Saudi Aramco in talks with prospective customers to sell paraxylene and benzene

(Plastemart) -- Saudi Aramco is in talks with prospective customers to sell paraxylene and benzene cargoes from its 400,000 bpd refinery in Jubail Industrial City in late 2013 or early 2014, as per Platts.

Saudi Aramco and Total are building a refinery in Jubail Industrial City 2 to produce gasoline, low-sulfur diesel and naphtha. The project will also process heavy crude to produce 700,000 tpa paraxylene, 140,000 tpa benzene and 200,000 tpa polymer grade propylene.

Aramco and Total will each have a claim over 50% of the output. Saudi Aramco is looking to sell 25,000-100,000 tons of cargoes of paraxylene and benzene under long-term contracts.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Talks are underway between Saudi Arabia and India over the anti-dumping dumping duties levied on polyethylene (PE) imports by India, the chief executive of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), is reported to have said as per Reuters.

This year saw China and India launch anti-dumping probes of Gulf firms, including SABIC, to assess whether methanol was being dumped onto the Chinese market at below-production prices.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Reconstruction is to complete in early 2011 on the oil and petrochemicals terminal in Malaysia's Tanjung Langsat Port, as per Platts. The port was shut following a fire in August 2008. Reconstruction on tanks 1 and 2, with a combined capacity of 20,000m3 are still under way and are targeted for completion end January 2011. Full operation at the 100,000m3 oil and petrochemicals terminal is expected at the end March or early April next year.

This will be followed by the inspections and the approval process by the federal authority's Department of Occupational Safety and Health, or DOSH, all of which will take an estimated two months, following which the terminal will be able to restart at full capacity.

MRC

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan's energy demand fell for the first time in more than a year after the island's biggest petrochemical maker shut plants for routine maintenance and unscheduled repairs.

Combined consumption of coal, petroleum, gas, thermal energy and electricity declined 0.1 percent in October from a year earlier to the equivalent of 10.1 million kiloliters of oil, or about 2 million barrels a day, according to an e-mailed report from the Bureau of Energy in Taipei today. Demand last dropped in August last year.

Formosa Petrochemical Corp., Taiwan's biggest petrochemical maker, shut its second-largest ethylene plant on Oct. 5 for scheduled repairs. The company also halted a residual fuel processing plant and its smallest ethylene unit after fires in July. The chemical is a raw material for plastics and fabrics.

MRC

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Oman Polypropylene Company has shut down its polypropylene plant located in its facility in Sohar, Oman, for two weeks, according to a source close to the company. A shortage of propylene feedstock caused the company to halt production. The plant was expected to resume its operation in mid-December.

The polypropylene plant had also reduced its operational rate in early November as the refinery at Al Fahl Port was closed for maintenance.

The polypropylene maker is 40% owned by Oman Oil. LG International, Gulf Investment and International Petroleum Investment each hold a 20% share in OPP.

MRC