Phillips 66 mulls another cracker for CP Chem joint venture

MOSCOW (MRC) --US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We remain constructive on the second cracker at CP Chem," said Greg Garland, CEO. He made his comments during an investor presentation held by Credit Suisse. "We're doing initial work around that today," he said. The company will unlikely make a final investment decision (FID) until 2019, he said. "That probably means heavy lifting becomes 2020, 2021 for us in terms of the capital."

Global demand could support more petrochemical production, Garland said. Demand is growing faster than GDP, and billions of people are joining the middle class in India and China. This growing middle class will adopt buying habits that will result in more plastic consumption. At the same time, the US should have enough natural gas liquids (NGLs) to feed new crackers, he said.

Crude production in the US continues to increase. Oil wells also produce associated gas, which is rich in NGLs. Midstream companies are aggressively building the infrastructure to process this associated gas and ship it via pipeline to petrochemical plants on the Gulf Coast.

Other companies are also considering new plants in what is shaping out to be another wave of new projects in the US. Meanwhile, Chevron Phillips Chemical is in the midst of commissioning a 1.5m tonne/year ethane cracker at Cedar Bayou, Texas, Garland said.

It should start receiving feedstock for the front end of the cracker this quarter, he said. By the second quarter, it should be fully operational. Chevron Phillips Chemical did not have any comments immediately available on Friday. The other joint venture partner in Chevron Phillips Chemical is the energy producer Chevron.
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ABB signs technology agreement with Chinese Yitai Group

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A framework agreement between ABB and one of China’s leading coal producers, the Yitai Group, will bring deeper cooperation in applying digital technologies, solutions, services and expertise to improve performance across Yitai’s plants, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Additionally, the two companies have agreed to form a consortium to explore, develop and exploit opportunities presented by intelligent, digitally-empowered plants, more generally, within the coal chemical industry at home and abroad.

"Yitai Group is committed to making the modern coal chemical industry bigger, stronger and better by utilizing advanced science and technology. At the same time, we also face the challenge to improve economic return and fierce market competition," says Mrs. Zhang DaiHua, Project Manager of Yitai’s intelligent coal chemical plant and Deputy General Manager of Yitai’s Coal Chemical Management Department. "Yitai looks forward to using ABB's digital solutions and services to achieve the intelligent control and management optimization of our plants, thereby reducing production costs, ensuring safety and improving productivity and information. We’d like to truly accomplish the integration of informatization and industrialization as well as intelligent upgrading."

The arrangement gives the Yitai Group access to the ABB Ability TM technology platform: an integrated industrial Internet offering and cloud infrastructure based on ABB's leading expertise across a wide range of technologies and industries. It enables businesses to harness the power of industrial data to enhance decision-making.

ABB’s digital and traditional technologies in the electrical, control, instrumentation and telecommunications (ECIT) areas will be used to upgrade Yitai’s brownfield sites and optimize greenfield opportunities. Yitai will also benefit from ABB’s collaborative operations approach which connects people in production facilities with those at headquarters and ABB’s centers of expertise. This real-time information sharing ensures data insights drive optimum decision-making. Such integrated digitalization improves coordination by breaking down functional silos. Opening data flow between various plant systems, departments and experts provides greater visibility that helps improve asset availability, operational efficiency and profitability.
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Borouge starts turnaround at No.2 cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polyolefins Borouge (part of Borealis) has undertaken a planned shutdown at its No.2 cracker in Ruwais, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source based in the Middle East informed that the company has recently commenced turnaround at the cracker. The cracker is likely to remain under maintenance for around 5 weeks.

Located at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi in UAE, the No.2 cracker has a production capacity of 1.5 mmt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2017, Austrian chemical company Borealis was carrying out feasibility studies for a polypropylene (PP) unit and a mixed-feed steam cracker at Borouge, the petrochemicals complex it owns jointly with Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc in Ruwais, UAE. The study for the new PP unit- known as PP5, wass in its latter stages, with a final investment decision expected later las year. The new plant would have a production capacity of around 600,000 tpa. Abu Dhabi refiner Takreer is building a new 500,000 tpa propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at Ruwais that is planned to start up in the third quarter of this year. This will create a significant excess of propylene in the complex that would easily support a new PP plant.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
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Solvay appoints new Presidents for Special Chem and Specialty Polymers

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has appointed Rodrigo Elizondo as President of Special Chem Global Business Unit, and Michael Finelli as President of the GBU Specialty Polymers, as per Publicnow.

Rodrigo Elizondo, previously Commercial Director for Special Chem, has over 26 years with the Group having held commercial leadership and business management roles in North America, Europe and Asia at various business lines at Special Chem. Rodrigo holds a Chemical Engineering degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology, Mexico.

Michael Finelli has been with Solvay for more than 25 years. As Business Director for Specialty Polymers for the past two years, he was responsible for the GBU's business line and development as well as marketing activities. He has had commercial leadership and business management roles in North America and Europe. Mike holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biology and Marketing from Albright College and an MBA from Rutgers University, both in the United States.

Michael Finelli will relocate to Bollate, Italy, from the United States. Rodrigo Elizondo will remain based in Seoul, South Korea.
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China's domestic LNG plants reopen after shutdowns as heating crisis eases

MOSCOW (MRC) -- At least 10 of China's domestic liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants have resumed output in the past week after the government cut off their supply, providing the first signs that the country's gas supply crunch is starting to ease, reported Reuters with reference to the company sources.

The return of the plants, which liquefy domestically produced gas that is then trucked to end-users, has raised LNG supply in China's interior, pushing nationwide LNG prices lower.

These restarts are also a sign that state-owned gas producers Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corp have resumed piping gas to the facilities after the government ordered them to divert shipments from the plants to residential users to make up a supply shortfall during the winter heating season.

Yangcheng Shuntianda Gas Corp, based in China's Shanxi province, southwest of the capital Beijing, has restarted its plant, with the capacity to liquefy 500,000 cubic metres of gas, after shutting in December, a sales manager at the company who only gave his surname of Wang told Reuters.

"We lost 20 million yuan (USD3.2 million) each month because we weren't producing anything. Our boss was under extreme pressure from the bank to pay off loans," said Wang.

Yulin Huachen, which runs a similar-sized plant in neighbouring Shaanxi province, resumed half of its production last weekend after closing for more than two months, said a company sales manager, who declined to be identified as he was not authorize to speak to the media.

Sinopec and CNPC cut gas supplies to the LNG plants to meet the newly created demand from residential consumers. These buyers were converted to gas or electric heating ahead of this winter to reduce air pollution from coal-fired heating as part of the government's war on smog.

The companies could not cope with the extra demand because of inadequate infrastructure and insufficient domestic output. The government rules on the fuel switching also prioritised residential users over industrial consumers.

CNPC and Sinopec declined to comment on whether they have resumed piped gas shipments to the LNG users.

More of the LNG plants are expected to resume operations in the coming weeks as gas supplies improve, said Zhang Mengjie, gas analyst at Shandong-based Longzhong Information Group.

Data from Longzhong shows the LNG plants were operating at just 27 percent of capacity last week, versus 38 percent a year ago and a typical level of 50 percent.

The 27 percent is equivalent to the daily output of 23 million cubic metres, according to Reuters calculations, based on overall daily operating capacity of 85.6 million cubic metres.

Chinese LNG prices have fallen as the plants return to production and as some end-users remain closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

"Demand from downstream users is not very good now as some of them remain on holiday and won't be back until next week," said Diao Zhouwei, a natural gas analyst at IHS Markit. "With the weather getting warmer, demand from residential users is declining, which leaves more fuel for the industrial sector."
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