Kraton Invests in Flexible Cariflex Semi Works Latex Unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kraton Corporation KRA, -0.30% a leading global producer of styrenic block copolymers, specialty polymers and high-value performance products derived from pine wood pulping co-products, has approved the construction of a semi works latex unit in Paulinia, Brazil, said the company.

Construction is scheduled to complete by the first quarter of 2020 and ready for commissioning during the second quarter of 2020. "The new semi works unit will enable further acceleration of our innovation projects," said Philippe Henderson, Kraton's Market Development Director for Cariflex Polyisoprene Products. "We can reduce the cost and complexity during the early stages of new product scale-up activities and commercialization, allowing us to improve time to market."

This capability could lead to more flexible commercialization of the new Cariflex IR2GL1 Latex, a next generation thermoplastic elastomer latex offering purity, strength and softness while reducing Type I and Type IV allergies frequently encountered in dipped goods. The platform would allow for more efficient transition between the laboratory pilot unit and the full scale commercial unit. It could be used for early stage commercialization volumes. It could also offer invaluable support in the context of Management of Change, such as alternative raw material assessments for security of supply or process, and process control studies.

The semi works latex unit will be able to operate on the basis of the Direct Connect (DC) mode or using solid polymer feedstock (non-DC mode). In DC mode, the semi works unit will pump polymer materials directly from the onsite commercial polymerization reactor. This will provide tremendous flexibility to embrace ambitious development projects based on polymers either supplied by third parties, or sourced from Kraton's core anionic polymerization operations.

"We believe the Cariflex technology has high growth potential," said Henderson. "This platform will enhance our ability to capitalize on key market opportunities through product portfolio expansion." Earlier this year, Kraton initiated a process to review strategic alternatives for the Cariflex business, which may result in a sale of the business.

About Kraton Corporation Kraton Corporation KRA, -0.30% is a leading global producer of styrenic block copolymers, specialty polymers and high-value performance products derived from pine wood pulping co-products. Kraton's polymers are used in a wide range of applications, including adhesives, coatings, consumer and personal care products, sealants and lubricants, medical, packaging, automotive, paving and roofing applications. As the largest global provider in the pine chemicals industry, the company's pine-based specialty products are sold into adhesive, road and construction and tire markets, and it produces and sells a broad range of performance chemicals into markets that include fuel additives, oilfield chemicals, coatings, metalworking fluids and lubricants, inks and mining. Kraton offers its products to a diverse customer base in numerous countries worldwide. Kraton, the Kraton logo and Cariflex are all trademarks of Kraton Corporation, or its subsidiaries or affiliates.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borouge (part of Borealis) has brought on-stream its No. 3 cracker following a maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source based in the Middle East informed that the company has completed turnaround at its cracker last week. The cracker was shut for maintenance on January 5, 2019.

Located at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi in UAE, the No.3 cracker has a production capacity of 1.5 mmt/year.

As MRC informed earier, in September 2018, Borouge PP Plant EPCBorouge signed the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract with Maire Tecnimont Group for building its fifth polypropylene (PP) plant with a capacity of 480,000 t/y in Ruwais to increase production capacity of PP by 25% to 2.24 million tonnes t/y. This opens up new opportunities to integrate with the local industries. The new PP5 plant will be added to the existing Borouge 3 plants in Ruwais scheduled to be commissioned in Q3 2021.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Stavrolen, Russia's major polyolefins producer, had resumed its polypropylene (PP) production by the beginning of the week after an unscheduled shutdown, according to ICIS-MRC Price report with reference to the producer's customers.

The plant's customers said Stavrolen was forced to shut its PP production on 1 March due to technical issues. The plant had resumed PP output by 11 March.

Stavrolen's (part of Lukoil) annual capacity of PP and HDPE production is 120,000 and 300,000 tonnes, respectively. The plant's output of propylene polymers and HDPE exceeded 15,100 tonnes and 45,100 tonnes, respectively, in the first two months of 2019.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's Haldia Petrochemicals has received the approval to build an aromatics plant with 1.6 million mt/year of paraxylene capacity along with a 2.5 million mt/year purified terephthalic acid plant in the state of Odisha, as per Apic-online.

There are also plans to build a refinery at the same location, and the entire project is expected to be completed in about five years.Haldia Petrochemical is part of India's Chatterjee Group, which also owns India's Materials Chemicals and Performance Intermediaries Pte. Ltd., a producer of PTA.

The company has two PTA plants with a total capacity of 1.27 million mt/year at Haldia.

As MRC informed before, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) resumed production at its cracker and downstream plants following a maintenance turnaround on 9-10 June, 2018. The complex was shut on May 10, 2018 for a period of about 20-25 days. Located at Haldia in the eastern Indian state of west Bengal, the complex can produce 700,000 mt/year of ethylene and 350,000 mt/year of propylene and provides feedstock to a 330,000 mt/year high density PE plant, a 370,000 mt/year HDPE/linear low PE swing plant and a 350,000 mt/year polypropylene unit.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP)
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell has struck a deal with Dutch tank terminal firm HES International to partially restart a German oil refinery suspended since 2011 in response to new restrictions on marine fuels, sources told Reuters.

A new cap set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that will cut the sulfur content in shipping fuel to 0.5 percent from 3.5 percent from next year is set to be one of the biggest fundamental events to hit oil markets in years.

HES Wilhelmshaven Tank Terminal is in the process of reinstalling the vacuum distillation unit (VDU) at Wilhelmshaven to produce low-sulfur bunker fuels ahead of the implementation of the IMO rules, a spokeswoman for the company said.

HES said it had “reached a tolling agreement with a customer,” but declined to comment on the parties involved.

However, two trading sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters the customer in question is Shell. Shell declined to comment.

The agreement is akin to a processing deal, whereby Shell brings in the feedstock and handles the end product, one of the sources said.

HES bought the 260,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery from ConocoPhillips in 2011 and converted it into a large-scale tank terminal facility with capacity of 1.3 million cubic meters.

The plant’s refining capacity was shuttered at a time when several European refineries were finding it uncompetitive to remain operational, as newer, more complex mega-refineries emerged in other regions like the Middle East and Asia.

But as the new IMO rules dictate a massive shift in oil product slates from higher to low sulfur, the economics are shifting and oil companies and traders are resorting to creative ideas to meet the new demand.

The IMO sulfur restrictions will lead high-sulfur fuel oil demand to fall 60 percent to 1.4 MMbpd next year, while marine gasoil demand will more than double to 2 MMbpd, the International Energy Agency forecast this week.

Vacuum distillation is an integral part of the refining process. VDUs typically run on residual fuel produced from distilling crude to produce vacuum gasoil which is then used to feed upgrading units that make gasoline and diesel.

However, the Wilhelmshaven VDU will not be running on residual fuel, HES said.

One of the sources said the plan is to process heavy, low-sulfur crudes like Brazilian grades to produce a range of products, including maximum 0.5 percent sulfur fuel oil or distillate marine fuels.

HES is 70 percent owned by private investment firm Riverstone, with the remaining 30 percent held by the Carlyle Group.

Infrastructure funds managed by banks Macquarie and Goldman Sachs agreed in principle last year to buy the company.

As MRC wrote previously, in May 2018, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Shell Nanhai B.V. (Shell) announced the official start-up of the second ethylene cracker at their Nanhai petrochemicals complex in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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