INEOS Resumed Acrylonitrile Manufacture at Seal Sands, UK

(chemmonitor) -- INEOS has restarted acrylonitrile (ACN) production at its 280 metric ton/year facility at Seal Sands, the United Kingdom. The reasons for the delayed restart were labour and weather-related issues.

The plant was initially scheduled to come on stream in November 2011 right after a forty days maintenance, however the restart was suspended by 10 days due to labour problems.

Another 2 weeks delay was the result of high winds in the north of England, the weather issue prevented lifting operations.

The resuming of the plant has started in the mid December 2011, and the facility is now manufacturing acrylonitrile.

INEOS Seal Sands plant is located in Teeside, UK. It is one of the largest manufacturers of Acrylonitrile in Europe and it is the largest producer of purified acetonitrile in Europe. Seal Sands uses leading INEOS technology, which is also used at the Green Lake plant in Port Lavaca, Texas.
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INEOS acquired Seal Sands from BASF in 2008.

MRC

(chemicals-technology) -- PetroFina, a 100% affiliate of Total Petrochemicals, has signed an agreement with ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical to transfer 35% shareholder interest in Fina Antwerp Olefins to Total.

On the completion of the transaction, Total will become the sole shareholder in Fina Antwerp Olefins.
The transaction is subject to the European competition authority approval.
Fina Antwerp Olefins, in which Total currently has a 65% interest, was set up in Antwerp in 1951, and manufactures base chemicals products, including ethylene, propylene and benzene.


Total's businesses include base petrochemicals from steam crackers and certain refinery processing plants such as olefins, C4 fractions and aromatics, as well as the commodity polymers derived from them.

The company engages in upstream and downstream operations in the petroleum industry. Its products are used in consumer and industrial markets, including packaging, construction and the automotive industry.


MRC

(ICIS) -- November and December purified terephthalic acid (PTA) prices could drop by EUR107/tonne (USD139/tonne), following upstream paraxylene (PX) decreases, sources said on Friday.

The November price has been brought down by EUR50/tonne to EUR935-957/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe), tracing the EUR70/tonne drop in PX values.


December PTA is likely to see a reduction of EUR47/tonne, pending confirmation of traditional calculations being used.
⌠Around EUR900/tonne is about right [for December], one downstream polyethylene terephthalate (PET) producer said.

Artlant PTA's 700,000 tonne/year PTA plant in Sines, Portugal, will have saleable product between the end of January and early February 2012, a company source confirmed. The plant is in production mode, and feedstock is on site.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Players in the paraxylene (PX) and orthoxylene (OX) markets in Asia are bracing themselves for tight suppy in 2012 amid the bleak economic outlook, as the eurozone continues to struggle with its debt crisis, sources said.

A deluge of new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants in China is likely to tip the market in favour of sellers, players said. PTA facilities with a combined capacity of over 9m tonnes/year are expected to commence commercial operations in 2012, while 1.45m tonnes/year of fresh PX capacities is expected within the same period.

For every tonne of PTA produced, 0.67 tonnes of PX is needed.
The PX supply shortage is expected to spill over into the OX market, as regional makers are likely to tilt production yields in favour of PX. OX is typically a by-product during the PX extraction process and can be re-isomerised to maximise PX yields.

⌠The market is tight and will continue to be tight [in] 2012, said a China-based phthalic anhydride (PA) maker. PA is the downstream product of OX and is used mainly in the plasticiser sector.


Term PX shipments for 2012 for delivery into east China were heard concluded at premiums of USD9/tonne (EUR6.93/tonne) to 50% Asian Contract Price (ACP): 50% spot CFR (cost& freight) quotes, while contracts for delivery into southwest China were heard concluded at premiums of USD15/tonne to published quotes over the past three weeks.

Most of these contracts were concluded at parity to published quotes in 2011.

In addition, PTA makers have already reduced their plants' operating rates at the end of November to December because of squeezed PX-PTA margins.
⌠If there is no demand for PTA, then there is no reason why we should be operating our plants, said a southeast Asia-based PTA maker.

MRC