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

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

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of injection moulded PET chips to Kazakhstan in January-July decreased by 11% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 22,000 tonnes against 24,800 tonnes year on year, according to MRC DataScope.

July imports of injection moulded PET chips into the region were 5,000 tonnes versus 2,500 tonnes a month earlier and 2,900 tonnes in July 2018. China was the largest supplier of PET into Kazakhstan. China accounted for 96% or 21,200 tonnes in the total imports.
It was previously reported that imports of Chinese injection moulded PET chips to the Russian market increased by 34% in January-August.

August imports of material from China decreased by 41% to 7,600 tonnes against 12,800 tonnes in July. Thus, imports of Chinese bottled PET to Russia in eight months increased by 34% to 95,600 tonnes. The share of imports from China amounted to 90% compared to 85% for the same period last year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of Chinese bottle grade PET chips to Ukraine in August have almost halved to the lowest level since the beginning of the year, according to MRC DataScope.

August imports of Chinese bottle grade PET chips to Ukraine were 5,700 tonnes, compared to 10,900 tonnes a month earlier. In August of the previous year, shipments of PET chips were 10,400 tonnes.

Deliveries of Chinese bottle grade PET in August accounted for 52% from total imports against a share of 75% in July and 71% in August last year.
Import deliveries of bottle grade PET chips to Ukraine decreased by 2% in January-August compared to the same period last year and amounted to 102,200 tonnes.

Imports of injection moulding PET chips in January-August last year amounted to 104,700 tonnes.

August imports of injection moulding PET chips to the country decreased by a quarter and amounted to 10,900 tonnes against 14,700 tonnes a month earlier. In August of the previous year, shipments of PET chips were 14,600 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's state-owned producer Sabic informed customers in Asia-Pacific and Middle East last week, of its inability to meet existing polyethlene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) orders for September because of a feedstock shortage, as reported by Plastemart.

Sabic on 15 September said petrochemical feedstock supplies will be curbed for its subsidiaries in the aftermath of attacks on two key oil installations in Saudi Arabia. The weekend attacks at the Abqaiq plant, the world's largest crude processing facility, and the Khurais oil field infrastructure forced state-owned Saudi Aramco to shut in 5.7mln b/d of crude output.

Customers in Asia are now weighing their options to meet their October requirements and making various enquiries to PE and PP producers in southeast Asia, South Korea, India and the US.

As MRC reported before, a number of Saudi Arabia's companies, such as Tasnee, Sadara, Advanced Petrochemical and Saudi Kayan, announced a curtailment of feedstock to their petrochemical plants, including PE and PP facilities, by an average of 30-50% due to the attacks on key Saudi Aramco facilities on Saturday.

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.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC