Indian Oil commences turnaround at PP plant in Panipat

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian oil Corp Ltd (IOCL) has started maintenance at its polypropylene (PP) plant at Panipat refinery in northern India, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that the company has undertaken a planned shutdown at its plant last weekend. The plant is expected to remain under maintenance until mid-August 2017.

As per earlier plans, the plant was supposed to shut in early-July 2017.

Located at Panipat in the northern Indian state of Haryana, the PP plant comprising two units has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year each.

As MRC wrote before, Indian Oil Corporation's Rs 34,555-crore 15 million tonnes per annum Paradip Refinery was commissioned in phases from March 2015 onwards. Indian Oil Corporation was conducting feasibility studies to set up a petrochemical complex at Paradip in Odisha for Rs 20,000 crore. The petrochemical complex will be built in the vicinity of the company’s to-be-commissioned 15-mln tpa greenfield refinery at Paradip. The petrochemical complex will be in addition to the already announced Rs 3,150-crore polypropylene project at the same location, the foundation stone for which was laid by MOS for petroleum and natural gas.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of products from polymers continued to increase in June under the pressure of seasonal factors, the increase was 4.5% from May. Thus, this figure grew by 4.9% year on year in January-June 2017, reported MRC analysts.

According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, June production of of plastic pipes, hoses and fittings rose to 52,200 tonnes from 44,400 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of these products totalled 237,400 tonnes in the first half of 2017, down by 1.9% year on year.

Last month's production of unreinforced and non-combined films was 94,000 tonnes, compared to 96,200 tonnes in May. Output of films products grew in January-June 2017 by 8.2% year on year to 504,600 tonnes.

Last month's production of porous boards, sheets and polymer films was 24,300 tonnes, whereas this figure was 23,000 tonnes a months earlier. Overall output of these polymer products fell in the first half of 2017 by 0.1% year on year to 121,500 tonnes.

June production of plastic windows and window sills, and door blocks increased to 2.1 million square metres and 96,800 square metres, respectively, versus 1.8 million square metres and 74,700 square metres a month earlier. Output of these products was 8.7 million square metres in the first six months of the year (up by 2.5% year on year) and 416,500 square metres (down by 3.9% year on year), respectively.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall output of chemicals increased in the first six months of 2017 by 7.4%, despite lower production in May and June, according to Rosstat.

According to the Federal Service of State Statistics, last month's production of basic chemicals dropped by 1.4% from May 2017. This reduction was 1.5% a month earlier. However, production of basic chemicals grew by 7.4% year on year.

June output of ethylene was 257,000 tonnes, compared to 260,000 tonnes a month earlier, lower production in April was caused by a scheduled shutdown for maintenance at Angarsk Polymers Plant. Overall, over 1.5 m tonnes of this olefin were manufactured in the first six month of 2017, up by 10.2% year on year.

Last month's production of benzene dropped to 106,000 tonnes from 114,000 tonnes in May, which was also caused by the outage at Angarsk Polymers Plant. Overall output of this product exceeded 703,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 11.5% year on year.

June production of xylenes was 35,300 tonnes, compared to 51,400 tonnes a month earlier. 276,900 tonnes of xylenes were produced in the first six months of 2017, down by 7.8% year on year.

June production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 103,000 tonnes (100% of the basic substance), down by 5.2% month on month. Overall output of caustic soda grew to 617,800 tonnes in January-June 2017, up by 12.3% year on year.

Last month's production of mineral fertilizers was 1.93 mln tonnes (in terms of 100% nutrients) versus 1.91 mln tonnes in May. Nevertheless, Russian plants produced about 11 mln tonnes of fertilizers in January-June 2017, up by 11.3% year on year. Production of all types of fertilizers increased, with potash fertilizers, the output of which grew by 18%, accounted for the greatest increase.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-owned refinery Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd are looking for viability gap funding of 2,000 crore to set up a petrochemical plant at a cost of 32,000 crore at Kakinada, according to Plastemart.

Both the companies in the joint venture are in talks with the state government on various aspects of the proposed 1 mln ton ethylene derivatives plant.

The authorities said the government cannot provide such huge funds and instead they can benefit from the State Goods and Service Tax (SGST) to the tune of about Rs 300 crore.

In the joint venture between the companies and the state government, the latter will facilitate permissions. Both companies will get land from GMR company in the Kakinada special economic zone (SEZ).

As MRC wrote before, HPCL and its partner Lakshmi N Mittal will invest about USD3 bln in setting up a petrochemical complex at the Bhatinda refinery in Punjab. HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), a joint venture between HPCL and Mittal Energy Investments Pvt Ltd, Singapore, plans to set up an up to 1.2 mln ton naphtha cracker, expandable to 1.7 mt.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is an Indian state-owned oil and natural gas company with its headquarters at Mumbai, Maharashtra and with Navratna status. HPCL has about 25% marketing share in India among PSUs and a strong marketing infrastructure. The Government of India owns 51.11% shares in HPCL and others are distributed amongst financial institutes, public and other investors.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French oil and gas company Total said on Monday that crude exports from its Djeno terminal in Congo Republic was ongoing and unaffected following a strike last week and the sinking of a loading buoy in an unrelated accident, as per Reuters.

Traders said on Friday that the company had declared a force majeure on exports of Djeno crude following the incident.

A spokeswoman for Total said: "Exports from Djeno remain unaffected and safely continue with the second available loading buoy," adding that the tanker that was loading at the time of the buoy incident was safely disconnected.

She added that the strike at the terminal ended on Friday, while an investigation into the buoy accident was ongoing.

As MRC informed before, in early July 2017, Total signed a deal with Tehran to develop phase 11 of Iran's South Pars, the world's largest gas field, marking the first major Western energy investment in the Islamic Republic since the lifting of sanctions against it. Total will be the operator with a 50.1 percent stake, alongside Chinese state-owned oil and gas company CNPC with 30%, and National Iranian Oil Co subsidiary Petropars with 19.9%. The project will have a production capacity of 2 billion cubic feet per day, or 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day including condensate, Total said in a statement, adding that the gas will supply the Iranian domestic market starting in 2021.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC