Page 15 - DMEA Week 48

DMEA
neWs In BrIef
DMEA
presence.
“[On] the geographic dimension — China,
India and developing countries in south East Asia that are beginning to open up such as Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia,” Mr Roels said.
“ ey’re relatively small but they’re picking up. We put all our focus in expanding in the Middle East and Africa, mainly in East Africa — Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, [as well as] Egypt,” he added.
Borouge, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Austria’s Borealis, is undergoing a large-scale expansion of its chemicals production as part of the
state oil company’s plans to invest $45 billion (Dh165.3bn) with partners in the downstream sector. Adnoc plans to boost its re ning capacity by more than 65 per cent to 1.5 million barrels per day by 2025 and treble petchems production to 14.4 million tonnes annually during the same period.
China, an important market for Borouge, is also earmarked for further expansion, with the company “moving inland” as it looks to diversify away from industry clusters along the country’s coastline. Borouge operates
a 90,000-tonne compounding facility in shanghai to service the automotive sector and is currently weighing up whether it should add more capacity, given the overall slowdown in the Chinese economy.
“ e Chinese automotive industry is going through a di cult phase. For the rst time in 20 years, it’s seen a drop in car sales, so we’re looking at when is the right time to continue our growth journey and with time the
investment will pick up,” said Mr Roels.
e Us-China trade war has had an impact
on polyole n players globally as demand weakens due to slowing economic growth momentum in China and India — the biggest demand centres for polymers. An in ux of North American “shale gas-based” polymers has also added to the industry’s woes, putting pressure on pricing.
e company will adopt a “long term” view on investment, he added, saying that he was optimistic of a recovery in economic growth.
Borouge is also looking to service the booming electric car vehicle market in China, as demand increases for more fuel-e cient battery-operated cars.
“It is the largest EV market in the world and it is an area that we’re very committed to. EV is relatively small compared to total demand but it is the fastest-growing and they tend to have more polypropylene, more plastics in the car than traditional vehicles,” said Mr Roels.
the natIonaL
refInInG
Angola’s Sonangol cancels
contract for Cabinda
refinery
Angolan oil company sonangol has terminated a contract with hong Kong-based
consortium United shine to build the Cabinda Re nery but plans to go ahead with other investors, state news agency ANGOP reported on ursday.
state oil company sonangol cancelled the contract due to “the failure (of the consortium) to submit additional technical, commercial and nancial studies to support the project’s completion ... and shortcoming in corporate capitalisation,” the news agency quoted sonangol as saying in a statement.
sonangol has signed a memorandum of understanding with London-based investment rm Gemcorp Capital to nance and implement the 60,000 barrel per day (bpd) project and is also seeking other potential investors, ANGOP said.
Angola, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, imports 80% of its re ned products despite producing around 1.5 million barrels of crude per day.
e country su ered some of its worst fuel shortages for years this spring, which led to the sacking of sonangol chair Carlos saturnino and prompted Africa’s second largest crude exporter to expand its domestic re ning capacity.
reUters
Week 48 05•December•2019
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