Chevron Phillips Chemical celebrates startup of US Gulf Coast petchem project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP has celebrated the startup of its world-scale polyethylene (PE) units in Old Ocean, Texas that will play a pivotal role in the company’s continuing dynamic growth strategy, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new Old Ocean facility will produce up to 1,000,000 mt annually to meet the growing demand for polyethylene from our customers around the globe. These units can produce a wide variety of high quality polyethylene resins ranging from metallocene linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) to bi-modal resins for film and pipe products, displaying the wide capability of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company’s proprietary MarTech technology.

"We announced plans to build these world-scale units in 2011, broke ground in 2014 and today, we are celebrating the successful start-up of commercial operations," said Mark Lashier, president and CEO. "With these new assets in place, we can penetrate new markets to reach new customers, expand our global presence, and deliver on our growth commitments to our owner companies."

As MRC informed before, in June 2017, Chevron Phillips Chemical announced it had successfully completed a low viscosity polyalphaolefins (PAO) capacity expansion at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas. The 20% capacity expansion enables the company to meet the increasing demand for lubricants in automotive and industrial applications. Chevron Phillips Chemical develops and produces PAOs, marketed under the brand name Synfluid PAO, which are used for a variety of applications including engine oils, gear oils and greases.

Chevron Phillips Chemical, headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas (north of Houston), US,l is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, piping, and proprietary plastics. Chevron and Phillips 66 each own 50% of Chevron Phillips Chemical.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Private conglomerate CEFC China Energy and Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft have agreed to study the possibility of building a petrochemical complex in South China, as per Reuters.

The deal will deepen strategic cooperation between Rosneft and CEFC, which agreed in September to buy 14.2% of the Kremlin's energy champion in a deal valued at over USD9 B.

Rosneft and CEFC signed an agreement to carry out a joint preliminary study into the possible construction of a petrochemical plant in China's Hainan province on the sidelines of a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders in Vietnam, the Russian company said.

"The companies will set up joint working teams to discuss technical configurations of the project as well as commercial and economic matters," Rosneft said in a statement. The companies will also jointly analyze the long-term supply of feedstock for the proposed new plant, it said.

Earlier on Friday, China Business Network reported, citing a CEFC executive, that the companies had agreed to build a petrochemical complex using liquefied petroleum gas and condensate to make petrochemicals. The complex would be built in Yangpu, a port in China's southernmost island province of Hainan, China Business Network reported, citing a CEFC executive.

"Once a feedstock supplier joins the investment of the petrochemical facility ... the supply chain will be strengthened further and shall benefit the project's profitability," Cai Feng, an investment official of CEFC was quoted as saying.

A senior company source at CEFC said part of the feedstock supply may come from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

CEFC operates an oil tank farm at Yangpu used partly as a state crude oil reserve, the company's largest physical oil asset in China. The companies did not provide any financial details of the deal or specify if it was a binding agreement.
MRC

October SPVC imports were 581 tonnes, compared to 432 tonnes a month earlier. High prices in foreign markets and sufficient supply from Russian producers were the main reason for lower imports in the past several months. Thus, overall imports of resin to Russia were about 43,000 tonnes in January-October 2017, compared to 123,100 tonnes a year earlier, with May accounting for the peak shipments, which totalled 11,800 tonnes. Weaker domestic demand and high capacity utilisation led to a major decrease in dependence on PVC imports even in the period of strong seasonal demand.

Chinese producers traditionally were the key foreign PVC suppliers for the past several years. Overall imports of resin from China were 39,600 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, compared to 95,700 tonnes a year earlier. Imports of Chinese acetylene resin is expected to grow in November, prices in China slumped in the second half of October, and some Russian companies contracted PVC.

European producers shipped small quantities of suspension, overall imports of European PVC fell to 2,600 tonnes over the stated period from 5,900 tonnes a year earlier.

Weaker demand for PVC from the domestic market forced Russian producers to export material more actively. 1,200 tonnes were shipped to foreign markets last month (excluding deliveries to the countries of the Customs Union) versus 4,100 tonnes in September. 65,300 tonnes of SPVC were shipped in the first ten months of 2017, compared to 43,000 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarus's overall production of low density polyethylene (LDPE) totalled 50,800 tonnes in the first ten months of 2017, down by 38% year on year. Local producer had completed the turnaround of part of the capacities by early November, according to MRC analysts.

According to the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the local producer of LDPE - Polymir stopped part of the facilities for preventive maintenance in October of this year. October LDPE production in the country were 5,700 tonnes, compared with 6,300 tonnes in September. Thus, Polymir's overall LDPE output totalled 50,800 tonnes in January-October 2017 versus 81,500 tonnes a year earlier.
The fire at one of the ethylene units in late June, which led to a two-fold reduction in the olefin production, was the main reason for such a major fall in the output.

Polymir shut a part of the facilities for preventive maintenance by the first of October, the turnaround lasted about a month. By the beginning of the last week the work of the whole site was resumed.

Polymir (part of Naftan) is Belarus' largest petrochemical company, producing a wide range of chemical products, such as low density polyethylene (LDPE), acrylic fibers, products of organic synthesis, hydrocarbon fractions, etc. Polymir was founded in 1968. The producer uses technologies of the largest foreign companies from Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Italy (Courtaulds, Asahi Chemical Co. Ltd,
Kanematsu Gosho, SNIA BPD, etc.), as well as the developments of scientific research institutes and design institutes of the CIS countries.
The plant's annual production capacity is 130,000 tonnes.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ELIX Polymers, a leading manufacturer of ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene) resins and derivatives in Europe, has signed an agreement with T&P Plastic for the distribution of its products in the Balkan region encompassing Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. T&P Plastic, headquartered in Ljubljana, Slovenia, has four warehouses strategically located in Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia, and Romania, as per the company's press release.

The new agreement, which covers the entire range of ABS materials (including blends and compounds) produced by ELIX Polymers in Spain, strengthens the existing partnership between ELIX Polymers and the Italian Mida Group, which owns T&P Plastic. ELIX Polymers materials are distributed in Italy by another Mida Group company, Mito Polimeri.

Sandro Cara, Business Manager ABS, says: "The regions included in the agreement with T&P Plastic are among the most interesting in Europe from our point of view. Key applications for ABS like appliances, electronics, automotive, sports and leisure are all growing healthily there."

"T&P Plastic will be an important part of our strategy to increase market presence in all sectors. It will provide strong support for the development of our ABS business in the Balkans. T&P Plastic has an extensive sales network, technical support and logistics across the region."

As MRC wrote previously, in 2013, the Hamburg-based German company Velox GmbH became the preferred distributor for the ABS/SAN-based modifier product range from Spanish company Elix Polymers, S. L., Tarragona, and licensed distributor in Germany, France, Italy, Austria.

ELIX Polymers is one of the most important manufacturers of ABS resins and derivatives in Europe, with 40 years of experience in engineering plastics and an installed capacity of 180,000/year from their plant in Tarragona (Spain) to the world. The operation starts in 1975, when the Tarragona ABS and SAN production plant was inaugurated.
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