UK chemicals survey finds ‘major falls’ in sales, order books

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Both order books and current sales of UK chemicals suppliers have fallen by 60% in the three months to end of June compared to the quarter before, according to the latest supply chain trends survey by the Chemical Business Association (CBA), said Plasticsnewseurope.

The survey, conducted from 4-12 July and participated in by 51 of CBA’s members, showed a 40% decline in sales margins, the UK association reported 15 July. The quarterly survey asks companies to provide information on order books, sales, sales margins, and employment, on a ‘better–worse–same’ basis.

To measure short-term trends, the analysis ignores responses answering ‘same’ and focuses on the positive or negative balance provided by the difference between the ‘better-worse’ responses.

The latest poll indicated that the number of companies expecting to create more jobs in the next three months had fallen to its lowest level since these surveys began six years ago.

The survey found that a stock building trend, observed in the first three months of the year ahead of the anticipated Brexit, has now stopped.

This, according to CBA chief executive, Peter Newport, is due to “a combination of cash flow constraints and the limited availability of storage capacity."

"The three-month outlook for order books, sales, and margins is uniformly negative as Brexit uncertainty continues,” he added.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Most US refiners whose plants are in the path of Tropical Storm Barry took steps to keep them running, even as forecasters warned that the second named storm of the season could become a hurricane just before landfall last weekend, reported Reuters.

Exxon Mobil Corp planned to run its 502,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery through Barry's expected slow move across the state last weekend, said sources familiar with plant operations.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc's refineries in Norco and Convent, Louisiana, also planned to remain in operation with essential personnel, as the state is drenched with as much as 2 feet (61 cm) of rain, sources familiar with operations at those plants said.

Exxon is taking steps to minimize the risk of heavy rain to its workers and equipment, said spokesman Jeremy Eikenberry, who added that its Baton Rouge and other US Gulf Coast plants were operating normally. Shell operations also were continuing at the two Louisiana refineries, spokesman Ray Fisher said.

Barry has shut 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of US Gulf of Mexico oil production, one-half of the region's daily crude and 44% of its natural gas output, according to the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Refiner Phillips 66 was shutting down its 253,600-bpd Alliance, Louisiana, refinery, which has regularly been inundated by tropical storms by over the past 14 years.

PBF Energy Inc's Chalmette and Valero Energy Corp's Meraux refineries, both in Louisiana, were expected to remain open through the storm, according to people familiar with their operations. The Meraux refinery is about 17 miles north of the Alliance refinery.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Is it time for a disruptive change in how the downstream construction industry executes projects? This question was proposed during the Rice Global Engineering & Construction Forum (RGF) roundtable, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Held monthly on the Rice University campus in Houston, Texas, the RGF roundtable discusses the latest challenges and opportunities facing the contracting side of the global engineering and construction industry.

Steve Cabano, President, Pathfinder, and Chair of CII, provided the keynote address at the Rice Engineering and Construction Forum luncheon. This month’s luncheon speaker featured Stephan Cabano, President, Pathfinder, and Chair of the 2019 Construction Industry Institute (CII). His presentation focused on the challenges facing the execution of capital project in the oil and gas industry and the latest advancements of the CII’s capital projects platform—Operating System 2.0.

"The majority of today’s major- to mega-capital projects do not meet cost and schedule expectations,” said Cabano, “nor do they meet their business expectations.” Statistics from the CII, NTNU and Bechtel show that nearly 95% of projects do not meet one or more of their business objectives, 70% of projects are not completed within 10% of budgeted cost and schedule, 98% of megaprojects experience cost overruns that average 80% over budget and 20 months late, and approximately 40% of capital is “wasted” on transactions.

Perhaps a new business model is needed? “At the end of the day, the owner basis his profit on the asset—selling product,” said Cabano, “the contractor makes its money on the project itself. At present, those are opposing incentives. We have got to get those closer together.” Cabano went on to discuss how the downstream construction industry is ripe for a change in project execution. Many industries have gone through disrupted changes—using Uber for transportation, renting hotels/homes through apps/websites, etc. A technology that could aide in a change for the construction industry could be Operating System 2.0.

A collaboration between the CII and the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT), Operating System 2.0 aims to redesign industry procedures and standards with current technological advances in mind. The hope is that Operating System 2.0 will make capital projects more financially viable and sustainable. This includes a dramatic reduction in time for planning, selecting, engaging, integrating and executing capital projects.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fujian Refining & Petrochemical (FREP) has undertaken an unplanned shutdown at its polypropylene (PP) unit in Fujian Province, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has halted operations at the unit owing to technical issues on July 12, 2019. The unit is slated to remain shut for about a week.

Located in Fujian province, China, the unit has a production capacity of 120,000 mt/year.

The company also operates other two PP plants at the same location with production capacity of 220,000 mt/year and 360,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, FREP restarted its No.3 PP plant in Fujian Province on September 23, 2018, following an unplanned outage. The plant was taken off-line on September 18, 2018 owing to a technical issues. Located in Fujian province, China, the No. 3 PP plant has a production capacity of 220,000 mt/year.

FREP is a joint venture between Fujian Petrochemical Co. (50%), ExxonMobil China Petroleum and Petrochemical Co. (25%) and Saudi Aramco Sino Co. (25%). Fujian Petrochemical is a 50:50 JV between Sinopec and the Fujian provincial government.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Swiss packaging machinery and equipment supplier Sidel Group has signed onto the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, a worldwide initiative launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment in 2018 to address the problem of plastic waste and pollution, said Canplastics.

The vision behind the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment includes ambitious goals, including taking action to eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging – through redesign, innovation, and new delivery models – as well as embracing reuse models with the aim of 100 per cent of all plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable.

Over 400 companies and corporations have already signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, including companies representing 20 per cent of all plastic packaging produced globally such as Danone; H&M Group; L’Oreal; PepsiCo; The Coca-Cola Company; and Unilever. Major packaging supplies have also signed on, including Amcor; as well as plastics producers including Novamont.

“Technologically and industrially, PET, can and glass can all be recycled,” Luc Desoutter, sustainability officer at Sidel, said in a statement. “There is also an economical value in doing so: the value of a bale of PET bottles can range between 300 and 600 Euros per tonne, depending on its quality. PET can be brought back into the value chain, it shouldn’t be considered part of the problem. We are witnessing a significant shift in attitudes towards how PET is recycled and we want to use our engagement as part of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment to support and promote this development towards maximum collection and recycling rates.”

Sidel has also formulated an ambitious set of targets of its own, Desoutter said, centred on its End to End approach, which takes into account the impacts created upstream and downstream in the value chain.
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