Sinopec plans overhaul at largest refinery as it cuts Saudi oil

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Corp will shut down its largest refinery for maintenance throughout May, and at least four independent oil plants have started overhauls this month, curbing China's crude oil demand, reported Reuters.

The news comes after Sinopec, China's largest state refiner, announced big cuts in its Saudi oil imports.

Sinopec's 460 Mbpd Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company will be shut down from May 1 for a 40-day maintenance, in a major overhaul planned once every four years, an industry source briefed on the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The overhaul at Zhenhai, one of the country's largest processors of Saudi crude oil, coincides with Sinopec's decision on Tuesday to slash crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia during the month.

Four independent refineries with total processing capacity of 200 Mbpd - Shandong Haiyou Petrochemical Group Co, Tianhong Chemical, Zhonghai Fine Chemicals and Rizhao Lanqiao Port Chemicals - are currently being shut down, according to Ding Xu, an analyst with Zibo Longzhong Information Group.

"Independent plants are battling with lower margins as crude oil prices went up, dampening demand for crude and leading to more maintenance plans," said Ding.

A survey by Longzhong showed utilization ratio at 42 independent plants fell to 65 percent this week versus 67 percent in early January, Ding added.

A new tax rule that came into effect in March aimed at curbing alleged tax evasions by independents also limited smaller refiners' appetite for crude, leading to brimming tanks and cargo congestion at Shandong ports late last month.

An official with Sinopec's trading arm Unipec said on Tuesday the refiner planned to cut Saudi crude oil imports loading in May by 40 percent after Saudi Aramco set higher-than-expected official selling prices.

One of the reasons cited by a separate company official on Tuesday for the deep cuts was planned refinery maintenances. The official did not elaborate.

The Zhenhai plant will also shut down its 1.1 MMtpy ethylene complex during the same period for overhaul, said the source familiar with the repair works.

As MRC informed earlier, China's Sinopec group, parent of Sinopec Corp, will invest USD29.05 billion to upgrade four refining bases between 2016 and 2020 to produce higher-quality fuels.

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) -- EconCore is extending the capabilities of its innovative ThermHex technology for production of high-performance lightweight thermoplastic honeycomb core materials and sandwich panels, as per the company's press release.

The company, which already licenses the technology for production of polypropylene (PP) honeycombs, is now able to produce honeycombs from high performance thermoplastics (HPT). A further development enables the integrated production of Organosandwich preforms with continuous fibre-reinforced skins.

"We have already successfully produced and tested honeycombs from several high-performance thermoplastics at our refurbished R&D facilities in Leuven, Belgium" says Tomasz Czarnecki, Chief Operating Officer at EconCore. "We have been working with various types of modified Polycarbonate (PC), Polyamide 6.6 (PA6.6) and Polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) and we are continuing to pursue developments with these and other high-end polymers. We are now entering the final phase of product validation and we expect to work on several application developments in automotive, aerospace, transportation, and building and construction markets this year."

EconCore’s patented technology uses a series of in-line, high-speed, operations to produce honeycomb structures from a single continuously extruded thermoplastic film. It involves a sequence of thermoforming, folding and bonding operations. ThermHex technology has the potential to work with a wide range of thermoplastic polymers to create honeycombs, whose cell size, density and thickness can be altered with simple hardware and/or process parameter adjustments. The process makes it possible to create extremely cost-effective finished composite sandwich materials by inline bonding of skins to the honeycomb.

"Today we offer honeycombs with the best performance per cost on the market. In the near future we will offer also honeycombs with the best performance per weight" adds Jochen Pflug, Chief Executive Officer at EconCore.
Thermoplastic honeycomb cores for composites provide a ratio of performance to weight that is very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve with other types of core materials. ThermHex cores are around 80% lighter than solid thermoplastic cores in use today, in such products as metal skinned- panels for transportation and building applications. The lightweight cores also have positive implications for product handling, raw material inventory, outbound logistics and installation.

In use, honeycomb structures prove superior not only in terms of mechanical performance: the acoustic performance and thermal insulation of honeycomb structures is also beneficial for many applications.

HPT honeycombs will build on the intrinsic benefits of lightweight honeycomb structures, with higher heat resistance (useful for such products as housings for electric vehicle batteries) and very good flame resistance (critical for building panels). EconCore is also working with materials modified for FST (flame, smoke, toxicity) compliance in railway and aerospace applications. The company also sees substantial potential in photovoltaic (PV) panels and numerous other products.

As MRC wrote before, in 2014, German specialty chemicals company Lanxess, the world’s largest synthetic rubber supplier, and EconCore N.V. joined forces to develop new thermoplastic sandwich materials for lightweight construction. The objective of the collaboration was to fabricate honeycomb cores from Durethan polyamides with the help of an automated, continuous process patented by EconCore. In addition, Tepex continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites from Lanxess subsidiary Bond-Laminates was to be combined with the new polyamide honeycomb cores to produce high-performance composites.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sunoco LP has announced the execution of a definitive agreement to purchase certain assets from Superior Plus Corporation for approximately USD40 million plus working capital adjustments, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The assets consist of a network of approximately 100 dealers, several hundred commercial contracts and three terminals, which are connected to major pipelines serving the Upstate New York market. The wholesale fuels business sells approximately 200 million gallons of fuel annually through multiple channels. The three terminals have a combined 17 tanks with 429 thousand barrels of storage capacity.

The acquisition is consistent with Sunoco's strategy of utilizing its scale to grow the core fuel distribution business and adding fee-based refined product terminals into the overall portfolio. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in April 2018.

The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Sunoco with respect to distributable cash flow.

As MRC informed before, in February 2016, Fluor was awarded a construction management contract by Sunoco Logistics for the Mariner East 2 project at its Marcus Hook Industrial Complex on the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.
Upon completion, Mariner East 2 was anticipated to provide an additional 275,000 bpd of natural gas liquids (NGLs) for distribution to local, domestic and international markets. Fluor was to manage the construction of new terminal facilities to store, chill, process and distribute propane, butane and ethane at the complex.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vaughan, Ont.-based Vision Extrusion Group is receiving USD1.5 million from the Ontario government to invest in new technologies and machinery, creating 76 new jobs and retaining more than 500 positions, as per Canplastics.

"This announcement is great news for the residents of Vaughan and the region as a whole. Ontario’s manufacturing sector must continue to invest in technology and innovation to stay ahead in a fiercely competitive global market," said Steven Del Duca, provincial minister of Economic Development and Growth.

The money is coming from the Ontario government’s Jobs and Prosperity Fund. Vision Extrusion is upgrading its machinery and investing in new technologies to automate production and reduce waste. The upgrades are expected to cost USD18.2 million total and be completed by December 2022.

"The investment we are announcing today continues the ongoing evolution of our company as a leader in the manufacturing of building products," said Vision Extrusion CEO Vic De Zen. "By further building our skilled team and adding to our technical capabilities, Vision Extrusion can offer even greater innovation and flexibility for our valued customers."

Vision Extrusion produces a range of building products, transforming plastic polymers into window frames, doors, fencing and railings. The company is a member of the Vision Group of Companies. Its Vaughan operations include more than 200 extrusion lines, R&D labs, tool and die shops, and plastics compounding facilities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals is likely to take its naphtha-fed steam cracker off-stream for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is likely to be taken off-line for turnaround in mid-June 2018. It is slated to remain under maintenance until end-July 2018.

Located in Sakai, Japan, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 500,000 mt/year and propylene production capacity of 280,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2016, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Hankuk Carbon Co., a company listed on the Korea Exchange, entered into a strategic alliance agreement to engage in collaborative business activities relating to the processing of composite materials.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
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