SIBUR begins trial production of polypropylene at its Tobolsk-Polymer complex

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR has begun integrated equipment testing at the propylene storage facility and trial production of the first polypropylene line at the company’s Tobolsk-Polymer complex, according to the commissioning timetable, reported the company on its site.

This follows testing of the first production line at the extrusion plant and the polypropylene packaging and dispatch plant.

Over the course of the next few months SIBUR will continue commissioning operations across all production facilities and expects to begin production at the complex by the end of 2013, once all approvals have been granted.

SIBUR has notified the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor) that construction of the complex has been completed.

As MRC informed previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin had visited SIBUR’s Voronezh site to witness the commissioning of a new manufacturing plant which will produce styrene-butadiene thermoplastic elastomers (TPE). These innovative polymers have many applications including in road construction where they prolong a road’s serviceable life. This new facility will have a design capacity of up to 50,000 tpa of polymer products, capable of meeting the rising domestic demand for thermoplastic elastomers. Currently, the Voronezh site, producing 35,000 tpa of TPE, is the only TPE manufacturer in Russia and the CIS.

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes, and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. As well as thermoplastic elastomers for the road construction sector, SIBUR also produces polymer-modified geosynthetics. Use of these materials extend the time between repairs and equalise the loading intensity and prevent ruts and potholes. These materials also serve a variety of purposes such as reinforcement, separation, filtration, drainage, protection, and water proofing of pavement layers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Prices of Chinese and Korean bottle PET granulate for buyers in the CIS countries remain stable despite the volatility of terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG) prices, according to MRC Price report.

For the fifth consecutive week, Asian producers have not virtually changed their prices for export shipments. The price range, voiced by Russian converters last week, amounted to USD1,495-1,525/tonne DAP Moscow, excluding VAT.

According to Ukrainian converters, PET prices were USD1,480-1,510/tonne CIF, including delivery to Odessa port and excluding VAT.

PET producers in Asia reported a high demand in May. The residues of material at market players' warehouses were also within acceptable levels. Trying to keep high levels of sales and anticipating weaker demand, producers did not raise prices of granulate.

Meantime, spot prices of feedstocks for Chinese PET producers slightly dropped last week. Thus, MEG prices fell by USD10-11/tonne, whereas paraxylene prices went down by USD14-16/tonne. At the same time, TPA prices remained intact. More information about feedstocks prices can be found in MRC Price Report.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - In April, imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to Ukraine increased more than twofold compared to the same month a year earlier, according to MRC DataScope.

Ukraine's imports of granulate in April totalled about 30,000 tonnes, from 14,000 tonnes in April 2012. MRC analysts said that April PET imports has reached their maximum, starting from February 2008.
One of the major market players said that the increase in imports resulted from the converters' positive expectations towards the current season. Companies expect the consumption in the sectors of drinks and waters to be increased on the back of high season.

Traditionally, Chinese PET dominates in the imports to Ukraine. The share of Chinese PET in April imports made about 60% of all purchases.
Pakistani granulate has entered the Ukrainian market for the first time since October 2012.
In general, over January-April 2013 imports of PET to Ukraine increased by 30% compared with the same period a year earlier.
Theimports of PET to Ukraine in January-April totalled 68,000 tonnes.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- After a record-breaking performance in the first three months, imports of polypropylene (PP) to Ukraine fell to 10,900 tonnes in April, according to MRC DataScope.

Despite low seasonal demand, some local company in late 2012-early 2013 rather actively contracted PP in the Middle East and Asia. But in April, high export prices in these regions and absence of shipments from the Romanian producer Rompetrol (planned shutdown for a turnaround) led to a drop in PP imports, in particular, of homopolymer polypropylene (homopolymer PP).

Imports of homopolymer PP to Ukraine declined to 7,900 tonnes last month, while in March this index equalled more than 9,000 tonnes. At the same time, imports of injection moulding homopolymer PP fell by 75% in April due to discontinuation of shipments from Romania (Rompetrol) and Saudi Arabia (Natpet). Over the first four months of the year, imports of homopolymer PP to Ukraine totalled 36,400 tonnes, up 108% year on year.

Imports of block copolymers of propylene (PP-block) rose to 1,600 tonnes in April caused by demand in the injection moulding and pressure pipes extrusion sectors, while in March this index made about 1,000 tonnes. In January-April 2013, imports of PP-block copolymers to Ukraine amounted to 4,500 tonnes, down 12% year on year, because of lower demand from the injection moulding sector.

April imports of random copolymer of propylene (PP-random) to the Ukrainian market made around 1,100 tonnes against 1,400 tonnes in March due to lower demand in the sector of pressure PP pipes production. Over the first four months of the year, imports of PP-random amounted to 3,900 tonnes, an increase of 23% year on year.

Overall, in January-April 2013, imports of PP and its copolymers to Ukraine totalled 46,500 tonnes, up 72% year on year. The main reason for the record import volumes has been the outage at the domestic producer - LINIK. Its annual production capacity is 100,000 tonnes. During the period of stable operations, LINIK provided for up to 60% of the needs of the Ukrainian market. Its PP production stopped in April 2012, the dates of restart of the operation have been not heard so far.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Pacific NorthWest LNG has awarded front-end engineering and design (FEED) contracts for its proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in British Columbia to three international engineering contractors, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to officials.

The contractors are Bechtel, a joint venture comprised of KBR and JGC Corp., and the Technip (Samsung Engineering) China Huanqiu joint venture.

Pacific NorthWest LNG is a subsidiary of Malaysia’s state-owned oil company Petronas and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. (Japex).

These competitive contract awards represent an important next step towards Pacific NorthWest LNG designing and constructing a world-class LNG export facility in the District of Port Edward, near Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

The FEED and engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) bid is expected to be complete by August 2014, officials said.

At the end of 2014, Pacific NorthWest LNG plans to make the final investment decision on the project.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in February 2013, Canada's National Energy Board approved a liquefied natural gas export license for Royal Dutch Shell Plc's planned LNG export plant on British Columbia's Pacific Coast. The regulator approved exports of up to 670 million tonnes of LNG over the 25-year period covered by the license, or 3.23 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
MRC