Wisconsin city lifts evacuation order after refinery blast hurts 16

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tens of thousands of residents of a northern Wisconsin city were cleared to return to their homes on Friday, the day after an explosion at the Husky Energy Inc refinery injured at least 16 people, reported Reuters with reference to a local official.

The facility, which refines 38,000 barrels of oil a day, was shut on Friday as firefighters monitored hot spots from the fire within the plant, said Husky spokeswoman Kim Guttormson.

Only one of the 16 people injured in the blast remained in Essentia-St Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, Minnesota, a hospital spokeswoman said on Friday. The patient was listed in good condition.

"All indications are that the refinery site is safe and stable and the air quality is clean and normal," Superior Mayor Jim Paine said on Facebook. The city of about 27,000 people lifted the evacuation order as of 6 a.m. local time (1100 GMT).

It was too early to determine the cause of the blasts or the extent of damage to refinery production units at the site, which employs about 165 people, Guttormson said.

Fifteen other people who were treated for blast-related injuries have been released from Essentia Health hospitals, the hospital spokeswoman said.

The cause of the explosion was not clear. After an initial blaze was extinguished, a storage tank was punctured, and a second fire erupted.

Thick black smoke billowed from the facility and hung over Superior throughout the day on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands to flee homes and businesses.

The refinery had additional workers on site preparing for a plant-wide overhaul when the blast occurred, Husky said. It produces asphalt, gasoline, diesel and heavy fuel oils, largely using heavy crude oil imported from Canada.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board sent a four-person team to investigate the blasts. The non-regulatory federal agency investigates serious chemical accidents such as refinery fires.

Husky purchased the refinery from Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP last year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiyo Vinyl has restarted its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the company has completed turnaround at the plant late last week. The plant was shut for maintenance in early-March 2018.

Located in Yokkaichi in Japan, the PVC plant has a production capacity of 310,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Taiyo Vinyl is likely to take off-stream its another PVC plant in Japan for a maintenance turnaround in 2018. Located in Osaka in Japan, the PVC plant has a production capacity of 160,000 mt/year. The plant is planned to be shut in end-June 2018 for a period of about one month. The last shutdown was undertaken by the company in end-June 2017 for about 30 days.

Taiyo Vinyl Corporation, a subsidiary of Tosoh Group, is one of Japan's largest manufacturers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The plant in Chiba is one of the company's key assests, which supplies 50% of its products to the domestic market. The company also produces PVC at the plants in Yokkaichi and Osaka with the annual capacity of 310,000 and 150,000 tonnes, respectively.
mrcplast.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The export trades for polypropylene (PP) were resumed at the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan in the second half of April. 25,000 tonnes of PP were sold during two trading days, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

25,000 tonnes of PP were put up for auction in the export trades at the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan on 17 April. But no deals were concluded in the first week of the trades because of high starting prices. Actual deals began to be done only this week, when prices went down.

Thus, all PP quantities put up for auction were bought out during two trading sessions on 23 and 26 April. Deals were done at USD1,150/tonne FCA/FOB Turkmenbashi port with shipments within 2-11 months from the date of contracting.

As reported earlier, the previous sales took place on 12 March at the starting price of USD960/tonne FCA/FOB Turkmenbashi port; the final deals were done at USD1,225/tonne FCA/FOB Turkmenbashi port.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry, has signed up to the UK Plastics Pact, a world-first initiative which aims to transform the plastic packaging system in the UK and keep plastic in the economy and out of the environment, as per the company's press release.

The UK Plastics Pact is a unique collaboration bringing together businesses from across the entire plastics value chain with UK governments and NGO’s to tackle the issue of plastic waste.

Led by sustainability experts WRAP, the Initiative was launched in London on Thursday 26 April 2018, at an official ceremony attended by The Secretary of State for the Environment Rt. Hon Michael Gove.

At present, 42 major businesses have committed to the Pact, including major food, drink and non-food brands, plastic reprocessors and packaging suppliers. Alongside SABIC, household names such as M&S, Tesco, Nestle and Unilever have committed to reach a series of ambitious targets by 2025 to eliminate avoidable plastic waste.

These targets include eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic packaging through redesign, innovation or alternative delivery models and ensuring that all plastic packaging produced is reusable, recyclable or compostable. The partnership will also help build a stronger recycling system and with the support of the Government will ensure that consistent UK recycling is met.

The UK Plastics Pact is the first of its kind in the world, led by WRAP which is a not for profit organisation. The Pact will be replicated in other countries to form a powerful global movement as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Initiative.

SABIC is delighted to be a founding member of this initiative. Leon Jacobs, Sustainability Lead for Europe, said: “Plastics should not end up in the environment, landfills or the oceans. At SABIC, we are planning to scale up high-quality recycling processes for chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste to the original polymer. SABIC has the know-how, the resources and the resolve to help reduce the waste-stream.

This project contributes to SABIC’s ambition to create Chemistry that Matters. As there is still a long road ahead for plastic recycling towards a circular economy, the company believes that chemical recycling is fundamental to closing the loop of plastic waste in addition to other initiatives such as waste reduction, reuse and mechanical recycling.
“Plastics are valuable and have many benefits. We believe that with the steps we take today, we will directly affect the world, the economy and the quality of life in decades to come”, said Paul Davidson, Market Development and Support Engineer, SABIC.

As MRC wrote before, in late 2017, plastics-maker Sabic announced that it had developed new materials for customers producing LED automotive lighting parts. LEXAN HF4010SR resin is one of the new offerings. This polycarbonate (PC) material can make it possible for customers to develop complex headlight bezels with enhanced aesthetics. Sabic has also added new grades to its existing LEXAN XHT resin line, which can offer improved flow at high temperatures compared to other high-heat polycarbonate materials available today.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- American oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil reported on Friday its earnings per share for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2018 stood at USD1.09, improving 15% year on year, as per the company's press release.

The company said its revenue amounted to USD68.2 billion in the first three months of the year, up 14% compared to the same period in 2017. Exxon noted its United States Upstream earnings were also positive at USD429 million,
soaring 447% compared to the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the firm said its net income was USD4.7 billion in the first three months of the year, rising 16% compared to the same quarter in 2017.

"Increased commodity prices, coupled with a focus on operating efficiently and strengthening our portfolio, resulted in higher earnings and the highest quarterly cash flow from operations and asset sales since 2014," said Exxon Mobil CEO Darren. W. Woods. He added: "Through new discoveries and acquired acreage, we’ve positioned our Upstream portfolio well for future growth. We also made good progress on our plans to improve the production mix and grow premium product sales in the Downstream and Chemical businesses."

Following the release of the quarterly earnings, Exxon Mobil shares fell 1% in the premarket trade on Wall Street.
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