Page 12 - MEOG Week 11

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decision and leave” because militias were likely to attack again, triggering additional American responses. “if the US leaves, then iraq will be able to deal with these groups, but with this situation, it’s chaos and undermines the state,” the official said.
WashInGton Post
ComPanIes
OMV expands in petchems with Borealis stake
Austria’s OmV has reached a deal to acquire an extra 39% stake in petrochemicals giant Borealis from Abu Dhabi state investor mubadala, it said on march 12.
The purchase, subject to corporate and other approvals, will mark a major step forward in OmV’s strategy of growing its petrochemical business in the middle East. The oil firm already has a 36% stake in Borealis, but controlling a majority share will provide with it with greater say over a key project in the UAE.
Borealis, through its Borouge joint
venture with the Abu Dhabi National
Oil Co. (ADNOC), controls the Ruwais complex, which ADNOC wants to establish as the world’s largest integrated refining
and petrochemicals hub. Ruwais currently produces 4.5mn tonnes per year (tpy) of petrochemical products, including 2.3mn
tpy of polyethylene and 1.76mn tpy of polypropylene. But ADNOC wants to double its capacity by 2030, as part of the UAE’s drive to expand petrochemical exports, particularly to China.
mubadala, a minority shareholder in OmV, will retain the remaining 25% interest in Borealis after the transaction is completed.
OmV sees the outlook for petrochemicals as bullish, driven by robust economic growth and increasing living standards in emerging countries, as well as steady growth in developed nations.
“The market for sustainable chemicals, and the circular economy volumes, is very interesting and showing strong growth,” OmV’s chief downstream operations officer Thomas Gangl said. “Both OmV and Borealis have recognised this opportunity and will now combine forces. This extends the value chain even further, namely beyond the life cycle of plastic products.” Besides expanding its production base, Borealis also wants
to build up its sales operations to lock in demand, particularly in the middle East
and East Africa. it has recently set up a new marketing office in import-dependent Egypt. The company also wants to make inroads into China, moving further inland from industry clusters along its coastline.
OmV said it would pay for the Borealis stake with proceeds from its divestment programme, supported by cash flow. The group plans to shed €2bn ($2.2bn) of assets by the end of 2021. On the same day, the company also announced it would sell its 51% interest in gas pipeline operator Gas Connect Austria to the country’s top power producer, Verbund. The pair have initiated exclusive negotiations, but OmV did not say how much it anticipated raising from the deal.
Gas Connect controls a 900-km gas network in Austria and also manages the marketing and provision of transport capacity at the country’s entry and exit points. The remaining 49% of the company is owned
by a 60:40 joint venture between Germany’s Allianz and italy’s Snam.
OmV has also launched the process of selling a chain of fuel filling stations in southern Germany.
oIL
Iran set to drive refining growth in Middle East
iran is predicted to drive refining growth over
the coming years, accounting for around 31% of planned capacity additions between now and 2024, GlobalData has reported.
The islamic Republic has planned and announced projects that will add 1mn barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity by 2024, the analytics firm said.
“in iran, a total of six upcoming refineries are expected to start operations between
2020 and 2024,” GlobalData analyst Adithya Rekha explained. “The Siraf refinery, which
is likely to begin operations in 2023, is the major upcoming project in the country with a refining capacity of 360,000 bpd.”
The $2.8bn Siraf project is years behind schedule, as Tehran had been banking on international investment to fund construction, but re-imposed sanctions have now made
this very difficult. Sanctions have also made it harder for iran to export oil, but the measures have barely affected its fuel sales abroad.
in second place in the middle East will
be iraq, GlobalData predicts, which should contribute 730,000 bpd of new capacity between now and 2024. The major upcoming projects are the Karbala, maysan and Kirkuk iii refineries, each capable of handling 150,000 bpd of crude.
Next will be Kuwait, whose 615,000 bpd Al-Zour project is slated to start operations this year. Around 700,000 bpd of extra capacity will come from Saudi Arabia and Oman.
GLobaLdata
Saudis book more
supertankers to help flood
oil market
Saudi Arabia is preparing to unleash so
much oil on the world that its own fleet can’t handle it all. The kingdom’s National Shipping Co., also known as Bahri, has booked on a preliminary basis at least eight supertankers to load this month and next from Saudi Arabia’s main oil ports, according to people
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Week 11 18•March•2020