Scheduled outages for maintenance might lead to higher PP prices in Russia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian producers intend to increase polypropylene (PP) prices in September, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Producers explain their intentions by strong demand in the domestic market, tight supply for certain types of polypropylene, as well as higher prices for imported goods. Scheduled outages for maintenance at Nizhnekamskneftekhim (TAIF group) and Polyom (Titan group) might increase pressure on converters.

Polyom intends to shut down its production for two weeks of maintenance works from 1 September. The Omsk producers has suspended its PP sales already since the end of last week.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim plans to shut down its production for a turnaround for a week from 16 September. This week, some companies reported cutting back in supplies of injection propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) from the Nizhnekamsk producer.

The price increase is mostly negotiated for copolymers of propylene as imported alternatives are more expensive. However, prices for homopolymer PP are likely to grow on the back of scheduled outages for maintenance at Russian plants.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tisza Chemical Group (TVK) has approved the basic engineering package submitted by the Lurgi/OTF consortium for a new 130,000-t/y butadiene unit to be built in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, as per GV.

TVK’s MOL subsidiary last year notified the Budapest Stock Exchange of its plan to build a butadiene plant in
Tiszaujvaros, but did not disclose the plant’s capacity or a construction schedule. At the time, MOL noted that butadiene is “a completely new product” for the company.

TVK said the tender of several key pieces of equipment has been closed and the procurement of other equipment is underway.

“Accomplishment of the butadiene extraction unit is ongoing according to schedule and the planned start-up of commercial production in Q1 2015 seems to be feasible,” stated Zsolt Petho, chief executive of TVK.

Petho said that in addition to the extraction of butadiene, TVK is investigating opportunities to enter into the synthetic rubber business.

According to MRC, TVK is a significant player in market of polyolefins in Ukraine.

Tiszai Vegyi Kombinat (TVK) is a Hungarian manufacturer of olefins and polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene. Feedstock is supplied by MOL of which TVK is a subsidiary and which also processes a major portion of resulting by-products from the olefins plant.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Death toll has risen in the massive fire at state-run Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL)’s Vizag refinery-cum-petrochemical complex to 14, reported Plastemart.

Currently, 23 patients are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in the city while eight injured persons have been shifted to burns hospital in Mumbai.

On August 23 a massive fire broke out at the sprawling complex here when staffers from private companies were at work. Prima facie a gas leak in the sea cooling water system was attributed to the massive blaze even though probe is on into the incident.

As a precautionary measure, two production units have been closed and output at the refinery has been reduced to 60%. Production activity to will resume within ten days. As a precautionary measures, HPCL has cut down its production to 17,000 to 18,000 tonnes per day as against the regular capacity of 27,000 tonnes, officials said.

As MRC informed previously, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. had revived a plan to build a refinery-cum-petrochemical complex with an estimated investment of 500 billion rupees (USD8.98 billion) at Visakhapatnam in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The refinery was initially planned as a joint venture of Hindustan Petroleum, Mittal Energy Investments Pte., Total SA, GAIL and Oil India Ltd. The companies put the project on hold because of the economic slowdown.

Hindustan Petroleum currently has two refineries - an 8.3-million-tonne refinery in Visakhapatnam and a 6.5-million-tonne facility in Mumbai. It also runs a 9.0-million-tonne refinery at Bhatinda in northern Punjab state in a joint venture with Mittal Energy Investment of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Alfa Laval has won an order to supply Alfa Laval Packinox heat exchangers to a petrochemical plant in India, as per Pastemart.

The order is booked in the Process Industry segment and has a value of approximately SEK 185 million.

Deliveries are scheduled for 2013 and 2014.

The Alfa Laval Packinox heat exchangers will be used in the production of mixed Xylenes, ingredients in the manufacturing of synthetic nylons and PET bottles.

"This is the second large order, within a short period of time, for our highly energy-efficient Alfa Laval Packinox heat exchangers. This order proves that our customers value the superior performance of Packinox heat exchanger in the demanding petrochemical and refinery applications", says Lars Renstrom, President and CEO of the Alfa Laval Group.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, with the launch of the second PET plant in Haldia, Inida, Dhunseri Petrochem and Tea Ltd (DPTL) becomes the largest PET producer in India. DPTL successfully commissioned the new plant with the capacity of 2,10,000 tpa in the first half of October 2012, the inauguration ceremony took place on 9 October. It is the second unit of the company at Haldia. Thus, with this expansion, the total company's production volume of PET will grow to 4,10,000 tpa.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's Reliance Industries is considering expanding its presence in resources-rich Venezuela with potential participation in more projects in the South American country, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with refernece to officials from both parties' statement.

Venezuela is looking for Reliance's collaboration on the construction of the USD10 billion Cabruta refinery, development of the Junin 1 bloc in the Orinoco heavy oil belt, as well as an expansion of the Petroanzoategui upgrader facility, said Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, who also heads state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA.

Neither side gave specific details on the potential joint ventures and said they expected to define terms of the deals in the upcoming months.

Through an oil supply deal, Venezuela ships around 320,000 bpd of heavy crude to India's Jamnagar refinery. It accounts for about 70% Of Reliance's heavy oil supply and about 12% of India's overall consumption, Mr. Ramirez said.

As MRC wrote previously, Reliance Industries plans to expand capacity at its refineries in the western state of Gujarat. Earlier this year, Reliance unveiled an USD18 billion investment plan for India over the next five years.

Reliance Industries is one of the world"s largest producers of polymers. The company"s polymer production in 2010-11 (polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride) made 4,094 kilo tonnes.
MRC