Taiyo Vinyl to shut Osaka PVC plant for maintenance in 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiyo Vinyl is likely to take its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant off-stream for a maintenance turnaround in 2018, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is planned to be shut in end-June 2018 for a period of about one month. The last shutdown was undertaken by the company in end-June 2017 for about 30 days.

Located in Osaka in Japan, the PVC plant has a production capacity of 160,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, in mid-September 2017, Taiyo Vinyl completed turnaround at its another PVC plant at Chiba. The plant was taken off-line for a four-week maintenance on 17 August 2017. Located in Chiba in Japan, the PVC plant has a production capacity of 90,000 mt/year.

Taiyo Vinyl Corporation, a subsidiary of Tosoh Group, is one of Japan's largest manufacturers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The plant in Chiba is one of the company's key assests, which supplies 50% of its products to the domestic market. The company also produces PVC at the plants in Yokkaichi and Osaka with the annual capacity of 310,000 and 150,000 tonnes, respectively.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Production of high density polyethylene (HDPE) in Russia decreased to about 647,100 tonne in the first eight months of 2017, down 4.3% year on year. Gazprom neftekhim Salavat and Nizhnekamskneftekhim reduced their output, according to MRC's ScanPlast Report.

August HDPE production in Russia grew to 73,800 tonnes, whereas this figure was about 72,700 tonnes a month earlier. Overall HDPE production reached 647,100 tonnes in the first eight months of the year, compared to 676,200 tonnes a year earlier. Kazanorgsintez and Stavrolen's higher output did not allow to offset the reduction in production at the other two plants.

Structure of HDPE production over the reported period looked as follows.

Russia's August HDPE production at Kazanorgsintez increased to 47,000 tonnes from 46,800 tonnes a month earlier. The producer's total HDPE production was 363,300 tonnes in the first eight months of the year, up 10% year on year.

August HDPE production at Stavrolen reached about 25,400 tonnes against 25,800 tonnes in July. Stavrolen shut its capacity for two months of maintenance works for the modernisation of part of the facilities from 16 September. The plant's HDPE output reached 193,600 tonnes in the first eight months of 2017, up by 7% year on year.

Gazprom neftekhim Salavat shut down its HDPE capacities on 1 July for long-term turnaround, which lasted until the year end. Thus, for a few days of work in August, the producer managed to produce 1,400 tonnes of HDPE. Overall HDPE production at Gazprom neftekhim Salavat reached 52,900 tonnes in the first eight months of 2017, down by 28% year on year. Such a noticeable decrease in the volume of output was a result of long preventive maintenance, whereas last year the company worked without long-term turnaround.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim in late June, switched to the production of linear polyethylene and plans to resume the production of HDPE only on 15 September. Overall HDPE production at the plant in January-August was 37,100 tonnes compared with 92,500 tonnes year on year. Such a tangible reduction in output was a result of the increase in the share of LLDPE in total production.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - DowDuPont, formed through the merger of chemical giants Dow Chemical and DuPont, is shifting some operations in the three units it plans to create, potentially averting a prolonged fight with activist investors over its post-merger plans, said Reuters.

Dow and DuPont will split into three companies focusing on agriculture, specialty chemicals and materials, but some investors including Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners and Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC urged the companies to take another look at the way business units are aligned.

The company said on Tuesday its would now move businesses totaling more than USD8 billion in annual sales from its materials science division to the specialty-chemical unit, including water purification and automotive systems. “We expect that this updated portfolio was seen by legacy Dow as the bare minimum to avoid an activist fight," Bernstein analyst Jonas Oxgaard wrote in a client note.

DowDuPont’s shares rose 2.5 percent on the New York Stock Exchange in late-afternoon trading. The changes were the result of a four-month review led by consultancy firm McKinsey & Co, which talked to 25 of the company’s biggest shareholders, Andrew Liveris, executive chairman of the combined company said in an interview. Liveris was formerly chief executive of Dow, and is set to retire from DowDuPont next year.

Loeb’s Third Point, which has been critical of Liveris’ leadership, said in May the companies could unlock USD20 billion in additional value by tweaking the original spinoff plan. As part of the revised plan, DowDuPont will split the old Dow Corning and distribute its lucrative silicone business among the materials and specialty companies.

Earlier, this business was expected to stay under the materials science division - which will account for more legacy Dow businesses and retain the Dow brand. The business produces silicon-based products for aerospace, automotive and electrical industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Gasoline and diesel prices rose sharply in North Korea after its sixth nuclear test and as the U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions capping fuel supply, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Security Council unanimously passed a resolution on Sept. 11 banning exports of condensates and natural gas liquids to the North and capping the annual supply of refined petroleum products at two million barrels and crude at its current levels.

The price of gasoline sold by private dealers in the capital Pyongyang and northern border cities of Sinuiju and Hyesan spiked to USD2.51 per kg as of Sept. 13, up 45.1% from USD1.73 per kg on Sept. 5, according to Reuters analysis of data compiled by the Daily NK website.

The website is run by North Korean defectors who collect prices via phone calls with traders in the North. Diesel prices also surged 61.5% from USD1.30 per kg to USD2.10 per kg during the same period.

Lee Sang-yong, who speaks regularly to sources inside the North and supervises market data from them, said the price hikes were caused primarily by a cut in supplies as the regime scrambles to hoard fuel, wary of a potential fuel crunch.

“North Korean authorities are likely to have intentionally reduced supplies in the market after the nuclear test, thinking the U.N. Security Council sanctions would affect their own repository,” Lee said. “In addition, astute traders are cutting their supplies on the expectations that the prices would go up further, while there’s some psychological effect among ordinary citizens who worry about war."

U.N. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday the Security Council has run out of options on containing the North's nuclear programmer and Washington may have to turn the matter over to the Defense Department. North Korea launched a missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday in defiance of the new Security Council.

White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster said on Friday, after the latest North Korean missile launch, that the United States was running out of patience: "We've been kicking the can down the road, and we're out of road."

The latest gasoline price represents a 70.7% and 153.5% surge compared with statistics posted on June 8 and Dec. 1, respectively, less than one week after the Security Council adopted its last two resolutions on North Korea.

North Korea gets most of its fuel from China and some from Russia. US and South Korean officials have said the North imports some 4.5 MMbbl of refined petroleum products and 2 MMbbl of crude oil each year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s first private-led refinery complex in the eastern province of Zhejiang is expected to start operations in 2020, reported Reuters with reference to China Securities News, citing a provincial governor, a timeline behind what the company had earlier predicted.

The refinery complex has seen total investments of USD26.42 B, said the report, without giving further details.

Chinese chemical giant Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group plans to start up a 400,000-bpd refinery complex, under phase-I of the mega project, in late 2018, Reuters has reported. The refinery will be built on an island in the Zhoushan archipelago.

Rongsheng has plan to double the plant’s capacity to 800,000 bpd in 2020.

As MRC informed before, in December 2016, China's Sinopec Group began construction of a long-planned refinery and petrochemical complex in the southern city of Zhanjiang. The first phase of the mega projects includes a 10 million tonnes per year refinery and an 800,000 tonnes per year ethylene complex that produces plastics, synthetics, rubber and fibre.
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