Sichuan Shengda successfully commissions PTA unit in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shanghai?Sichuan Shengda has successfully started up a new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in Nanchong, Sichuan Province, China, as per Apic-online.

The PTA facility, which utilizes Invista's proprietary P7 PTA process technology, has a nameplate capacity of 1-million t/y. On-spec production was achieved on 24 May 2019.

The plant also uses Invista's proprietary R2R technology for the production of benzoic acid. Cost of the project was not given.

"With this start-up, IPT (Invista Performance Technologies) and our licensees have now successfully commissioned seven PTA projects totaling over 11-million tons per annum capacity since 2015," noted IPT President Mike Pickens.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in February 2019, Indorama Ventures (IVL) commenced production of PTA and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at plants it acquired from Artlant PTA in Portugal and EIPET in Egypt, respectively.
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MOSCOW (MRC) – MMEX Resources Corp a development stage company focusing on the acquisition, development and financing of oil, gas, refining and infrastructure projects in Texas and The Americas announced that it has completed the third and final leg of its product sales with another international company for its planned Pecos County projects previously announced by MMEX, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We have now signed the agreement to sell our planned naphtha production to a SuperMajor international energy and trading company for delivery by rail to the Texas Gulf refinery and petrochemical markets. This completes 100 percent of our refined product sales package with gold standard companies and all three off-take agreements provide the market for our project expansion in the Permian Basin. Again, it underscores the opportunity we offer to our area oil and gas producers with other take-away capacity and, quite importantly, these agreements have allowed us to initiate negotiations for MMEX plans to build and own crude oil, IMO 2020 marine fuel and naphtha storage and terminal facilities in the Texas Gulf Coast,” Jack W. Hanks, President & CEO of MMEX Resources Corp. said.

MMEX has announced plans to build a crude oil refinery complex in the Permian Basin in two phases, with Phase 1 being a 10,000 BPD Crude Distillation Unit which is expected to produce diesel, naphtha and residual fuel oil, and Phase 2 being a full-scale crude oil refinery with capacity of up to 100,000 BPD, projected to produce a full slate of refined products. Completion of the Phase 1 distillation unit is contingent upon obtaining the necessary financing for the project.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s fuel producers are making extended curbs to their output in the third quarter after supply from mammoth new refineries stoked an already-sizeable glut, potentially dragging on crude oil demand from the world’s biggest importer of the commodity, said Hydracarbonprocessing.

Private refiner Hengli Petrochemical (600346.SS) ramped up its 400,000-barrels per day (bpd) plant in northeast China to full capacity in May, while Zhejiang Petrochemical began trial runs around the same time at a similar-sized refinery on the east coast.

In the wake of that wave of fresh supply and amid slowing local demand for fuels such as gasoline and diesel, refiners are cutting their crude processing, or throughput, industry sources and analysts said. That drop should sap their appetite for crude imports, pulling down on international oil prices LCOc1 that have already been hit by fears over a slowing global economy.

The swollen surplus of fuel products could also send China’s fuel exports surging to new highs and further pinch Asian refining profits.

“For markets that are already consumed with fears about a global recession ... headline numbers of oil demand growth slowing alongside talk of run cuts seem to reinforce a bearish narrative,” said Michal Meidan, a London-based analyst at Energy Aspects.

Small-scale refiners known as ‘teapots’, mainly located in Shandong province, are coming under most pressure to make fresh output cuts, analysts said, extending curbs many of them made in May and June.

Teapots have been seen as a bellwether for China’s oil demand since 2015 when they became first-time crude oil importers. They now make up a fifth of the nation’s total crude imports.

Dongming Petrochemical Group, the province’s largest independent refinery, is closing its 240,000-bpd plant this week for two months of maintenance in the wake of “poor margins”, according to a company source.

That comes after plants were losing 300-350 yuan (USD44-$51) on each TON of crude oil they processed in June, their largest such loss in nearly four years, said Shi Linlin, an analyst at consultancy JLC, and analyst Wang Zhao at Sublime China Information, another consultancy in the province.

Seven plants in Shandong - including Dongming - with total crude processing capacity of 470,000 bpd will be offline in July for overhauls, JLC estimates. That’s equivalent to a throughput cut of 14 million barrels of crude in July alone, or nearly 4 percent of the country’s processing levels in May.

Meanwhile, two major coastal plants run by Sinopec Corp (0386.HK), Asia’s largest refiner, are planning to trim throughput by nearly 2%, or roughly 10,400 barrels per day, in July-September from the second quarter, plant sources said.

That comes after these two plants were hit by refining losses in June for the first time this year. Sinopec did not respond to a request for comment.

All refinery sources declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) published an updated standard to address fire prevention and improve safety across the downstream segment of the industry, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

RP 2001, Fire Protection in Refineries, includes important revisions on hazard analysis, new ways to improve the design of refineries to help prevent fires, and new information on managing the potential environmental impact of firefighting foams and marine firefighting. API convened experts across the natural gas and oil industry, and collaborated with important stakeholders, including the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the United States Coast Guard on important updates made to this safety standard.

"API experts used state of the art information and key recommendations from NFPA, EPA, OSHA, and the U.S. Coast Guard to develop the new edition of Fire Protection in Refineries. Implementation of RP 2001 will advance the safety of downstream facilities’ operations, and safeguard the environment and surrounding communities," said Debra Phillips, Vice President, API’s Global Industry Services.

"API RP 2001, Fire Protection in Refineries, is consistent with Chevron’s approach, which gives considerable attention to fire prevention practices and is not just about fire extinguishment. Implementation of the concepts within this document by corporate and field personnel will make their facilities safer for their workforce and neighbors as well as help protect their assets," said Tim Blackford, Team Lead - Process Safety Engineering at Chevron Energy Technology Company.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nelipak Corp., a supplier of rigid packaging for the medical device and pharmaceutical industries, has been acquired by Kohlberg & Co. LLC, a private equity firm headquartered in Mount Kisco, N.Y.? cjj,oftn Canplastics.

Nelipak was sold to Kohlberg & Co. by Wisconsin-based investment firm Mason Wells; the terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Nelipak, headquartered in Cranston, R.I, manufactures thermoformed medical trays and blisters, pharmaceutical handling trays, surgical procedure trays and lidding materials. The company’s products are primarily designed for Class II and Class III medical devices, which are high-value, implantable devices.

It will continue operating with Nelipak Healthcare Packaging as its name. In addition to its Rhode Island facility, Nelipak’s six other facilities are located in Arizona, Pennsylvania, the Netherlands, Ireland, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica.

"We are proud of our efforts to help transform Nelipak from a corporate division within Sealed Air Corp. to a leading global healthcare packaging company,” Jay Radtke, senior managing director of Mason Wells, said in a statement. “Back in 2013, the company was primarily European-focused. Over the last six years, we have hired a world-class management team led by CEO Mike Kelly, launched the Nelipak Healthcare Packaging brand, completed three acquisitions to significantly increase Nelipak’s U.S. market presence and built a global ‘one team, one Nelipak’ culture that has really resonated with customers."
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