PE production in Russia rose by 3% in Jan-Aug 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's production of polyethylene (PE) grew in the first eight months of 2018 by 3% year on year to 1,215,500 tonnes. Output of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

August total PE production rose to 142,800 tonnes, whereas this figure was 141,200 tonnes a month earlier, local producers raised their HDPE output. Overall PE production reached 1,215,500 tonnes in January-August 2018, compared to 1,179,700 tonnes a year earlier. HDPE and LLDPE output increased, whereas production of low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased slightly.

The PE production structure by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

August total HDPE production grew to 81,500 tonnes, compared to 79,600 tonnes a month earlier, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat and Stavrolen increased their capacity utilisation. Russian plants' overall HDPE output reached 652,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2018, up by 1% year on year.

Last month's total LDPE production was slightly over 42,500 tonnes versus 42,700 in July, low output for the last two months of the summer were caused by the shutdown for maintenance at Angarsk Polymers Plant, Gazprom nefthim Salavat and Tomskneftekhim. Overall LDPE output exceeded 430,100 tonnes over the stated period, down by 1% year on year.

Overall LLDPE production reached 133,000 tonnes in the first eight months of 2018, up by almost a third year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries may have restarted its 263,776-barrel-per-day (bpd) Houston refinery over the weekend after the entire plant was shut by a power outage on Wednesday, reported Reuters with reference to Gulf Coast market sources.

LyondellBasell spokeswoman Chevalier Gray declined to discuss operations at the refinery.

The refinery’s 120,000-bpd 536 crude distillation unit (CDU) and 56,000-bpd 737 coker will remain shut, the sources said. The units were shut on Sept. 17 for a six-week overhaul.

As MRC wrote previously, in August 2016, LyondellBasell made the final investment decision to build a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant on the US Gulf Coast. The plant will have an annual capacity of 1.1 billion pounds (500,000 metric tons) and will be the first commercial plant to employ LyondellBasell's new proprietary Hyperzone PE technology. The start-up of the new plant is scheduled for 2019.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fujian Refining & Petrochemical (FREP) has restarted its No.3 polypropylene (PP) plant in Fujian Province, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the plant on September 23, following an unplanned outage. The plant was taken off-line on September 18, 2018 owing to a technical issues.

Located in Fujian province, China, the No. 3 PP plant has a production capacity of 220,000 mt/year.

The company also operates other two PP plants at the same location with production capacity of 120,000 mt/year and 360,000 mt/year.

FREP is a joint venture between Fujian Petrochemical Co. (50%), ExxonMobil China Petroleum and Petrochemical Co. (25%) and Saudi Aramco Sino Co. (25%). Fujian Petrochemical is a 50:50 JV between Sinopec and the Fujian provincial government.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it looks forward to handling industry negotiations on a national contract covering 30,000 U.S. refinery and chemical plant workers represented by the United Steelworkers union (USW), said Reuters.

The talks begin formally in January and Shell, which has represented its peers since 1997, is lead negotiator on behalf of companies including BP, Chevron Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp and others.

The refining industry this year has enjoyed strong profits, near-full utilization rates and record product exports. In the June quarter, the margin on turning crude to gasoline, diesel and other products was the highest since 2015.

"Our goal in the bargaining process will be to reach an agreement with the USW which ensures that our employees continue to receive competitive pay and benefits while keeping the industry competitive in the global marketplace,” Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said in a statement on Thursday.

He declined to comment on the oil industry’s positions in the talks.

Shell’s statement was similar to that made by the head of the USW’s oil bargaining program on Wednesday. The union is aiming for a three-year contract with wage increases of about 6 percent per year.

"Our goal is a mutually beneficial agreement for our members and the companies they work for,” Kim Nibarger, chairman of the union’s national oil bargaining program, said in an interview on Wednesday.

Union members with four years’ experience currently earn about USD40 an hour, Nibarger said. The current contract expires on Feb. 1. The one to be negotiated between Shell and United Steelworkers will set the pattern for contracts between local unions and refineries, chemical plants and pipeline operators.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA is operating its refineries at a utilization rate of 85 percent and has gained market share in diesel after a subsidy program was instituted, reported Reuters with reference to an executive.

Petrobras, as the company is known, previously reported its refinery utilization rate was 81 percent in June.

The company is still negotiating a partnership to finish building the Comperj refinery in Rio de Janeiro and it expected to have an announcement on the matter by the end of the year, said Jorge Celestino, director of refining and natural gas.

As MRC informed before, in October 2017, Petrobras’ minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica was excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette. The decree prevents Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced last year. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC