Celanese to raise October VAM prices in Americas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, will increase list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) in the Americas, as per the company's press release.

The price increases below will be effective October 1, 2017 or as contracts otherwise allow.

Thus, VAM prices will be raised, as follows:

- by USD200/mt - for South America;
- by USD0.12/lb - for USA and Canada.

As MRC wrote previously, Celanese Corporation will also raise October list and off-list selling prices for VAM and Vinyl Acetate Ethylene (EVA) emulsions sold in the Middle East and Africa. The following price rise will apply:

- VAM - by USD400/mt;
- EVA - by USD110/mt;
- VAM Homopolymers (PVAC) - by USD110/mt;
- VAM Copolymers - by USD110/tonne;
- Pure Acrylics - by USD145/tonne;
- Styrene Acrylics - by USD110/tonne.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,300 employees worldwide and had 2016 net sales of USD5.4 billion.
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Elliott group receives SIL 3 safety certification

MOSCOW (MRC) — Elliott Group, a global provider of rotating equipment for the oil & gas, power generation, and process industries, announced that its Pneumatic Trip System, with or without partial stroke actuation, has received the IEC 61508 SIL 3 Capable safety certification, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The SIL 3 Capable certification was awarded by Exida, a certification company specializing in automation system safety, security and availability.

Elliott’s Pneumatic Trip System provides a vital safety function for steam turbines. In response to an overspeed event, it shuts the turbine down to prevent damage or catastrophic failure.

Partial stroke functionality gives operators a safe, efficient, and convenient way to exercise the pneumatic trip valve without interfering with the turbine’s operation or the system’s ability to trip the turbine if an overspeed event occurs.
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Chinas state planner approves new oil refinery in Hebei province

MOSCOW (MRC) — The Hebei provincial division of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Monday that it approved a refinery project owned by private company Risun Coal Chemicals Co, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new refinery, near the port of Caofeidian in Hebei province, which is located in northeastern China, can process 15 MMtpy of crude, the Hebei NDRC said. That is about 300,000 bpd.

The refinery is expected to produce 810,000 t of gasoline, 2.5 MMt of jet fuel as well as 3.37 MMt of diesel per year.
MRC

Enterprise: US oil exports to meet 5% of non-US global demand by 2022

MOSCOW (MRC) — Crude oil exports from the United States will increase to meet 5% of global demand by 2022, as refiners seek more low-sulfur crude to meet stricter rules for cleaner fuels, an executive from Enterprise Partners LP said on Monday, as per Reuters.

US oil exports may rise to about 4 MMbpd by 2022, a four-fold jump from this year, said Brent Secrest, a senior vice president at Enterprise Products. During that same period, global oil demand, excluding the US, may rise to as much as 73 MMbpd, up from 65 MMbpd currently, he said.

Demand for light, low-sulfur, or sweet, crude is set to rise as countries push refiners to produce cleaner fuels, as highlighted by the Internationals Maritime Organization's (IMO) new rules to cut the sulfur content in the fuel used in large container ships, or bunker fuel, by 2020.

"The (crude oil) barrels have to clear across the water ... To the demand in Asia, to the demand in Europe," he told an industry event in Singapore. US crude oil production has spiked following the higher output of low-sulfur crude from shale formations since the late-2000s, causing a glut in domestic crude supplies. US refiners, however, are geared toward processing denser oil with a higher sulfur content.

Enterprise currently exports around 100,000 bpd of crude oil from the US Gulf Coast, Secrest said. To ramp up exports, the company plans to increase the loading rates at the Enterprise Houston Midland terminal by the first quarter of 2018 and is looking at stabilizing the quality of Domestic Sweet crude (DSW) exports from its Seaway terminal, he said.

More US oil exports are also expected as US refiners will not change their configurations to accommodate domestic light, sweet crude oil, Secrest added. The change in the bunker fuel specifications will also boost the US export demand, he said.

The IMO tightened the sulfur requirement for bunker fuels in October to a maximum of 0.5% from the current maximum of 3.5%.

Refiners and the shipping sector have not decided how to meet the stricter standards amid a myriad of solutions that include switching to gasoil or installing scrubbers to remove sulfur emissions from ships. "(The) solution is light sweet crude oil that we have to offer, Secrest said.
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Iranian AKPC aims to bring polyethylene into Southeast Asia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran's Amir Kabir Petrochemical Company aims to export 5,000-8,000 mt/month of polyethylene (PE) to Southeast Asia in 2018, with Vietnam expected to be the main target market, as per Apic-online with reference to Sales and Marketing Manager Daiko Abbasi.

"This is our first year participating in VietnamPlas. We see great opportunities in Vietnam, as the packaging and film grade consumption is increasing [in line] with its young population," Abbasi said.

Grades that are expected to see good demand include general purpose and heavy-duty linear low density PE, high density PE film, and HDPE pipe grade, he added.

"Our strategy is to bring large volumes of PE directly from Iran to Vietnamese traders, distributors and end-users, without going through intermediaries," he said.

AKPC had sold smaller quantities of PE to Vietnam about two years ago, Abbasi said without elaborating.

AKPC operates a petrochemical complex at Bandar Imam with a nameplate capacity of 300,000 mt/year of LLDPE, 300,000 mt/year of LDPE, and 140,000 mt/year of HDPE, and is currently operating at "full rates," according to the company.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in July 2017, France's 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%.
MRC