PVC production in Russia rose by 17% in first nine months of 2017

October production of unmixed PVC in Russia rose to 82,900 tonnes from 75,110 tonnes a month earlier, two producers increased their output: SayanskKhimplast and RusVinyl. Overall PVC production reached 735,400 tonnes in January-October 2017, compared to 627,000 tonnes a year earlier. Only two plants out of four increased their output, and this year's high level of production growth was caused by the long forced outage at SayanskKhimPlast in February-July 2016.

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

RusVinyl (JV of SIBUR and Solvin) raised its capacity utilisation last month, the plant produced 29,800 tonnes of PVC in the second month of autumn, 2,700 tonnes out of which was emulsion PVC (EPVC), compared to 20,700 tonnes in September (the plant shut its production capacities for a short turnaround). Thus, RusVinyl's overall production of resin reached 254,400 tonnes in the first ten months of 2017, up by 4% year on year.

SayanskKhimPlast produced over 27,800 tonnes of suspension PVC (SPVC) in October versus 25,300 tonnes a month earlier. SayanskKhimPlast managed to manufacture 212,500 tonnes of resin in January-October 2017, compared to 104,300 tonnes a year earlier (last year's low production was caused by a forced long outage from mid-February to July 2016).

Bashkir Soda Company produced 21,700 tonnes of SPVC last month versus 22,700 tonnes in September. The Bashkir plant's PVC production totalled 197,300 tonnes in the first ten months of 2017, compared to 204,400 tonnes a year earlier. The plant's lower output was largely caused by the forced shutdown in August because of problems with the supply of ethylene.

Kaustik (Volgograd) resumed its PVC production on 18 October after a scheduled maintenance (the outage started on 25 September), the plant managed to produce 3,500 tonnes of PVC over the incomplete month of operations, compared to 6,400 tonnes a month earlier. The plant's overall production of resin reached 71,200 tonnes over the stated period versus 72,800 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco is expected to shut down its condensate splitter at its Ras Tanura refinery by the end of November for a month for planned maintenance work, two industry sources said, later than originally planned, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The splitter was due to be shut for maintenance in October for 30 days, sources had told Reuters.

"The shutdown has been pushed back to the very end of November until the end of December," said one of the sources; without providing further details on the delay.

A second source said the unit would be taken offline from Nov. 26 until Jan. 8.

Ras Tanura is Saudi Arabia’s largest oil refinery with a capacity of 550,000 bpd.

Aramco did not respond to an emailed request for comment by Reuters.

As MRC reported earlier, 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. A joint venture is possible if the companies decide to move ahead after the study is completed. 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) -- AkzoNobel has been presented with this year’s Environment Responsibility Award from the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), as per the company's press release.

One of three top awards to be announced, the company was recognized for its partnership approach to developing new value chains that enable substantial carbon footprint reductions in energy use. This includes looking at next generation raw materials, delivering value and reducing risk.

"It’s encouraging to see our determined efforts to collaborate and innovate being recognized by Cefic," said AkzoNobel CEO Thierry Vanlancker. "We have a clear ambition and will continue to develop new ideas and forge new partnerships that help deliver benefits across the value chain."

Four projects in the Netherlands were singled out to demonstrate AkzoNobel’s commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility: a 12-year partnership to use bio-steam in Delfzijl; the development of a zero emission public transport system using hydrogen buses in Groningen; a waste-to-chemistry consortium; and a long-term agreement with several partners to purchase power from two new wind farms.

Commenting on the awards, Cefic Director General, Marco Mensink, said: "Continuously striving for the highest standards in safety, health and environment is a priority for our industry. We commend this year’s winners for their efforts and innovative approaches to challenging best practices and finding ways for our industry to keep raising the bar."

The Cefic awards recognize the top achievers in the EU chemical industry with a particular emphasis on excellence in health, safety and environmental standards. The other two main winners were Solvay SA and Total Refining & Chemicals.

The recognition for AkzoNobel comes just a few weeks after the company was ranked number one on the influential CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) Global Chemical Companies List, which ranks the largest publicly listed chemical companies on business readiness for a low carbon transition. AkzoNobel was also ranked first on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in the Chemicals Industry sector when the 2017 listing was announced in September.

As MRC wrote before, in December 2016, AkzoNobel finalized the acquisition of BASF’s global Industrial Coatings business, which supplies a range of products for industries including construction, domestic appliances, wind energy and commercial transport, strengthening its position as the global number one supplier in coil coatings. The transaction includes relevant technologies, patents and trademarks, as well as two manufacturing plants in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Malaysian state energy company Petronas and Aramco are facing "technical issues" in finalizing the Saudi oil major's USD7 B investment in a refinery project, but the deal will be completed soon, reported Reuters with reference to state news agency Bernama.

The government "is giving room to Petronas and Saudi Aramco to resolve several technical issues related to the investment agreement," Bernama reported, citing Abdul Rahman Dahlan, a minister in the Malaysian prime minister's office.

Saudi Aramco agreed in February, during Saudi King Salman's visit to Malaysia, to buy a USD7 B stake in the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project in the southern state of Johor.

"At the moment, there are certain terms that must be fulfilled by both parties and it's an ongoing process. I expect it won't be long for (Aramco) to release the funds for the project," Abdul Rahman said in an interview with Bernama.

He said there were "no major problems" and that the investment will be made "soon."

Petronas declined to comment. Aramco was not immediately available for comment.

The minister did not say what the "technical issues" were, but recent moves by Petronas and Aramco seem to indicate the project is moving along.

Last month, Aramco agreed to take a USD900 MM stake in petrochemical projects in the RAPID complex, expanding the agreement signed in February.

The companies are also jointly seeking to raise USD8 B via a bridge loan for the RAPID project, Project Finance International, owned by Thomson Reuters, reported last week.

Petronas had said in February, when it signed the agreement with Aramco, that the deal could take up to a year to close.

RAPID is a USD27 B project located between the Malacca Strait and the South China Sea, conduits for Middle East oil and gas bound for China, Japan and South Korea.

It will contain a 300,000-bpd oil refinery and a petrochemical complex with a capacity of 7.7 MMmtpy. Refinery operations are set to begin in 2019, with petrochemical operations to follow 6-12 months afterwards.

As MRC informed before, Petronas plans to build a C6-based metallocene linear LDPE plant and a low density polyethylene (LDPE)/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) swing plant at its greenfield integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in southern Johor state by mid-2019. The proposed metallocene LLDPE will have a capacity of 350,000 tpa, while the LDPE/EVA will have a capacity of about 150,000 tpa. The two plants are part of Petronas' planned Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development project in Pengerang at Johor.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.

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) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc has canceled a plan to permanently close the gasoline-producing unit at its 227,586 bpd Convent, Louisiana, oil refinery, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A spokesman for Shell's US operations was not immediately available for comment early on Thursday. Shell has decided to overhaul the 92,000-bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) in 2018, extending its production for at least four to five years, the sources said.

Shell had planned to permanently decommission the FCCU in early 2018 as part of a plan to integrate the Convent plant with the company's 225,800 bpd refinery in Norco, Louisiana.

The plan originated when the two refineries were owned by Motiva Enterprises, which until May 1 was a 50-50 partnership between Shell and Saudi Aramco. In the planned split of the partnership, Shell took ownership of the two Louisiana refineries.

It was unclear when in 2018 the FCCU will be overhauled, the sources said. Shell has scheduled an overhaul of the unit's heavy oil hydrocracking unit in the summer of 2018.

Plans were laid as early as 2014 to idle the FCCU at the Convent refinery because it was seen as unprofitable compared with the 45,000 bpd heavy-oil hydrocracker, which is called the H-Oil Unit.
MRC