PP imports in Ukraine decreased by 21% in January - July 2014

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Production of high density polyethylene (HDPE) in Russia decreased by 16% over the first seven months of 2014, according to MRC ScanPlast.

July HDPE production fell to 68,300 tonnes over the first seven months of the year because of scheduled outages for maintenance at Gazprom neftekhim Salavat. Overall, Russian producers reduced their HDPE output to 510,300 tonnes from January to July 2014 versus 608,500 tonnes a year earlier. Increased polyethylene (PE) production at Kazanorgsintez and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat could not offset the forced outage at Stavrolen and a slight decrease in production of Nizhnekamskneftekhim.

The structure of HDPE production by plants looks the following way over the stated period.

Gazprom neftekhim Salavat (Gazprom) has significantly increased its capacity utilisation and HDPE production this year because the plant had resolved an issue with feedstock (ethylene) supplies. The plant shut down its production for a one-month turnaround on 15 July. The plant's HDPE output was 3,400 tonnes for the incomplete month. Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's HDPE production rose to 55,000 tonnes over the first seven months of 2014, up by 33% year on year.

Kazanorgsintez (part of TAIF), Russia's largest PE producer, increased its capacity utilisation by 4% in July compared with the June's level. Thus, the plant's July output of HDPE totalled 45,800 tonnes. The overall HDPE production exceeded 308,500 tonnes in the first half of the year, an increase of 9% year on year.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim (part of TAIF), Russia's third largest HDPE producer, also increased capacity utilisation last month, the plant's July output reached 19,100 tonnes. The Nizhnekamsk plant produced about 99,000 tonnes of HDPE from January to July 2014, down by 4% year on year. The reduction in the plant's HDPE production was caused by the increased production of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE).

As noted earlier, Stavrolen (part of LUKOIL), Russia's second largest HDPE producer, shut down its production on 26 February because of an accident at its ethylene unit. The plant's annual production capacity is 300,000 tonnes of HDPE. As Stavrolen's officials reported repeatedly, the resumption of HDPE production is scheduled for January 2015.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into Belarus decreased by 20% in the first half of 2014 and totalled 17,700 tonnes, reported MRC analysts.

June PVC imports to Belarus fell to 3,000 tonnes from 4,400 tonnes in May. May's drop in sales of finished products made local converters to adjust June purchasing of PVC. Overall, Demand for PVC from the local converters subsided to 17,700 tonnes in the first half of the year versus 22,100 tonnes a year earlier.

Such a serious decline in demand for resin was caused by weaker demand for finished products from PVC in the domestic market. Sales also dropped to foreign markets, but the fall did not exceed 10%.

Germain producers are the PVC main suppliers to the local market, their share exceeds 50% in the total imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An explosion shook BP Plc's Whiting, Indiana refinery, its largest in the United States, on Wednesday night but a resulting fire had been contained as of 9:30 pm local time (0230 GMT Thursday), as per Reuters with reference to a report by WFLD-TV.

Local officials did not know which unit was involved and a BP spokesman said the company was preparing a statement.

There were reports from local media that at least one person was taken to an area hospital. Other reports said no injuries had been reported in the blaze.

Whiting city firefighters were asked by BP to be ready to assist the refinery's firefighting force in battling the blaze, but were not called in to the plant, a fire department spokesman said.

The 413,500 barrels-per-day (bpd) Whiting refinery is BP's largest in the United States and is the centerpiece of the company's shift over the past two years to emphasize using cheaper, heavy crude oil from Canada's tar sands fields in Alberta.

In November, BP completed a USDillion revamp of the Whiting refinery to boost its intake of Canadian crude oil from 85,000 bpd to 350,000 bpd.

BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items. BP Plc reported that its profit before taxation for Q2 2014 increased to USD5.15 billion from USD4.12 billion in the year ago quarter.
MRC