North American plastics industry associations support USMCA signing

MOSCOW (MRC) -- North America’s three largest plastics trade groups are praising the Nov. 30 signing of a new trade agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, as per Canplastics.

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA), the Washington. D.C.-based Plastics Industry Association, and the Asociacion Nacional de Industrias del Plastico in Mexico City have issued a joint statement in response to the signing of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), in which they “applaud the work of negotiators from the U.S., Mexico and Canada on the signing of a new, modernized trade agreement that sets the stage for greater certainty throughout the continent – certainty that will support continued business growth and innovation for the plastics industries of each party to the agreement."

"The USMCA makes crucial upgrades and updates to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that will enable the world’s strongest trilateral trade relationship to become even stronger,” the statement said. "We urge the legislatures of the U.S., Canada and Mexico to ratify this agreement and give the industry the certainty it needs to hire new workers and invest in the future, safe in the knowledge that North America once again has a vibrant, reliable trade regime to build on."

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) also issued a statement in support of the USMCA signing, but also called on U.S. President Donald Trump to use the agreement to cancel tariffs on steel and aluminum. “The Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum still cast a shadow over the zero-tariff philosophy of the USMCA,” ACC said. “We urge President Trump to rescind all tariffs and avoid any quotas on steel and aluminum in order to maximize the job and economic growth made possible by the USMCA."
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Paul Polman, the CEO of global consumer goods manufacturer Unilever, will retire from the company effective January 1, 2019, to be replaced byAlan Jope, who is currently the president of Unilever’s beauty and personal care division, as per Canplastics.

Polman has been Unilever CEO for over 10 years, during which time the company transitioned towards what it calls a “new model of sustainable growth.” Among other initiatives, Unilever announced plans to have all of its plastic packaging fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

“Paul is an exceptional business leader who has transformed Unilever, making it one of the best-performing companies in its sector, and one of the most admired businesses in the world,” Unilever chairman Marijn Dekkers said in a statement. “His role in helping to define a new era of responsible capitalism, embodied in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, marks him out as one of the most far-sighted business leaders of his generation.”

Jope, 54, has led beauty and personal care, Unilever’s largest division, since 2014, and has been on the company’s Leadership Executive since 2011. He joined the company as a graduate marketing trainee in 1985.

Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies. Its Canadian division, Unilever Canada, is headquartered in Toronto.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil refiners’ profits in Asia have slumped to the lowest in more than four years after refineries ramped up output in the fourth quarter and churned out excess fuel in anticipation of stronger demand during winter, reported Reuters.

Oil inventories are building as new refineries in China and Vietnam are running at full tilt, adding to Asia’s supplies.

Oil demand also slowed after global Brent crude prices jumped to more than USD80 a barrel in September and as the global economic outlook turned gloomy, although a sharp retreat in prices in the past month to below $60 could start to spur demand again.

Factory activity and export orders weakened in November, prompting analysts to predict no quick rebound amid persistent trade tensions.

The margins at a typical Singapore complex refinery, a reference for profits at refineries across Asia, fell to USD2.49 a barrel on Thursday, the lowest since August 2014, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

The margins are also the lowest for this time of the year since 2008, the data showed.

Weakness in the oil complex started in October in gasoline and naphtha, a feedstock for petrochemicals, as refiners processed more light oil that gives a bigger yield on these products also known as light distillates.

"The glut in the market is in light oil," Martijn Rats, Morgan Stanley’s global oil strategist said.

"The gasoline crack has deteriorated an enormous amount and is very close to zero at the moment which is very unusual."

Refiners now face losses of more than USD1 a barrel for every barrel of gasoline they produced.

Spot gasoil and jet fuel cargoes are also being sold at deeper discounts after China issued more export quotas for state refiners to ship products overseas and added to supplies within Asia.

The discount for gasoil, the main diesel grade with 10 parts per million (ppm) sulphur, is at its widest since 2011 when Reuters first started assessing the grade.

Several oil tankers are storing gasoil off Taiwan amid a mild winter that reduces demand to burn oil for heating purposes, traders said.

"It’s weather driven ... a mild winter so far in Europe and Asia is the killer. The volatility will continue till you get strong weather support," said Sri Paravaikkarasu, head of east of Suez oil for consultants FGE in Singapore.

KY Lin, a spokesman at Formosa Petrochemical Corp, one of the largest fuel exporters in Asia, is hopeful that the recent drop in oil prices could boost demand.

"Even though there’s an ongoing trade war, countries will still need to use oil," he said.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A joint-venture refinery and chemical project between China National Petroleum Corp and Venezuelan state oil and gas firm PDVSA has been reactivated and is expected to be operational in late 2021, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to Chinese financial publication Caixin.

The 400,000 barrels-per-day refinery, to be built in an industrial park in Jieyang in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, will cost 65.4 billion yuan (USD9.53 billion)in total investment, Caixin said.

CNPC will make 60 percent of the investment and PDVSA the remaining 40 percent. The refinery is expected to start trial operation in October 2021 and the chemical complex in December 2021, Caixin said.

CNPC, parent of PetroChina, first planned the mega project more than a decade ago, but the investment has been hindered and delayed by declining crude oil production in Venezuela, which is now under severe economic stress.

China plowed more than USD50 billion into Venezuela over a decade through oil-for-loan agreements that helped Beijing secure energy supplies while bolstering an anti-Washington ally in Latin America.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, has announced that China Petroleum Materials Limited Corporation (CPMC) and Petrochina Liaoyang Petrochemical Company (LYPC) have selected LyondellBasell's Spherizone technology for a 300KT per year polypropylene (PP) plant planned to be built at Liaoyang, Liaoning Province, China, as per LBI's press release.

"LyondellBasell is very pleased to expand its relationship with Petrochina with this license at Liaoyang,” said Jim Seward, vice president technology business and sustainability at LyondellBasell. “With the ability to produce products having superior properties and performance, the Spherizone process technology is a new benchmark for polypropylene production."

"This process technology was selected through an international bidding process on the basis of the technical exchanges with various licensees. It has the extraordinary ability to produce high value-added polypropylene products," said Mr. Li Guihe vice president of LYPC.

Mr. Chu Yuan Lin, vice president of CPMC stated: "LyondellBasell is the global leader in polyolefin technologies; we believe that successful cooperation can bring good and long-term economic benefits to the PetroChina companies."

The Spherizone process is the newest and most advanced polypropylene technology expanding the product portfolio beyond the traditional range of polypropylene grades. Unlike other PP process technologies, it also allows the production of entirely new families of propylene-based polymers using its unique multi-zone circulating reactor system. This project represents the ninth Spherizone line licensed in China. With this license, the total design and operating capacity of Spherizone lines in China will exceed 3,000 kilotons per year.

As MRC wrote before, LyondellBasell has recently announced that Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co. Ltd (ZPCC) has selected LyondellBasell’s polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) technologies for five new plants. The plants will be built in ZPCC’s petrochemical complex in Zhoushan City, China. The complex will include two 450 000 tpy PP plants that will use LyondellBasell’s Spherizone PP process technology and two LDPE plants, 300 000 and 400 000 tpy respectively, which will use Lupotech T process technology. The complex will also include a 350 000 tpy HDPE plant which will use Hostalen ACP process technology.

At a total capacity of almost 2 million t, these new licenses constitute the largest volume of new capacity ever licensed by LyondellBasell in a single location.

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.
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