WR Grace licenses UNIPOL PP Process Technology to Oriental Energy in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- W. R. Grace & Co., a supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology and polypropylene (PP) process technology, has contracted to license its UNIPOL PP Process Technology to Oriental Energy (Ningbo) New Material Co., Ltd. for an expansion at its facility in Ningbo, China, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The two new 400-kiloton capacity lines are expected to begin operations in 2020 to produce homopolymer and random copolymers.

The Ningbo operation is a subsidiary of Oriental Energy Co. Ltd. of Nanjing City, China, a comprehensive alkane resources operator that develops clean energy and new material for the international market. Oriental Energy previously licensed UNIPOL PP Process Technology for a 400-kiloton PP line in 2012.

The project represents the 22nd and 23rd UNIPOL PP Process Technology reactor lines licensed in China. With this license, the total design and operating capacity of UNIPOL PP lines in China will exceed 7,500 kilotons per year.

Grace's all gas-phase UNIPOL PP Process Technology provides the most advanced and broadest range of homopolymers, random copolymers, and impact copolymers in the industry. As the simplest of all PP process technologies, with fewer moving parts and less equipment than any alternative, its reliable, stable, and predictable operation leads to lower capital, operating, and maintenance costs.

Wang Mingxiang, Chairman of Oriental Energy, said, "The focus for our new plant is to serve the growing PP market demand in China with the most economical investment and with broad product capability. We are glad to work with Grace to meet our business objectives leveraging our excellent experience using the UNIPOL PP technology."

Al Beninati, President of Grace's Specialty Catalysts business segment, said, "Grace is very pleased that the success of our previous license with Oriental Energy resulted in an additional license at the facility. Combined with our non-phthalate CONSISTA catalysts, the state-of-the-art technology will enable the Ningbo facility to provide a wide portfolio of advanced products to their customers."

As MRC informed before, W. R. Grace & Co., has recently contracted to license its UNIPOL PP process technology to Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) for the integrated petrochemical complex at its Al-Zour refinery and Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd. for a 1-MMtpy ethylene cracker and refinery expansion project at its facility in Quanzhou, Fujian province, China. Expected to open in 2023, the KIPIC complex is designed to produce 940 ktpy of PP, including high-end homopolymer, random copolymer and impact copolymer thermoplastic resins. KIPIC is a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), Kuwait’s national oil company. A long-time Grace customer, KPC previously licensed UNIPOL PP Process Technology for an affiliate’s JV.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess has completed the expansion of its custom synthesis Saltigo business unit in Leverkusen, Germany, as per the company's press release.

The company invested EUR60m in building two new multi-purpose production lines at the Central Organics Pilot Plant (ZeTO) as well as the construction of a neighbouring tank container storage facility.

"Production will already be up and running in the new facilities by early January 2018," said Saltigo managing director Torsten Derr. "The additional capacities will be available at just the right time, on schedule and within budget as we had planned."

Following the expansion, ZeTO’s total reactor volume will be 570 cubic metres (cbm) with the largest of the 75 stirred-tank reactors having a capacity of 16cbm. Capacities for solids isolation have also been expanded significantly, the company said.

As MRC informed before, in early 2016, Lanxess AG started up a second production line for high-performance plastics compounding at its facility in Gastonia, N.C. The new line represented an investment of about USD15 million and doubles the site’s annual production capacity from 20,000 to 40,000 metric tons. In the plant, the basic polymers nylon and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) are mixed and refined with special additives and glass fiber, according to client requirements, to make the high-performance plastic product lines Durethan and Pocan.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 16,600 employees in 29 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Magellan Midstream Partners said on Tuesday that its condensate splitter in Corpus Christi, Texas, reached maximum processing capacity of 50,000 bpd after being knocked offline because of Hurricane Harvey, said Reuters.

The splitter was taken out of service on Aug. 24 and returned to service a month later, according to spokesman Bruce Heine. The company expects the facility to be operating through the rest of the fourth quarter.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Asian spot LNG prices held steady near three-year highs this week as production problems in Indonesia, higher oil and European gas benchmarks and tender awards lent support, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Spot prices for January delivery were unchanged at USD9.85/MMBtu. Renewed Indian demand for spot cargoes in January and beyond helped buoy markets even as traders assessed that the two biggest buyers, South Korea and Japan, may keep a low profile for the rest of winter, barring unseasonably cold weather.

Korea Gas Corp is estimated to have recently purchased 10 cargoes to cover the remainder of its winter needs and Japanese importers showed few signs of topping up stocks for now. It is possible that technical faults affecting Indonesia's giant Bontang export facility - triggering the loss of up to 7 cargoes, or 20% of monthly output - may push Japanese off-takers to seek alternative supply.

There was no sign yet of this happening, with some sources saying Bontang was discussing with suppliers to reschedule deliveries. Exxon Mobil evacuated non-essential staff working in the highlands of Papua New Guinea due to unrest in the area but there have been no signs of LNG export disruptions as yet.

"Beyond India, buyers are pretty shy about showing their requirements," a trader said, due to wariness about triggering further price gains. India's Bharat Petroleum came out this week with two tenders seeking a spot cargo in January and three more spread across May, August and October.

Gujarat State Petroleum Corp sought a delivery in the second half of December. Coal stockpiles across India remain precariously low, adding to pressure for price-sensitive importers to continue buying LNG, despite the fact spot prices hold premiums to long-term, oil-linked contract levels.

Chinese buying has been a key ingredient in the months-long Asian rally, though the extent of residual spot winter demand remains uncertain. PetroChina's terminal in east China is expected to receive 31 shipments this winter through March, with volumes up 21% from a year ago.

China's October imports were the second-highest on record. Further support came from rising Brent crude oil, up nearly four percent from a week ago to USD63.63/bbl, and January gas at Britain's gas trading hub, which rose nine percent during the period.

Additionally, Russia's Sakhalin-II liquefaction plant sold two cargos via tender for January loading at prices estimated to be around USD9.85/MMBtu, traders said. It was not immediately possible to confirm the identities of the buyers.

On the supply side, Angola LNG put up Nov. 28-30 loading cargo for sale via tender on Friday. France's Engie was assessing potential for a reload from Britain's Isle of Grain terminal or France's Montoir in December, holding vessel charter talks. December demand from Turkey was reported by traders.

In Italy, Dufenergy Trading won a tender to supply the OLT floating import terminal offshore Toscana in December. Further forward, Pakistan LNG continued with its pattern of locking-in supply for the spare capacity of its second terminal, the BW Integrity, due to begin operations this month or in December.

The terminal received its first cool-down, or commissioning cargo, from trader Gunvor using the Golar Kelvin tanker. On Friday, Pakistan LNG put out a call for four March cargoes.

The Golar Winter floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) took on a small cool-down cargo at Spain's Mugardos terminal on Oct. 22 and currently appears to be heading back to Brazil, where is serves as an import terminal.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — The world will still have a surplus of oil by end-March next year, Saudi Arabia's energy minister said, signaling a willingness to extend output cuts when OPEC meets at the end of November on whether to extend caps well into 2018, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Khalid al-Falih also said he did not want oil prices to rise too fast and too soon to shock consumers, adding that the exit from production cuts would be gradual to make sure market reaction is smooth. "We need to recognize that by the end of March we're not going to be at the level we want to be which is the five-year average, that means an extension of some sort," he said, referring to inventory levels in the developed world.

"We have gone over 50% in reducing excess inventories but that means we still have some excessive inventories that we need to drain," he told journalists on the sidelines of the UN climate conference in Bonn, Germany. "We don't want any spikes in price that shock the market. We don't want any price movements that are unhealthy for demand. We don't think we've seen any of that yet but that's a potential especially if God forbid we have disruptions in any major country. We're hopeful none of this will happen."

Asked about the most recent spike in oil prices to a two-year high this month he said, "I am not distracted by short-term gyrations in prices and I certainly don’t spend time looking at hedge funds and the flows into financial investment instruments." Falih said it was too early to make an assessment on a possible extension to OPEC's global oil output cuts now, but said Saudi Arabia favors making an extension decision at the next OPEC meeting at the end of the month.

"The Nov. 30 meeting will be an important milestone to announce the way forward. My preference is to give clarity to the market and announce on Nov. 30 what we're going to do." He said Riyadh was in extensive consultations with all colleagues around the world within and outside OPEC.

Asked whether Russia was committed, Falih said: "I have had extensive consultations with my Russian colleagues and I will have some more in the next two weeks, but I know one thing is that the Russians are committed to working with Saudi Arabia and with the rest of the 24 countries that have come together last year." He said OPEC will have a better picture closer to the meeting on market fundamentals that will help in making the decision.

"We are waiting for October data to be fully developed and shared with the technical team," Falih said. "We're also waiting for better projections of the fourth and first quarter which are typically lower demand and we will have picture of supply from sources that are not part of the deal. That will give us better predictions on when markets will balance as well as finishing the consultation."

Asked how OPEC would deal with potential supply shocks to the market including from OPEC member Venezuela where oil production hit a 28-yr low recently, he said OPEC's reaction would depend on the length of the disruption. "If anything is extended then we will take proper action to make sure that consumers around the world are not short of oil."

"I assure you that nobody will be short of oil but at the same time we will not stop our current action until global inventories are rebalanced," he said.
MRC