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.
MRC

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.
MRC

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."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Advanced Petrochemical Company (the Company) announces that its Propylene & Polypropylene plants will undergo a periodic scheduled maintenance from February 26, 2018 and February 28, 2018 respectively, as per company's press release.

Propylene plant will be restarted from March 24, 2018 after the replacement of catalyst and Polypropylene plant will be restarted from March 15, 2018 by utilizing available, as well as outsourced Propylene.

It may be worth mentioning that such shutdowns for periodic maintenance should not be considered as an opportunity loss, since its planned in advance in accordance with normal industrial practice for carrying out required routine and preventive maintenance to improve the efficiency and reliability of operations and the effects have been taken into account in the preparation of the budget for 2018, both in terms of the quantity of production as well as revenues. The financial impact depending on the expected prices of Polypropylene and feedstock will be reflected in the financial results of the first quarter of 2018.

The Company will announce any new updates and progress in this regard as they occur.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Poland’s government plans to merge the country’s two biggest refiners, PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, in a bid to create a bigger player capable of competing on international markets, PKN said, as per Reuters.

The decision follows a string of transactions in which state-run companies and institutions took over foreign assets sold in Poland, including banks and energy companies, amid talk of a merger between Poland’s two biggest state-run banks.

By 1332 GMT shares in PKN and Lotos had risen 5.7 percent and 7 percent respectively, as investors bet on potential synergies and cost-cutting after the merger.

"The merger has a business sense. We believe in an improvement in EBITDA of the merged entity," said Lukasz Prokopiuk, a DM BOS analyst. He estimates the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of a merged PKN and Lotos would be 1 billion zlotys higher than it is now.

PKN’s EBITDA for 2017 stood at 11.2 billion zlotys. Analysts expect Lotos, which will publish 2017 results in March, to report EBITDA of around 3 billion zlotys for last year.

"As a result of the merger the company’s oil purchasing position and financial strength will also improve," said Krzysztof Pado, an analyst at DM BDM.

Both PKN and Lotos buy most of the oil they refine from Russia but try reducing their Russian exposure by getting oil from other sources.

Some analysts said the jump in PKN shares could be related to investor hopes that the company will not join a nuclear power plant project. But the energy minister said on Tuesday the merger would not clash with its potential role in the plan.
MRC