Just when it seemed petroleum coke pricing couldn't rise much higher, along comes Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to drastically alter the market again. In an already tight market for 4 percent and 6-6.5 percent sulfur petcoke, Chavez this month ordered the four Orinoco crude oil upgrading projects to reduce synthetic crude exports by 110,000 barrels per day, a move that could result in loss of 4 percent sulfur petcoke production in the neighborhood of 1 million metric tonnes. Petcoke force majeures could also be forthcoming. The plan is to boost oil prices and comes in the wake of a new government policy announcement that involves the nationalization of Orinoco projects. The reduction is part of Venezuela's compliance with OPEC cuts.
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