diesel used for passenger rail transport more than doubled to 4.1mn l. Passenger rail boom? Diesel consumption for passenger rail is set to rise in coming years with President Claudia Sheinbaum promising to add more than 3,000km (1,865 miles) of passenger rail during her six-year term. This is in addition to the 1,460km Maya railroad, which is expanding operations across the Yucatan peninsula. Sheinbaum, who took office on 1 October, has pledged to complete expansion of this line, introduce cargo traffic and complete projects like the Inter-oceanic railway and its extension to the Guatemala border. Other projects will connect passenger rail to key cities in central Mexico, among them the Mexico-Queretaro route . By James Young Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

California adds oilseed limits as vote nears: Update

02/10/24

California adds oilseed limits as vote nears: Update

Updates throughout with more detail on revisions. Houston, 2 October (Argus) — California regulators advanced stricter limits on crop-based biofuels as revisions to a key North American low-carbon incentive program drew closer to a vote. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) late yesterday added sunflower oil — a feedstock with no current approved users or previous indicated use in the program — to restrictions first proposed in August on canola and soybean oil feedstocks for biomass-based diesel. The new language maintained a proposal to make the program's annual targets 9pc tougher in 2025 and to achieve by 2030 a 30pc reduction from 2010 transportation fuel carbon intensity levels. Board decisions that could come as early as 8 November may reconfigure the flow of low-carbon fuels across North America. The state credits anchor a bouquet of incentives that have driven the rapid buildout of renewable diesel capacity and dairy biogas capture systems far beyond California's borders, and inspired similar, but separate, programs along the US west coast and in Canada. CARB staff's latest proposals, published a little before midnight ET on 1 October, offer comparatively minor adjustments to the shock August revisions that spurred a nearly $20 after-hours rally in LCFS prompt prices. Prompt credits early in Wednesday's session traded higher by $3 than they closed the previous trading day before slipping back by midday. LCFS programs require yearly reductions in transportation fuel carbon intensity. Higher-carbon fuels that exceed these annual limits incur deficits that suppliers must offset with credits generated from the distribution to the market of approved, lower-carbon alternatives. California's program has helped spur a rush of new US renewable diesel production capacity, swamping west coast fuel markets and inundating the state's LCFS program with compliance credits. CARB reported more than 26mn metric tonnes of credits on hand by April this year — more than enough to satisfy all new deficits generated in 2023. Staff have sought through this year's rulemaking to restore incentives to more deeply decarbonize state transportation than thought possible during revisions last made in 2019. Participants have generally supported tougher targets, with some fuel suppliers warning about potential price increases and credit generators urging CARB to take a still more aggressive approach. But proposals to limit credit generation to only 20pc of the volume of fuel a supplier made from canola, soybean and now sunflower has found little public support. Environmental opponents have argued that the CARB proposals fall short of what is necessary to add protections against cropland expansion and fuel competition with food supply. Agribusiness and some fuel producers have warned the concept, proposed in August, ran counter to the premise of a neutral, carbon-focused program and against staff's own view last spring. The proposal exceeded what CARB could do without beginning a new rulemaking, some argued. CARB yesterday proposed a grace period for facilities already using the feedstocks to continue generating credits while seeking alternatives. Facilities certified to use those feedstocks before changes are formally adopted could continue using those sources until 2028, compared to a 2026 cut off proposed in August. No facilities currently supplying California have certified sunflower feedstock, and it was not clear that any were planned. "We're not aware of any proposed pathway or lifecycle analysis for sunflower oil, so that addition is just baffling," said Cory-Ann Wind, Clean Fuels Alliance America director of state regulatory affairs. "Clearly not based in science." The latest revisions include a change to how staff communicate a new, proposed automatic adjustment mechanism (AAM). The mechanism would automatically advance to tougher, future targets when credits exceed deficits by a certain amount. Supporters consider this a more responsive approach to market conditions than the years of rulemaking effort already underway. Opponents argue such a mechanism cedes important authority and responsibility from the board. Staff proposed quarterly, rather than annual, updates on whether conditions would trigger an adjustment, and to use conditions during the most recent four quarters, rather than by calendar year. Obligations and targets would continue to work on a calendar-year basis. CARB staff clarified that verifying electric vehicle charging credits would not require site visits to the thousands of charging stations eligible to participate in the program. Staff also clarified how long dairy or swine biogas harvesting projects could continue to generate credits if built this decade, with a proposed reduction in credit periods only applying to projects certified after the new rules were adopted. California formally began this rulemaking process in early January after publishing draft proposals in late December. Regulators initially proposed adjusting 2025 targets lower by 5pc for 2025 — a one-time decrease called a stepdown — to work toward a 30pc reduction target for 2030. CARB set its sights on 21 March for adoption. But staff pulled that proposal in February as hundreds of comments in response poured in. Updated language released on 12 August proposed a steeper stepdown for 2025 of 9pc while keeping the 30pc target for 2030. Public comment on yesterday's publication will continue to 16 October. By Elliott Blackburn Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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