Ineos plans further acrylonitrile output cut in Europe

(apic-on-line) -- Ineos is considering a further cut in production run rates at its acrylonitrile plants in Europe due to declining demand.

Ineos operates a 300,000 mt/year plant in Cologne, Germany and a 280,000 mt/year plant in Seal Sands, northeastern England. The plants are running at only 70% of capacity on average in November, the source said, as orders dwindled and margins were squeezed by high feedstock costs.

The plants' run rates are "going down a bit into December, probably to 65%, but there's no decision yet," the source said.

Bearish pressure persisted in the global ACN market in November as demand from end-users, particularly acrylic fiber and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, receded amid the economic downturn.

As MRC reported earlier, Ineos is also Sibur's licensor of engineering of largest ethylene pyrolysis in integrated complex ZapSibNeftehim in Tobolsk. Besides, in September, eleven employees from Tobolsk-Polymer were trained in Ineos, Houston, Texas (USA).

Moreover, another Russian petrochemical major, Nizhnekamskneftekhim, signed a licensing agreement for the technology of polyethylene (PE) production with Ineos Technologies in late October, 2012.
MRC

(virtual strategy) -- The global PET market was estimated to be worth USD 23.3 billion in 2010 and is expected to reach USD 48.4 billion in 2016, growing at a CAGR of 9.6% from 2011 to 2016, according to Transparency Market Research.

In the overall global market, Asia Pacific is expected to maintain its leading position in terms PET demand over the next five years. Demand for PET is primarily being driven by increasing application in CSD packaging as well as rising consumption of packaged, frozen and other processed foods. Largest PET applications include packaging of CSD and bottled water, alcoholic and hot beverages, sheet/films and food. As MRC informed earlier, demand for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and recycled PET (RPET) continues to outpace supply. With additional RPET production capacity coming online recently and announcements of future expansions on the part of companies such as US Fibers and Perpetual Recycling Solutions, demand is likely to continue exceeding supply, which will affect pricing for RPET and PET bales.

The PET value chain market has been further segmented under two markets, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and ethylene. Over the last decade demand PET has increased considerably due to growing demand from food and beverages industry. Ethylene market is segmented on the basis of its application as polyethylene (PE), ethylene oxide, and ethylene dichloride and ethyl benzene. The market for ethylene was estimated to be worth USD 140.4 bln in 2010 and it is expected to reach USD 254.5 biln in 2016.
MRC

(plastemart) -- Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is planning a Rs 30,000 crore refinery on the west coast in Gujarat or Maharashtra as part of its plans to raise the refining capacity to 100 mln tons, as per PTI.

IOC has seven refineries totalling 54.2 mln tons and a 11.5 mln ton subsidiary - Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd (CPCL). It so far has no coastal refinery, impairing its ability to process cheaper difficult crude oils. IOC is looking for sites for the new unit in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The company has been offered land by Adani Group at Mundra in Gujarat as well as by Shapoorji Pallonji Group in Saurashtra.

IOC already has a 13.7 mln tons refinery at Koyali in Gujarat but does not have a presence in Maharashtra. All of its refineries are landlocked. It is building a coastal refinery at Paradip in Orissa by September 2013.

IOC plans to invest Rs 56,200 crore in the 12th Five Year Plan ending March 31, 2017. A majority of Rs 27,159 crore is planned to be spent in expanding refining capacity. The company has planned to set up a polypropylene (PP) unit at Paradip at the cost of Rs 3,150 crore while also building similar units at Gujarat and Panipat refineries. Paradip refinery, he said, is nearing mechanical completion and the petrochemical project will thereafter take 36-39 months to complete.

We remind that Oil India and IOC have acquired 30% stake in Carrizo Oil & Gas' Niobrara shale gas asset in Colorado for USD82.5 mln. OIL will hold 20% stake, while IOC will hold 10% stake in the asset, as MRC wrote earlier.
MRC

(VIR) -- Thailand’s national petroleum company, PTT Public Company Limited (PTT), has recently proposed to build a giant USD28.7 billion oil refinery and petrochemical complex in central Binh Dinh province, Vietnam.

According to the Thai firm, the complex would have total refining capacity of 660,000 barrels per day, or 33.6 million tonnes of crude oil per year. If the project is approved, it would be one of the largest oil refinery and petrochemical complexes in Asia.

"After the initial study, PTT said this project would not be effective if having total refining capacity of 10 million tonnes. Therefore, it proposed to build an oil refinery and petrochemical complex with such a large capacity," said Man Ngoc Ly, director of Binh Dinh Economic Zone Management Authority.

He added that the province had already approved this investment proposal in principle. However, PTT will only get investment project for this project if it is approved by the government, because Binh Dinh is not zoned by the government to build an oil refinery and petrochemical project.

PTT so far has invested in a total integration petrochemical business through its eight subsidiaries, starting from upstream to intermediate and polymers both olefin chain and aromatic chain. PTT Group not only becomes the leader player in the country, but also attracts several world leading companies such as LyondellBasell from the US, Asahi Kasei Chemical Corporation from Japan, and Sime Darby Plantation from Malaysia to be the strategic partners in petrochemical business.

We remind, as MRC informed previously, PetroVietnam, state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, had announced earlier this year that it was going to construct the second oil refinery in the country.

Vietnam is likely to become the world's third biggest rubber producer in the future, thus, surpassing Malaysia, according to a recent report by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries. The association estimated that Vietnam would produce 955,000 tonnes of natural rubber this year, up 17% year-on-year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In January-October, 2012, EPS output in Russia made 70,650 tonnes of the material, report MRC analysts.

In October, 2012, EPS production volume in Russia increased to 10,540 tonnes of the material, which is a record. Russian producers have produced 70,560 tonnes of EPS since the beginning of the year, up 87% year-on-year.

Several factors contributed to the increased production volumes. Angarsk polymer plant resumed operations after an outage for maintenance in September, 2012. In October, 1,360 tonnes of the material were produced in Angarsk.

Plastik (Uzlovaya) also increased its capacity utilization to the maximum level which resulted in production of 860 tonnes of EPS in October.

SIBUR-Khimprom keeps increasing production volumes almost reaching its maximum capacity utilization. In October, 8,320 tonnes of EPS (Alphapor) were manufactured in Perm. More detained information can be seen in MRC ScanPlast.

MRC