PVC imports to Ukraine fell by 28% in January-July 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Ukraine decreased by 28% in the first seven months of this year, compared to the same period in 2017 and reached about 43,700 tonnes. The main reason is the growth of own production volumes, according to MRC DataScope.

Last month's SPVC imports to the Ukrainian market dropped to 4,900 tonnes from 5,900 tonnes in June, with US resin accounting for the main decrease. Overall SPVC imports totalled 43,700 tonnes in January-July 2018, compared to 60,700 tonnes a year earlier, while the supply of PVC from the US, contrary to the general trend, has grown. The main reason for the drop in imports was the increase in production at Karpatneftekhim.

Structure of PVC imports into Ukraine over the reported period was as follows.
Last month's imports of US SPVC shrank to 2,500 tonnes from 3,500 tonnes in June. Thus, imports of US resin totalled 28,600 tonnes in the first seven months of 2018, compared to 25,100 tonnes a year earlier. February-March accounted for the peak of imports.

July imports of European PVC into Ukraine were 2,400 tonnes, which equalled the June figure. Total imports of European PVC into Ukraine were about 13,800 tonnes in the first seven months of the year, compared with 24,100 tonnes year on year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - The Chinese city of Tianjin will replace gasoline with ethanol at 10 gas stations, Xinhua News Agency reported, the first outlets to do so in a wider push to get vehicles in the city to switch to the biofuel, as per Reuters.

Tianjin will later replace ordinary gasoline with ethanol at other stations in October.

The change means all vehicles in the city will be required to use ethanol, except those that need ordinary gasoline for special uses, such as military and industrial purposes, an official from Tianjin economic planner was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

China’s state council this week vowed to promote the use of ethanol in vehicles, its first public statement on its ambitious biofuel policy in almost a year.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals has announced it has resumed ethylene production following a 21 June 2018 fire at its Osaka, Japan, site, as per Apic-online.

The fire occurred in a utility plant during a scheduled maintenance, which was expected to be completed in late July, reported Reuters. The 500,000-t/y naphtha cracker was not directly affected."Other production will also be restarted in order," Mitsui noted.

The Osaka site also produces olefins, aromatics, ammonia, urea, phenol, ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, ethanolamine, unsaturated polyesters, isopropyl alcohol, melamine and others.

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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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran’s crude oil and condensate exports in August are set to drop below 70 million barrels for the first time since April 2017, well ahead of the Nov. 4 start date for a second round of U.S. economic sanctions, as per Reuters.

The United States has asked buyers of Iranian oil to cut imports to zero starting in November to force Tehran to negotiate a new nuclear agreement and to curb its influence in the Middle East.

The total volume of crude and condensate, an ultra-light oil produced from natural gas fields, to load in Iran this month is estimated at 64 million barrels, or 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd), versus a peak of 92.8 million barrels, or 3.09 million bpd, in April, preliminary trade flows data on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed.

The National Iranian Oil Co has slashed its crude prices to keep buyer interest amid the August export drop. It has set the official selling price (OSP) for Iranian Heavy crude for September loading at the biggest discount since 2004, according to Reuters and trade data.

Iran is currently the third-largest producer among the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and benchmark oil futures traded in London have surged to their highest since June in anticipation of the loss of Iranian supply.

As MRC informed earlier, South Korea’s Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co Ltd has increased imports of condensate from the United States and Australia and is seeking more European cargoes to replace Iranian supplies.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wood has secured two new strategic modifications contracts with Equinor for the Mongstad refinery near Bergen, growing its downstream capability in Norway, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

These contracts continue Wood’s support of the Mongstad refinery which aligns with the company’s focus on expanding its existing footprint in the onshore market in Norway.

The scope of the contracts includes front-end engineering design (FEED) for a gas residue debottleneck project, and engineering and procurement services to reduce sulphur content in gasoline produced at the refinery.

Effective immediately, the contracts will be delivered by Wood’s engineering teams based in Sandefjord and Bergen, Norway, with support drawn from the company’s global expertise.

Dave Stewart, CEO of Wood’s Asset Solutions business in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, comments: “Wood has worked with Equinor for more than twenty years and is committed to supporting the Mongstad production facility and the key role it plays in processing oil and gas from the Norwegian continental shelf.

“Our local engineering teams will provide their in-depth knowledge of Equinor’s processes and systems, as well as decades of experience in the Norwegian energy sector to safely and successfully deliver these contracts.”

Earlier this year, the company successfully completed front-end engineering design and analysis for modifications at the refinery’s naphtha hydrotreating and storage systems.

Wood has a maintenance, modification and operations (MMO) framework agreement with Equinor worth approximately USD400 million, secured in 2015, to deliver maintenance and modification services to four installations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
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