Petronas cancels synthetic rubber project in Malaysia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas Chemicals Group has stopped its USD 1.3 billion investment for the construction of four synthetic rubber plants within the Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (Rapid) project in Pengerang, Johor, Malaysia, said GV.

According to the company, the cancellation followed a review which was conducted on various key aspects of the elastomers project, including the market outlook and the projected return on investment.

In 2013, Petronas and Eni Group’s chemical subsidiary Versalis had agreed to set up a joint venture for the construction of the elastomer plants within the Rapid complex. The initial total projected investment cost for the polymers, glycols and elastomers segments was approximately USD 3.9 billion with a combined capacity of 3.5 million t/y. The cancellation of the synthetic rubber plants will result in capacity reduction of 350 kt/y. Petronas says it remains committed to the rest of the petrochemical projects, namely the polymers and glycols projects.

As MRC informed earlier, in December 2015, Petronas awarded the Johor port operatorship for its Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (RAPID) project to Johor Port Bhd (JPB). As the port operator, JPB will manage the operations and logistics functions at the material offloading facility (MOLF) for Petronas’ Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Pengerang.

Petronas plans to build a C6-based metallocene linear LDPE plant and a low density polyethylene (LDPE)/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) swing plant at its greenfield integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in southern Johor state by mid-2019. The proposed metallocene LLDPE will have a capacity of 350,000 tpa, while the LDPE/EVA will have a capacity of about 150,000 tpa. The two plants are part of Petronas' planned Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development project in Pengerang at Johor. RAPID includes a 300,000 bpd refinery and a petrochemical complex with a 3 million tpa steam cracker, and is expected to come onstream in mid-2019. The petrochemical complex will have the capacity to produce 7.7 million tpa of petrochemical products.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Korea Petrochemical Industry Co (KPIC) is in plans to take a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant off-stream for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company is likely to shut its plant in October 2016 for a period of around 8-10 days. The exact date of the shutdown could not be ascertained.

Located in Ulsan, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 530,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, KPIC aims to expand its ethylene production capacity by the first half of 2017, the company's CEO Jeong Young Tae said in April 2016. Jeong said that KPIC’s ethylene capacity expansion for its Ulsan-based Naphtha Cracking Center (NCC) is ongoing and is expected to start commercial operation from Jun 1, 2017.

Currently, KPIC produces about 470,000 mt/year of ethylene from its Ulsan-based NCC. With the ongoing capacity expansion, the company will be adding 330,000 mt/year of ethylene, and its combined ethylene capacity will reach 800,000 mt/year.

KPIC is one of the key producers of ethylene in South Korea. The company’s ethylene capacity accounts for about 6% of total ethylene production in South Korea. When the capacity expansion is completed, however, the company’s market share will be increased to nearly 10%.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Essen-based Evonik Industries, a leading specialty chemicals manufacturer, has recently inaugurated a new silanes competence centre at its Rheinfelden, Germany, as per GV.

The company has invested a low two-digit million Euro amount in the 3,500 m2 laboratory building, where approximately 100 employees will be working.

Besides research and development, the competence centre will also be home to the applied technology, analytics, and quality management departments. Silane research has been carried out at this site for more than 80 years - the first patent for a silane was granted here in 1934, says the company.

Evonik produces silanes at sites in Germany, Belgium, China, and the USA. The portfolio includes a wide range of chlorosilanes as well as organo-functional and sulphur-functional silanes.

As MRC informed previously, Evonik Industries invested over EUR400 mln in its plants in Germany in 2015. Last year, Evonik once again demonstrated its considerable power to create at its German sites. Thus, according to a recent projection, the company invested more than EUR 400 million in its domestic production plants. The lion’s share of the funds (around two-thirds) was divided among Evonik’s five-largest sites in Germany: Marl (hundreds of millions of euros), Hanau, Essen, Darmstadt, and Wesseling (tens of millions of euros at each site).

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Stronger demand from the domestic market has forced Chinese producers of acetylene polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to proportionally increase their export prices. September prices of acetylene PVC rose for Russian companies by USD160-170/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC's Price report.

Higher PVC prices began to grow in the Chinese market in the second half of August and were caused by outages at several plants. Prices continued to go up in September and reached USD870-900/tonne CFR China at the end of the month. Therefore, producers of acetylene PVC from the north of the country, which are the traditional resin suppliers to Russia, were forced to proportionally raise their export prices.

In the second half of August, Russian companies bought acetylene PVC in China at USD680-730/tonne DAP Dostyk and USD740-750/tonne DAP Moscow (for direct container shipments by railway to the Moscow region). In early September, prices of resin increased by USD40-60/tonne, in the second half of the month, Chinese producers announced a further increase in export prices.

Thus, export prices of Chinese producers had risen to USD845-900/tonne DAP Dostyk and USD900-920/tonne DAP Moscow by late September (for direct container shipments by railway to the Moscow region), up by USD160-170/tonne from August.

Many companies said they had suspended all their purchasing back in the first wave of the September increase in export prices of acetylene PVC in China. A major oversupply of resin in the domestic market, apart from the price factor, also led to this decision.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has celebrated the opening of a new complex for the manufacturing of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) located at the BASF site in Shanghai, China, said the producer on its site.

The new plant will produce PVP K30 powder, a polymer used as a base for several applications including pharma excipients, detergents, cosmetics and technical applications. The production of the new PVP plant expands BASF’s reach to customers in Asia Pacific, especially in China, with continued reliable and high-quality supply.

"The new plant in Shanghai affirms our commitment to customers in multiple industries and marks a key milestone for the transfer of global PVP production technology to Asia Pacific," said Michael Heinz, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE, responsible for the company’s Performance Products segment.

In 2015, as MRC informed before, BASF announced plans for global investments into its NVP (N-vinylpyrrolidone)/PVP value chain of up to USD 70 million. The plans include the extension of capacities in Ludwigshafen, Germany and Geismar, Louisiana (USA), along with technology introduction in Shanghai, China. "We are delighted to celebrate the inauguration of the new PVP plant in Shanghai. This successfully concludes the first step of our global multi-location investment into the NVP/PVP value chain," said Saori Dubourg, President of BASF’s Nutrition & Health division. The state-of-the-art plant is equipped with sophisticated production facilities, including a high-quality control laboratory as well as substantial warehousing capacity.

The new plant operates in compliance with local and international Good Manufacturing Practice standards, for example as defined by IPEC (International Pharmaceutical Excipient Councils) and EFfCI (European Federation for Cosmetic Ingredients), applicable for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. A large portion of BASF’s PVP products are marketed into the pharmaceutical industry and sold under the name Kollidon, which complies with leading international Pharmacopeia standards, as set for example, by USP-NF and CP.

BASF is the largest diversified chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF generated sales of more than EUR70 billion in 2015.
MRC