Thailand-based trading firm Tipco's bitumen sales fell by 6pc on the year during January-March on the back of lower supplies.
A scheduled turnaround at its 30,000 b/d Kemaman bitumen refinery in Malaysia between mid-January and early March reduced supplies. The refinery can produce around 1.2mn-1.3mn t/yr of bitumen. Its output accounts for about 18pc of southeast Asia's bitumen production capacity.
Tipco sold 300,000t of bitumen and bituminous products in the first quarter. Demand in some regional markets was also seasonally lower, contributing to the fall in sales, the company said.
But Tipco's sales revenue rose by 7pc on the year to 5.47bn baht ($174mn) during the same period. This was mostly attributable to a price hike in the global oil market in the first quarter.
Stronger demand in Thailand also contributed to firmer domestic sales, with the government increasing the road budget for the October 2020-September 2021 fiscal year by around 5.8pc from the previous year to Bt173.4bn.
Thailand's peak road construction season typically runs from January-April. Domestic prices touched a five-year high of $500-600/t ex-refinery in the week ending 19 March 2021, reflecting a strong seasonal uptick in demand.
Tipco also committed to securing crude feedstock from two alternative sources in the first quarter of this year, it said. The firm was earlier awarded February-loading supply of 720,000 bl of heavy sour Napo from Ecuador's state-owned PetroEcuador. The move to find alternative sources of crude feedstock came as the firm halted Venezuelan crude purchases from November 2020 to avoid the risk of US sanctions.
