Toyota temporarily halts all production on lines in Japan due to parts shortage

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Automaker Toyota Motor Corporation is suspending production on all assembly lines across Japan as a result of a parts shortage – but North American vehicle and parts production will not be affected, said Canplastics.

The pause in production in Japan will be in effect from February 8 to February 13, the company said in a statement.

According to Toyota, the six-day closure is a result of an explosion that occurred January 8 at an Aichi Steel Corp. manufacturing facility.

"Toyota will continue to take any measures necessary to minimize the impact of this incident on vehicle production," the company said. "Such measures may include production on alternate lines operated by Aichi Steel and procurement from other steelmakers."

Toyota vehicles are scheduled to begin production again on February 15. None of the company’s production outside of Japan will be affected, Toyota said.

As MRC informed earlier, Toyota Motor Corp said it will build new factories in Mexico and China, ending a self-imposed expansion freeze and putting more pressure on global rivals. The world's largest automaker by sales volume said it would build a USD1 billion plant with an annual capacity of 200,000 cars in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, increasing its overall North American production capacity by about the same number of vehicles. That plant, Toyota's first passenger car plant in Mexico, would have about 2,000 workers.

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In March 2014 the multinational corporation consisted of 338,875 employees worldwide and, as of February 2016, is the 13th-largest company in the world by revenue.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thailand's PTT Phenol Company (PPCL) added 250,000 mt/year of phenol production capacity late 2015, a company source told TPS.

The company completed its Phenol 2 project that added a phenol capacity of 250,000 mt/year and an acetone capacity of 155,000 mt/year in Map Ta Phut, Thailand.

Prior to the expansion, the company had an existing capacity of 200,000 mt/year of phenol and 124,000 mt/year of acetone.

As MRC informed previously, initially the company scheduled the start-up of a new phenol plant in mid-November 2015.

PPCL is a subsidiary of Thailand's state-linked energy company PTT.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea’s major integrated producer SK Innovation will expand its petrochemical business in China by strengthening partnerships with the Chinese petrochemical companies, according to SK Innovation CEO Chung Chul-khil Thursday, reported TPS.

Chung said that SK Innovation will conduct a 'China-oriented' petrochemical business strategy via active mergers and acquisitions (M&A), as well as partnerships with the Chinese petrochemical majors, South Korea’s Financial News reported.

"There are a lot of concerns over the slowdown of the Chinese economy but I believe that China is still the world’s largest petrochemical market with enormous potential for growth," Chung said.

"The joint venture that we had with Sinopec presents an excellent example. We need to forge more partnerships with the Chinese counterparts in order to accelerate petrochemical business in China," Chung added.

As MRC informed earlier, in 2013, SK Innovation formed a joint venture with Sinopec via its petrochemical subsidiary SK Global Chemical (SKGC) in Wuhan, China.

The joint venture’s Wuhan plant has started commercial operation since January 2014. It has a naphtha cracking center (NCC) that is able to produce up to 800,000 mt/year of ethylene, 600,000 mt/year of polyethylene (PE) and 400,000 mt/year of polypropylene (PP).

According to SKGC, the joint venture’s 2015 operating profit is estimated to have increased by threefold on year to USD387.14 million (KRW 465 billion).

"SK Innovation’s partnership with Sinopec was an outcome of the company’s so called ‘China Insider’ strategy that aimed to construct ‘Second SK’ in China. We will continue our efforts to build the ‘Third and Fourth SK’ in China," Chung said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell is postponing the final investment decision (FID) on its multi-billion-dollar LNG Canada project in British Columbia, the company announced on its site.

"We are making substantial changes in the company, reorganizing our upstream, and reducing costs and capital investment, as we refocus Shell, and respond to lower oil prices," Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden said on a Thursday conference call announcing its fourth quarter and full-year results.

"For 2016, we have exited the Bab sour gas project in Abu Dhabi, and are postponing final investment decisions on LNG Canada and Bonga South West in deep water Nigeria," he added.

The Shell-led LNG Canada JV received a permit from British Columbia’s Oil and Gas Commission in January for its proposed project located near Kitimat.

The Canadian National Energy Board also recently granted a 40-year export licence to LNG Canada.

Under the licence, which still must be approved by the Governor in Council, LNG Canada is allowed to export 1494 billion cubic meters.

The project, proposed by a JV of Shell, PetroChina, Kogas and Mitsubishi Corp., would initially consist of two 6.5 MMtpy LNG production trains with an option to expand the facility with two more trains.

As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell said fourth-quarter earnings tumbled 44% as the collapse in oil prices took its toll on another European oil company. Profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes shrank to USD1.8 billion.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahi Kasei, an affiliate company of a major Japanese chemical producer Asahi Kasei Corporation, is in plans to shut its No.2 styrene monomer (SM) plant permanently on February 15, 2016, according to Apic-online.

Located in Mizushima, Japan, the No.2 SM plant has a production capacity of 320,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, Asahi Kasei is likely to shut its second SM plant for a maintenance turnaround in March 2016. It is slated to remain off-stream for around 2 weeks. Located in Mizushima, Japan, the cracker has a production capacity of 390,000 mt/year.

Asahi Kasei Corporation is a global Japanese chemical company. Its main products are chemicals and materials science.
MRC