Page 13 - DMEA Week 30

DMEA
neWs in Brief
DMEA
C o m P A n i e s
EQUATE announces financial results for Q2 2019
e EQUATE Group, a global producer of petrochemicals, today announced its Q2 2019 unaudited earnings, reporting $231 million in EBITDA, a 59% decrease from $570 million in Q2 2018, and $822 million in revenue, a 35% decrease from $1,264 million in Q2 2018. Net income a er tax stood at $126 million in Q2 2019, a 71% decrease from $427 million in the same period last year.
Commenting on the results, Dr. Ramesh Ramachandran, CEO and President of
the EQUATE Group, said: “Our earnings
have been a ected by a sudden and strong decrease in ethylene glycol prices, driven by
a continued uncertainty of tari s, volatility in global markets as well as some new capacity that came on line. However, EQUATE’s assets across the globe are all based on ethane feedstock, providing us with a competitive advantage. EQUATE will continue to maintain focus on safety and operational excellence
as this challenging pricing environment continues.”
eQUAte
Adnoc closes refining deal,
establishes trading joint
venture
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has completed partnership agreements with Eni and OMV which will see them take stakes of 20 and 15 per cent, respectively, in its re ning unit. It has also established a trading joint venture with the two energy companies.
Adnoc did not disclose the value of the transaction, though an earlier estimate had
placed it at $5.8 billion (Dh21.3bn).
e partners’ new trading venture, Adnoc
Global Trading, will focus on the direct sale of products from the state-oil company’s re nery at Ruwais to customers in Asia. It will be based at the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
Physical and derivative trading is expected to begin in 2020, following completion of all necessary processes, Adnoc said.
e Italian and Austrian energy companies have the same shareholdings in the trading venture as in Adnoc Re ning.
e UAE, which accounts for 4 per cent
of global crude production, much of it from elds owned and operated by Adnoc, wants to double re ning and triple chemical capacity by 2025. e Abu Dhabi major unveiled plans to invest Dh165bn with partners across the downstream value chain, amid ambitions to build the world’s largest integrated re ning and chemicals complex in the emirate’s western region of Ruwais by 2025.
Adnoc Re ning has a total capacity of 922,000 barrels per day (bpd) and is the world’s fourth-biggest single-site re nery. A er the development of a new 600,000 bpd re nery, the unit’s capacity is expected to increase to process crude and condensate amounting to 1.5 million bpd, rivaling India’s 1.24 million bpd at the Jamnagar re nery, which is currently the world’s biggest.
e Abu Dhabi company will retain a 65 per cent stake in Adnoc Re ning, which has an enterprise valuation of $19.3 billion (Dh71bn).
In April last year, Adnoc announced its intention to set up a non-speculative trading unit as the company looks to expand revenue streams and derive greater value from the sale of crude and products. Other state-owned rms in the region have adopted a similar strategy.
Saudi Aramco set up a unit to trade in re ned, liquid chemical and polymer products in 2012. Iraq’s State Marketing of Oil has a
Dubai-based joint venture with Russia’s Lukoil to sell its oil. Oman Oil Company also has its own unit, Oman Trading International, which trades in crude products and lique ed natural gas.
Adnoc Re ning, which has a product range that includes lique ed petroleum gas, naphtha, gasoline, jet fuel, gas oil, base oils, fuel oil and petrochemical feedstock such as propylene, expects to achieve
better optimisation of systems and better management of international product ows following the establishment of the trading unit.
e transaction is the second for Eni this year with the Abu Dhabi major following the award of two o shore exploration blocks in Adnoc’s rst ever competitive bid round. e Italian major, in consortium with ailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Public Company, paid Dh844 million for exploration and appraisal of the concessions.
the nAtionAl
Shares in Qalaa Holdings
slide on diluted refinery
stake
Shares in Egypt’s Qalaa Holdings, one of the country’s largest investment companies, fell by nearly 10% on Wednesday a er it said that its stake in a new re ning company had been reduced.
Qalaa said on Wednesday that it now owns 13.14% of the Egyptian Re ning Company (ERC), a $4.1 billion project it co-owns with Qatar Petroleum, state-run Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) and other partners. Qalaa previously held a 19% stake.
e company’s shares closed at 3 Egyptian pounds, down 9.9% from Tuesday’s close.
In a statement to the Egyptian stock exchange, Qalaa said its holding had been
Week 30 01•August•2019
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