September HDPE prices considerably grew in Russia

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russian producers raised the prices of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for supplies in September in the domestic market by Rb3,000-11,000/tonne in comparison with August. The reason for the price rise was the deficit and the devaluation of the rouble, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Traditionally, since mid-summer, there has been a significant increase in demand in the Russian HDPE market, and, together with it, a deficit. The current July was no exception, in the market there was a tight supply of pipe polyethylene.

Consumers of other grades of HDPE also had faced limited supply in August. Local producers can not easily compensate the lack of PE supply, while the weakening of the rouble against the dollar made imports quite expensive.

On the back of the tight supply and devaluation of the rouble, Russian producers raised the prices of HDPE for September in the domestic market by Rb3,000-11,000/tonne. The pipe high density polyethylene (HDPE) segment accounted for the acutest shortage. Key suppliers - Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat and Kazanorgsintez will significantly reduce the supply of pipe PE to the domestic market this month for a number of reasons.

Russian black PE100 price for September grew by Rb10,000/tonne in comparison with the level in August. The situation in film HDPE market is less critical, but there is also a significant price increase for September supplies.
And if in past years the lack of Russian material was compensated by increasing imports, in the current year devaluation of the rouble capped the imports.

Some sellers in second half of August increased the price of film HDPE to Rb115,000-118,000/tonne FCA, including VAT. Russian producers increased September film HDPE prices by Rb5,000-11,000/tonne.

The lowest price growth is seen in the segment of injection moulded HDPE, here the increase was only by Rb3,000/tonne. The demand for this polyethylene is low in the market, while supply is sufficient.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. has expanded production facilities to manufacture HI-ZEX MILLION™ ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene in response to growing demand for automotive and industrial batteries, said the company on its website.

The additional facilities came online on August 7. This action boosts the company's production capacity for HI-ZEX MILLION™ by about 15% to 8,500 tons per year.

Mitsui Chemicals developed HI-ZEX MILLION™ through application of the company’s proprietary technology in catalysts and processes, giving this ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene an average molecular weight of up to 6 million. Due to the material's excellent chemical resistance, abrasion resistance, impact resistance and self-lubrication, it is used in diverse fields such as lithium-ion battery separators, industrial materials and medical devices.

Furthermore, HI-ZEX MILLION™ retains a consistent shape and provides excellent solubility. With these properties helping to streamline customers' fabrication processes, the product has been certificated Mitsui Chemical's Blue Value.

Positioning HI-ZEX MILLION™ as a strategic product in the key business domain of mobility, Mitsui Chemicals will continue to be proactive in further strengthening and expanding this business.

Mitsui Chemicals Group will continue to strengthen and expand PP compounds business through enhancing production, sales and technology service structure to supply high-quality products, responding to automobile manufacturers’ light-weight needs and their global development.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The Chilean government ordered the suspension of operations at state-run energy firm ENAP's refinery and port on the country's central coastline after a toxic gas leak in the area, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The leak occurred on Thursday close to the port of Ventanas, 90 miles (145 kilometers) northeast of Santiago, the government said in a statement. Residents, including children at a nearby school, sought medical attention for nausea and vomiting, according to media reports, prompting an investigation.

"We have been able to determine that ENAP was conducting some work that could have resulted in the emission of these toxic gases," the environment minister Carolina Schmidt said in a statement. "For that reason, we decided to immediately close down all its operations."

ENAP declined to comment.

ENAP runs a refinery that processes 104,000 barrels of oil a day and a maritime port in the area.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP Plc has successfully installed plant operations advisor (POA), a cloud-based advanced analytics solution developed with Baker Hughes, a GE company, across all four of its operated production platforms in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, as per Worldofchemicals.

The announcement comes after an initial deployment of POA proved the technology could help prevent unplanned downtime at BP’s Atlantis platform in the Gulf. The technology has now been successfully installed and tested at BP’s Thunder Horse, Na Kika and Mad Dog platforms – and it will continue to be deployed to more than 30 of BP’s upstream assets across the globe.

Built on GE’s Predix platform, POA applies analytics to real-time data from the production system and provides system-level insights to engineers so operational issues on processes and equipment can be addressed before they become significant. POA helps engineers manage the performance of BP’s offshore assets by further ensuring that assets operate within safe operating limits to reduce unplanned downtime.

Now live across the Gulf of Mexico, POA works across more than 1,200 mission-critical pieces of equipment, analyzing more than 155 million data points per day and delivering insights on performance and maintenance. There are plans to continue augmenting the analytical capabilities in the system as POA is expanded to BP’s upstream assets around the globe.

BP and BHGE announced a partnership in 2016 to develop POA, an industry-wide solution for improved plant reliability. The teams have built a suite of cloud-based Industrial 'internet of things' (IoT) solutions that have been tailor-fit for BP’s oil and gas operations.

BP is currently in the process of deploying POA to its operations in Angola with additional deployments in Oman and the North Sea scheduled for 2019.

"BP has been one of the pioneers in digital technology in our industry, and co-development of Plant Operations Advisor with BHGE is a key plank of modernizing and transforming our upstream operations. We expect the deployment of this technology not only to deliver improvements in safety, reliability and performance of our assets but also to help raise the bar for the entire oil and gas industry," said Ahmed Hashmi, BP’s global head of upstream technology.

"The partnership between BP and BHGE has resulted in a unique set of capabilities that quickly find valuable insights in streams of operational data. Together, we are creating leading-edge technologies to automate processes and increase the safety and reliability of BP’s upstream assets. As we extend the solution globally, this will become the largest upstream Industrial IoT deployment in the world when complete," added Matthias Heilmann, president and CEO of digital solutions and chief digital officer for Baker Hughes, a GE company.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total announced that it sold its equity in India’s Hazira Terminal to Shell and signed an LNG sales agreement with the company, as per Process-worldwide.

The French group has signed a binding Letter of Intent (LOI) with Shell for the sale of its 26?% minority equity stake in Hazira LNG regasification terminal in India. The transaction remains subject to the approval of regulatory authorities.

In parallel, Total has signed an agreement to sell 0.5?million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year to Shell over 5 years, on a delivery basis to supply the markets of India and neighboring countries. The deliveries will be sourced from the company’s global LNG portfolio and are expected to begin in 2019. Philippe Sauquet, President Gas, Renewables and Power, said that the deal would enable Total to capture value through an asset disposal, while the LNG sales contract allowed them to maintain the balance of our LNG portfolio.

The Hazira Terminal includes a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and re-gasification terminal within a deepwater seaport.
MRC