Repsol resumes operations at Portuguese cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spain’s Repsol has resumed operations at its cracker in Sines, Portugal, according to NCT with reference to market sources.

The news was not directly confirmed by the company while it was not clear as of the time of press whether or not Repsol lifted a force majeure at the site.

The company had declared the force majeure on the output from its cracker due to a technical glitch in early September.

The cracker has a production capacity of 410,000 tons/year of ethylene and 215,000 tons/year of propylene. The company also owns a butadiene unit with a production capacity of 45,000 tons/year at the same site.

As MRC informed previously, in Q1 2016, Repsol completed the construction work of its new metallocene polyethelene plant at its Tarragona site. Repsol started up the plant and began production and marketing of this new product during Q2 2016.

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.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC

Orpic to conduct maintenance at PP plant in Oman in October

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The state-owned Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) is readying to conduct a planned maintenance at its PP unit in Sohar, Oman during October, reported NCT with reference to sources close to the company.

Maintenance work at 340,000 tons/year PP unit is scheduled to start on 6 October and it will last until the end of November.

The source noted that the producer have already built some stocks to cover their customers’ needs during the turnaround period. The company will divert their cargoes to certain markets as they are not holding large quantities of stock, however.

As MRC informed before, in July 2017, Orpic, the Sultanate’s refining and petrochemicals flagship, announced plans to establish a worldwide network of offices to support the marketing of the huge quantities of polymers that will be produced when its Liwa Plastics mega venture comes on stream in 2020.

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.

ORPIC (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) is one of the leading companies in Oman and has two refineries in that country, in Sohar and Muscat. ORPIC is owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and Oman Oil Company SAOC, the trading company created by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman for managing investments in the energy sector.
MRC

Canadian court directs Nova Chemicals to pay Dow USD1.08bn

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Court of the Queen’s Bench in Alberta, Canada, has signed a judgment ordering Nova Chemicals to pay Dow USD1.08bn on 11 October 2019 for damages Dow incurred through 2012 related to the companies’ jointly-owned ethylene asset in Joffre, Alberta, Canada, said Refiningandpetrochemicalsme.

The court, which initially ruled in June 2018, found that Nova Chemicals failed to operate the ethylene asset at full capacity for more than 10 years, and furthermore, that Nova violated several contractual agreements related to Dow receiving its share of the asset’s ethylene production. These actions resulted in reduced productivity and sales for Dow.

The signed judgment relates to damages Dow incurred through 2012. Dow anticipates receiving an additional judgment for damages owed by Nova for the post-2012 period.

Additionally, the ethylene asset is now running at a higher utilisation rate and giving Dow more ethylene from an advantaged feedstock position.

The judgment is subject to appeal. Dow expects to record an accounting gain related to a portion of this judgment in the third quarter of 2019, which the company expects to treat as a significant non-recurring item when calculating non-GAAP financial measures, including operating earnings per share.

Nova Chemical is one of the largest world's petrochemical companies, a manufacturer of polyethylene, styrene polymers, monomers, and many other related products.
MRC

Ineos postones restart of ACN plant UK Seal Sands

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The restart of the acrylonitrile (ACN) plant of Ineos Nitriles in Seal Sands, UK from the planned maintenance was last week delayed for a second time, as per S&P Global.

The plant was initially expected to restart at the end of August, after starting work in late July.

"The extension of the shutdown is due to necessary additional work discovered during the shutdown," a source close to the company said Tuesday. "Force majeure remains in place.

"At this stage we are unable to give a definitive schedule," the source said.

The plant is unlikely to restart before mid-October, sources said.

Earlier this year, European petrochemicals producer Ineos declared force majeure on ACN supply from its 280,000 mt/year Seal Sands plant in the UK, market sources said.

The company was not immediately available for comment.

The company's Cologne ACN plant has also undergone a three-week turnaround this month.

ACN is a feedstock for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, on the back of low Asian prices, August ABS imports to Russia were 3,600 tonnes versus 2,800 tonnes a month earlier and 2,700 tonnes in August 2018. ABS imports to the country did not change year on year in January-August 2019, totalling 21,900 tonnes.
MRC

Wacker started up new plant for dispersible polymer powders in South Korea

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Following a construction phase lasting 20 months, Wacker Chemie AG has brought a new spray dryer for the production of dispersible polymer powders on stream in Ulsan, South Korea, as per the company's press release.

The plant is part of an ongoing site expansion aimed at boosting the company’s production capacity for dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in Asia.

Wacker is a world-leading producer of polymeric dispersions and dispersible polymer powders, which are important ingredients in the manufacture of building materials. Construction is currently booming in Asia. Growing just as strongly is the demand for high-quality, energy-efficient, sustainable construction solutions. This has prompted the Group to invest in the region and expand its production capacity for dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in South Korea. The commissioning of the new spray dryer represents a major milestone in the company’s expansion plans for its Ulsan site.

Wacker already produces vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer (EVA) dispersions in Ulsan. The new spray dryer converts liquid dispersions into dispersible polymer powder by feeding them through an atomizer into a stream of hot gas, which dries them extremely quickly to yield a fine powder. The new plant will have a total capacity of 80,000 metric tons per year. On completion, the spray dryer will be one of the two largest of this kind in the world. The second plant with this capacity is located at Wacker’s Burghausen site. The new spray dryer will create some 50 new jobs in Ulsan.

Construction is also underway in Ulsan on a further reactor for EVA dispersions, the feedstock for dispersible polymer powders. The reactor is scheduled for start-up in the first quarter of 2020. Overall capital expenditure on the plant complex, spanning the full production chain from VAE dispersions through to dispersible polymer powders, will come to some 65 million euros.

"Our binders not only enhance the properties of building materials but also make construction activities more resource-efficient," says Peter Summo, head of the Wacker Polymers division. "The new plant in Ulsan will help us serve the growing market in Asia and additionally shorten our delivery routes and times."

The dispersible polymer powders that Wacker produces in Ulsan belong to the VINNAPAS family, one of the Group’s best-known brands. The new spray dryer will be used to produce VINNAPAS 5010 N and VINNAPAS 5044 N, for instance. These binders are needed in the construction industry to formulate high-quality tile adhesives, mineral plasters, self-leveling flooring compounds, energy-saving external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS/EIFS), building adhesives, smoothing compounds and joint fillers, for example.

"By expanding our production capacity, we are boosting Ulsan’s economic competitiveness and ensuring that it will remain the first point of contact for regional manufacturers of building materials seeking to optimize their products with dispersible polymer powders," says Dal-Ho Cho, head of the Wacker Chemicals Korea subsidiary.

As MRC reported earlier, in 2013, Wacker ramped up a new EVA production plant - with an additional 40,000 tonnes annually - at its Ulsan site in South Korea back in February. The production capacity of the site has, thus, almost doubled, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea - thereby solidifying the company's global leading position in this segment.

According to MRC's DataScope report, July EVA imports to Russia increased by 4% year on year to 3,490 tonnes from 3,350 tonnes in July 2018, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation decreased in January-July 2019 by 14, 3% year on year to 22,440 tonnes (26,170 tonnes in the first seven months of 2018).

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC