PPG opens coatings plant in in Lipetsk, Russia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PPG marked the opening of a 45 million euros (USВ49 million) paint and coatings manufacturing facility and commercial operation in the Lipetsk region of Russia, said the producer on its website.

The site will provide about 200 total positions and produce about 25 million liters (6.6 million gallons) of coatings at full capacity.

In addition to facilities for manufacturing and distributing coatings for automotive, industrial, packaging, and protective and marine applications, the facility includes administrative offices and technical laboratories.

"PPG’s investment in this facility further demonstrates our commitment to better serve our existing customers in Russia and Eastern Europe, and to expand our presence in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region," said Jean-Marie Greindl, PPG senior vice president, global architectural coatings, and president, PPG EMEA. "Having local manufacturing, distribution and technical operations will help PPG meet growing local demand for its innovative paint and coatings products."

Since announcing plans for the new facility in 2013, PPG has established itself as a supportive member of the Lipetsk community through various activities. Last year, PPG employees volunteered at the Griazy orphanage in Lipetsk to help repair and update the building’s gymnasium, replacing materials on floors and walls with safer products donated by PPG and its local distributor. PPG also operates an adhesives and sealants plant in Kolomna, Russia, and the company donated to a local school there to help it better serve young people in the community.

"As a community partner, PPG wants to support local organizations that are making a difference where our employees work and live,” said Jens Brackebusch, PPG general manager, Russia. "This is an important part of our global mission to be caring, responsible corporate citizens in our communities."
MRC

Fire at Pemex Salina Cruz refinery has been put out

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire that completely shut down Mexico's Salina Cruz oil refinery of Pemex has been put out but operations have yet to be restarted, state-owned petroleum company Pemex said on Friday.

Pemex said in a statement that installations of the refinery would be evaluated to determine when operations can resume.

The Pacific coast refinery is Mexico's biggest, with a daily processing capacity of 330,000 bbl of crude oil.

The blaze, which killed a firefighter and injured nine workers, broke out on Wednesday. Pemex had already suspended much of the plant's operations on Tuesday, when rains from Tropical Storm Calvin flooded the plant.

The rising waters broke containment dams, triggering a spill of a type of heavy oil, which ignited at the facility's pump house, driving Pemex to entirely halt refinery operations.

As MRC informed before, Pemex had invested almost USD5.5bn in upgrading its refineries, increasing pipeline capacity and modernising a fertiliser plant by 2017.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene.
MRC

Grace licenses process technology to Hengli petchem refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) — W. R. Grace & Co., a supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology and polypropylene (PP) process technology, contracted to license its UNIPOL PP process technology to Hengli Petrochemical Refinery Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Hengli Group, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The installation will be made at the company’s facility in Dalian, Liaoning province, China, and is expected to begin operations in 2019 using Grace’s leading SHAC Ziegler Natta PP catalysts.

Hengli Petrochemical’s PP unit is part of its new refinery complex designed to process 20 MMt of crude oil annually. The facility will produce a total of 450 kilotons per year of homopolymer, random copolymer, and impact copolymer thermoplastic resins in dual reactor lines. The project is one of 22 UNIPOL PP process technology reactor line licenses in China.

Grace’s UNIPOL PP process technology is an all gas-phase technology with the industry’s broadest product capabilities coupled with stable and predictable operation.

"Grace’s UNIPOL PP process and SHAC catalyst system offers us the most advanced PP product capacity available, and provides the most cost-effective technology to rapidly develop our portfolio of products," Hengli Corporation’s Vice Chairman Chen Xinhua said.
MRC

KPIC struggling to achieve on-spec output from steam cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea's Korea Petrochemical Industry Co. is currently struggling to achieve on-spec production from its sole naphtha-fed steam cracker at Onsan, a source close to the company said on Thursday, as per Apic-online.

The steam cracker was shut in mid-April for debottlenecking and a turnaround.

The company restarted the cracker June 6.

The source said it was unclear when the company will achieve on-spec production from the steam cracker.

Under KPIC's expansion program, the steam cracker's ethylene production capacity will rise to 800,000 mt/year from 470,000 mt/year, and its propylene capacity to 500,000 mt/year from 230,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in July 2015, KPIC awarded GS Engineering & Construction a USD270-million contract to increase ethylene capacity to 800,000 t/y and aromatics capacity to 300,000 t/y from 220,000 t/y currently. The project also includes the capacity to produce 150,000 t/y of propylene.
MRC

BASF increases prices for neopentylglycol, trimethylolpropane and 1,6-hexanediol in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF increased June prices of the polyalcohols products as of 1 June, 2017, or as existing contracts permit in Europe, said the producer on its site.

Thus, June prices for the following products rose, as stated below:

- neopentylglycol (NPG) - by EUR200/mt;
- trimethylolpropane (TMP) - by EUR200/mt;
- 1,6-hexanediol (HDO) - by EUR100/mt.

Neopentylglycol (NPG) is a high-quality intermediate used, for example, to produce polyester resins for coatings, unsaturated polyester resins, lubricants and plasticizers.

Trimethylolpropane (TMP) is a high-quality intermediate used primarily for the production of alkyd resins, which are used in paints and coatings. It also serves to produce lubricants.

1,6-Hexanediol (HDO) is used to manufacture industrial coatings including lower volatile organic compound formulations, polyurethanes, adhesives, and cosmetics. HDO also serves as a reactive thinner in the formulation of epoxy systems, which for example are used for the efficient production of rotor blades for modern wind turbines, as well as construction components for automotive lightweight applications.

As MRC informed previously, effective 1 June, or as contracts allow, BASF increased prices for numerous pigments by up to 15% worldwide. The price increase predominantly affects phthalocyanine and inorganic pigments used in the coatings, plastics and printing industries. The price adjustments are necessary due to higher raw materials costs e.g. copper, TiO2 or cobalt, as well as further challenging environmental, health and safety costs.

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 about EUR58 billion in 2016.
MRC