Huajin Chemical took off-stream PP unit in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huajin Chemical has shut its No.1 polypropylene (PP) unit at Liaoning Province, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has halted operations at the unit on December 22, 2017 for a maintenance turnaround. The exact duration of the shutdown was not available.

Located in Liaoning province, China, the No. 1 PP unit has a production capacity of 50,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, on 14 August 2017, Liaoning Huajin Chemical restarted its PP unit following an unplanned outage. The unit was shut in end-July 2017 owing to shortage of feedstock.
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MOSCOW (MRC) — Russia held on as China's largest crude oil supplier for the ninth month in a row in November, also topping Saudi Arabia for the year so far, Chinese customs data showed, as per Reuters.

Shipments from Russia in November reached 5.12 MMt, or 1.26 MMbpd, up 11% from a year ago, according to detailed commodity trade data for last month from China's General Administration of Customs.

That compared to October's 1.095 MMbpd in Russian oil imports, and a record set in September at 1.545 MMbpd. Saudi Arabia came in second, with November imports from there dropping 7.8% from a year ago to 1.056 MMbpd.

For the first 11 mos of the year, Russian supplies expanded 15.5% on the year to 54.77 MMt, or 1.2 MMbpd, overtaking Saudi Arabia by 159,000 bpd. The boost in Russian supplies was supported in part by robust demand from China's independent refineries, and also by increases in supplies via a trans-Siberia pipeline.

Iraq supplies ranked third in November with shipments at 4.21 MMt, or 1.023 MMbpd. Year-to-date Iraq supplied 5.5% more oil than a year earlier at 762,900 bpd, the data showed. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and other non-OPEC producers on Nov. 30 extended an oil output-cutting deal until the end of 2018 in a bid to finish clearing a supply glut. But market watchers are increasingly interested in how producers will exit the deal once the excess is cleared.

US shipments to China—which have benefited from the OPEC-led output cuts—last month came in at 1.18 MMt, or 288,260 bpd. Supplies for January-November period totaled 6.8 MMt, or 148,600 bpd.

China's total crude oil imports rebounded to the second highest on record last month to 9.01 MMbpd, with imports partially driven by a new additional batch of import quotas released to independent refiners.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Effective at the end of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on May 4, 2018, Dr. Martin Brudermuller (56), currently Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, will become Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, said the company on its web-site.

The Supervisory Board appointed Brudermuller in its meeting today. Brudermuller will succeed Dr. Kurt Bock (59), who is BASF’s Chairman since 2011 and has been a member of the Board of Executive Directors since 2003. This change will allow Bock to be elected as a member and chair of BASF’s Supervisory Board in 2020 after the end of the statutory two-years cooling-off period.

Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel (58) was appointed as new Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors. Furthermore, the Supervisory Board extended the appointments of Brudermuller, Engel and Sanjeev Gandhi (51) to the Board of Executive Directors by five years until the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting 2023. In the course of the changes, the number of Board members will be reduced from eight to seven in May 2018.

“The change next year is part of the long-term succession planning for the Supervisory Board and the Board of Executive Directors of BASF,” said Dr. Jurgen Hambrecht (71), Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BASF SE. “During the past seven years, Kurt Bock has successfully shaped the company and developed it further. We have asked him to stand for election to the Supervisory Board in 2020, so that the company can continue to benefit from his expertise and experience. With Martin Brudermuller we have again named a very competent and experienced successor from within the company."

Brudermuller was appointed as Vice Chairman in 2011. In addition, he is Chief Technology Officer of BASF SE. Brudermuller has been a member of the Board of Executive Directors since 2006. During this time, he was among others responsible for the Asia Pacific region headquartered in Hong Kong.

Engel became a member of the Board of Executive Directors in 2008 and was among others responsible for the region North America headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey. Since 2011 he is Chief Financial Officer of BASF SE.

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 114,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of about EUR58 billion in 2016. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (BAS).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yeochun NCC (YNCC) is likely to undertake planned maintenance at its No.3 naphtha cracker at Yeosu, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the company has planned to shut the cracker for a maintenance turnaround in 2018. The plant is likely to be shut in October/November 2018 for a period of around one month.

Located in Yeosu, South Korea, the No.3 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 470,000 mt/year and propylene production capacity of 230,000 mt/year. Currently the cracker is running at full production capacity levels.

As MRC wrote before, last year, YNCC shut its 578,000 tonne/year No 2 naphtha cracker in Yeosu since 10 March for a regular maintenance. The company resumed operations on 9 April.

South Korea’s Yeochun NCC (YNCC) pyrolyzes naphtha to produce basic feedstock materials for the petrochemical industry. YNCC, a joint venture between South Korean firms Hanwha and Daelim, is a key exporter of ethylene and propylene in the country.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nanjing Chengzhi Yongqing Energy Technology Co. has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract to Wison Engineering (China) Ltd. for a new methanol-to-olefins (MTO) plant and butadiene unit in Nanjing, China, as per GV.

The 600,000 t/y MTO plant will utilize Honeywell UOP's advanced process technologies and Wison Engineering's high recovery olefin separation technology to produce ethylene and propylene.

Nanjing Chengzhi's 100,000 t/y butadiene plant will be based on Wison's proprietary Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Butene to Butadiene technology.

The projects, for which a cost was not given, are scheduled for completion in December 2018.

As MRC informed previously, in November 2016, China’s Jilin Connell Chemical Industry Co. selected Honeywell UOP’s Advanced methanol-to-olefins (MTO) process to tap domestic coal resources to produce ethylene and propylene. Jilin Connell is the ninth company to license the Honeywell UOP technology, which produces superior yields at lower cost compared to competing technologies. The new plant, scheduled for completion in 2017, will be located in Jilin City in China’s Jilin Province, and will convert domestic sources of methanol into 300 Mtpy of ethylene and propylene. The new plant’s offtake will be supplied to ethylene oxide and propylene oxide manufacturers currently operating in the same industrial park.
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