YNCC completes maintenance at No. 1 steam cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yeochun Naphtha Cracking Centre (YNCC) has restarted its No. 1 naphtha cracker following a maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea, informed that, the company has resumed operations at the cracker on June 21, 2019. The cracker was taken off-stream on May 20, 2019.

Located at Yeosu,South Korea, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 860,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 485,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, YNCC also has two other crackers at this site. Thus, the production capacity of its No. 2 naphtha cracker in Yeosu is 578,000 tonnes of ethylene per year ant that of its No.3 cracker - 470,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.

South Korea’s Yeochun NCC (YNCC) pyrolyzes naphtha to produce basic feedstock materials for the petrochemical industry. YNCC, a joint venture between South Korean firms Hanwha and Daelim, is a key exporter of ethylene and propylene in the country.
MRC

American Chemistry Council names Christopher Jahn as new president and CEO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Industry association the American Chemistry Council (ACC) has named Christopher Jahn, president and CEO of the Fertilizer Institute, as its new president and CEO, said Canplastics.

Jahn will succeed outgoing ACC head Cal Dooley, who has led ACC since 2008. Dooley announced his retirement in April, 2018. Jahn will take over the helm of the ACC in late October 2019.

Prior to joining the fertilizer Institute in 2013, Jahn served as president of the National Association of Chemical Distributors for seven years, ACC said in a statement. Earlier in his career he was president of the Contract Services Association. Jahn began his career on Capitol Hill in Washington, including time as chief of staff to U.S. Republican Senator Craig Thomas of Wyoming.

“I look forward to working with the [ACC] membership and the staff team to expand, advance, and cement ACC’s and the industry’s role as a valued public policy partner as we address the world’s sustainability challenges,” Jahn said in the statement.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Plastics Division of the ACC has worked with both the Plastics Industry Association and the Canadian Plastics Industry Association on a range of issues, including forming the North American Plastics Alliance in 2011 in a move to formalize their collaboration on programs and initiatives.
MRC

Russian Kinef refinery to raise primary July output

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia’s Kinef oil refinery has postponed July maintenance at a processing facility until August, allowing it to increase primary output by 0.3 million tonnes next month, reported Reuters with reference to two industry sources.

The maintenance is due to be carried out at a processing facility with a daily capacity of 22,860 tonnes.

We remind that, as MRC informed earlier, in H2 May 2019, Russia’s Antipinsky oil refinery said it had filed for bankruptcy, weeks after a London court ordered its assets be frozen in response to a lawsuit from a trading house. The refinery, which has a capacity of 9 million tonnes per year, had halted operations on several occasions in recent months because of a lack of funds to pay for crude oil deliveries.
MRC

Amcor selling three flexible packaging plants to private equity firm Kohlberg & Co

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Global packaging supplier Amcor plc is selling three former Bemis Co. packaging plants located in the United Kingdom and Ireland to U.S.-based private equity firm Kohlberg & Co. for USD394 million, said Canplastics.

In a June 25 statement, Melbourne, Australia-based Amcor said that the divestment was required by the European Commission at the time of approving Amcor’s acquisition of Bemis on 11 February 2019.

Last year, Amcor and Neenah, Wis.-based Bemis entered into a strategic agreement that will see Amcor acquire Bemis in a USD6.8 billion deal that creates a global leader in consumer packaging.

The sale to Kohlberg & Co. is expected to close in the coming weeks, Amcor said.

The three plants – located in Londonderry, Northern Ireland; Clara, Ireland; and Brigg, England – have a combined annual sales of approximately USD170 million from the sale of flexible packaging for healthcare products.

Amcor supplies packaging for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, home- and personal-care, and other products. The company employs about 48,000 workers, and generates USD13 billion in sales from operations that span about 250 locations in more than 40 countries.

As MRC informed earlier, packaging and tubing supplier Tekni-Plex Inc. has completed its acquisition of three manufacturing facilities from Amcor Flexible Packaging that serve medical device OEMs.
MRC

Engel names Michael Traxler as head of its mold technology division

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austria-based injection molding machine maker Engel Group has appointed Michael Traxler as head of its mold technology division, said Canplastics.

In a statement, Engel noted that Traxler has more than 30 years of experience in precision tool making and injection molding. He joined Engel in 2015 and previously headed the company’s packaging business unit in North America.

Traxler replaces outgoing leader of the technology division Udo Stahlschmidt, who is retiring.

“We would like to thank Udo Stahlschmidt for his many years of great commitment. With his sound expertise and keen sense of the specific requirements of the markets, he has very well positioned Engel’s mold technology department internationally,” Dr. Christoph Steger, CSO of the Engel Group, said in the statement. “With Michael Traxler, we are delighted to have found a successor who has already a lot of experience in this area and who will continue the work without skipping a beat. With Mr. Traxler, we will continue to advance the decentralised development of the mold technology know-how”.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2019, Engel has opened its second location in Mexico.
MRC