Sasol recieved commerial production at new Louisiana ethane cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol has announced that its world-scale US ethane cracker reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019, as per the company's press release.

Sasol’s new cracker, the heart of our Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide feedstock to our six new derivative units at our Lake Charles multi-asset site.

"The Cracker is the cornerstone of Sasol’s transformation into a global chemicals company," said Sasol Joint President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen Cornell. "It solidifies our presence in the United States and will anchor our operations there for decades to come."

Sasol’s Lake Charles Ethane Cracker, which uses Technip Stone & Webster technology, is one of the largest in the world with a nameplate capacity of 1.54 million tons per year. Approximately 90% of the Cracker's ethylene output will be further processed into commodity and high-margin specialty chemicals for markets in which Sasol has a strong position, underpinned by collaborative customer relationships.

The ethylene produced in the facility will be used in six downstream plants on site to produce a range of high-value derivatives including ethylene oxide, mono-ethylene glycol, ethoxylates, low density and linear low density polyethylene, and Ziegler and Guerbet alcohols. Sasol’s customers use these products as ingredients in detergents, fragrances, metalworking and lubrication fluids, abrasives, paints and coatings, film, food packaging, personal care products and many more applications and end-markets. The remaining 10% of the ethylene will be sold on the merchant market and supply Sasol’s share of our high-density polyethylene (HDPE) joint venture with INEOS in Texas.

The utilities and infrastructure systems that enable the entire project are fully operational. The Linear Low Density Polyethylene and Ethylene Oxide/Ethylene Glycol units achieved beneficial operation earlier this year. The Low Density Polyethylene unit is expected to achieve beneficial operation by November 2019, while the Ziegler Alcohol, Ethoxylates and Guerbet alcohol units are on track to achieve beneficial operation in early 2020.

"With the first three units commissioned, plants representing more than 60% of the project’s total output are now online," said Sasol Joint President and Chief Executive Officer Bongani Nqwababa. "Our construction and commissioning teams are working flat out to deliver the rest of the units between November 2019 and by first quarter of 2020."

At present the Cracker continues to operate stably at a capacity utilisation of around 50%. The current output is utilised by the LCCP’s downstream units and the remainder is sold to external customers. The company will continue to focus on improving the ethylene quality and ramp up the plant in accordance with our plans.

To date, the project has generated more than 800 full-time quality manufacturing jobs, with up to 6,500 people on site during construction, USD4 billion to Louisiana businesses and nearly USD200 million in local and state taxes.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, 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.

Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Karpatneftekhim (Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region), Ukraine's largest petrochemical plant, - announced a reduction in its high density polyethylene (HDPE) prices for shipments to the domestic market in September, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Thus, the decrease in September prices of the company’s HDPE was USD48/tonne compared to August.

The Ukrainian producer of material made this decision under the pressure of the situation in foreign markets.

Karpatneftekhim is one of the largest enterprises of Ukraine's petrochemical complex. Currently, the plant can produce annually 300,000 tonnes of PVC, 200,000 tonnes of caustic soda, about 180,000 tonnes of chlorine, as well as 250,000 tonnes of ethylene and 100,000 tonnes of polyethylene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR-Khimprom rolled over its last month's expandable polystyrene (EPS) for September shipments to the Russian market, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Last month's prices of material were at Rb106,500-111,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Some major market participants said demand for EPS is currently moderate in the Russian market.

SIBUR-Khimprom (part of SIBUR Holding) specializes in the processing of liquid hydrocarbons and is one of the leading Russian producers of a number of the most important petrochemical products. The company has three main production capacities: production of butyl alcohols and 2-ethylhexanol with a capacity of 160,000 tonnes per year, production of ethylbenzene (220,000 tonnes per year), styrene monomer (SM) production (135,000 tonnes per year) and polystyrene (PS) production (100,000 tonnes per year), ethylene and propylene unit, production of eco-friendly plasticizer DOTF (100,000 tonnes per year).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The production of linear polyethylene on a metallocene catalyst at Kazanorgsintez facilities amounted to 1,500 tonnes in the first half of this year, the manufacturer said in the press-release.

The producer said that the product was sold both in the domestic market of the Russian Federation and in foreign ones. In general, it is planned to produce 5,000 -7,000 tonnes of metallocene linear polyethylene by the end of the year, which will replace about 30-35% of the monthly consumption of imported products in the domestic market of the Russian Federation.

Kazanorgsintez began production of metallocene polyethylene in April of this year and is the only manufacturer of these products in Russia.

Linear low-density metallocene polyethylene (LDL) of grades F2010M and F2030M manufactured by Kazanorgsintez PJSC is used for the production of films of various thicknesses for packaging, storage, transportation of goods (products), manufacturing of bags operating in difficult conditions. Such films are characterized by high tensile strength and high puncture resistance.

According to MRC ScanPlast, Kazanorgsintez suspended the production of LLDPE in July. Production of linear polyethylene in July in Russia decreased to 18,900 tonnes against 31,900 tonnes in June. Russia's LLDPE production in January - July totalled 140,300 tonnes, up 23% year on year.

PJSC "Kazanorgsintez" (part of TAIF Group) is one of Russia's largest plants. Kazanorgsintez produces 40% of overall Russian polyethylene (PE) and is the country's largest exporter. To date, the plant produces PE, polycarbonate (PC), PE pipes, phenol, acetone, bisphenol A. Kazanorgsintez is Russia's only PC producer. It manufactures a total of 170 items of products. Kazanorgsintez's annual output is 1.6 million tonnes. The plant is Russia's largest producer of high density polyethylene (HDPE). The plant's annual HDPE production capacity is 540,000 tonnes and its annual LDPE capacity is 225,000 tonnes.
MRC