PP imports to Russia rose by 2% in 2017

Russian companies significantly reduced PP imports in December to 10,400 tonnes from 16,300 tonnes a year earlier. Imports of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) raffia and block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) decreased. Overall, 171,200 tonnes of propylene polymers were imported in 2017, compared to 167,200 tonnes a year earlier. Deliveries of homopolymer PP accounted for a major reduction, whereas PP block copolymers accounted for the greatest increase in imports.

Overall, the structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

December imports of homopolymer PP fell to 2,400 tonnes from 4,500 tonnes a month earlier, shipments of homopolymer PP raffia from Central Asia, particularly, from Turkmenistan, decreased significantly because of technical issues of the local producer. Overall imports of this PP grade reached 55,100 tonnes last year, compared to 72,400 a year earlier.

December imports of PP block copolymers were 1,900 tonnes versus 3,300 tonnes in November. Local companies reduced their purchasing of PP block copolymer for extrusion injection moulding in Europe. Imports of PP block copolymers into Russia rose to 43,000 tonnes in 2017, compared to 30,800 tonnes a year earlier.

Imports of PP random copolymers dropped to 3,200 tonnes in December from 3,600 tonnes a month earlier, local pressure pipes producers reduced their purchasing of PP under the pressure of seasonal factors, whereas purchases of injection moulding PP increased. Overall imports of this propylene copolymers grade totalled 33,600 tonnes in 2017, compared to 34,800 tonnes a year earlier.

Imports of other propylene polymers were 39,300 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 29,200 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The construction of a polypropylene plant in Azerbaijan’s Sumgait city will be completed in the second quarter of 2018, reported Vestnik Kavkaza with reference to head of SOCAR Polymer company’s planning department Vugar Aslanov.

"The work has been completed by 97.2%. The detailed engineering work has been completed by 99.9%, production and delivery - by 99.6%, while construction work - by 93.4%," he said at the conference on expansion of production of import-substituting products in industry by using local raw materials in Baku.

According to Aslanov, this year 70,000-71,000 tons of polyethylene are planned to be produced at the plant. The plant will reach the full production capacity of 180,000 tons next year.

"We intend to launch test work in April, while production will begin in June 2018," abc.az cited him as saying.

As MRC informed before, in October 2015, State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) subsidiary Azerikimya Production Union (PU) has entered two units into operation at its ethylene and polyethylene (PE) plant in Sumgait, north of Baku.

SOCAR, which is keen on expanding operations in the retail oil products market abroad, is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan.

SOCAR Polymer is a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). The entity was formed at the end of 2013 to run investments at the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park, a production park which intends to become a chemical hub in central Asia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell UOP has announced that its Callidus low-nitrogen oxides (NOx) burner technology has been selected by Sinopec Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (Yanshan) to help meet China's new NOx emission regulations, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

More than 400 burners used in Yanshan's ethylene process units have been revamped and achieved reductions of 40 to 50 percent of NOx emissions from ethylene furnaces. In addition, Honeywell UOP is providing these process units with engineering, performance verification testing, burner fabrication and service.

Under new government standards in China, emissions of nitrogen oxides from industry furnaces are required to drop from 150 to less than 100 milligrams per cubic meter this year. These pollutants are the primary cause of acid rain and increased surface ozone concentration, which have serious and direct impacts on public health and the environment.

"Our record of project experience around the globe can help Sinopec comply with new environmental regulations and gain economic value by improving their return on investment without sacrificing performance or the environment," said Henry Liu, vice president and general manager, Honeywell UOP China. "Since we opened a new research and test facility in China in 2015, we have developed low-emission and energy efficient combustion technology for customers in China and across Asia."

Among the technologies Honeywell UOP developed to meet new emissions standards are high-performance low-NOx Callidus process burners. These burners are designed to meet NOx reduction requirements for fired heaters in refinery and petrochemical plants, where space is limited and temperatures typically reach 1200 degrees Celsius. Callidus burners can be customized to meet requirements of all types of applications, including refinery heaters, reformers, ethylene crackers, coker units, and CCR (continuous catalytic reforming) and propane dehydrogenation process heaters.

As a subsidiary of Sinopec Group, Sinopec Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical Co., Ltd. processes more than 10 million tons of crude oil and produces more than 800,000 tons of ethylene products annually. The company was established in 1970 and operates one of China's first modern, large-scale integrated refining and petrochemical complexes.

As MRC informed previously, in 2013, Sinopec Maoming Co. selected Honeywell to rejuvenate and improve the operational performance of aging petrochemical plants in China’s Guangdong Province. Honeywell said then its Profit Suite R400 process optimization software would be deployed at two of Maoming’s ethylene crackers, "helping to improve plant performance by increasing energy efficiency, improving flexibility of its operations, and maximizing the plants’ yield of high-value products." The two plants have been operating for more than 50 years and currently produce 1-million t/y of petrochemicals, Honeywell noted.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group's key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - BP's profits more than doubled in 2017 to USD6.2 billion powered by higher prices and output of oil and gas, allowing the company to resume share buybacks as it recovers from a three-year downturn, as per Reuters.

The London-listed company saw one of the strongest output increases in its history last year, lifting production to levels not seen since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill. Production is set to continue growing into the end of the decade thanks to more field start-ups this year.

BP would generate profits in 2018 at an oil price of USD50 a barrel, Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary told Reuters, as years of spending cuts kicked in and as it slowly shakes off a USD65 billion bill for penalties and clean-up costs of the 2010 spill.

BP was the first among its European peers to resume share buybacks in the fourth quarter of 2017 after years dilutive austerity measures in the face of the industry slump. With a 20 percent bounce in oil prices in the last quarter of 2017 to USD61 a barrel, BP had a surplus of cash that allowed it to buy USD343 million worth of shares in the fourth quarter, offsetting the scrip dilution.

BP shares were trading 0.7 percent lower at 1340 GMT, compared with a 2.6 percent decline for the sector. "2017 was one of the strongest years in BP's recent history," Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said in a statement.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Covestro, one of the world’s largest polymer companies, has selected Emerson to provide Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to help the chemical manufacturer achieve its goals of minimizing risk and improving uptime at nine high-utilization plants, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As part of the USd14 million, five-year contract, Emerson will provide remote monitoring and predictive maintenance to help Covestro optimize these manufacturing facilities for improved production, safety and reliability.

The Emerson program is a tenet of Covestro’s comprehensive digitization program called Digital Covestro that considers and implements new Industrial IoT strategies and operating procedures to deliver improved performance and meet defined financial targets. Covestro’s reliability program will leverage strategies, solutions and technologies in Emerson’s Operational Certainty program designed to help manufacturers achieve Top Quartile performance. Emerson data shows that Top Quartile companies spend half as much on maintenance compared to average performers and operate with an additional 15 days of available production each year.

Emerson will remotely monitor and maintain 40 of its DeltaV distributed control systems at Covestro plants in China, the United States and Germany. Remote teams at Emerson’s Innovation Center in Austin, Texas, will monitor and provide best practices-based maintenance strategies for local Emerson teams to implement at each Covestro plant.

“By collaborating with Emerson to stay proactive about plant availability, we can drive toward always-on production and continue to satisfy customers in our high-demand market,” said Klaus Schaefer, chief technical officer, Covestro.

The Emerson-Covestro agreement reflects an emerging business model in industry, where manufacturers rely on a strategic supplier’s software solutions and deep automation expertise to monitor and execute maintenance, equipment health or energy management programs, allowing customers to focus their attention on critical operating functions that drive plant performance.
MRC