Keiyo Ethylene naphtha cracker output affected by typhoon

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan’s Keiyo Ethylene Co has adjusted the throughout at its naphtha cracker due to a typhoon, a spokesman from co-owner Maruzen Petrochemical Co said on 12 September, reported Reuters.

Keiyo Ethylene, which is 45% owned by Sumitomo Chemical Co and 55% owned by Maruzen Petrochemical (a subsidiary of Cosmo Energy Holdings), operates a 768,000 tonnes per year (tpy) cracker in Chiba.

The exact throughput at the cracker was not disclosed.

Eastern Japan has experienced a strong typhoon this week, with power, flights and transportation affected and buildings damaged.

Earlier in the week, Cosmo Oil shut two crude units at its China refinery.

As MRC informed previously, this year, Keiyo Ethylene took its naphtha cracker in Chiba off-stream for a maintenance work on February 15, 2019. The repair works remained in force for around 10-15 days. Located at Ichihara in Chiba prefecture of Japan, the cracker has a production capacity of 740,000 mt/year.

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

Founded in 1991, Keiyo Ethylene Co. Ltd. produces and sells petrochemical products. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, and other petrochemical products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia officials are discussing delaying Aramco's initial public offering as attacks on the company's oil facilities have drastically reduced their output, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company is expected to move forward with presentations to analysts and meetings with bankers as planned. However, Saudi energy officials and Aramco executives are debating a rescheduling of the IPO until after the company fully restores its production to normal levels.

Discussions of a change in the offering's timing have been confined to Saudi officials and Aramco executives, the report said.

Yemen's Houthi Group on Saturday claimed responsibility for the drone attacks on two Aramco's plants.

Aramco had planned to list 1% shares of the state oil plant on the Riyadh stock exchange before the end of this year and another 1% in 2020.

Based on the indicated USD2 trillion valuation that Saudi Aramco had hoped to achieve, a 1% float would be worth USD20 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total restarted a diesel hydrotreater at its 225,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery on Monday, reported Reuters with reference to Gulf Coast market sources.

Total is raising the production level on the 66,000 bpd Diesel Hydrotreater 3 (DHT 3), which was shut on Aug. 20, the sources said. Total repeatedly pushed back the restart date as repairs took longer than expected.

A Total spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment.

As MRC informed earlier, on 9 December 2018, production at Total SA’s 225,500 barrel-per-day-capacity Port Arthur, Texas, refinery was cut by the outage of Sulfur Recovery Unit 3, reducing the plant’s ability to process acid gas. Production was cut by 40 percent of capacity in November when SRU 3 was shut.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bahrain’s national oil and gas authority said on Monday that facilities at Bapco refinery were continuing without impact on the provision of oil derivatives in the local market, reported Reuters with reference to state news agency BNA.

Sources told Reuters earlier on Monday that Saudi Arabia has shut down its crude oil pipeline to Bahrain after attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

"Operations to supply Bapco refinery with crude oil are underway in accordance with the business continuity plan," the authority said.

"We are in constant touch with Saudi Aramco and continue to assess the situation and its impact on our operations," it added.

As MRC wrote before, in May 2019, Bapco completed multi-billion-dollar financing aimed at expanding its refining capacity to 380,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 267,000 bpd.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire broke out at the Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNH, part of the TAIF group), at ethylene plant in Nizhnekamsk, Russia on 16 September, the company’s press service said.

The fire occurred at the Nizhnekamskneftekhim plant, which was working to resume the production of ethylene after maintenance works.

GU EMERCOM of Russia for Tatarstan reported that the lower part of the distillation column was burning, and the torch height was three meters. The NKNH called it an “emergency situation”. The company said that there was a “flange joint depressurization” at the site, and the ignition area was 1 square meter.

Combustion was eliminated within seven minutes. At the moment, the installation was transferred to safe mode, there are no injured or killed as a result of the accident. The Ministry of Emergencies said earlier that there is no threat to the population of Nizhnekamsk and the environment.

According to Price Report ICIS-MRC, Nizhnekamskneftekhim in 2019 produces exclusively linear polyethylene (LLDPE). LLDPE shipments to the Russian market increased in the first seven months of 2019 by 8% year on year to 234,130 tonnes. Local producers increased their production by 24%.

PJSC "Nizhnekamskneftekhim" (NKNH) is one of the largest Russian producers of petrochemical products. The production complex of the company includes ten factories of the main production and ten departments (railway transport, ethylene pipelines, etc.). NKNH produces more than 120 types of chemical products, including synthetic rubber, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and surfactants. Nizhnekamskneftekhim is a member of TAIF Group of Companies.
MRC