Tianjin Bohai restarts process of PDH unit in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tianjin Bohai Chemical Industry Group has commenced the restart process at its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the restart process commenced on December 3, 2013. The unit was shut on November 27, 2013 owing to technical issues.

Located in Tianjin, China, the unit has a propylene production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, earlier this year INEOS Nitriles and Tianjin Bohai Chemical Industry Group Corporation signed their intention to establish a 50/50 JV, to build and operate a world scale acrylonitrile plant to be located in Tianjin, China.

It is expected that the plant, which will be designed using the latest INEOS process and catalyst technology, will be completed by the end of 2016. The initial annual capacity of the new facility will be 260,000 tonnes of acrylonitrile with an expectation of possible future expansion, in line with growing demand across Asia.

Tianjin Bohai is a state owned enterprise, with over 100 subsidiaries and 35,000 employees. It has joint venture relationships with a number of foreign partners, including: LG Chem, Solvay, Akzo Nobel, Clariant, Veolia, Air Liquide and Vopak.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poland's state-controlled companies Grupa Lotos SA and Grupa Azoty SA plan to build a 12 billion zloty (USD3.9 bln) petrochemical plant as part of the government's plan to strengthen national champions, as per 4-traders.

Seeking ways to give the economy a boost, the government has turned away from its pre-crisis declarations of continuing asset sales while keeping only a handful of companies it sees as strategic. It has adopted a more hands-on approach that focuses on strengthening the state companies it still has and using them to start new projects, mostly in heavy industries.

The two companies, Lotos and Azoty, signed a deal on Tuesday to conduct a feasibility study for a petrochemical plant to be located near Lotos' refinery with the chemical group Azoty the main customer.

The companies have up to PLN750 million tentatively available in financing from the government's investment vehicle, Polskie Inwestycje Rozwojowe.

Last year Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the government wants the corporate sector to increase its investment drive, making up for weak public investments in the face of public spending limits.

In order to make financing of such ventures easier, the government set up the PIR investment vehicle, which has only signed one financing deal--with the Lotos refinery.

As informed previously, the project will cost 5-6 billion zlotys (USD1.6-1.9 billion) and its construction is scheduled to begin in 2014 or 2015. The plant should be ready by 2018. The new plant would be adjacent to the Gdansk-based Lotos refinery and would use its products.

As MRC reported earlier, in November 2013, Grupa Lotos selected Axens to provide the technology license for a new Coker Naphtha Hydrotreater at its Gdansk refinery. This contract is part of the Gdansk refinery development and modernization program based on heavy residue coking technology.

Grupa LOTOS is one of the largest companies in Poland. It is an oil company operating both in Poland and abroad, whose business consists in the extraction and processing of crude oil, as well as wholesale and retail sale of high-quality petroleum products. Apart from Grupa LOTOS, which manages the refinery in Gdansk, the LOTOS Group currently comprises 15 other companies operating under the LOTOS name. One of them is based in Lithuania and another one in Norway.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos has selected the location for a new ethane tank it plans to build at Grangemouth in Scotland, as per Reuters.

The site is set to be the first chemical plant in the country to receive shale gas from the United States.

The move will supplement declining North Sea supplies, which threatened to close the petrochemical site in October after a dispute with the Unite union.

Imports are expected to begin as early as 2016 after a GBR150 mln investment to an import terminal project.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2012, Ineos announced it signed an agreement to secure ethane from the US that it will use as a feedstock to operate its steam crackers in Europe. It has agreed a long-term deal with Range Resources Corp. for the lifting of ethane from the Marcus Hook facility, located near Philadelphia, from 2015.

Ineos operates steam crackers in Grangemouth in the UK, Cologne in Germany, Lavera in France and Rafnes in Norway.

INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS ChlorVinyls has announced a price increase for suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) effective from 1 December 2013, reported the Switzerland-based producer at its site.

Prices of pipe grade suspension PVC delivered in bulk in Europe were raised to EUR1,145/tonne, while prices of pipe grade SPVC delivered in bulk in UK/Ireland rose to GBP1,025/tonne.

As MRC informed previously, Ineos already increased its SPVC prices in June, 2013, as follows: prices of pipe grade SPVC delivered in bulk in Europe was at EUR1,035/tonne; for pipe grade SPVC delivered in bulk in UK/Ireland - GBR935/tonne.

Earlier this year, Ineos and Solvay agreed to merge their chlorvinyls activities into a EUR 4.3 billion (USD5.6 billion) 50-50 joint venture. The combination would form a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer that will rank among the top three worldwide. The combined business would have around 5650 employees across nine countries and would pool each company's assets across the entire chlorvinyls chain. This includes PVC, which is the third most-used plastic in the world, caustic soda and chlorine derivatives.

INEOS ChlorVinyls is one of the major chlor-alkali producers in Europe, a global leader in chlorine derivatives and Europe's largest PVC manufacturer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Higher propylene prices led to a proportional rise in polypropylene (PP) prices in Europe. European producers have announced an increase of EUR25-30/tonne for PP prices for the CIS countries, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The December contract price of propylene in Europe was agreed by EUR30/tonne higher than in November. Consequently, European producers announced a virtually proportional price increase for PP to be shipped in December to the CIS markets.

Negotiations over December shipments of European PP began at the beginning of the week. Offers for homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) were heard in the range of EUR1,180-1,240/tonne FCA. At the same time, some European producers can offer for export only homopolymer PP of raffia grade. Offers for block copolymers of propylene (PP-impact) started at EUR1,240/tonne FCA.

Some market participants said the current strengthening of the euro against the dollar and other national currencies, which started in the second half of November, had led to a further rise in European PP prices.
MRC