In August PET imports to Ukraine dropped by one third

(MRC) -- In August PET granulate imports to Ukraine dropped by 8.5 KT and made nearly 18 KT. In general, the summer period proved to be quite successful for the Ukrainian converters, as the demand for preforms, on average, increased by 5%, according to MRC DataScope.

By the end of the season, business activity traditionally slows down, which directly affects imports of the material. Nevertheless, following the summer results, PET consumption in the Ukrainian market slightly grew and made 56.5 KT, compared to 54 KT in 2010. With autumn coming, demand for PET bottles reduced under the pressure of a seasonal factor. In September, a further decline in PET granulate imports is expected. Actual feedstock inventories of trade companies also reduce need in feedstock purchases in the foreign markets.

PET supplies from China and the UAE fell nearly by twice. In August, supplies from China's Jiangsu Sanfangxiang decreased ten times down and made 500 tons. Shanghai Hengyi Polyester and Zhejiang Wankai also reduced granulate shipments to Ukraine.Their total imports made nearly 3 KT. At the same time, as per MRC analyst Igor Grischenko, South Korean producers Daewoo and Samsung Total resumed their supplies in August.


MRC

(ICIS) -- Chemical companies must raise their efforts to promote a positive image of the industry and highlight the importance of chemistry, European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) delegates were told on Monday. In his opening address, EPCA president Tom Crotty urged a record 2,500 delegates at the 45th annual EPCA meeting to emphasise the important contribution of the chemical industry and endeavour to raise public awareness.

⌠Nothing in our modern world could exist without the ingenuity of chemists and chemical engineers. So why don't people celebrate this? I think to a degree we've only got ourselves to blame, said Crotty, a board member of Switzerland-headquartered INEOS.


The theme of the event was that more than 95% of the products used in everyday life rely on the chemical industry, whether it is in food, clothing, healthcare, transportation, communication, education or entertainment, he said.


MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- Saudi Kayan Petrochemical has started the commercial production at its petrochemical complex in Jubail Industrial City. The company said that main plants have started production, including the olefins plant, which produces 1.478m t/y of ethyelen and 630 KTa of propylene, in addition to an aromatics plan with a capacity of 109 KTa of benzene.

In addition, the company also started the commercial production of the 350 KTa polypropylene plant, 400 KTa polyethylene plant and the 260 KTa polycarbonate plant.

Mutlaq Hamad Al-Morished, chairman of Saudi Kayan and vice president of SABIC, corporate finance, said that the financial impact of the start of the commercial production will appear in the fourth quarter's financial results.

MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- Alujain Corporation has announced that a technical defect in the dehydrogenation unit in polypropylene complex owned by ALCO's subsidiary National Company for Petrochemical Industries (NATPET), has caused a shutdown of the facility. ⌠The work is underway to repair that defect and the production is expected to return in two weeks, the company said in a statement. ⌠This will cause the company a net loss of USD 24m equal to the production of 16 KT of polypropylene in that period, the statement added.

This is the third time this year that the company has faced technical issues. The company also announced earlier this year that its polypropylene plant faced a technical problem at the dehydrogenation unit on the 18th of January, with repair work taking five days. As a consequence of this shutdown, NatPet failed to produce 3,5 KT of polypropylene worth USD 5 million.

MRC

(Reuters) -- State-owned Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) will receive funding from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to build and develop Vietnam's second oil refinery, its chairman was reported as saying on Friday. Hussein Ismail told Kuwait's state news agency KUNA that building the 200,000-bpd Nghi Son oil refinery is part of Kuwait's strategy to invest in large-scale refining and petrochemicals projects in East Asia. No figure was given for the funding.

The refinery, situated in the northern province of Thanh Hoa, 215 km south of Hanoi, is a joint venture between KPI, Petrovietnam Construction Corp and Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co and Mitsui Chemicals. The project is expected to be completed and ready for operation in 2015, KUNA said.

KPI, an international unit of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), established the joint venture in April 2008 to build the refinery, which is designed to process Kuwaiti crude.

Investment in the refinery would total USD 7.5 billion.

MRC