Dupont fined USD1.275 million in West Virginia toxic pollution case

MOSCOW (MRC) - DuPont will pay a fine of USD1.275 million and spend an estimated USD2.3 million more to settle claims by U.S. officials that the global chemical conglomerate failed to prevent toxic releases of hazardous substances in West Virginia that killed at least one man, said Reuters.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co reached the settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice in a case about eight alleged releases of harmful levels of hazardous substances between May 2006 and January 2010 from a DuPont facility in Belle, West Virginia, the EPA said.

Several of the releases posed "significant risk to people" and a nearby river, the government said in statement announcing the settlement. One DuPont worker died after exposure to a toxic gas released due to DuPont’s "failure to comply with industry accident prevention procedures," the EPA said.

The problems came to light in January 2010 when plant operators discovered that more than 2,000 pounds of methyl chloride had been leaking, and employees had failed to respond to alarms triggered by the release.

In addition to the USD1.275 million penalty, DuPont is to take corrective actions to prevent future releases. The company has estimated it will spend USD2.276 million to complete required improvements. The company said it already has spent nearly USD7 million to comply with an EPA order for corrective measures.

DuPont expressed deep "regret" for the death of its employee in a statement issued Wednesday and pledged tight controls.

"We remain committed to meeting all regulatory requirements and operating at the highest standards for protection of our employees, contractors, community and the environment," the company said.

The EPA said that inspections of DuPont's records identified five incidents in which the company released harmful quantities of hazardous substances and then did not report the releases in a timely manner. The largest of these was the release of 80 tons of methanol into the Kanawha River in West Virginia on Sept. 21, 2010.

As MRC wrote before, DuPont Co. had said its first-quarter earnings fell 57% as the chemicals and agricultural-products company reported that growth in most of its businesses was offset by harsh weather and shifts in agriculture. The bottom line also was impacted by the sale of its performance coatings business last year, which had contributed nearly USD2 billion of income for the year-earlier period. In the latest quarter, earnings from the company's remaining operations rose 4.2%.

DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802. DuPont developed many polymers such as Vespel, neoprene, nylon, Corian, Teflon, Mylar, Kevlar, Zemdrain, M5 fiber, Nomex, Tyvek, Sorona and Lycra. DuPont developed Freon (chlorofluorocarbons) for the refrigerant industry, and later more environmentally friendly refrigerants. It developed synthetic pigments and paints including ChromaFlair.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has scheduled a planned turnaround at its Hazira manufacturing site, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The cracker unit will be shut for a period of about 4 weeks, starting from the last week of September 2014.

This opportunity will be utilised to carry out other routine maintenance and turnaround activities to enhance productivity.

RIL’s crackers at other locations will continue at normal levels of operations. With advance planning and inventory management, impact on external sales is likely to be minimal.

As MRC informed previously, Reliance Industries is implementing a new project to source 1.5 million tpy of ethane feedstock from the US to feed its crackers in India.

"The shale gas industry in North America has grown exponentially in the past five years," Reliance said in a media release. "As a result, ethane has become the dominant feedstock for crackers replacing liquids."

Earlier, RIL said thay it will invest up to USD700 mln in its shale gas venture in the current fiscal and also ramp up spends under the USD13 bln capex programme in the petrochemical and refining business.

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.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports polycarbonate (PC) to the Ukrainian market increased by 9% in the first seven months of the year to 2,400 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope report.

Polycarbonate market in Ukraine is completely depends on import, that is, the volume of imports actually can be compared to the volume of PC consumption in the country. The main refining sector is the injection moulding, which takes 60% from the total PC market in the country.

Sheet extrusion segment takes 25%, and the blowing of bottles - about 15%. Moulded parts made from PC are mainly used in the automotive, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and exported to Europe and the CIS countries, mainly from Sabic, Bayer.

Over the reported period consumption of injection moulding PC in Ukraine grew by 4%, reaching 1,100 tonnes. The second largest sector is the sheet extrusion, with 572 tonnes imported in January-July, up 112% year on year on the back of increased production of PC sheets.

Ukrainian converters processed 410,000 tonnes of PC in the blow moulding sector over the reported period, up 17% year on year. The popularity of the delivery of water in offices and homes has increased, which in turn stimulated the demand for bottles of 19 litres.

According to market players, buying activity fell significantly in the summer. In the first place, it resulted from the holiday season and the unfavourable economic and political situation in the country. Lull in the market will last until the beginning of autumn. Foreign producers left export prices steady in Ukraine.

The price for PC in the domestic market most of all depend on the exchange rate fluctuations. Seasonality in the sector of extrusion blow moulding and has practically no effect on the Ukrainian prices of raw materials.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polypropylene (PP) in Ukraine has decreased by 21% in the first seven months of this year. Decline in demand was seen for all types of polypropylene, according to a MRC DataScope report.

After the decline in April - May imports of polypropylene in Ukraine began gradually rising in June, reaching 11,700 tonnes in July. Total PP imports in Ukraine decreased to 62,200 tonnes in January - July 2014, compared with 79,100 tonnes year on year. Demand declined for all types of PP because of the downtrend in the economy and the military operations in the east of the country.

Structure of PP supplies over the reported period looked as follows. July imports of homopolymer PP in the Ukrainian market were 8,600 tonnes, compared with 8,000 tonnes in June. Total imports of homopolymer PP in the country decreased to 47,900 tonnes in the first seven months of this year, down 21% year on year. The largest drop in demand occurred for the injection moulding sector (about 50% over the period), while demand for raffia declined by only 11%.

Key suppliers of propylene homopolymers in the local market were producers of Saudi Arabia and Russia. July imports of PP block copolymers in the country increased to 1,200 tonnes, compared with level of 1,000 tonnes in June. Imports of PP block copolymers in Ukraine fell to 7,000 tonnes in the first seven months of the year, from 9,200 year on year. The main drop in demand occurred for extrusion grade copolymers for the production of pipes and sheets; demand in the sector of injection moulding fell by 18%. The main suppliers were the producers from Europe.

July imports of stat-propylene copolymer (PP-random) in Ukraine exceeded 1,000 tonnes, compared with 850 tonnes in June. Total imports of PP-random in Ukraine were 5,500 tonnes in January - July 2014, compared with 6,800 tonnes year on year. Demand from the producers of pressure polypropylene pipes in the sector of injection moulding fell by 14% over the reported period. Total imports of other propylene copolymers over the reporting period were 1,900 tonnes, compared with 2,900 tonnes in the same time a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s state-owned petrochemical giant Sinopec Corp. said it is licensing polypropylene polymerization technology to a U.S. plant for the first time in history, said Plasticsnews.

The Beijing-based company said it has recently signed an agreement to license gas-phase PP continuous pre-polymerization technology to Formosa Plastics Corp. USA.

The technology has also been licensed to four customers in China. Sinopec claims the technology features high efficiency, can significantly reduce the usage of hexane and reduced unit operating cost.

In China, Sinopec has just launched a 200,000-ton PP facility in Maoming, Guangdong province, raising the total PP capacity of the Maoming site to 670,000 tons, the company said earlier this month.

The company, which ranked No. 3 in the latest Fortune Global 500 list, also announced its half-year results on Aug. 22, showing a huge loss of its chemical portfolio.

Despite the 31 billion yuan (USD5 billion) corporate wide net profit, Sinopec’s chemical business lost 4 billion yuan (USD650 million) on 213 billion yuan (USD35 billion) of sales in the first six months.

Fierce competition in the domestic market led to significant price reductions on chemical products, causing the loss, the midyear report said. It also cited rising domestic capacity, growing imports and high feedstock price as contributing factors.

Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Company (Maoming Company) - a subsidiary of Sinopec- is located in Maoming, Guangdong and was founded in May 1955. The company now has a crude oil processing capacity of 13.5 million t/a and an ethylene production capacity of 1 million t/a. Maoming Company has turned out to be a large-scale integrated refining and chemical enterprise with refining as the leading business and petrochemical sector as the mainstay.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York . Sinopec is the worlds fifth biggest company by revenue.
MRC