Mitsubishi delays restart of PTA plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Chemical has postponed the restart of a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in China, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the restart has been postponed to end-October 2014. The plant was earlier scheduled to restart in early October 2014.

The plant was shut on September 5, 2014 for a maintenance turnaround.

Located at Ningbo in eastern China, the plant has a production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. has told "PetroChemical News" (PCN) that it has decided to discontinue its PTA business. Mitsubishi currently operates a 260,000-t/y PTA plant at Mizushima, Japan, through its Mizushima Aroma joint venture with Toyobo Co.

A spokesperson at Mitsubishi, when asked for the reason behind its decision to quit the PTA business, said "we cannot anticipate improvement of the profit without global oversupply." The company is "now examining" when to exit the business, he added.

Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A. Schulman, Inc.-leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds, powders and resins, has signed an agreement and a strategic partnership with the South Korean polymer producer INITZ for the compounding and marketing of INITZ Co. Ltd.'s ECOTRAN Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) compounds, said Plastemart.

A. Schulman will be producing, selling and distributing the ECOTRAN compounds in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. INITZ Co., Ltd. is a joint venture of SK Chemicals Co., Ltd., Korea (66% of the shares) and Teijin Limited, Japan, (remaining 34% of the shares).

"The combination of INITZ's know-how and A. Schulman's state-of-the-art global manufacturing capabilities and application development will support our customers in markets such as automotive, electronics, industrial, filtration and coatings to meet and exceed their halogen-free industry standards. Unlike other conventional PPS, ECOTRAN will enable them to differentiate their product offering and further strengthen their market position," said Bernard Rzepka, COO and Executive Vice President of A. Schulman.

"Through almost 100 patents, SK Chemicals constructed its own technology systems and succeeded in developing the world's first environmentally friendly PPS production process without using chlorine and solvent," said Cheol Kim, CEO of SK Chemicals. "According to our partnership, INITZ will focus on customers in the rapidly growing Asian markets. In the Americas and in Europe, we are counting on A. Schulman's extensive compounding know-how and excellent market coverage," said Hyokyung Kim, President of INITZ.

As MRC wrote before, A. Schulman agreed to purchase a majority of the assets of the specialty plastics business of Ferro Corp. for USD91 million in cash. The purchase agreement includes four facilities located in the US as well as operations in Spain.

A. Schulman is a global plastics supplier, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, and a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins, which are used as raw materials in a variety of markets. A. Schulman has 33 manufacturing facilities globally. A. Schulman's fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 69% amid continued sluggishness in European markets and higher-than-expected costs in Latin America, where the company has been consolidating its Brazilian operations.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- At the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) on 27-29 October, 2014 in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) BASF, the world's petrochemical major, will showcase its range of innovative chemical solutions as well as sustainable solutions for the upstream oil and gas industry market, reproted the company on its site.

These solutions allow companies to maximize their operations throughout the different phases of petroleum production including drilling, cementing, stimulation, production and enhanced oil recovery.

BASF will be presenting innovations across all application segments:

Basoblock: cementing latex-based, film forming additives with tunable performance profiles that help block gas migration through the cement slurry. In addition, the high temperature latex stabilizer Emulphor FAS 30 used in conjunction with Basoblock can prevent latex coagulation and improves slurry rheology in brines.

BasoMSA: an excellent option for stimulating high temperature wells with a superior performance at high temperatures, outstanding corrosion behavior and superb environmental profile.

Aspiro: a new range of polymers and surfactants that can be applied in a large variety of field conditions to enhance oil recovery. With the Aspiro product range customers can get combined expertise from one source.
The Aspiro P range consists of water soluble polymers based on polyacrylamide (PAM) technology. Standard anionic PAMs are suitable for mild field conditions, while developmental associative thickening polymers have shown promising behavior in demanding fields.

The Aspiro S product portfolio comprises a broad range of surfactants, co-surfactants and solvents.

As MRC wrote before, in September 2014, BASF announced the start-up of a new butadiene extraction plant at its Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium. The plant has an annual production capacity of 155,000 metric tons. The plant in Antwerp is BASF’s second butadiene extraction plant in Europe. BASF already operates a butadiene extraction plant at its Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, with an annual production capacity of 105,000 metric tons. With the plant in Antwerp, BASF is more than doubling its production capacity for butadiene in Europe.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Russia increased to 166,000 tonnes in January-September 2014, up 22% year on year, according to MRC ScanPlast.

Import volumes over the reported period increased because in the beginning of the year there were left big volumes of stock inventories.
Importers increased purchases because of the lower prices in Asia (in dollar terms). Further devaluation of the rouble and unjustified expectations of consumption in the season led to a decline in demand.

Following peak level in April imports has been falling for the fifth month in a row. Carryovers left from month to month led to a gradual decline in demand in the spot market.

PET imports in Russia expectedly declined in September. Season came to an end, the real needs of PET chips processing market lso decreased.
September PET imports in Russia were about 11,000 tonnes, down 1,000 tonnes from the August level.

Summing up the imports in the first three quarters, it should be noted the leadership of the Chinese suppliers. The share of Chinese PET increased to 75.6% from the total PET imports in Russia. Russia's imports of Chinese PET increased to 126,000 tonnes in January-September 2014, up 63% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's market of extrusion polycarbonate (PC) increased to 62,000 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, up 5% year on year, according to MRC ScanPlast report.

Extrusion segment of PC granules market in Russia is the biggest (85% share) and dynamic. The only Russian producer of PC in the country is Kazanorgsintez.
The share of Kazanorgsintez's material over the reported period reached 66.4% from the total extrusion PC granules consumption in the country. In the same time last year it was 62.5%. Kazanorgsintez has adopted a policy of import substitution and the reorientation to the domestic market.

Russia's exports of extrusion PC granules over the reported decreased to 20,800 tonnes, down 6% year on year. Traditionally, the key importers of PC in the Russian market are Bayer and Sabic.

Production of PC for sheet extrusion by Kazanorgsintez increased to 42,200 tonnes in January-September 2014, up 10% year on year.
Russia's exports of extrusion PC decreased to 973 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, down 38% year on year.
MRC