JXTG Nippon Oil restarts Sendai FCC unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy, has brought on-stream, its fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) unit last weekend, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan, informed that, the company has resumed operations at its unit, in early-August, 2019. The unit was shut for maintenance, on June 10, 2019.

Located at Sendai, Japan, the FCC unit has a propylene capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, on June 17, 2018, JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy resumed operations at its cracker following an unplanned shutdown. The cracker was taken off-line in end-May 2018 owing to furnace issues. Located at Kawasaki in Japan, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 540,000 mt/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Executives at Milacron Holdings Corp. remained tight-lipped on any new details regarding the July 12 announcement that Hillenbrand Inc. is buying the company, said Plasticsnewseurope.

Milacron President and CEO Tom Goeke told analysts 30 July in a second quarter earnings call that the company would not be taking any questions related to the transaction.

The blockbuster cash and stock deal is valued at about USD2bn (EUR1.8bn), including net debt of approximately USD686m (EUR615m), and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020 if approved by Milacron shareholders.

"Our board carefully and thoroughly reviewed the strategic and financial merits of this combination and unanimously concluded that this transaction represents a unique opportunity for Milacron," Goeke said during the conference call.

As part of the merger, Milacron shareholders will receive USD11.80 (EUR10.58) in cash and a fixed exchange ratio of 0.1612 shares of Hillenbrand stock for each share of Milacron stock they own. Under terms of the agreement, Hillenbrand shareholders will own approximately 84% of the combined company and Milacron shareholders will own about 16%.

Both companies are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Milacron opened at USD16.83 (EUR15.00) and were trading down 0.36% to USD16.73 during morning trading hours. Hillenbrand shares opened at USD34 (EUR30.49) and were trading down 1.2% at USD33.70 (EUR30.22). Overall trading on the stock exchange was slightly down for the morning hours on 30 July.

"In Hillenbrand, I believe we have found a tremendous partner," Goeke said. "Our goal at Milacron has always been to provide our customers with innovative products across our critical plastics and fluid technologies. Together with Hillenbrand, we will be able to continue delivering breakthrough products and customised systems to existing and new customers, and strengthen our service platforms and distribution capabilities."

Hillenbrand, based in Batesville, Ind., is the parent company of compounding extruder maker Coperion and auxiliary equipment firms K-Tron and Rotex. It is also the manufacturer of burial caskets under the 100-year-old Batesville Casket brand. Hillenbrand went public in 2008 and has been diversifying into industrial machinery.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Prices were steady in the Russian low density polyethylene (LDPE) market in the first half of August, supply of polymer has been gradually increasing due to the end of the outages at two production facilities, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Simultaneously, two Russian LDPE producers - Angarsk Polymers Plant and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat - shut down their production capacities for maintenance in late June-early July. Outages of two plants reduced the excessive supply of polyethylene (PE) in the market, but did not lead to a shortage. Prices have remained relatively steady in the Russian LDPE market since the second half of July. Tomskneftekhim and Kazanorgsintez will shut their production capacities for turnarounds in September.

The plants' customers said Angarsk Polymers Plant and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat finished their maintenance works much later than planned, at the same time, certain restrictions in operations remained. Ufaorgsintez also reported disruptions in its operations, some of the plant's LDPE production capacities were taken off-stream last weekend because of technical issues.

Nevertheless, production problems at some production sites neither affected the balance of the Russian LDPE market, nor did they put pressure on prices. In addition, some market participants reported an increase in supply of PE from the Belarusian producer.

Overall, prices of 108 grade LDPE have been in the range of Rb80,500-83,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, since early August. The price spread of 158 grade PE was wider, deals were done in the range of Rb81,000-85,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Shutdowns for maintenance at three plants simultaneously are also scheduled from late August to September. In the last week of August, Ufaorgsintez will shut its production of 158 grade LDPE for a one-week turnaround, and in late September-early October, the output of 108 grade PE will be also reduced by 50%.

Tomskneftekhim plans to take off-stream its production capacities for a two-week turnaround in September, but the exact dates have not been announced yet.

In September, Kazanorgsintez also plans to carry out consecutive maintenance works, which will begin on 26 September and will last about 30 days, at some of its production capacities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR’s Blagoveshchensk site has held a ceremony to celebrate the completed reconstruction of the terephthalic acid production facility, the only one currently in Russia, as per the company's press release.

The attendees included Pavel Sorokin, Deputy Minister of Energy, Radiy Khabirov, Acting Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Dmitry Konov, Chairman of the Management Board at SIBUR Holding, heads of partners and contractors that participated in the project, and other high-profile guests.

Terephthalic acid (TPA) is a precursor to polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the world’s most widespread polymers that is used in the production of plastic bottles for beverages, synthetic fibres, various packaging, and medical supplies. TPA is also used to make eco-friendly plasticisers for toys, flooring and other products. In Russia, annual consumption of TPA amounts to around 500 kt. An increase in output from 272 to 350 ktpa driven by the upgrade of the existing capacities in Blagoveshchensk will help largely phase out reliance on imports.

A modern gas oxidiser built as part of the project makes it so the facility no longer requires natural gas, which will result in 50% less emissions. The transition to rotary pressure filters will translate into 1.5 times lower industrial wastewater discharges from the terephthalic acid production. In addition, the new air cooling system will almost fully prevent excessive evaporation into the atmosphere resulting from a significant release of heat during terephthalic acid synthesis. After the upgrade, vapour will return to the process flow, improving the facility’s energy efficiency multifold.

The project spanned 2017–2019 and included upgrading more than 150 units of the core process equipment as well as most of the auxiliary equipment. The scope of key works covered 11 buildings on the production site. The general designer was GSE-Giprokauchuk, a Russian design institute. Over 40 Russian contractors were engaged to carry out construction, installation and commissioning works. A significant part of the equipment was sourced from domestic producers, including Volgogradneftemash, Tatneft Trade and Technology House, and Dimitrovgradkhimmash.

More than RUB 6 bn was spent on the project, including an approximately RUB 1 bn loan from the Foundation for Development of Single-Industry Towns.

Dmitry Konov, Chairman of the Management Board at SIBUR Holding: "While not SIBUR's most large-scale project, the TPA production upgrade is definitely the one that is most sophisticated, as we have overhauled and expanded the existing capacities instead of building new ones from scratch. It was well worth it though, as the additional volumes will ensure 100% capacity utilisation of Perm’s eco-friendly plasticiser facility that we launched this spring. We also outfitted the site with cutting-edge solutions to make TPA production even greener and more efficient."

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. We own and operate Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and are a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. As of 31 March 2014, SIBUR operated 27 production sites located all over Russia, had over 1,400 large customers engaged in the energy, chemical, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, construction and other industries in approximately 70 countries worldwide and employed over 27,000 personnel.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Toray Advanced Composites (Morgan Hill, Calif., U.S.) and BASF (Wyandotte, Mich., U.S.) have signed a manufacturing and supply agreement focused on the production of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic tapes for the automotive and industrial markets, said BASF.

Toray Advanced Composites will produce glass fiber- or carbon fiber-reinforced tapes using BASF’s Ultramid PA6 (polyamide) engineering thermoplastics.

"BASF has been a valued partner for Toray Advanced Composites for many years. This new supply agreement strengthens our ability to make the highest quality tapes, affordably, for our customers," says Keisuke Ishii, CEO of Toray Advanced Composites.

According to the companies, this supply agreement enhances manufacturing capacity, providing wider commercial availability of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic materials, which they say will will enable the adoption of advanced materials for lightweight, structural components in a range of industrial markets. For example, the companies say that automotive manufacturers can use the new materials to design and rapidly produce optimized components at a lower cost, while using the latest fabrication methods such as automated stamp forming and overmolding.

"By developing innovative lightweight, composite material technologies for automotive applications, this partnership underlines both companies’ strong commitment to drive sustainable solutions," says Jeff DeAlmeida, VP, transportation industry, performance materials North America, BASF.

Toray Advanced Composites’ continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic materials are said to be compatible with a range of BASF’s Ultramid compounds, enabling more efficient, multifunctional parts to be produced in fewer steps and with less labor compared to more traditional methods.
MRC