ICIS pricing Weekly Margin - Polyethylene Europe (Methodology)
Summary ICIS Weekly Margin – POLYETHYLENE (PE)
This document is intended to provide methodology support for customers receiving the ICIS Weekly Margin – PE
THE BUSINESS MODEL
The diagram below shows the main method of making PE from naphtha, a product mainly derived from crude oil. Naphtha with steam is fed into the cracker unit where ethylene and other coproducts (such as propylene, butadiene and benzene) are made.
The ethylene from the cracker unit is then further processed (polymerised) in the PE plant to make the PE pellets for sale.
THE MARGIN CALCULATION
■ Margin measure provides assessment of the ex-works cash margin obtained for the product over raw material costs and key variable manufacturing costs, such as power, steam, catalysts and chemicals. This measure can also be termed as a variable margin, contribution or benefit.
■ It represents a cash margin measure available for supporting the direct and allocated fixed manufacturing costs, working capital, taxes, royalties, corporate costs, debt service costs, capital costs and owner’s returns from the business.
■ This margin measure provides simple signals on the direction of business margins, as dictated by the environment alone, thus informing market positioning by sellers, buyers and traders.
■ ICIS chooses not to model beyond raw material costs and key variable manufacturing costs as this ceases to be generic to the integrated industry and highly specific to individual business operations, their site structure, location, ownership and financial structures. Such detail would not fairly reflect or be applicable in a wider industry context. It may also be more subjective, open to fair challenges and not feasible to reference in commercial discussions.
■ Plant manufacturing and feedstock yield model data have been provided by Linde Engineering, a division of Linde AG. Linde Engineering (www.linde-engineering.com) is a leading international chemical plant designer, process engineering, procurement and construction contractor. It has extensive experience in ethylene and PE plant design.
■ The process model is generic and not referenced to any individual operation, so that the contribution measure is only indicative. It can be most valuably referenced in index and step change terms as opposed to absolute value terms.
■ Naphtha feedstock has been chosen as this represents the most commonly used feedstock for ethylene manufacture in
■ Ex-works product price assessments are linked to ICIS pricing quotations for large volume commodity products with netbacks assessed using typical logistic cost assessments.
■ The PE grades referenced in the ICIS PE Europe Margin report are low density polyethylene (LDPE) GP film grade and high density polyethylene (HDPE) injection moulding grade. These generally represent large-volume commodity grades in the PE market. The ICIS domestic FD EU quote is referenced as this is broadly representative of the entire west European market.
Below is a detailed calculation of how the integrated and standalone margins are calculated. The figures refer to averages for film-grade LDPE based on contract/domestic sales values for 2008; the calculation for injection-grade HDPE is similar. Figures indicated in red are those found in the tables of the margin report; others relate to underlying assumptions of the model.
LDPE margin calculation (€/tonne) – averaged for 2008
Integrated margin
LDPE film-grade price 1,319
Logistics costs/netbacks _ (156)
Net selling price 1,163
Purchase feedstock (naphtha)1 (1,778)
Co-product sales/tonne
of LDPE produced2,3 1,266
Variable cost of PE unit4 (91)
(603)
Integrated margin 560
Standalone margin
LDPE film-grade price 1,319
Logistics costs/netbacks (156)
Net selling price 1,163
Ethylene price (1,102)
Freight/terminalling saving
for not exporting 103
Net ethylene price paid (999)
Net ethylene price paid
/tonne LDPE produced3,
ie Purchase feedstock (ethylene) (1,010)
Co-product sales/tonne
of LDPE produced -
Variable cost of PE unit4 (91)
(1,101)
Standalone margin 62
1The model assumes 3.278 tonnes of naphtha are required to produce 1 tonne of ethylene and 1.01 tonnes of ethylene are required to produce 1 tonne of LDPE. The average net naphtha price (including logistics costs) for 2008 was $799/tonne (with an average $:€ conversion rate of 1.47).
2Co-product sales include credits for propylene, butadiene, benzene, raffinate-1, pygas and a fuel export balance.
3The model assumes 1.01 tonnes of ethylene are required to produce 1 tonne of LDPE.
4Includes power and catalysts/chemicals for the PE.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NON-INTEGRATED AND INTEGRATED
■ Non-integrated or standalone: market participant involved with PE production only. The business model is to buy ethylene, convert it into PE and sell the PE. This business model is only applicable to a minority of manufacturing facilities in
■ Integrated: market participant involved with both ethylene and PE production. The business model is to buy naphtha feedstock, process it into ethylene and cracker coproducts, convert the ethylene into PE, and sell both the PE and cracker coproducts. This business model is applicable to the majority of manufacturing facilities in
WHY INTEGRATED ANALYSIS
■ Integrated analysis provides the key reason for being (or ‘raison d’être’) in the commodity PE business.
■ Most west European PE plants (approximately 90% by capacity) are integrated back to cracker sources of ethylene. This may be co-located and/or connected by pipeline and with common equity ownership across both assets in the supply chain, that is, the economic boundaries for the majority of the industry producers are bigger than a standalone polymer unit.
■ The margin is therefore measured across the supply chain from cracker feedstock (naphtha) through to PE and cracker coproducts.
■ This analysis demonstrates the volatility of the business and the influence of price floors that can lead to an uneconomic integrated margin, and generally forcing a reduction in supply.
■ In contrast, a non-integrated or standalone analysis that considers the polymer unit in isolation may be useful for understanding marginal opportunities where optimisation processes could result in ethylene being preferentially used for other ethylene derivative products. However, analysis of non-integrated historical data does show inadequate margins to justify fresh business investment to meet growing market demands.
MODEL YIELD PATTERN AND CALCULATION
Plant manufacturing data relates to the variable cost components of the chemical unit operations. Yield pattern data relates to the overall material balance of the cracker unit, for example for 1 tonne of ethylene produced, a cracker requires 3.2 tonnes of naphtha feedstock, and will produce coproducts (propylene, butadiene and benzene) of 2.2 tonnes in addition to the 1 tonne of ethylene. The plant manufacturing and feedstock yield model data have been provided by Linde Engineering, a division of Linde AG.
The exact yield pattern used cannot be published in an unrestricted document such as this methodology statement. However, for PE Europe Margin report subscribers with a specific requirement to see this data, it can be shared on a case-by-case basis.
Please contact the global ICIS Customer Support Centre (details at end of document) if this data is required.
ASSESSMENT INPUTS
The following 16 ICIS pricing inputs are used to generate the full content of the ICIS Weekly Margin PE Europe report
■ Polyethylene LDPE (GP Film) in Europe domestic FD EU [from 9 January 2009, previously domestic
■ Polyethylene LDPE (GP Film) in
■ Polyethylene HDPE (Injection) in Europe domestic FD EU [from 9 January 2009, previously domestic
■ Polyethylene HDPE (Injection) in
■ Naphtha in
■ Gasoline: unleaded premium in
■ Fuel oil 1% in
■ Ethylene in
■ Ethylene in
■ Propylene in
■ Propylene (polymer grade) in
■ Butadiene in
■ Butadiene in Europe spot FOB
■ Benzene in
■ Benzene in
■ Raffinate-1 in
The ICIS pricing methodology associated with each individual pricing quotation referenced above can be found in the free access methodology area of www.icispricing.com.
In addition to the above pricing inputs, ICIS pricing uses the $/€ mid-market exchange rate on the date of the report publication issued at 16:00
A key objective of the calculation procedure is to provide a weekly summary that is most strongly aligned to the reported market price positions on the date of publication.
Where ICIS price quotations are not available for individual weeks due to public holidays, then prior week data is carried forward for the specific purpose of populating the model and preventing model inconsistency. This form of data interpolation is inferring some limited data points that may not be market derived, and customers should be aware of this assumption.
All data in the ICIS Weekly Margin – PE Europe report is denominated in euros unless specifically indicated otherwise.
LONGER RANGE VIEW:
SPOT VS. CONTRACT MARGIN
This provides a weekly comparison of the calculated margin for spot-based PE sales minus contract-based sales. This switch of ICIS pricing reference is also considered for the cracker products, so the analysis is deeper than a simple comparison of spot versus contract PE price netbacks. When this differential provides a positive numerical output, this implies that spot-based PE sales derive a higher margin for an integrated producer compared to contract-based sales. Similarly, when this differential provides a negative numerical output, this implies that spot-based PE sales derive a lower margin for an integrated producer compared with contract-based sales.
For the avoidance of any doubt, the basis on which ICIS pricing data is utilised for each of these respective models is summarised in the table below. For more detailed information about these quotations, please refer to the assessment inputs section above.
|
|
Spot margin |
Contract margin model |
|
ICIS price |
Model |
model |
|
Polyethylene LDPE |
Spot |
Domestic |
|
Polyethylene HDPE |
Spot |
Domestic |
|
Naphtha |
Spot |
Spot |
|
Gasoline |
Spot |
Spot |
|
Fuel oil |
Spot |
Spot |
|
Ethylene |
Spot |
Contract |
|
Propylene |
Spot |
Contract |
|
Butadiene |
Spot |
Contract |
|
Benzene |
Spot |
Contract |
|
Raffinate-1 |
Spot |
Spot |
The ICIS Weekly Margin PE Europe report will provide this comparative data chart for HDPE and LDPE on alternate weeks.
PUBLISHING FREQUENCY
The ICIS Weekly Margin PE Europe report for European PE is produced on a Friday at the close of business in Europe and distributed to customers on the following Monday, subject to schedule planning. When the Monday is a public holiday in the
Printer Friendly|
|
INSIGHT: Government challenge on Teesside is to enable the enablers
“Coxon reckons the goal is to create new, potentially high growth sectors of the process industry that can be internationally competitive.” more
Feedback
We welcome your feedback. Please feel free to send us your comments on any aspect of this site. Click here to make your comments.
Barbara Ortner looks at the off-beat and unusual side of chemical industry life.
ICIS Chemicals Confidential