Chevron Phillips restarts two PE units at Cedar Bayou, Texas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical is restarting two polyethylene units at its Cedar Bayou Plant in Texas, according to company filings with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said Plastemart.

The emission events associated with the startup of each unit are expected to last until April 17. PEU-1796 and PEU-1799 units were shut Tuesday after a power failure at a substation resulted them going down, with visible flaring from the depressurizing process, according to a separate filings.

The Cedar Bayou plant produces 420 million lb/year of linear low density polyethylene, 617 million lb/year of low density polyethylene and 820 million lb/year of high density polyethylene. The Cedar Bayou plant is the largest owned by the Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips JV, and has eight process units including two olefins units.

As MRC wrote before, in early April 2014 Chevron Phillips held a groundbreaking ceremony for its U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) Petrochemicals Project at the Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas. The groundbreaking ceremony signifies the start of construction for the USGC project sparked by shale resource development. The USGC project includes a 1.5 mln metric tpa (3.3 bln lbs/year) ethane cracker to be built at the Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, and two 500,000 mln metric tpa (1.1 bln lbs/year) capacity polyethylene facilities to be built in Old Ocean, Texas.

Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, plastic piping and polymer resins. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC is equally owned by Chevron U.S.A. Inc., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, and by wholly-owned subsidiaries of Phillips 66, and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nippon Steel Chemical Company (NSCC) has restarted its No.3 styrene monomer (SM) plant, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant restarted on April 13, 2014. The plant was shut for maintenance in end-February 2014.

Located in Oita, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 230,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported previously, Idemitsu Kosan, one of Japan’s largest refining and petrochemical companies, is in plans to shut its SM plant for maintenance turnaround in April 2014. It will remain off-stream for around one month. Located in Chiba, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/year.

Besides, last October, Tosoh Corp. said it would examine and prepare the company for a merger with its wholly-owned subsidiary Nippon Polyurethane Industry Co. (NPU), subsequently dissolving the NPU subsidiary upon completion of the merger.

The Nippon Oil Corporation, or NOC or Shin-Nisseki is a Japanese petroleum company. Its businesses include the exploration, importation, and refining of crude oil; the manufacture and sale of petroleum products, including olefines (ethylene, propylene) and aromatics.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant Chemicals (India ) Ltd., an affiliate of Clariant AG, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has announced the successful closure of the acquisition of Plastichemix Industries, reported Plastichemix on its site.

On December 16 2013, Clariant Chemicals (India) Limited had announced its intent to acquire Plastichemix Industries - a Gujarat based masterbatches business in India, with production facilities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari.

Clariant in India will now be one of the leading masterbatches producer, that will offer a wide range of products like black, white, additive, filler & colour masterbatches, flushed pigments & mono-concentrates and engineering plastics
compounds.

Dr. Deepak Parikh, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Clariant Chemicals (India) Ltd. said, "Our recent business developments are a proof of our commitment to the growing Indian market. We believe that reinvesting in our businesses will strategically align our business goals and objectives globally. In this process, we aim to reshape our portfolio and maintain profitability in our core businesses that will benefit all stakeholders."

Explained Mr. Sandeep Puri, India BU Head of Masterbatches, "This acquisition helps us enhance our product portfolio and provide the exacting needs of our customers. Our wider marketing network also enables us deliver faster and tailor-made service levels to them, ultimately resulting in a win-win situation for each other."

As MRC reported earlier, this summer, Clariant and Tasnee, one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Saudi Arabia, signed an agreement to establish a masterbatches joint venture in Saudi Arabia.

Clariant's Masterbatches business unit is a recognized global leader in color and additive concentrates and performance solutions for plastics.

Clariant Chemicals (India) Limited and custom color and additive products with production of more than 10,000 color matches which are completed each year. With more than 50 manufacturing plants around the world, Clariant
Masterbatches products, technology and service deliver competitive advantages that foster long-term customer relationships.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's largest petrochemical producer, and its customers are innovating with plastics solutions in Asia Pacific to address the sustainability challenges of the region and the world, as per the company's press release.

At Chinaplas 2014, BASF will demonstrate solutions that help local and international companies compete in areas such as lightweight solutions that improve automotive fuel efficiency and comfort; consumer product safety; buildings with better environmental performance; and manufacturing efficiency, which is enhanced through accelerated polymer densification and other process innovations.

Dr. Zheng Daqing, Senior Vice President Business & Market Development Greater China, BASF, said, "Rapidly changing consumer needs in China and other emerging markets, the result of fast urbanization and growing disposable income, are creating challenges in areas such as energy use, consumer product safety, and waste management. With the latest plastics solutions, we are collaborating with our customers on innovations to address these challenges that are developed in Asia Pacific, for Asia Pacific and the world."

Thus, at Chinaplas 2014, for the first time BASF will reveal their latest concept for car seats, developed in collaboration with AP Solutions, a Korean design and engineering agency specialized in the automotive industry. Taking design trends and regional market needs into account, BASF materials were used in an innovative way to allow weight and space savings as well as unique styling possibilities to enable maximum design freedom for slimmer, lighter and more comfortable car seats.

To enable greater productivity and energy savings in the plastics industry, BASF will introduce additives that allow faster roto molding cycle for polymer densification. Polyethylene (PE) stabilized with Irganox CB Roto promotes densification of the polymer during molding and enables the production of products with high impact properties after shorter heating times and lower oven temperatures.

Showcasing the world’s first co-extruded PVC-PBT window profile, BASF will also launch the latest innovation in its Ultradur (Polybutylene Terephthalate) product range. This new grade can be co-extruded with polyvinylchloride (PVC) and hence optimizes the manufacturing process of window profiles. Replacing steel as reinforcement in window profiles, the lightweight Ultradur eliminates cold bridge effects and significantly increases energy efficiency while at the same time adding comparable durability and strength.

As MRC wrote before, BASF is also enhancing new technologies and materials for plastics solutions by strengthening its research and development capacity. Last month, BASF established the research initiative "Network for Advanced Materials Open Research" (NAO) at its Innovation Campus Asia Pacific in Shanghai together with seven leading universities and research institutes in China, Japan and South Korea. The initial focus is on products for the automotive, construction, as well as the water and wind energy industries . BASF has also launched similar initiatives in Europe and North America.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- European countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece have resumed imports of petrochemical products from Iran, said Plastemart, citing a senior Iranian energy official.

Iran’s oil and petrochemical exports have increased following some sanctions relief, including the EU and US bans on the country’s petrochemical exports. The ban ease is part of an agreement inked in Geneva last November between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, France, Britain, Russia, and China - plus Germany, under which the six countries agreed to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period. The Geneva deal took effect on January 20.

As MRC wrote before, a ban on the import of Iranian petrochemical goods came into effect on 1 May 2012. In early June 2013, the US announced new sanctions against Iran by identifying eight Iranian petrochemical companies it claims to be owned or controlled by the Iranian government, namely Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Company, Mobin Petrochemical Company, Nouri Petrochemical Company, Pars Petrochemical Company, Shahid Tondgouyan Petrochemical Company, Shazand Petrochemical Company, Tabriz Petrochemical Company and Bandar Imam Petrochemical Company, on May 31, 2013. The US and the European Union imposed also sanctions against Iran’s oil and financial sectors in order to prevent other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.
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