Shanghai Secco restarts production at PE units

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shanghai Secco, has brought on-stream, its linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) units, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China, informed that, the company has resumed operations at the units on July 30, 2019. The company had undertaken an unplanned shutdown at the plants on July 28, 2019.

Located at Shanghai in China, the LLDPE and HDPE units have a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year each.

As MRC informed before, in May 2017, BP announced that it had agreed to sell its 50% stake in the Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Company Limited (SECCO) to Gaoqiao Petrochemical Co Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), BP’s joint venture partner, for a total consideration of USD1.68 bln.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp brought under control a fire that erupted on Wednesday at its Baytown, Texas, refining and chemical plant complex, injuring 37 workers, none seriously, reported Reuters.

Emergency crews worked to extinguish the fire into the evening, the company said in a statement. The cause of the blaze was not disclosed, but an investigation was under way and Exxon said it was cooperating with authorities.

The injured workers were treated for minor burns, none requiring hospitalization, plant manager Jason Duncan told a news briefing.

The fire, which was put down by the company’s employees, sent black smoke into the air over the complex in Baytown, a city of 75,000 which is located about 30 miles (48 km) east of Houston. Firefighters and equipment from the city entered the plant at midday to assist, an official said.

Firefighters continued to spray water on a charred column where the fire began late Wednesday. Residents around the plant were told to close windows and doors, turn off air conditioning and remain in their homes, schools or offices. A shelter in place order was lifted after several hours.

"We are cooperating with regulatory agencies. We deeply regret any disruption or inconvenience that this incident may have caused the community," Exxon spokeswoman Sarah Nordin said in a statement.

Available air monitoring information from the inside the Baytown Olefins Plant’s grounds and outside monitoring sources recorded no adverse impacts, she said. The fire burned residual fuel contained in a large column on Wednesday.

The Baytown complex that includes the olefins plant where the fire occurred employs about 7,000 people among four manufacturing sites that cover 3,400 acres (13.8 square kilometers). It sits along the Houston Ship Channel, the ation’s largest and busiest energy port.

Duncan declined to comment on the fire’s impact on production at Exxon’s adjacent 560,500 barrels-per-day oil refinery. Two people familiar with its operations said Exxon reduced some production at the refinery, which provides feedstocks to the unit that caught fire.

Aerial footage during the blaze showed flames and heavy smoke emanating from a large column at the facility, which Exxon identified as part of its production of olefins, a component of plastic. Emergency vehicles and people were massing around the edge of the complex.

Smoke rises from a fire at Exxon Mobil's refining and chemical plant complex in Baytown, near Houston, Texas, US July 31, 2019.

The company said a total of 66 staff and contract workers were examined and released during the day at a nearby health clinic which provides first aid.

As MRC informed before, ExxonMobil last year completed the construction of a multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker at the Baytown Olefins Plant and commenced operations in July 2018. The cracker can produce 1.5 million tons per year, and provides feedstock to two other production lines at its Mont Belvieu, Texas, plastics plant.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over August shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) began in the Russian market in the late last week. Local producers announced August PVC prices at a rollover from July, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Prices of Russian PVC reached a historic high in the market in July due to strong seasonal demand and scheduled maintenance works of two large-scale plants at once. Import PVC was more profitable than the Russian raw materials, but this factor did not lead to a significant increase in external supplies.

Scheduled maintenances are coming to an end and the supply of SPVC should increase in the market in August.
Nevertheless, Russian producers intend to keep the July price level for August delivery, with a few exceptions.

Scheduled maintenance works of two major Russian PVC producers started from 7 July. SayanskKhimPlast was the first which shut its 350,000 tonnes/year for a month long turnaround. Bashkir Soda Company shut its SPVC production a week later (the annual production capacity is 250,000 tonnes/year).

Most domestic producers were aware of the shutdowns in July, and there was also an understanding that the import material was cheaper than Russian PVC. But these factors did not lead to a multiple increase in PVC imports.

The limited working capital of most consumers and the long-term supply of PVC from the main suppliers, China and the USA, have become the main reason for the small increase in external supplies. At the same time, it is worth noting that there was no significant shortage of PVC in the market in July, the only exception was K70 PVC. This was partially a result of the fact that some consumers began to build additional stocks of raw materials since May.

Bashkir Soda Company finished turnaround this Monday; SayanskKhimPlast will resume production a week later. The end of turnaround of the two productions should lead to an increase in the supply of PVC from domestic suppliers.

Nevertheless, despite this factor, the majority of producers do not intend to reduce their PVC prices for supplies to the domestic market in August. The only exceptions are those grades prices of which were at the maximum level.

August deals for K64/67 PVC were negotiated in the range of Rb80,500-82,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, for lots of less than 500 tonnes. Discussions for K70 PVC started from Rb82,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, and higher.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eni and ADNOC, Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company, said today they closed their strategic partnership, announced in January, through which Eni acquired a 20 percent equity interest in ADNOC refining, said Eni.

The partners – which include Austria’s OMV – also set up a new trading joint venture. ADNOC Refining refines in excess of 922,000 barrels per day of crude at its Ruwais and Abu Dhabi based refineries. The transaction is one of the world’s largest-ever in the refining business and reflects the scale, quality and growth potential of ADNOC Refining’s assets. Ruwais is the 4th biggest single-site refinery in the world and is the focus of further expansion and integration to develop the world’s largest single-site refining and petrochemicals complex. Expanding its refining and petrochemical operations at Ruwais supports ADNOC as it evolves to become a leading global downstream player.

The final cash price is approximately USD3.24 billion.

ADNOC, Eni and OMV have now incorporated a new trading joint venture at Abu Dhabi Global Market, with the same shareholding as in ADNOC Refining. Trading is expected to begin in 2020 when all necessary processes, procedures and systems are in place. Eni and OMV will provide ADNOC with know-how, operational experience and support to accelerate the development of the trading joint venture, enabling ADNOC and its partners to optimize their systems and better manage their international product flows.

These agreements demonstrate the strong partnership between Eni and ADNOC. With this transaction, Eni enters the UAE downstream sector and increases its global refining capacity by 35%. It follows the company’s strategy of making Eni’s overall portfolio more geographically diversified and more balanced along the value chain.

Eni has been present in the UAE upstream sector since March 2018 when it was awarded a 10 percent interest in ADNOC’s Umm Shaif and Nasr concession and a 5 percent interest in the Lower Zakum concession, followed in November 2018 by the award of a 25 percent interest in the Ghasha Concession, ADNOC’s mega offshore sour gas project. On 12 January this year Eni was awarded a 70 percent interest in offshore exploration blocks 1 and 2. In addition to the United Arab Emirates, in the Middle East Eni is also present in Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon and Iraq.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A piece of equipment that will process crude oil for Nigeria’s Dangote refinery set sail from China, oil company Sinopec said in a tweet, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The 650,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery near Lagos is set to be Africa’s largest, and could transform the country from a fuels importer to a net exporter.

“On July 29, the world’s largest atmospheric tower built by Sinopec slowly left a wharf in Ningbo,” the Sinopec tweet said. “Following the Maritime SilkRoad, it will travel to Nigeria and be installed at the world’s biggest single-train facility - Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery."

For the type of refinery the company is building, the atmospheric tower is the primary unit processing crude oil into fuels, Citac analyst Jeremy Parker told Reuters. It will likely take at least a month to reach Lagos.

Billionaire Aliko Dangote, who built his fortune on cement, said last year that he planned to finish building the USD12-14 billion refinery in 2019 and to start production in early 2020.

Most analysts and observers said the ambitious project would take longer in order to begin pumping out fuels such as diesel and gasoline.

"This is a major milestone, but there is still much work to be done, both in terms of sourcing the other units and in terms of interconnection at the site," Parker said of the atmospheric tower shipment.

Citac expects the refinery to start producing fuels in 2023. Sources told Reuters last year that it was unlikely to start production until at least 2022, two years later than the target date.

Dangote Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MRC