Bayegan boosts local presence in the Middle East

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Turkish distributor of petrochemicals and refined products Bayegan Group has set up a new branch in Dubai to boost its presence in the region, according to a senior executive of the company. The company which is based in Istanbul has established various offices worldwide, in the past it has made an agreement with Egyptian company, Oriental Petrochemicals to distribute its products in Turkey, Russia and the CIS countries.


Bayegan has been performing in the petroleum and petrochemical industry since 1940. It gives support to manufacturing companies in their raw material purchases. Bayegan has a wide range of products, among them - PVC, polypropylene, copolymers, polyethylene, etc.


MRC


Maruzen plans to skip scheduled maintenance at naphtha cracker in 2011

(Plastemart) -- Maruzen Petrochemical Co Ltd plans to skip scheduled maintenance on its sole naphtha cracker in 2011, with capacity to produce 480,000 tpa of ethylene, as per Reuters.


The company's Keiyo Ethylene unit also plans to skip maintenance at its cracker with capacity to produce 690,000 tpa of ethylene. Keiyo Ethylene Co is 55% owned by Maruzen Petrochemical and 22.5% owned by each Mitsui Chemicals Inc and Sumitomo Chemical Co.


MRC


Mitsubishi to conduct planned maintenance at its three naphtha crackers

(Plastemart) -- Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical Corp plans to conduct planned maintenance at its three naphtha crackers in 2011, as per Reuters.


Kashima 1, with capacity to produce 375,000 tpa of ethylene, Kashima 2, with capacity to produce 453, 000 tpa of ethylene and Mizushima with capacity to produce 450, 000 tpa of ethylene will be shut sometime in May-July.


MRC


S Korea's SK Energy to restart long-idled No. 1 steam cracker

(Platts) -- South Korea's SK Energy plans to restart its long-idled No. 1 naphtha-fed steam cracker at Ulsan on November 20, a company source said Monday. The steam cracker is able to produce 200,000 mt/year of ethylene and 140,000 mt/year of propylene.


The cracker has been shut since November 2008 due to negative margins amid a sharp decline in petrochemical demand. Despite negative ethylene margins, SK Energy has decided to restart the No. 1 cracker as margins for other olefins -- such as propylene -- are strong.


Meanwhile, SK Energy started running its No. 2 steam cracker, also located at Ulsan, at 100% from Sunday. The cracker was restarted last Thursday after a turnaround from October 1. The No. 2 cracker is able to produce 660,000 mt/year of ethylene and 360,000 mt/year of propylene.


MRC


PVC-S imports to Russia made up 40,5 KT in October

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PVC-S imports volumes to the Russian market in October remained unchanged and made up 40,5 KT, according to MRC DataScope Report.


Starting this year total volume of PVC-S supplies to Russia reached the level of 297 KT which is 166% more compared to the same period in 2009.


According to MRC analysts expectations, this year the geography of PVC-S supplies to Russia has changed. Starting from July 2010, the volumes of the American PVC-S supplies have been dynamically increasing up to the level of 115,3 KT at the end of the ten months.


The volumes of the Chinese PVC-S supplies in January-October 2010 only made up 103,6 KT having lost the leading positions. The level of the American resin exceeded 58% in the imports supplies in October.


For more detailed information about PVC market, see MRC DataScope reports.


MRC