Commercial production begins at SABIC-Sinopec JV in Tianjin, China

(plastemart) -- Commercial production has commenced at Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) and Sinopec Corp's 50:50 joint venture petrochemical complex in Tianjin in China on May 11. Built at an estimated investment outlay of US$2.7 bln, the complex has capacity to produce 3 mln tpa of products like ethylene, polyethylene, glycol ethylene and polypropylene. Total ethylene production capacity at the complex is 1.2 mln tpa and total primary refining capacity is 15.5 mln tpa, 5.87 mln tpa of oil products, 3.2 mln tpa of ethylene, 1.5 mln tpa of synthetic rubber and chemical fiber and 750,000 mln tpa of LPG.

The Tianjin Refinery is slated to become the largest ethylene production base in China and the largest refining base in north China.

MRC

(Plastics Today) -- With the start of its new ethylene cracker in Qatar complete, plastics supplier Total Petrochemicals has added butene linear low-density polyethylene (C4-LLDPE) to its portfolio and now offers the resin to Europe. The material could cause some problems for competitors, most of who rely on oil for feedstocks. Total derives its ethylene from less expensive natural gas.

The new material, produced on the recently inaugurated 450,000-tonne/yr Qatofin production line in Qatar, consists of grades with various additive packages of antioxidants, slip agents, and anti-blocking agents.

Qatofin is Total's joint venture with QAPCO (Qatar Petrochemical Co.). Total intends to stock the C4-LLDPE at its European logistic hubs. "That will allow guaranteeing our customers a continuous and consistent logistic service quality as with any other European product supplied by Total Petrochemicals," says Barbara Mandard, marketing manager Europe for film and fibers applications.

MRC

(Yarns and Fibers) -- Royal Dutch Shell's new Singapore ethylene cracker is operating at around 70 percent of capacity and is using some 30,000 tonnes a month or more of naphtha as feedstock, traders said on Wednesday.

The unit will run at more than 80 percent of capacity soon, they added. The naphtha volumes used at Shell is not huge, but it has pushed up market sentiment as the 800,000 tonne-per-year (tpy) cracker was designed to use mainly heavy oil as feedstock. It is coming a time when Thailand also needs additional naphtha feedstocks for the country's petrochemical facilities.

Shell has recently been aggressively picking up Indian spot naphtha cargoes -- almost 715,000 tonnes for March to June loadings -- leading to talk that this could be due to its use of the light fuel for the petrochemical plant. But some traders said this has more to do with its trading positions.

The oil major hardly bought any spot volumes from India for January or February loadings. But they have a three-month term contract with Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) for 30,000 tonnes each for December-February lifting from New Mangalore port.

Japanese trading house Itochu has often been the dominant buyer of Indian spot cargoes, as it has limited term Middle Eastern supplies, traders said.But Shell overtook Itochu as the leading buyer of Indian cargoes for April-loading cargoes, snapping up nearly 300,000 tonnes compared to the 100,000 tonnes it bought for March loading from India.

Shell, which dropped a 12-month contract with Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) for December-November due to high prices, had bought around 185,000 tonnes of Indian naphtha for May.

MRC

LYON (Plastics News) -- French chemical company Rhodia SA has raised its 2010 profit objectives after recording an operating profit of 140 million euros ($179.2 million) in the first quarter, compared to a loss of 91 million euros ($116.5 million) for the same period in 2009.

⌠Rhodia posted a record performance in the first quarter, driven by volume recovery and strong pricing power, Chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Clamadieu said in a statement. ⌠We continued to generate a significant amount of cash flow and further reduced our debt to its lowest level ever.

The Lyon-based company has therefore raised its 2010 objectives and now expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the year to be around 50 percent higher than in 2009.

MRC

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- Belgian chemicals and plastics maker Solvay on Tuesday targeted more savings of up to 120 million euros and said profit should improve in 2010 with an industry-wide recovery.

The company posted first-quarter recurring earnings before interest and tax (REBIT) from its chemicals and plastics operations of 115 million euros, up 80 percent and matching the average forecast in a Reuters poll. Solvay said sales grew significantly in specialties cluster and pointed to global economic improvement, particularly in Asia, echoing specialty peers Arkema and Lanxess.

"These are strong results. We were a little afraid on the chemicals unit due to lower soda ash prices, but Solvay seems to have made some additional cost savings following on the measures taken in 2009," Rabo Securities analyst Fabian Smeets said. Solvay said if rising demand so far in 2010 continued, the chemicals business should report REBIT over 2010 in line with 2009, despite declines in its prices. At plastics, the company said volume growth should support an increase in REBIT.

MRC