Siam Cement Group mulls development of petrochemical complex in Indonesia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thai industrial conglomerate, is setting its sights on developing a petrochemical complex in Indonesia, by conducting a feasibility study on project with potential partner PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk (CAP), reported Plastemart.

The feasibility study for the petrochemical complex is expected to be completed in 2018.

As per Bangkokpost.com, the two companies have been traditional partners for years, as SCG has owned a 30.6% stake in CAP since 2011. That, in turn, has encouraged the two firms to join together in developing a petrochemical complex in Indonesia.

"CAP wants to expand its second petrochemical plant as well as develop a new petrochemical complex in Indonesia, so it has invited us to join the project, since we have been a good partner for many years," President and chief executive Mr Roongrote said.

As MRC informed earlier, SCG Chemicals' subsidiary plans to invest in a new grade of high value added (HVA) polyethylene (PE), with commercial production beginning by the end of the year.

SCG Chemicals is a subsidiary of SCG and is one of SCG’s 3 core businesses consisting of Chemicals, Paper and Cement-Building Materials. SCG embarked upon the chemicals business in 1989. At present, SCG Chemicals manufactures and supplies a full range of petrochemical products ranging from upstream petrochemicals such as Olefins, intermediate petrochemicals such as Styrene Monomer, PTA, and MMA, to downstream petrochemicals such as Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Polyvinyl Chloride, and Polystyrene resins. SCG Chemicals is now one of the largest integrated petrochemical companies in Thailand and a key industry leader in the Asia-Pacific region.
MRC

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of Belarus, February 2017 PE imports to Belarus increased to 11,500 tonnes from 8,500 tonnes a month earlier. Local companies raised their import purchasing of LLDPE in the Middle East and of LDPE in Russia. Overall PE imports reached 20,000 tonnes in January-February 2017, compared to 13,400 tonnes a year earlier. Imports of all PE grades rose, with LLDPE and LDPE accounting for the greatest increase.

The structure of PE imports to Belarus by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

February total LDPE imports grew to 3,200 tonnes from 1,900 tonnes a month earlier. Local companies increased their PE purchasing in Russia and Azerbaijan. Overall imports of this PE grade into Belarus totalled 5,100 tonnes in the first two months of 2017, compared to 2,600 tonnes a year earlier. An accident at the local producer's ethylene unit and, as a result, a major fall in capacity utilisation at LDPE production in the second half of the year was the main reason for such a great increase in imports.

February LLDPE imports were 4,900 tonnes versus 3,700 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, overall LLDPE imports to Belarus exceeded 8,600 tonnes in January-February 2017, whereas this figure was 5,500 tonnes a year earlier. Market participants said the bulk of LLDPE was redirected further to Russia.

February imports of high density polyethylene (HDPE) grew to 3,500 tonnes from 2,900 tonnes a month earlier. Local companies decreased their purchasing of film grade PE in Uzbekistan and of pipe grade PE in Europe. Thus, HDPE imports totalled 6,400 tonnes in the first two months of 2017, up by 20% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations on Russian contract polyvinyl chloride (PVC) prices for May delivery began traditionally in the last week of April. Producers announced intentions to roll over April prices for the delivery next month, as per ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Negotiations on May contract prices of Russian suspension PVC (SPVC) began on Monday, and some converters said they had already managed to agree deals. Producers have taken a firm attitude concerning PVC prices since the beginning of the year and continuously increased them. However, situation in foreign PVC market have changed by the late April, forcing Russian producers to rollover prices. Since the beginning of the year, the Russian rouble has strengthened against the dollar by more than 6%.

The key PVC importers into Russia Chinese producers significantly decreased export prices in April. These two factors resulted in a notable increase of the purchases of Chinese acetylene resin from Russian companies. Some companies also are going to buy quite a large volume of PVC in May. Some converters said Chinese resin became really affordable over the last several weeks.

However, even taking into account attractive prices there are some risky factors, which reduce purchases. In particular, the best way to supply in the central part of Russia in containers is by rail way. But due to the need to purchase rather large volumes of PVC and the time of delivery (at least three weeks from the moment of deal conclusion to delivery) most converters prefer to buy Russian PVC.

Russian producers of suspension PVC do not worry about increase in imports, anticipating seasonally strong demand and future turnarounds of two major producers. Bashkir Soda Company and SayanskKhimPlast are going to shut their capacities for turnaround in July. Producers intend to build up stock inventories in order to satisfy their customers' needs during the season of strong demand for resin.

Supply of K64/67 PVC in the market is more than sufficient. Deals for May delivery are discussed in the range of Rb66,000-68,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT for deals up to 500 tonnes.

A slight tightness of K58/70 PVC supply was felt in the market. There were practically no imports of these PVC grades, while Russian producers have some limitations in the shipments. Deals for May shipments of K58/70 PVC were negotiated in the range of Rb68,500 - 71,000 /tonne, including VAT and delivery.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Azerbaijan will be daily producing 2,000 tons of carbamide in 2018, said Mukhtar Babayev, head of the Azerikimya Production Union, said Trend.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of ‘The 2nd SOCAR International Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum – Trading, Logistics, Refining, Petrochemicals’, held in Baku Apr. 25.

"In addition, in 2018, the daily production of polypropylene will be brought to 500 tons and polyethylene to 600 tons," Babayev said.

He added that 80 percent of polypropylene and carbamide produced in Azerbaijan will be exported.

As MRC informed earlier, SOCAR GPC, a gas-processing project of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), has selected UNIPOL PE Technology licensed by Univation Technologies for use in its world-scale 600KTA polyethylene plant to be built in Garadagh, Azerbaijan.

The Azerikimya Production Union is a part of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP FleetMove combines fuel transaction information from BP fuel cards with driver behavior data from the TomTom Telematics Service Platform in one, easy-to-use interface, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This new collaboration uses the "plug and play" TomTom CURFER connected car product, an app working in conjunction with the TomTom LINK 100 dongle, which plugs into the vehicle’s OBD port to wirelessly connect car and smartphone. It is designed to bring together insights into driver, fuel and vehicle data, allowing easier identification of areas for improvement. An app provides drivers with feedback on their performance behind the wheel and with helpful information, such as the location of fuel stations.

"This is the first time BP and TomTom Telematics have created a partnership to combine different streams of data in this way—the fuel card will register fuel transactions and the telematics device will monitor the vehicle data. Combining these two elements allows BP fuel card customers to save time and reduce operating costs. The new app and fleet manager portal is just the start of what we will be launching in the coming months,” said Koeno Siemons, European Card Marketing & Operations Manager at BP.

The app and online portal are available now in The Netherlands and Germany. Other regions in Europe where BP fuel cards are available are due to be rolled out later in the year.
MRC