Thyssenkrupp gets Egypt fertilizer plant order

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thyssenkrupp AG said Monday that it has received a large order from Egypt's El Nasr Company for Intermediate Chemicals to design and build a fertilizer complex, said the company.

The German engineering group said the order value is several hundred million euros.

Thyssenkrupp said the new complex will be built around 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of Cairo and should begin operations in 2022.

The complex is expected to be operational in 2022 and will have an annual production of up to 440,000 tonnes of ammonia, 380,000 tonnes of urea and 300,000 tonnes of calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN).

The new plants are part of NCIC’s plans to expand its current product portfolio to include high-quality nitrogen fertilizer for local and export markets, said the release.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A storage tank fire on the Houston Ship Channel sent a plume of black smoke across the eastern half of the city on Sunday forcing residents in the suburb of Deer Park, Texas, to remain indoors, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A giant storage tank containing volatile naphtha at Intercontinental Terminals Co (ITC) Deer Park site continued to burn six hours after the blaze broke out at about 10:30 a.m. local time (1530 GMT).

Ships were continuing to move along the ship channel which connects refineries and chemical plants in Houston and Texas City, Texas, with the Gulf of Mexico. The only restriction on shipping was an order from the U.S. Coast Guard not to dock at ITC or an adjoining terminal.

The fire was not affecting operations at the nearby Royal Dutch Shell Plc joint-venture refinery in Deer Park, according to Shell spokesman Ray Fisher.

ITC Vice President Alice Richardson said the company was attempting to gain control over the fire by using fire-suppressing foam. “We’re fighting this fire defensively to keep it contained to this tank,” Richardson told a news conference.

The burning tank is surrounded by several other storage tanks within a spill containment dike.

Naphtha derived from refining crude oil is most often used to create reformates which boost octane in gasoline.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Uganda has approved Italian oil services firm Saipem’s plan for early engineering work on what is due to become a 60,000 barrel per day refinery in the East African country, a nascent oil producer, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to Saipem.

In April last year, Uganda signed a deal with a consortium, including a subsidiary of General Electric, to build and operate a 60,000 barrel per day refinery that will cost $3 billion-$4 billion and is due to come online by 2023.

The other members in the consortium, which expects to give the final go-ahead for investment in the project by the end of 2020, are YAATRA Africa and LionWorks Group.

"(Ugandan Energy) Minister (Irene) Muloni approved the proposal for a technical solution developed by Saipem" for early-phase engineering and procurement for the refinery project, the company said.

France’s Total, Britain’s Tullow and China’s CNOOC are developing Uganda’s onshore oil.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has said he wants his country to process some of the crude the country expects to start producing by 2022 to help create jobs and wring more benefits from the sector by using the refinery to develop associated petrochemical industries.

The refinery could put Uganda on a different path from many other African crude producers whose lack of refining capacity means they have to export the resource in raw form and buy back costly fuel, draining their foreign exchange earnings and sapping local economies.

As MRC reported previously, in November 2016, oil firms including China's Sinopec expressed an interest in developing Uganda's planned oil refinery, and an investor for the project was to be selected by February 2017.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global specialty materials company, has increased March list and off-list selling prices for Ateva EVA polymers in Asia, as per the company's press release.

The price increases below was effective for orders shipped on or after 13 March, 2018, or as contracts otherwise allow.

Thus, the company's EVA prices went up by USD80/mt for Asia.

As MRC wrote before, Celanese last raised its Ateva EVA polymers prices in Asia on 1 November 2018 by USD110/mt.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2018 net sales of USD7.2 billion.
MRC

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.
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