PP imports into Russia rose by 17% in first nine months of 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) - Total imports of polypropylene (PP) into Russia increased to about 144,600 tonnes in the first nine months of 2018, up 17% compared to the same period of 2017. Supply of all grades of PP increased, according to a MRC's DataScope report.

Russian companies slightly reduced their PP imports in September, which were 13,400 tonnes versus 16,600 tonnes a month earlier, shipments of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) from Central Asia decreased. In general, PP imports into Russia were about 144,600 tonnes in January-September 2018, compared with 123,800 tonnes year on year. Imports of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with homopolymer PP accounting for the greatest increase in deliveries.

Overall, the structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

September imports of homopolymer PP decreased to 3,300 tonnes against 6,300 tonnes a month earlier, shipments of homopolymer PP raffia from Turkmenistan decreased two times. Overall imports of this PP grade reached 51,600 tonnes in the first nine months of 2018, compared to 40,800 a year earlier.

September imports of PP block copolymers was about 4,000 tonnes, which actually equal to the level in August. Imports of PP block copolymers into Russia rose to 35,900 tonnes in the first nine months of 2018, compared to 32,600 tonnes a year earlier.

Import of stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymer) in September also remained at the level of August and amounted to about 3,000 tonnes, while the decline in demand for film PP was offset by the growth in purchases of pipe PP random copolymers. Total imports of PP random copolymers in Russia were 27,100 tonnes in January - September 2018, compared with 23,000 tonnes year on year.

Imports of other propylene polymers for the reported period increased to about 30,100 tonnes compared with 27,400 tonnes in the same time a year earlier.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Frederique van Baarle, will take over as Head of the Procurement and Logistics Group function at Lanxess on 1 December 2018, reported GV.

Van Baarle is currently Head of Marketing & Sales Engineering Plastics sector for the EMEA region within the High Performance Materials business unit. She succeeds Bernd Makowka, who is retiring after 33 years with Lanxess and Bayer AG.

Van Baarle began her professional career in the chemical industry at the Dutch company Royal DSM in the year 2000. She joined Lanxess in 2011 and held various management positions in sales and marketing in the High Performance Elastomers (now Arlanxeo) and the High Performance Materials business units.

As MRC wrote earlier, in July, specialty chemicals company Lanxess announced plans to open a new applications development and technical services (AD&TS) laboratory for polyurethane dispersions (PUDs) in Latina, Italy.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea’s leading LPG supplier SK Gas Ltd. (part of SK Corporation) will spend KRW 2.02 trillion (~ USD 1.8 billion) to build a combined-cycle power plant and polypropylene (PP) plant in the southeastern industrial city of Ulsan, South Korea, as per GV.

The Korean company said it had signed a deal with the Ulsan city government and Ulsan Port Authority to build the two facilities and invest in new businesses such as renewable energy and energy storage systems.

The project will help provide stable electricity to Ulsan, one of Korea’s largest industrial clusters for automotive, shipbuilding and petrochemical industries. The port city is also home to SK Gas' LPG storage terminals, which are the world’s largest rock cavern storage facilities with a combined capacity of 270,000 tons. The company said it expects the new plants to play a central role in bolstering its gas chemical business.

The gas-fired combined-cycle power plant will be built on a 142,000 square meter site in Bugok-dong and have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts. It will start construction in 2021 and is due for completion in 2024. The PP manufacturing unit, with a projected capacity of 400,000 t/y, is to be set up in the nearby Yongyeon-dong area on a site of 150,000 square meters. The KRW 500 billion project will be jointly invested by SK Advanced Co., a subsidiary of SK Gas, and Polymirae. The new electricity business is expected to be a KRW 320 billion investment in fuel cells, solar power and other renewable energy technologies as well as energy storage systems.

As MRC informed before, in December 2017, SK Global Chemical (part of SK Corporation) completed its acquisition of Dow Chemical’s packaging product business. SK Global Chemical, the chemical unit of SK Innovation, signed a deal with Dow Chemical to acquire the US chemical firm’s polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) unit in October, 2017. PVDC is used for clear film packaging including plastic food wrap.

SK Global Chemical is a pioneering petrochemical company in Korea, being the first in the country to build a naphtha cracking facility in 1972. Through continuous facility investment, R&D and technological improvement, the company has maintained its position as the leader of the petrochemical industry in Korea.
MRC

МOSCOW (MRC) - Russia’s Afipsky, a mid-sized private oil refiner, has suspended oil refining to carry out maintenance of its two crude units from Oct. 6-17, data from the country’s energy ministry shows, as per Reuters.

In January-August, Afipsky refined 3.871 million tonnes of oil, producing gasoline, diesel and some other oil products, of which some were exported to Europe.

As it was written earlier, in March 2017, NefteGazIndustriya through project developer China National Chemical Engineering in the Afipsky Oil Refinery Expansion Project at Krasnodar, Russia. Under the deal, CB&I will be responsible for detailed engineering, procurement services, construction management and commissioning services of several process units.

Afipsky Oil Refinery Ltd. produces gas, diesel fuel, and fuel oil. Afipsky Oil Refinery Ltd. was formerly known as Afipsky Oil Refinery and changed its name to Afipsky Oil Refinery Ltd. in January 2002. The company was founded in 1975 and is based in Seversk, Russia. As of June 29, 2010, Afipsky Oil Refinery Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of OOO NefteGazIndustria.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SK Global Chemical has brought on-stream its No.1 linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the company has resumed operations at the plant on October 11, 2018. The plant was shut for maintenance in end-September, 2018.

Located in Ulsan, South Korea, the No.1 LLDPE plant has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2017, SK Global Chemical completed its acquisition of Dow Chemical’s packaging product business. SK Global Chemical, the chemical unit of SK Innovation, signed a deal with Dow Chemical to acquire the US chemical firm’s polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) unit last October. PVDC is used for clear film packaging including plastic food wrap. With the deal completed, SK Global Chemical now has full control of properties previously owned by Dow Chemical. They include Michigan-based facilities, related technologies and intellectual assets, as well as the trademark right to the plastic wrap brand Saran.

SK Global Chemical is a pioneering petrochemical company in Korea, being the first in the country to build a naphtha cracking facility in 1972. Through continuous facility investment, R&D and technological improvement, the company has maintained its position as the leader of the petrochemical industry in Korea.
MRC