LDPE prices continued to go down in the Russian market in July

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Scheduled shutdowns for maintenance at two low density polyethylene (LDPE) plants did not help to balance the Russian market. Prices continued to fall down under the pressure of weak demand, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Angarsk Polymers Plant shut down its LDPE production for a long turnaround in mid-July, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat took off-stream its production capacities in early July. Nevertheless, despite the long outages at two producers, the price reduction continued in the Russian LDPE market. Weak demand for polyethylene (PE) still put a major pressure on prices.

The LDPE market was quite calm in the first half of July, the price adjustment was minor. However, dynamics of the price cut increased in the second half of the month. Prices for some LDPE grades dropped below Rb80,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in the last week of July.

At the same time, prices of LDPE for the shrinkable films production (153 grade PE) remained fairly high. Spot deals for this LDPE were mainly done in the range of Rb92,500-96,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in late July.

A period of long scheduled shutdowns for maintenance is coming to an end. Angarsk Polymers Plant began to resume its production last weekend. Gazprom neftekhim Salavat plans to resume LDPE production on 5 August.

Ufaorgsintez and Tomskneftekhim intend to shut down their LDPE production capacities for short turnarounds in August-September. But taking into account the July experience, the planned outages are unlikely to put pressure on prices.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Among several other customers, Spanish refiner Repsol has selected Craken catalysts for two of its hydrocracking units, one being a repeated order, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The selection has been based on pilot testing, highlighting the technical suitability of Axens’ offer.

Axens’ latest generation of hydrocracking catalysts, Craken Series, displays required fuels production and product properties, extended long-term stability and cycle lengths, the company stated in a press release. They cover a wide range of operating conditions and enable the adjustment of product yields, properties and qualities, while achieving the targeted activity.

According to Axens, Craken-D and Craken-Flex catalysts are the result of step-out improvements and have been specifically designed to convert feeds such as VGO, HCGO, DAO and other refractory feedstocks into high quality fuels, such as heavy naphtha, kerosene and diesel.

Moreover, the company stated, Craken Series catalysts are extremely tolerant to nitrogen, thanks to a highly performing bifunctional hydrotreating and cracking activity, allowing to process opportunity crudes.

As MRC wrote before, in 2016, Repsol completed the construction work of its new metallocene polyethelene plant at its Tarragona site. Throughout the construction phase, the company's high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant in Tarragona remained temporarily stopped to allow the safe and efficient execution of all the required activities.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Amarinth, a company specializing in the design, application and manufacture of centrifugal pumps and associated equipment to the Oil & Gas, petrochemical, chemical, industrial and power markets, has delivered two bespoke super duplex API 610 VS4 vertical sump pumps to Descon Engineering for the Borouge petrochemicals complex in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Amarinth secured its second order from Descon Engineering for two 9.5-m long super duplex API 610 VS4 vertical sump pumps. These will be installed at the Borouge 3 plant in Ruwais, 250 km west of Abu Dhabi city, during modification work on the existing header for the sea water intake. Borouge is a JV between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and European plastics manufacturer Borealis. The Borouge site is now the world’s largest integrated polyolefins complex, with production capacity of 4.5 MMt.

The company utilized its own unique software, which is configured to handle over 100,000 vertical pump variants and includes assemblies and sub-assemblies that have already checked against mating parts for clashes, to deliver a design for the 9.5-m long pump that would fit existing constraints.

The pumps include a bespoke baseplate and, due to their length, additional start-up lubrication for the top bearings which automatically switches off once the process feed has reached them. Amarinth also had to carefully size the pumps to be as efficient as possible in order to work within power limitations at the site.

As MRC informed previously, ADNOC is targeting rapid growth in demand for its polymer products from China’s automotive industry and the country’s investment in gas and electricity infrastructure. ADNOC is focused on market expansion in China and Asia, where demand for petrochemicals and plastics, including light-weight automotive components, essential utility piping and cable insulation, is forecast to double by 2040.

Besides, in late May 2017, ADNOC announced that it would work together with the Austrian producer OMV to help grow Adnoc’s downstream businesses. The memorandum of understanding, signed in the presence of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and the Austrian chancellor Christian Kern, covers cooperation on new downstream projects, refining operations, refinery-petrochemical integration and optimisation, and technical and maintenance support.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco will complete the first phase of an expansion of the main gas pipeline across Saudi Arabia by the end of this year, the company said in its weekly magazine, part of an effort to meet the kingdom's rising gas demand, reported Reuters.

The Master Gas System (MGS) was built in the mid-1970s to gather and process associated gas from oil wells for domestic industry.

The world's top oil exporter is pressing on with gas-related projects to meet demand and save crude for export and refining.

The pipeline expansion project will help deliver gas to the western region, including the King Abdullah Economic City and the Rabigh 2 independent power plant.

"The first phase will be completed by the end of 2017, increasing the capacity of the MGS to 9.6 Bscfd. The second phase will bring that capacity up to 12.5 Bscfd in 2019," Saudi Aramco said in its Arabian Sun magazine.

The first phase of the pipeline, in which the contractor will install booster gas compressor stations, was due to be completed by the end of 2016, with phase two finished by 2018, previous reports said.

Saudi Aramco plans to nearly double its gas production to 23 billion standard cubic feet per day over the next decade.

The plans include boosting output at its Hawiyah and Haradh plants. The projects, estimated to cost USD4 B, would expand processing capacity at Hawiyah by 1.3 Bscfd. Hawiyah gas plant now processes 2.5 Bscfd of gas.

As MRC informed before, in June 2016, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (Sabic) became one step closer to building their first plant to process crude directly into chemicals, cutting out a link in the production chain from hydrocarbons to the finished products that go into plastics and other consumer goods. The state-owned companies signed an agreement to study such a project to be located in Saudi Arabia. Oil companies normally refine crude into transportation fuels including gasoline and diesel and leave byproducts such as naphtha to be processed separately into chemicals.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals and Prime Polymer, a joint venture of Mitsui and Idemitsu Kosan, announced the completion and start-up of three augmented polypropylene (PP) compound hubs, as per Apic-online.

The group expanded two lines at its Advanced Composites subsidiary in the U.S. One line was enhanced at the group's Advanced Composites Mexicana site in Mexico and another line was augmented at Mitsui Prime Advanced Composites India in India.

With the enhancements, Mitsui's total PP compound production capacity has increased to 1.05-million t/y from 1-million t/y.

Specifically, North American PP compound production capacity was increased to 440,000 t/y from 410,000 t/y, European production capacity was raised to 20,000 t/y from 15,000 t/y and Asia production capacity (including Japan) increased to 590,000 t/y from 575,000 t/y.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, in late 2014, Mitsui Chemicals announced that its Shanghai Sinopec Mitsui Elastomers Co. joint venture with Sinopec had launched commercial production of ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPT). In 2012, the two companies created the equally-owned joint venture to build a 75,000-t/y EPT plant using metallocene catalyst technology in China's Shanghai Chemical Industry Park.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials. With the growth of opportunities in India, Mitsui Chemicals has decided to establish its first polypropylene compounding plant in India at 'Japanese Investment park' Neemrana phase III. The unit being set up will be the manufacturing base of Mitsui Chemicals Group in India in which Mitsui Chemicals holds 80% equity and 20% equity is with another subsidiary, Prime Polymer Company of Japan.

Prime Polymer Co., Ltd. was established in April 2005 as part of a comprehensive tie-up with Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. and Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. The company's activity is focused in polyolefins business to produce different grades of polythylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
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