China to begin product safety crackdown following Jiangsu blasts

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China will launch a nationwide inspection into the safety of industrial products like food packaging and hazardous chemicals, market regulators said, the country's latest effort to allay public concerns after two deadly blasts, reported Reuters.

The State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) said in a notice on its website that maintaining quality and safety of major industrial products would "provide a solid guarantee of social stability, promote high-quality development and meet public demand for a good life".

The campaign will last until October and focus on "high-risk industrial products", as well as systemic, regional or industry-wide safety risks. It said it would increase scrutiny of manufacturers and operators of high-risk products and look at the use of explosion-proof electrics and structures.

Firms that prove incapable of making the required rectifications will have their operation licenses revoked, the notice said.

Two deadly blasts in eastern coastal Jiangsu province killed 85 people and injured dozens more last month, putting China's rapidly expanding but sometimes ramshackle chemical industry under intense scrutiny.

The government has already launched a month-long inspection campaign into hazardous chemical production after a blast at a pesticide plant killed 78 people.

The local government of Yancheng will shut down the chemical industry park where the blast occurred, the state news agency Xinhua said. Dozens of other industrial parks and hundreds of other small chemical manufacturers are also expected to be closed, state-owned tabloid Global Times reported on Tuesday.
MRC

Celanese to expand methanol capacity at US plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, today announces plans to significantly expand methanol production capacity at the company’s Clear Lake acetyl intermediates manufacturing facility located in Pasadena, Texas, said the company.

Celanese has recently been granted approvals from the Fairway Methanol LLC board of directors for a second phase expansion, which will increase production to 1.7 million metric tons per year – approximately 125% of the original nameplate capacity – to be implemented as soon as operationally feasible and pending customary regulatory and permitting approvals. Financial details of the project are not being disclosed at this time.

In parallel with this expansion, Celanese and Mitsui will evaluate additional cost effective expansion options for the Clear Lake methanol unit.

"Celanese is pleased to deliver on a historic milestone achievement in methanol production using engineering leadership, manufacturing excellence and chemical industry expertise,” said Todd Elliott, Senior Vice President, Acetyls. “Methanol is a crucial raw material for the production of acetic acid and other key chemical products and these expansions will enable Celanese to manage future productivity and growth configuration options for the world’s largest acetyl intermediates production facility, as well as the production network of Celanese acetyls plants globally."

The Clear Lake methanol unit was commissioned in October of 2015 as a joint venture between Celanese and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., of Tokyo, Japan (NASDAQ: MITSY), with an annual capacity of 1.3 million metric tons. The unit utilizes abundant, low-cost natural gas in the U.S. Gulf Coast region as a feedstock. The joint venture operates as Fairway Methanol LLC, with both Celanese and Mitsui maintaining a 50/50 ownership.

The JV operates as Fairway Methanol LLC, with both Celanese and Mitsui maintaining a 50/50 ownership.

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. Our businesses use the full breadth of Celanese's global chemistry, technology and commercial expertise to create value for our customers, employees, shareholders and the corporation.
MRC

SIBUR and TransContainer sign letter of intent on shipment of ZapSibNeftekhim polymer products

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR Holding and TransContainer have entered into a letter of intent (LOI) outlining joint plans for transportation of polymer products across Russia and abroad, said the company.

The LOI was signed on the sidelines of the the 24th TransRussia International Exhibition for Transport and Logistics Services and Technologies by Vyacheslav Sarayev, TransContainer’s CEO, and Oleg Makarov, SIBUR’s Management Board member and Executive Director.

As stated in the LOI, TransContainer intends to provide SIBUR with transportation services to deliver ZapSibNeftekhim products to Southeast Asia, primarily China, in 40-foot rail containers.

To ensure on-going delivery, TransContainer commits to having sufficient number of containers permanently available at SIBUR’s terminal in Tobolsk.

"The proposed partnership with TransContainer will facilitate timely and efficient delivery of products from ZapSibNeftekhim polyolefin facilities scheduled for completion in Q2 2019,” said Oleg Makarov, member of SIBUR’s Management Board and Executive Director.

"We offer reliable delivery to major industry players helping them transport feedstock, components and end products. In addition, we are striving to provide new services in transportation and logistics, including high-speed container trains for ZapSibNeftekhim," said Vyacheslav Sarayev, TransContainer’s CEO.
MRC

Iraq to build 150,000 bpd refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraq’s oil ministry will construct a refinery in Kirkuk with a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day, Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban said, as per Reuters.

"The ministry has put the final touches on building an investment refinery in Kirkuk with a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day and according to the latest international standards," Ghadhban said during a visit to the northern city.

The oil ministry has put the final touches on project as per the latest global standards, stated the report citing the Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban.

Several Iraqi ministers visited Kirkuk this weekend to meet the governor of the province and discuss new projects and plans that have stalled, some of which were in the oil and electricity sectors.

Ghadhban stressed the importance of Kirkuk to the Iraqi federal government, reported OilPrice.com.

Last November, Iraq resumed oil exports from the Kirkuk province, a year after it had stopped oil flows from the area due to a dispute with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, it stated.

Weeks before the resumption of the Iraqi oil exports from the Kirkuk province, the Kurdistan region said that it had upgraded its oil export pipeline, boosting its capacity to 1 million bpd from 700,000 bpd, to accommodate future production growth from the region, it added.
MRC

Strikes impact Shell Pernis oil refinery but extent unclear

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Workers on strike at Royal Dutch Shell's Pernis plant in the Netherlands have taken offline a thermal gasoil installation, a Dutch union said, in the first sign of any impact from industrial action on Europe's largest oil refinery, reported Reuters.

Shell said earlier in the day that the unit had been shut. It later clarified that it had only repeated what the unions had said and would not comment on the status of the refinery.

The refinery, near Rotterdam, has the capacity to process 404,000 barrels per day of oil.

The CNV union also said strike action had disrupted planned maintenance at the adjacent Moerdijk petrochemical site.

A Shell spokeswoman said striking workers were trying to disrupt planned maintenance on the Moerdijk Lower Olefins (MLO) unit.

"Not taking out the factory for maintenance could have an effect on the environment, safety and licences, therefore we are keen to have the maintenance take place as scheduled," she said.

It was not clear how long the maintenance was planned to last.

A CNV spokesman reiterated that the refinery was running at 65 percent capacity. The Shell spokeswoman declined to comment.

On April 10, when unions had said the refinery was running at that rate, Shell said it had not shut any units there.

"They won't be able to get to the 65 percent unless they do shut it down but we are not at that point yet," the Shell spokeswoman said then.

Genscape, a specialist firm that tracks refinery upsets and provides real-time updates, has not yet issued any major disruption alerts regarding the refinery.

On Friday, it detected flaring, which is usually a sign of unit malfunction. But Shell said there was no "significant" flaring that day, rather a "short process upset" may have led to flaring.

Labour unions will decide on Tuesday whether to escalate their strike action at Pernis and Moerdijk, the CNV said.

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 incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 70 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects.
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