China plans first lab on ocean oil spill cleaning

MOSCOW (MRC) - China's Ministry of Transport is planning to establish a laboratory specializing in treating oil spills at sea, the first of its kind in the country, local media Science and Technology Daily reported on Sunday, asper Hydrocarbonprocessing.

China is spending some 200 million yuan a year on research for emergency treatment of oil spills but the technological expertise has not been widely applied because of lack of such a lab, the report said.

The laboratory is planned in northern port city of Tianjin, off the Bohai Bay, with an initial investment of USD63 million. The investment will go to research projects on oceanic ecological protection and safety issues for sea-borne transportation.

To date, only the United States and France have laboratories capable of undertaking tests and inspections required in treating ocean oil spills, the report said.

The Iranian oil tanker Sanchi collided with a dry cargo vessel early this month about 160 nautical miles off China's east coast, in the world's worst oil tanker disaster for decades.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An advisory council to Saudi Arabia's government has asked the kingdom's securities regulator to study the impact of listing Saudi Aramco on the local bourse amid concern that a huge initial public offering could damage the market, reported Reuters.

The Shura Council's fiscal committee has also asked the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to make sure that the stock market's liquidity does not become concentrated in the giant oil company alone, state news agency SPA reported late on Tuesday, 23 January.

The government has said it plans to sell about 5 percent of Aramco, hoping to raise some USD100 billion or more in what would likely be the world's biggest initial public offering (IPO). The sale is expected in the second half of 2018.

Saudi officials have said that in addition to Riyadh, they may list Aramco on one or more foreign markets such as New York, London and Hong Kong, which would spread the burden of the IPO and reduce the strain on the Saudi market. But after more than a year of deliberations, a decision on a foreign market has not been announced and some officials have suggested Aramco might list in Riyadh alone.

There is concern in Saudi financial circles, however, that the IPO could be too large for the local market to absorb.

The SPA report did not say whether the CMA's study should look at the impact of listing Aramco in Riyadh alone, or scenarios in which it was listed in Saudi Arabia as well as foreign markets.

The Saudi market only has a capitalisation of about USD470 billion, meaning it could be destabilised by Aramco's listing if other stocks are sold heavily to raise funds for investment in the oil company. The Saudi exchange's chief executive Khalid al-Hussan told Reuters this month that Riyadh hoped to be the only venue for the Aramco listing and could handle all of the IPO. Liquidity would not be a problem, he said.

The Shura Council and the Capital Market Authority had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters on Wednesday.

As MRC wrote before, Saudi Aramco and France's Total are considering building a mixed-feed cracker and derivatives in Jubail, near their joint refining complex. The cracker is expected to have a capacity of 1.5 MMtpy. The feedstock would partially come from SATORP, the existing Aramco-Total joint refining venture, and from Sadara, a joint venture between Aramco and Dow Chemical, also in Jubail.

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) - Iraq plans to build an oil refinery at the port of Faw on the Gulf with two Chinese companies, and is seeking investors to build three more, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The refinery in Faw will have a 300,000 bpd capacity and include a petrochemical plant, it said. The project is considered as one of the big exportation projects in Faw city- Basrah governorate in the south of Iraq.

Two other refineries, Anbar and Thi-Qar each with a 150,000-bpd capacity, are planned in Nasiriya, southern Iraq, and in the western Anbar province. A third, with a 100,000-bpd capacity, is planned in Qayara, near Mosul, the northern Iraqi city, which was taken back from Islamic State militants last year.

Iraq is OPEC's second-largest oil producer, after Saudi Arabia. Its refining capacity was curtailed when Islamic State overran its largest oil processing plant in Baiji, north of Baghdad, in 2014.

Iraqi forces recaptured Baiji in 2015, but the place sustained heavy damage in the fighting. The country now relies on the Doura refinery, in Baghdad, and Shuaiba plant, in the south. Work to rehabilitate Baiji has begun, Oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Monday, adding that a 70,000 bpd processing unit should be brought back on line in six to nine months. A second 70,000 bpd unit in Baiji should follow, he said in a statement.

Baiji was processing around 175,000 bpd when it fell into the hands of Islamic State.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Ukraine decreased in January-December 2017 by 11% year on year, totalling 98,500 tonnes. The resumption of production at the domestic plant after a long outage was the main reason for lower imports, as per MRC's DataScope report.

Last month's SPVC imports to Ukraine dropped to the year's minimum to about 3,600 tonnes from 5,900 tonnes in November because of seasonal factors. Local producers of window profiles two times reduced their purchasing of resin under the pressure of seasonal factors.
Overall SPVC imports were about 98,500 tonnes in January-December 2017, compared to 110,600 tonnes a year earlier. The resumption of the domestic production in July after several years of shutdown at Karpatneftekhim allowed to reduce dependence on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) imports.

Structure of PVC imports into Ukraine over the reported period was as follows.

Last month's imports of US PVC amounted to about 1,900 tonnes against 3,200 tonnes in November 2017, as two of the largest producers of window profiles reduced their supply volumes significantly. Imports of North American resin totalled 49,800 tonnes in January-December 2017 versus 57,700 tonnes a year earlier.

December shipments of European PVC into the Ukrainian market went down to 1,200 tonnes from 2,100 tonnes a month earlier. Overall imports of European PVC fell to 32,400 tonnes over the stated period from 42,000 tonnes a year earlier.
Last month's imports of Russian SPVC decreased to 373 tonnes from 460 tonnes in November. Last year's shipments of Russian resin were 13,800 tonnes, compared to 10,200 tonnes a year earlier.

It is also worth noting that the resumption of its own production after a long period of downtime affected the volume of exports. The output of suspension PVC (SPVC) by the company was about 51,900 tonnes in less than a half of a year of the work. The main export destinations were Turkey and India with volumes of 23,000 tonnes and 22,200 tonnes respectively.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall output of chemicals rose in 2017 by 4.3% year on year, with mineral fertilizers accounting for the greatest increase in production, according to Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal Service of State Statistics, last month's production of basic chemicals increased by 3.1% from November. Thus, output of basic chemicals grew by 4.3% year on year in 2017, with chemical fertilizers accounting for the greatest increase in production, whereas ethylene - for the least growth.

262,000 tonnes of ethylene were produced last December, compared to 250,000 tons a month earlier, all producers reached almost 100% capacity utilisation after the end of the period of shutdowns for maintenance in October-November. Overall, about 2,860,000 tonnes of this olefin were produced last year, up by 2.5% year on year.

Last month's production of benzene rose to 121,000 tonnes from 117,000 tonnes in November. Overall output of this product reached 1,360,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 4.2%year on year.

December production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 111,000 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) versus 106,000 tonnes a month earlier. Several plants accounted for higher output last month. Overall output of caustic soda grew to 1,240,000 tonnes in 2017, up by 6.1% year on year.

Last month's production of mineral fertilizers was 2,070,000 tonnes (in terms of 100% nutrients) versus 1,820,000 mln tonnes in November. Russian plants produced over 22,520,000 tonnes of fertilizers last year, up by 8.2% year on year. Production of all types of fertilizers increased, with potash fertilizers, the output of which grew by 11.6%, accounted for the greatest increase.
MRC