As per WPB, in early September, the Russian bitumen market evidenced relative calmness within the general price index, even though there were significant fluctuations at the level of individual producers.
All but one of the suppliers raised their prices; however, the overall index was restrained by Rosneft refineries, which were lower-cost than their competitors. The trend was also affected by the slashing of prices at the Ufa refineries and the shutdown of deliveries from the Novoshakhtinsk plant.
In September of last year, the prices were down by about 500 rubles per ton. In dollars, the market this year saw a 4% decline due to the devaluation of the ruble.
For the premium of bitumen over fuel oil, the European group suffered a decline while prices of fuel oil rose by 1,020 rubles per ton and cut the differential to 5,090 rubles per ton. In Siberia, the premium went down further to 1,700 rubles per ton, and the differential remained at 6,040 rubles per ton.
The greatest price-growing contributors in the period were Gazpromneft-BM and independent traders selling on vertically integrated oil majors' and independent producers' platforms. Contrariwise, the Ufa refining group demonstrated a very significant fall of 2,500 rubles per ton. Thus, Rosneft's refineries exhibited the lowest price levels on the market.
Between 1 and 5 September, SPIMEX trading brought six transactions on a total of 250 tons of bitumen, sharply down from 450 tons in the previous period. Prices, though, were generally in compliance with official quotations.
Rail shipments during the same period amounted to 6.1 thousand tons. Regional markets were Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with 0.5 thousand tons each, and Uzbekistan with 0.3 thousand tons. Deliveries to more distant markets were headed by Turkey with 4.3 thousand tons. Daily averages shipped out amounted to 1.5 thousand tons, about 4% down from August.
Internal rail shipments of liquid bitumen equaled 2.6 thousand tons in early September, and some 1 thousand tons were transported in containers to the Far Eastern regions.
The market still needed to cope with the constricted supply condition in September. The shortage resulted from Novoshakhtinsk refinery unplanned outages, Syzran, Saratov, and Volgograd units repair works, and cutting shipment from Ryazan and Slavyansk ECO refineries. These limitations raised the potential for heightened prices, especially in Rosneft group refineries.
But yet another force behind the orientation was the dynamic of Russian road construction financing. In tandem with decreased summer production, this process induced peak usage to shift from the usual August–September range to October–November. Therefore, price appreciation was to spill over into October.
Operational renovation also affected the supply balance. Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat prolonged its scheduled capital renovation program for the UPB unit, bringing the finishing date from 11 September to 24 October. At the same time, unscheduled overhaul was undergoing the Bitex plant, which lasted until approximately 8 September.
By Bitumenmag
Bitumen, Market, Price
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