Trader BB Energy seeks growth in biofuels, petrochems

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Commodity trader BB Energy has expanded into renewables and petrochemicals as it seeks to diversify away from the more crowded conventional oil markets, it said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company has hired two traders in Singapore to venture into biofuel and petrochemical trading in the Asia Pacific region, where it sees promising growth.

“We have to diversify from conventional fuel, we have to go with the flow” Frederic Lassau, global head of middle distillates, told Reuters.

Lassau said conventional markets like crude, jet fuel and diesel were becoming increasingly harder to trade amid shrinking profits and fierce competition.

Oil traders must now compete with new players like Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and the UAE’s Adnoc, which in recent years have beefed up their own trading operations, seeking to maximize profits on their own oil from the well to the consumer.

BB Energy has hired Shane Hong to set up the petrochemicals desk, focusing on aromatics and other petrochemical products, Lassau said. Hong previously worked as trading manager for AOT Energy in Singapore, according to his LinkedIn entry.

Eng Hian Ong joined on biofuels, having previously traded a variety of petroleum products from fuel oil to LPG with Trafigura and others.

On the petrochemical side, BB Energy wants to capitalize on new petrochemical refining capacity coming online in the region, for example in China and Korea.

Traders like BB Energy, Lassau noted, can offer expertise in marketing products, providing financial instruments and hedging options.

BB also continues to expand in conventional markets and has recently expanded its gasoline and distillates teams in London and Houston.
MRC

Christian Kohlpaintner to become new CEO of Brenntag AG

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Supervisory Board of Brenntag AG appointed Christian Kohlpaintner as the company's next CEO and Member of the Management Board effective January 1st, 2020, said the company.

Over the last two decades, Christian Kohlpaintner has held various management positions in leading international companies. He joins from Clariant International Ltd. where he was Member of the Executive Committee. Christian Kohlpaintner will succeed the current CEO, Steven Holland, who will leave the company at the same time.

Stefan Zuschke, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Brenntag AG, commented on the appointment: 'With Christian Kohlpaintner we have been able to place as our new CEO an internationally experienced business leader with a proven track record. He has demonstrated impressively that he can lead and develop major business divisions and companies successfully. It will be his mission to lead Brenntag to sustainable growth and expand the market leadership further. It will also be about breaking new ground while at the same time preserving the core of the successful business model."

The future CEO, Christian Kohlpaintner, commented on his appointment: 'I am looking forward to my new role at Brenntag and the opportunity of working with my colleagues on the Management Board and the whole Brenntag team. Brenntag is a very healthy company which is ideally positioned in the chemical value chain."

The appointment of Christian Kohlpaintner also marks the end of Steven Holland's almost 14 years tenure with Brenntag, more than 8 years as its CEO. Stefan Zuschke: 'The Supervisory Board would like to thank Steven Holland. Steven's vision and leadership have driven the company's growth and success in a dynamic and challenging environment. We sincerely thank Steven for his contributions and for developing the company into the leading position that Brenntag holds in the market today. The Supervisory Board wishes him all the best for the future."

Christian Kohlpaintner (55) has more than 20 years of management experience in an international environment. The Ph.D. chemist began his professional career at Hoechst, where he held various positions in Germany and the USA. Afterwards he moved to Celanese, where he worked amongst others as Marketing Director and as Vice President for Innovations. Between 2003 and 2009, Christian Kohlpaintner worked for Chemische Fabrik Budenheim, where his last position was CEO. In 2009, Christian Kohlpaintner joined Clariant in Switzerland, where he had been a member of the Executive Committee since then. Most recently he was based in China and amongst others responsible for the growth-oriented business areas of Clariant and the whole region Asia.

As MRC informed earlier, Brenntag, the global market leader in chemical distribution, has signed an agreement to acquire TAT Group, a Singapore based distributor for industrial chemicals.
MRC

LyondellBasell declares FM on PP supplies from UK

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell has declared a force majeure on polypropylene (PP) supplies from its Carrington, UK facility, according to NCT with reference to market sources.

The news could not be confirmed directly by the company while the reason for the force majeure was not disclosed at the time of press.

LyondellBasell’s Carrington plant is able to produce 210,000 tons/year of PP.

As MRC wrote previously, in August 2016, LyondellBasell made the final investment decision to build a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant on the US Gulf Coast. The plant will have an annual capacity of 1.1 billion pounds (500,000 metric tons) and will be the first commercial plant to employ LyondellBasell's new proprietary Hyperzone PE technology. The start-up of the new plant is scheduled for 2019.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

Lotte Chemical Titan to start maintenance at PP plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Titan is likely to take off-stream its polypropylene (PP) plant for a turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that the plant is expected to shut its operations in early-October 2019. It is slated to remain shut for around two weeks.

Located at Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, the PP plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in September 2018, Lotte Chemical Titan successfully began commercial operations at its new PP plant in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia. The 200,000-t/y facility is known as PP3. The cost of the project was not given.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Lotte Chemical Titan produces Malaysia's most comprehensive portfolio of olefins and polyolefins which contribute to the enhancement of everyday life. Lotte Chemical Titan's production site in Malaysia consists of eleven process facilities, two co-generation plants and three tank farms. They are located on 2 sites in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat in the state of Johor. In 2006, Lotte Chemical Titan acquired PT Lotte Chemical Titan Nusantara, Indonesia’s first and largest polyethylene plant in the country. This acquisition boosted the polyolefins capacity by approximately 50%, thus making the company one of the largest producers in South East Asia. Lotte Chemical Titan was acquired by Lotte Chemical Corp., forming part of the Lotte conglomerate of Korea, in 2010. The company thus became one of Lotte Chemical Corp.’s largest overseas subsidiaries.
MRC

Valero Port Arthur refinery restarting small crude unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero Energy Corp is restarting the small crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 335,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, refinery after repairing a valve on Sunday, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Valero is also raising production on the large CDU at the Port Arthur refinery, which was cut back last week due to Tropical Storm Imelda, the sources said.

Valero placed the 75,000 bpd AVU 147 CDU on circulation as Imelda drenched the refinery on Wednesday and Thursday, flooding nearby roads and preventing the removal of sulfur extracted from motor fuel production, the sources said.

AVU 147 was returned to production on Sunday morning, but was shut to repair a valve on Sunday afternoon, the sources said.

Valero also cut back production on the 268,000 bpd AVU 146 CDU because sulfur could not be removed from the refinery, the sources said. AVU 146 began returning to full production on Sunday.

US environmental rules require sulfur be removed from motor fuels during production.

CDUs do the primary refining of crude oil into hydrocarbon feedstocks for all other production units at the refinery.

As MRC informed before, Valero Energy, together with Darling Ingredients, has recently initiated an engineering and development cost review for a new renewable diesel plant in Port Arthur, Texas in the US.

Propylene is a feedstock for the production of polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
MRC