Russian bottle grade PC market dropped by 11% over 10 months of 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Demand for bottle grade polycarbonate (PC) decreased from January to October 2014 by 11% year on year to 2,500 tonnes, according to MRC ScanPlast.

The main reason for weaker demand was the devaluation of the national currency. Firstly, it led to increases of domestic PC prices, as this segment is 90% dependent on imports from the Asian region. Traders and converters have been losing their margins. The rouble depreciation also resulted in a drop of buying activity in the market of finished products. Consumers are not yet ready to accept the price increase.

Thus, now we have a situation when PC supply exceeds demand. It is rather difficult to sell stocks from warehouses. Converters reported a further reduction of consumption next year if the situation with the exchange rate remains the same.

Asian PC makers made concessions to the market in this situation and reduced their export prices for the Russian market by USD150/tonne in October and November. Thus, prices of bottle grade PC granules in the eastern ports of the country were at USD2,600/tonne, excluding VAT. Despite this, domestic prices did not allow some converters to overcome the breakeven point and to continue operations.

Buyers faced a situation when in some cases prices of European material were lower than prices of Asian PC, because of the dollar strengthening in the world market. About 190 tonnes of bottle grade PC granules arrived in the Russian market from Europe at the end of the third quarter. Traders said they would not be able to sell these quantities until late 2014.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Board of Directors of the PetroChina-Rosneft Orient Petrochemical (Tianjin) Company Ltd, a joint venture of Rosneft and the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), has endorsed the Feasibility Study (FS) for the project to construct the Tianjin refinery as regards the oil refining package at a meeting in Beijing, reported Rosneft.

Rosneft Head Igor Sechin took part in the meeting of the Board of Directors. The members of the Board of Directors adopted a resolution to optimize the oil refining segment of the Tianjin refinery by the end of February 2015 with a primary crude processing capacity of 16 mmtpa and a package for production of aromatic hydrocarbons with a capacity of 1.4 mmtpa of paraxylene.

The Board of Directors also resolved to send for rework the FS for the Tianjin refinery as regards the petrochemical package.

Pursuant to the construction schedule signed by Rosneft and CNPC in May 2014, the refinery in Tianjin is planned to be started up in late 2019. In parallel, the same document regulates feedstock supplies for the refinery in a volume of 9.1 mmt.

As MRC informed previously, Russian state oil producer Rosneft will shift its focus to new projects from acquisitions, at a time when the Russian economy is grappling with US and European sanctions, according to the company's chief financial officer.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was RussiaпїЅs third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co has restarted the 687,000 tpa naphtha cracker at its Tokuyama plant in western Japan over the past weekend after an unplanned shutdown, as per Reuters.

The cracker had been shut since late October due to an unspecified problem during the start-up process following scheduled maintenance.

As MRC informed previously, Idemitsu SM Malaysia, an affiliate of Idemitsu Kosan, restarted its styrene monomer (SM) plant on September 15, 2014. It was shut for maintenance turnaround. Located at Pasir Gudang in Malaysia, the plant has a production capacity of 240,000 mt/year.

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products. The company runs two petrochemical plants in Chiba and Tokuyama. The two naphtha crackers can produce up to 997,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In order to further strengthen its polystyrene (PS) business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Styrolution, the global leader in the styrenics industry, intends to close its 80,000 tonne PS production site located in Trelleborg, Sweden, reported the company on its site.

The closure of the facility is scheduled to occur by the end of 2014 and will affect all 51 employees working at the site.

Styrolution will continue to serve customers from its polystyrene sites located in Antwerp, Belgium and Wingles, France with the same quality, reliability and service standards they have come to expect from the company.

The planned closure is aimed at bolstering the long-term economic sustainability of Styrolution's PS business in EMEA by further enhancing cost structures and maximizing utilization of its production assets in Antwerp and Wingles.

Polystyrene is and will remain a strong pillar in Styrolution's portfolio, providing a robust commercial foundation for the implementation of its Triple Shift growth strategy, which calls for a focus on styrenic specialties and ABS Standard, as well as emerging markets and higher-growth industries.

Kevin McQuade, President EMEA, Styrolution: "The polystyrene market in Europe has been characterized by decreasing demand, overcapacity and underutilization. These market dynamics have also affected Styrolution's polystyrene business in the region, making it necessary for the company to take this difficult step announced today. We acknowledge the impact this decision will have on our colleagues in Trelleborg who have made an outstanding contribution to the company. Styrolution remains fully committed to its polystyrene business and we are confident this measure will further strengthen our leading position in this important product segment in the region."

As MRC wrote previously, in May 2014, Styrolution inaugurated a new line for the high performance styrenic specialty product Absolan at its Katol site located in Gujarat, India. The new 40,000 mt line intends to meet the growing demand for Absolan across key growth industries in India, such as household, electronics, automotive.

The Styrolution Group GmbH is a global provider of styrenics , headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. The company is a joint venture between BASF (50%) and INEOS (50%), were merged into the main styrene operations of the two partners. Its main focus is on the production of monomer, polystyrene, styrenic specialties, and ABS. The company offers styrene plastics for a variety of everyday products from different industries, such as automotive, electronics, construction, household, leisure, packaging, medicine and health.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to buy the former Horsehead Holdings Corp. zinc smelter site in Beaver County as it continues to mull a decision on building a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker there, as per TribLIVE.

Shell said its decision to exercise a purchase option agreement that it extended for more than two years does not signal a final plan to move ahead with the project along the Ohio River in Center and Potter. It is awaiting environmental permits from the state and evaluating the economics of the plant, which would convert ethane from natural gas drilling into chemicals used to make plastic.

"We will make that decision when our full project evaluation is complete," spokeswoman Kimberly Windon said, noting the company is doing some work on the land and nearby roads. "The land purchase is a necessary step for Shell to advance the permitting process and allows us to proceed with some preliminary site development work."

Neither Shell nor Horsehead disclosed the purchase price and they did not set a closing date on the deal.

As MRC reported earlier, last August, Shell started a two-month bidding period to solicit ethane commitments from Marcellus Shale operators for its proposed Beaver County cracker. Ethane, a natural gas liquid found in shale gas in western Pennsylvania, can be turned into ethylene. If Shell Chemical decides to build the first world-scale cracker in the Marcellus region, some of its ethane would come from Shell's own oil and gas production in the region.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC