Korea Petrochemical Industry Co. shut its olefins conversion unit for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Korea Petrochemical Industry Company (KPIC) has taken off-stream its olefins conversion unit (OCU) for maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the OCU was taken off-stream on October 7, 2013. It is likely to remain off-stream until end October 2013.

Located at Ulsan in South Korea, the OCU has a propylene production capacity of 110,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, Hanwha Chemical is likely to shut a dioctyl phthalate (DOP) plant for maintenance turnaround in end-October 2013. It is expected to remain shut for around two weeks. Located in Ulsan, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 80,000 mt/year.

We remind that South Korean petrochemical company LG Chem is planning to build an ethylene production plant in Atyrau, Kazakhstan. The project is going to be constacted in collaboration with two other Kazakh firms. The production is expected to begin in late 2016.
MRC

October prices for Russian DOP plasticizer dropped by Rb1,000/tonne

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Excessive supply of dioctylphthalate (DOP) plasticizer in the Russian market continues to put pressure on prices. Prices for DOP plasticizer had fallen by Rb1,000/tonne by October, reported MRC analysts.

Stable operations of all four Russian producers of DOP plasticizer for a few months has led to market oversupply. Despite increased feedstock prices, Russian producers were forced to reduce prices for the plasticizer amid oversupply in the market.

September prices for Russian DOP in the spot market were at Rb 71,000/tonne FCA, including VAT. DOP prices had dropped by Rb1,000/tonne to Rb70,000/tonne FCA, including VAT, by October, 2013. Some market participants said they managed to achieve prices at Rb69,000/tonne.
MRC

Russian PP increased by Rb2,000-3,000/tonne in mid-October

MOSCOW (MRC) - Polypropylene (PP) prices in Russia rose by Rb2,000-3, 000/tonne on the back of stronger demand and maintenance works at the plants, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

In the first half of this year, Russian PP market was a surplus, and the launch of two new production facilities with total capacity of 680,000 tonnes could only exacerbate the situation in the market. However, since July, the market situation has changed dramatically with the demand growing significantly.

In addition, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance works in September of three producers led to a serious lack of PP in the market, which triggered price rise.

The shortage began to be felt in mid-July, when Tomskneftekhim (SIBUR) stopped its capacities for three-week turnaround. The tight supply of PP from the producer made a lot of market participants form additional stock inventories, which was a rare thing before that.

Tomskneftekhim restarted its PP production a week later from the announced date due to the problems with feedstock.

Polyom (Omsk) planned to go for a turnaround in early September, which also put additional pressure on the PP market.

Lots of Russian producers sold all their PP quotas for September in the first two weeks; converters amid tight supply were buying PP in the stock. Some producers finished shipping September contract PP volumes in the beginning of October.

Polyom instead of two weeks turnaround stood idle a month because of the feedstock shortage.

Two other PP producers also had to suspend PP production in the late September; Stavrolen - because of the technical problems in the production of ethylene and Ufaorgsintez due to the lack of the feedstock.

All these events resulted in the increased shortage of PP in the Russian market and a further price rise. By mid-October raffia prices rose to Rb60,000-62,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Deals for injection moulding homopolymer PP were in the range of Rb63 000-66 000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

As in September, lots of Russian producers have already sold all of their monthly volumes of polypropylene.
MRC

PVC production in Russia grew by 3% in the nine months of 2013

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russian producers increased their production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by 3% in the nine months of this year, despite a complete shutdown at the site of SIBUR, according to MRC ScanPlast.

September output of unmixed PVC (suspension and emulsion) in Russia exceeded the level of 51,000 tonnes. In general, Russian production of PVC totalled about 454,400 tonnes in January - August, against 442,500 tonnes in the same period of 2012.

The increase in production in Sayansk, Sterlitamak and Volgograd allowed to compensate a complete shutdown of the capacities at the site of SIBUR-Neftekhim in April of this year.

Production of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) exceeded the level of 442,000 tonnes in the nine months of this year, while in 2012 this figure was about 426,500 tonnes. Industry leader - SayanskKhimPlast increased its PVC production to 206,000 tonnes over the reported period with an increase of 7%. Bashkir Soda Company (formerly Kaustik (Sterlitamak)) improved its production to 155,700 tonnes against 144,000 year on year. KAUSTIK (Volgograd), traditionally shuts on the turnaround in April - May, but this year it shifted the maintenance works to September - October, as a result, its production of SPVC in January - September totalled more than 70,000 tonnes, from 63,300 tonnes year on year.


The only Russian producer of emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) - Khimprom (Volgograd) significantly worsened its output. Producer has decreased its production to 12,300 tonnes against 16,100 tonnes because of the emergency shutdown in mid-July (the roof cave-in in the workshop of vinyl chloride monomer production), and the deterioration of the equipment.

MRC

Taiwan lifts ban on China naphtha cracker investment

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiwan's government has officially lifted its ban on investment by the country's petrochemical sector in naphtha cracking facilities in China, reported Want China Times.

Certain restrictions still apply to such investment projects, however, including that one company is only allowed to take part in one project, according to revised regulations issued by the country's Ministry of Economic Affairs on Tuesday.

Also, the company must hold more than a 50% stake in the project or hold control over the operations of certain product lines, and must give priority to supplying Taiwan's domestic needs, the regulations stipulate.

Vice economics minister Duh Tyzz-jiun said allowing Taiwan's petrochemical companies to invest in China will help resolve a supply gap that is expected to appear after the country's fifth naphtha cracker - operated by state-run oil refinery CPC - is shut down in 2015 when its license expires.

Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology, a subsidiary of CPC, had previously planned to build a petrochemical complex in Changhua county, but the project was scrapped in 2011 over environmental concerns, forcing it to move the project to Malaysia.

Meanwhile, a consortium led by Ho Tung Petrochemical - another shareholder in the Kuokuang project - is planning to invest in a petrochemical complex in the Gulei Development Zone in southeastern China's Fujian province.

As MRC informed previously, analysts have said that Taiwan's downstream petrochemical companies might face a shortage of feedstock. Taiwan is a net importer of ethylene; it produced 3.47 million metric tons of ethylene in 2012 and imported around 348,000 metric tons of the product. Formosa Plastics Group, among the most active Taiwanese petrochemical firms investing in China, has flagged an interest to build ethylene plants in the provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian. The company currently produces petrochemical products, such as ethylene glycol and polyvinyl chloride, in its Ningbo petrochemical complex in Zhejiang province.
MRC