Hanwha Total Petrochemical to invest USD500m in Daesan facility

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hanwha Total Petrochemical is investing approximately USD500m to further expand its Daesan integrated refining and petrochemical complex in South Korea, as per Chemicals-technology.

The company operates as a 50/50 joint venture (JV) between Total and Hanwha. The planned investment is expected to increase annual polypropylene capacity by almost 60% to 1.1 million tonnes and ethylene capacity by 10% to 1.5 million tonnes by the end of 2020.

This latest project is part of a series of ongoing investments currently totalling USD750m. The expanded plant will use propane feedstock as a raw material to produce ethylene and polyethylene. The investment will enable Daesan to capture margins across the propylene-polypropylene value chain.

“This new investment in Daesan is fully in line with our strategy of growth in petrochemicals to meet global demand."
Hanwha Total Petrochemical’s additional polymer production will help meet local demand and supply the fast-growing market in Asia.

Total Refining & Chemicals’ president Bernard Pinatel said: "This new investment in Daesan is fully in line with our strategy of growth in petrochemicals to meet global demand, focusing investments on our world-class facilities and leveraging competitively priced feedstock.

"This polypropylene project complements our offering of high-value-added polymers to the fast-growing Asian market."

The Daesan refining and petrochemical complex is one of Total’s six integrated complexes and houses a flexible condensate splitter, a steam cracker and units that produce polymers, styrene and aromatics.
MRC

European PVC prices slightly decreased in December in the CIS countries

MOSOCW (MRC) -- Negotiations over prices of European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for December shipments to the CIS countries began this week. Most European producers slightly reduced their export prices despite of significant cut of ethylene prices, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

December contract price of ethylene was agreed down by EUR110/tonne from November, which presupposes the decrease in PVC production costs by, at least, EUR55/tonne. However, because of limited supply, some European PVC suppliers decreased prices slightly in the CIS markets. Some producers rolled over prices from the level of November.

Demand for PVC from the main consumers from the CIS countries continues to decrease due to the seasonal factor, but despite this, some European producers restricted deliveries because of power outages. Some buyers reported that they would receive part of the volume only at the end of the month.

Negotiations over December shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the CIS markets were held in the range of EUR715-760/tonne FCA, whereas deals a month earlier were done in the range of EUR715-780/tonne FCA.
MRC

SONGWON, Disheng Technology Co., Ltd Partner to produce UV absorbers


MOSCOW (MRC) -- SONGWON Industrial Co., Ltd. said it entered into a partnership with Disheng Technology Co., Ltd, (Jiangsu Province, China) for the production of some of its UVA light stabilizers, said Coatingsworld.

Disheng is currently in the process of building a new state-of-the-art factory dedicated to light stabilizers in Fujian Province, China.

Within the framework of the partnership, Disheng will supply SONGWON with a wide range of its UVAs (SONGSORB and SONGSORB CS) for plastics and coatings applications. The products will be sold globally under SONGWON trademark.

In partnership, the companies will: Ensure the availability of best-in-class products, processes and EHS practices;
Further strengthen SONGWON’s supply reliability for this product range thanks to reserved production capacities;
Closely cooperate on a technology level for the development of future light stabilizers.

"Entering into a partnership with a highly regarded and technically competent company such as Disheng that ensures long-term and reliable access to additional capacity for key products represents a significant step towards realizing our strategic plans going forward,” said Maurizio Butti, CEO of SONGWON Industrial Group. “It will not only support long-term growth but more importantly it will enable SONGWON to continue delivering the sustainable supply reliability our customers expect."

SONGWON will leverage its global reach and leading position in polymer and coatings stabilizers to market the products, while Disheng will focus on managing the manufacturing side. In this way we can make the best use of both companies’ complementary strengths” added Xingping Pan, president of Disheng Group.
MRC

Venezuelas refinery woes send fuel imports soaring - internal documents

MOSCOW (MRC) - Venezuela this month plans to import over 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refined products to ease domestic fuel shortages caused by hobbled refineries and need to prioritize exports, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The country with the world’s largest crude reserves this year has not been able to make enough fuel to meet local demand and fulfill supply contracts with customers, including those under oil-for-loan agreements with Russia and China, the documents showed.

From January through November, state-run oil firm PDVSA bought 19,000 bpd of crude mostly to feed its Isla refinery in Curacao and 234,000 bpd of refined products, including naphtha for diluting its extra heavy oil output, gasoline, diesel for power generation and components to make motor fuel.

The 253,000 bpd of total imports so far this year represent an all-time record and a 40-percent increase compared with the 180,250 bpd bought last year, according to internal PDVSA data analyzed by Reuters.

The purchases, which have expanded despite PDVSA’s cash constraints, have been negotiated almost entirely through swaps with fuel providers and traders, which receive Venezuelan crude and residual fuel, according to the data, a PDVSA employee and traders involved in the deals.

“Since February, we have not paid a single imported cargo with cash. We are exchanging the imported fuel for (Venezuelan) asphalt, virgin naphtha, natural gasoline, fuel oil, residual crude, whatever we have,” said the PDVSA employee who could not be identified because the information is private.

Venezuela’s fuel demand has decreased to 325,000 bpd in recent months - half the peak volume registered a decade ago - according to the PDVSA documents, amid a severe economic recession. Still, PDVSA has been unable to supply gas stations, airports, power plants and industrial customers, leading to drivers waiting to fill their tanks and customers fighting over cooking gas.

From January through November, PDVSA delivered 270,000 bpd of domestic and imported fuel to the domestic market, 17 percent below the demand level, the documents showed.
MRC

Brazilian antitrust watchdog may force Petrobras to sell refineries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian antitrust watchdog Cade will begin on an investigation that may result in mandatory sales of refineries by state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, reported Reuters with reference to newspaper Valor Economico.

According to the paper, Cade is analyzing the influence of Petrobras on fuel prices. The company controls almost 100 percent of refining in the country. Cade and Petrobras did not immediately comment on the matter.

Petrobras has proposed earlier this year to sell a 60 percent stake in four refineries. But a truckers strike that pressured the company’s pricing policies spooked buyers, and a decision by Supreme Court Justice Ricardo Lewandowski forced the company to halt the sale process.

As MRC wrote previously, in October 2017, Petrobras’s 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 prevented 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