Zhejiang Wankai to complete maintenance at PET unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Wankai New Materials Co is likely to restart its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) unit at Haining, China, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has planned to resume operations at the unit on July 23, 2018 following a maintenance turnaround. The unit was taken off-line for around 1 month.

Located at Haining in China, the PET unit has a production capacity of 550,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in late October 2015, the company shut down its another PET unit with the capacity of 450,000 per year for a three-week turnaround.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- McDermott International, Inc. announced it has been awarded a sizeable contract from Samsung Engineering Saudi Arabia Company Ltd. for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of CB&I Storage Tanks for the Jubail United Petrochemical Company (JUPC) Ethylene Oxide (EO)/Ethylene Glycol (EG) Plant No. 3 at Jubail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The fixed lump sum contract encompasses the engineering, procurement and fabrication of 23 CB&I storage tanks and modification of two existing tanks. Work on the project will predominantly be executed from Saudi Arabia utilizing McDermott's local capabilities and facilities.

"McDermott and Samsung have a long track record of successful collaboration and safe execution in the Middle East," said Linh Austin, Senior Vice President, Middle East and North Africa. "Our extensive experience in Saudi Arabia combined with our unparalleled technical competency in the storage sector uniquely position us to deliver this project."

McDermott significantly expanded its service offering after combining with CB&I earlier this year. The combination brought together more than 200 years of experience in the energy sector and positioned McDermott as one of the few companies in the world to offer fully integrated, end-to-end offshore, upstream and downstream solutions across the entire energy value chain.

Work on the contract is expected to begin immediately and will be reflected in McDermott's second quarter 2018 backlog.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huabei Petrochemical (part of PetroChina) is likely to restart a polypropylene (PP) unit in Hebei, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has planned to complete turnaround at the unit in mid-September 2018. The unit was shut for maintenance in early-July 2018.

Located in Hebei, China, the unit has a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, in January 2018, PetroChina nearly doubled the amount of Russian crude being processed at its refinery in Dalian, the company’s biggest, since January, as a new supply agreement has come into effect.

PetroChina has designated three refineries in northeast China - Dalian, Liaoyang and Jilin - as the main receiving points for the increased Russian supply. Liaoyang will begin taking more crude once a major upgrade is completed at the end of this year. The new volumes will flow as a result of Russia and China expanding the East Siberian Pacific Ocean pipeline that starts at Rosneft’s oilfields in East Siberia and enters China at border town of Mohe.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shaanxi Yulin Energy & Chemical has restarted its polypropylene (PP) plant following an unplanned shutdown, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed the company has resumed operations at the plant on July 21, 2018. The plant was shut on July 17, 2018 owing to mechanical issues.

Located at Shaanxi province of china, the PP plant has a production capacity of 330,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, in July 2017, LyondellBasell granted its Spherizone and Lupotech T Licenses to Shaanxi Coal Yulin Energy and Chemical. Spherizone is the most advanced PP technology and should help expand the company’s product portfolio, while Lupotech T should provide a cost advantage. This technology is used in the Jingbian Chemical Industrial Park in Yulin City, China.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Chinese independent refiner Shandong Haiyou Petrochemical Group and a chemical trader have filed for joint bankruptcy, according to a court filing, the latest sign of deepening pain for the sector amid high oil prices and greater regulatory scrutiny, as per Reuters.

The companies registered their joint bankruptcy at a court in the county of Juxian in Shandong province on July 16, according to a court filing on a website run by China’s Supreme Court.

"The two companies, which share highly similar business scope, company structure, finance and assets, own assets that are smaller than their debts and are unable to service their loans, are applying for joint bankruptcy," the local court filing said.

Smaller independent or "teapot" refiners have enjoyed strong growth in recent years as China liberalized oil imports to increase competition in a sector dominated by state-owned giants, but their expansion has been curbed by tighter conditions.

Shandong Haiyou Petrochemical, established in 2006, is the first teapot refiner to file for bankruptcy in recent years.

Its crude oil distillation unit with a capacity of around 70,000 barrels per day has been shut since May.

The other company, Shandong Hongju New Energy Co, is a fuel and chemicals dealer based in the same county and was set up in 2013.

A person who answered the phone at Haiyou said she was not able to comment. Calls to the company president’s office went unanswered.

Chinese soybean crusher Shandong Sunrise Group, which used to control Haiyou, also filed for bankruptcy on Friday after failing to repay its debts.

Juxian Public Transport Development Co Ltd and the county’s assets regulator, the State Asset Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) each own 30 percent of Haiyou, according to an online portal run by the State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC).

Four individuals own the remaining 40 percent, according to SAIC.