PP production in Ukraine reduced by quarter

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ukrainian producer Linik in February reduced the production of polypropylene by a quarter compared with January. In March, the company plans to keep capacity utilization at the February level, according to MRC ScanPlast.


Ukrainian producer Linik last month reduced the output of polypropylene to 6,170 tonnes. Since March the company has stopped to work by tolling scheme due to non-expediency of further work. By mid-March the oil refinery will have stopped completely its work. The unit for the production of PP will continue to work on imported feedstock (PPF).


In March, Linik will produce polypropylene with imported feedstock. As per market participants, this month the company plans to produce about 6,000 tonnes of polypropylene. The main volume of the polymer will be suupplied to the domestic market, export sales were suspended for indefinite period.


Last two weeks, Ukrainian producer did not ship polypropylene to the domestic market. Due to the switching to the new scheme of work the company was busy with the execution of export contracts, though some of contracts had been cancelled. Since March 1, the shipments of polypropylene to the domestic market were resumed.

MRC

Petchem price trends in Asia

(yarnsandfibers) -- Asian paraxylene market spiked day on day Friday driven by a surge in ICE Brent crude futures as it rose USD2.35 a barrel day on day. Further reports of maintenance shutdown also influenced the market. Japan's top refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp plans to shut its 400,000 ton a year paraxylene unit at Chita plant in west Japan in May-June for scheduled maintenance.

With sentiment for PTA relatively passable and MEG market stalemated and tossed between strong PTA futures and weak demand from downstream, the polyester chips markets in Asia appeared mixed this week. Prices variation greatly depended on sellers or volumes.

Asian monoethylene glycol prices were driven by some spot demand amid firmer futures on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange. In China, tanks were still fully covered implying overall supply will be relatively abundant in future. Sharp rises in ethylene prices, production issues and sustained offtake from the PET market helped pull European monoethylene glycol prices higher this week.


Ethylene prices rebounded on the last day of the week in Asian markets after two flat days of trade, propelled by tightening of supplies and higher crude and naphtha prices. In Europe, ethylene spot prices touched new highs, bolstered by rallying naphtha prices and various production issues in the European cracker system.


MRC

Pellets made from ocean scrap

(plasticsnews) -- Production-run pellets made partially from plastic ocean litter have become a reality, thanks to 18 months of cooperation between packaging brand designer Method and recycler Envision Plastics Industries LLC.

The first batch of pellets streamed off the production line at Envision's Chino plant around noon March 1.

Executives from both companies beamed with pride and excitement, and captured the technology breakthrough, snapping pictures and video. They then watched as the otherwise unassuming black pellets were loaded into 1,200-pound boxes, ready to be molded into a Method-designed container that will hit a major grocery chain this fall.

"We did a couple of fist pumps," smiled Adam Lowry, co-founder, CEO and chief groundskeeper of the San Francisco-based Method, whose packages are made from 100 percent recycled materials.


Lowry declined to name the product that will be made from the ocean scrap, but he said that it will be an existing product, in one of the company's "iconic shapes."

Method-brand products include household and personal-care items. The container will be made by a major plastics packaging blow molder. The two companies overcame obstacles to reach this point.
MRC

Gazprom initiated trial runs at new urea granulation unit

(chemmonitor) -- Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat, a Russia-headquartered manufacturer, finalized works aimed at construction of a plant for urea granulation.

Trial runs at the facility have recently commenced following production of a test lot of around 60 tonnes last month.

The manufacturing process was provided the Japan-headquartered company Toyo Engineering Corporation.

The project was initiated in April of the preceding year. The facility is 100 percent ecofriendly.

MRC

LUKoil to supply Uzbek Gas to China

(themoscowtimes) -- LUKoil has succeeded where natural gas exporter Gazprom failed, supplying fuel to China.

Gas from LUKoil's fields in Uzbekistan, where output generates more profit per barrel of oil equivalent than western Siberian crude, is flowing to China under an agreement with its Uzbek partners, LUKoil deputy chief executive Leonid Fedun said. "We are already supplying and will supply gas to China," Fedun said. "We have a pipeline project, with very good netbacks, supplying China."

Gazprom failed to sign a supply contract with China last year after at least a decade of talks. The company hasn't been able to agree on prices with China, which has instead built pipelines to gas- rich Central Asian states.

LUKoil plans to produce as much as 19 billion cubic meters (119.5 million barrels) of gas a year at peak from deposits in Uzbekistan, Fedun said in June last year. The company provides volumes to the Uzbek state, which has a sales agreement with China, he said.

Sales in the Central Asian nation last year generated USD18 of net income per barrel of oil equivalent compared with USD11 for western Siberian crude, according to a presentation he gave late last month in London.


MRC