Jiangsu VCM plant brought on-stream by SP Chemicals

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SP Chemicals has restarted a vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant following an unplanned shutdown, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the plant last weekend. The plant was shut on January 10, 2017 owing to power disruption.

Located at Taixing in Jiangsu province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 500,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, SP Chemicals undertook a planned shutdown at its styrene monomer (SM) plant at Jiangsu on November 6, 2017. The plant remained under maintenance for about 4 weeks. Located at Taixing in Jiangsu province of China, the plant has a production capacity of 320,000 mt/year.

SP Chemicals, a Singapore-based company is one of the largest ion-membrane chlor-alkali producer and aniline producer in the PRC. SP Chemicals engages in the manufacture and sale of the chemical industry's basic building blocks - caustic soda, chlorine, hydrogen and its related downstream products. The company's products include: aniline, caustic soda, chlorine, chlorobenzene, nitrochlorobenzene, nitrobenzene, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). To further drive its growth, SP Chemicals plans to invest approximately RMB1.1 billion in facilities for the production of styrene monomer, an intermediate raw chemical used in making polystyrene plastics, protective coatings, polyesters and resins.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is planning to increase its crude refining capacity in UAE by at least 60 per cent and triple its petrochemical production as part of its future growth strategy, its chief executive officer said in Abu Dhabi, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

“This proposed expansion will create a single largest integrated refining and chemical site in the world in Ruwais in the UAE,” said Dr Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber speaking at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum that got underway in Abu Dhabi.

“Once complete we will convert almost 20 per cent of our crude into chemicals, diversifying our range of higher value products and providing a natural hedge to oil price movements.” He also said hydrocarbons will continue to play a vital role to meet global energy demand despite increase in the diversity of energy mix.

Gulf energy ministers as well as top executives from different companies are taking part in the two day forum that will focus on geopolitics of the energy transformation and developments in oil and gas and renewable energy industry.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- As part of DowDuPont Materials Science Division’s ongoing commitment to provide customers with greater access to expertise and products, the company announced that the technologies of Dow Corning Polyurethane Additives (PUA) will be incorporated into the Dow Polyurethanes portfolio under the Vorasurf polyurethane additives brand name, as per GV.

Vorasurf polyurethane additives will serve the ComfortScience, InsulationScience and DurableScience markets of Dow Polyurethanes, helping to meet growing demand for products like bedding, spray foam and footwear. Now, in addition to the proven silicone surfactants customers depend on to produce flexible, rigid and microcellular polyurethane foams, customers in these markets will have access to a rich portfolio of global polyurethane solutions, systems and capabilities - all backed by Dow’s polyurethane expertise.

“We are adding over 100 Dow Corning PUA products to the polyurethanes portfolio, expanding our already extensive toolbox of proven silicone surfactants for high-performance polyurethane foam," said Richard James, global segment leader for polyurethane additives. "In addition to expanding our portfolio, we are continuing to innovate with advanced products like low volatile organic compounds (VOC) automotive surfactants and new hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) compatible products."

The transition to the Vorasurf brand name will begin in November 2017 and will be fully transitioned by the end of 2018. All Dow Corning PUA products will still be offered, but to help ensure a smooth transition, updated product names will feature Dow Corning’s DC and retain the original product grade numbers (i.e. DC 193, DC 2525, DC 5950, etc.). A full listing of all updated product names can be found in the Dow Corning information center.

As MRC wrote before, in 2012, three major chemical companies: Dow Chemical, Formosa Plastics, and Chevron Phillips Chemical had unveiled their expansion plans in North America basing on deposits in the Marcellus Shale Formation in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. One of the upcoming projects of Dow Chemical basing on attractive price of shale gas is propylene project in Freeport, Texas.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
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Chinese producers traditionally have been the key foreign PVC suppliers for the past several years. December imports of Chinese acetylene resin dropped slightly to 3,000 tonnes from 3,300 tonnes a month earlier. A major cut in export PVC prices in China was the main reason for the increase in imports for the past two month, a significant fall in imports of acetylene resin is expected in January. Thus, imports of Chinese resin were 45,800 tonnes last year, compared to 95,800 tonnes a year earlier.

European producers shipped small quantities of suspension, overall imports of European PVC fell to 3,500 tonnes over the stated period from 6,400 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The government will support state-owned companies working in the refining and petrochemicals sector to boost their production, Minister of Petroleum Tarek el-Molla said Thursday, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

During a meeting with the Alexandria Petroleum Company, Assiut Oil Refining Company (ASORC) and Egyptian Petrochemicals Company, heads of the companies presented their plans of production for fiscal year 2018/19.

Chairman of Alexandria Petroleum Company Medhat Bahgat said they plan to produce 99,000 tons of butange gas, 1.3 million tons of naphtha, 1.2 million tons of diesel, 1.4 million tons of fuel oil and 19,000 tons of asphalt.

The Alexandria-based company is planning two new projects to expand production and develop the facility.

As for ASORC, chairman of the company Nagy Kassab said they plan to refine one million ton of crude oil to produce 36,000 tons of butane, 520,000 tons of naphtha, one million ton of diesel, 2.3 million tons of fuel oil and 25,000 tons of jet fuel.

Chairman of Egyptian Petrochemicals Company plans to produce 90,000 tons of Polyvinyl chloride, 65,000 tons of sodium hydroxide and 15,000 tons of hydrochloric acid.

Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry aims to increase its annual production of gasoline, diesel, butane gas and jet fuel by 11.6 million tons in the next four years, at an investment of USD8.3 billion, boosting total production to around 28.5 million tons, up from the current 16.9 million tons.

This comes as part of the ministry’s plan to expand and develop refineries to boost domestic production of petroleum products, with the aim of filling the gap between production and consumption.

Under the plan, the ministry targets producing 3.113 million tons of gasoline, 6.603 million tons of diesel, 481,000 tons of butane gas and some 1.438 million tons of jet fuel.

Developing the petrochemical industry will result in an improvement in plastics industry, fibers industry and other related industries.

By 2020, Egypt plans to produce more than three million tons of chemical products, under a 20-year national plan, which involves a range of products from ethylene and polyethylene to olefins and aromatics.
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