Valero Corpus Christi refinery reports flaring -filing

(Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp's 142,000 barrel per day (bpd) Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery reported flaring in its West Plant on Friday because a third party facility was starting up, according to a notice the refinery filed with the U.S. National Response Center.

The Markwest Javelina Co in Corpus Christi, which processes exhaust gases from the area refineries to extract chemicals such as ethane, ethylene and hydrogen for further industrial use, has been performing maintenance has been performing maintenance on its plant.

Valero Energy Corp said work underway Wednesday on a butanizer in the west plant of its 142,000 barrel per day (bpd) Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery would have no material impact on production at the refinery.

The work triggered flaring at the refinery, according to the Corpus Christi Local Emergency Planning Committee.
MRC

(scidev) -- Cities in a number of Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan, are currently on the warpath against plastic shopping bags.

The cities have passed local laws that ban such bags, on the basis that they clog sewers and drainage canals, cause street flooding, choke animals and are responsible for other forms of environmental damage.

China and Taiwan, for example, impose heavy fines on violators. Other countries are appealing for a switch to the production and use of biodegradable bags.

Plastic bags were designed to satisfy a need. Thin plastic can do many things that paper, which is recommended as a good substitute for plastic, cannot. Indeed, there are ways in which thin plastic may be more useful than paper.
MRC

(member.bnamericas) -- Brazilian petrochemicals company Braskem has signed an agreement with Australian bioplastics company Plantic Technologies for the use of polyethylene resin produced by Braskem from sugarcane in Plantic's eco Plastic product line.

Braskem said in a statement that Plantic's eco Plastic line will be the first ultra-high barrier packaging made from renewable raw materials.

"Braskem's strategic vision is to become the world leader in sustainable chemicals by 2020. The partnering of Plantic products with Braskem's green plastic will lead to new packaging options that are not only better for the environment, but also offer superior performance for retailers and brand owners," said Marcelo Nunes, director of the renewable chemicals
MRC

(plastemart) -- F&N Beverages Marketing (F&N Malaysia) has invested RM18 million to install a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) production line and supporting infrastructure at its Kota Kinabalu facility to meet the growing demand for PET packaged sparkling beverages in the state.

The line provides F&N production scalability in anticipation of future growth, without the need for plant expansion. It also reduces logistics costs of transporting the products from F&N?s main Shah Alam plant or from Kuching while facilitating speedier delivery to market.

"Sabah continues to be a significant market for F&N and our investment in this line will enable us to cater to the potential growth for PET sparkling beverages in Sabah, one of our significant markets in Malaysia. We can scale up production seamlessly to thrice the current capacity with no additional investment required,?" said Khalid Alvi, managing director of F&N in a press statement.

"We can drive consumption of our PET range of soft drinks in Sabah with minimal logistic costs while ensuring our consumers in Sabah can get their share of F&N products when they want it," Alvi added.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The total volume of imports volume of polypropylene (PP) to the Russian market increased to 22,500 tonnes on the back of domestic deficit in April. Over the fortnight in May, this figure exceeded 10,000 tonnes, according to MRC analysts.

The deficit resulted from a number of reasons: the accident at Stavrolen in the middle of December 2011, the suspension of the supply of Ukrainian PP, traffic jams in the Caspian Sea in the beginning of the year, which led to the disruption of delivery terms of PP from Turkmenistan.

Due to the limited supply of PP from Russian producers and seasonal hike in demand, local companies in April began actively contracting the feedstock in external markets, including Asia and the Middle East, as per MRC analyst, Sergei Karaychentsev. In April, imports of PP to Russia grew by 16% compared with March volumes and reached 22,500 tonnes.

Imports of PP homo expectedly increased by 27% and made about 12,700 tonnes last month. About 9,000 tonnes from the total imports made PP-homo from Turkmenbashi oil refinery. Imports of block copolymers of propylene increased only by 5%, the export supply of stat- copolymer of propylene, on the contrary, decreased by 17%.

Over the first fortnight of May, the imports of polypropylene to the Russian market exceeded 10,000 tonnes. The geography of supply substantially widened: PP-homo from Egypt, Iran and UAE entered the market. The supply of PP from South Korea increased substantially.


MRC