Oriental Petrochemical eyes maintenance at PTA unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oriental Petrochemical Taiwan (OPTC) is likely to take off-stream its Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) unit for a turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has planned to halt operations at the unit in mid-November, 2019. The unit is expected to resume production in end-November, 2019.

Located at Shanghai in China , the PTA unit has a production capacity of 700,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, another China's major PTA producer - Dushan Energy Ltd., a subsidiary of Xinfengming Group Co., Ltd - has partially started up its new 2.2 million mt/year purified terephthalic acid unit at Zhejiang in late October 2019. The unit consists of two trains with 1.1 million mt/year each, and the raw material paraxylene was fed into one of the trains on 30 October morning.

PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption dropped in September 2019 by 10% year on year, totalling 58,210 tonnes. Overall, 551,320 tonnes of PET was processed in Russia in the first nine months of 2019, up 9% year on year.
MRC

PVC production in Russia up by 3% in January-October 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's overall production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) reached 809,000 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 3% year on year. At the same time, not all Russian producers raised their output, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

October total production of unmixed PVC was about 88,500 tonnes versus 89,400 tonnes a month earlier, SayanskKhimPlast and RusVinyl increased their capacity utilisation last month. Overall PVC production reached 809,000 tonnes in January-September 2019, compared to 784,900 tonnes a year earlier. All plants raised their output, except for Kaustik Volgograd.

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

RusVinyl (JV of SIBUR and SolVin) produced about 29,500 tonnes of PVC in October, with emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) accounting for 2,500 tonnes, compared to 30,700 tonnes a month earlier. Overall PVC production at RusVinyl was 286,600 tonnes in January-October 2019, up by 4% year on year. Such a significant increase in production indicators was primarily due to the absence of long scheduled maintenance works in the current year, which was traditionally carried out in April - May.

SayanskKhimPlast produced 27,800 tonnes of suspension PVC (SPVC) last month, whereas this figure was 28,200 tonnes in September. The Sayansk plant managed to produce about 241,000 tonnes of resin in January-October, compared to 224,800 tonnes a year earlier.

Baskhir Soda Company produced 23,800 tonnes of SPVC in October versus 23,200 tonnes a month earlier. Total SPVC production at Baskhir Soda Company increased to 216,100 tonnes in the first ten months of this year, compared to 207,300 tonnes in the same period in 2018.

Kaustik (Volgograd) produced about 7,400 tonnes of SPVC in October, compared with 7,500 tonnes in September. The plant's overall output of PVC reached 65,300 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019 versus 77,300 tonnes a year earlier. The Volgograd's lower production was caused by a shutdown for maintenance in May-June.


MRC

Saudi Aramco and ADNOC boosts global oil and gas contracts activity in Q3 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The global oil and gas industry has witnessed a substantial boost from contracts activity in the Middle East, which has resulted in a contract value of USD44.4bn in Q3 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The increase in contract value is primarily attributed to Saudi Aramco’s 34 engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) related contracts (worth over USD18bn) for projects such as the Marjan and Berri field incremental development program in Saudi Arabia, alongside ADNOC’s US$3.6bn contract for the supply of one million metric tons of casing and tubing to support exploration and production activity in United Arab Emirates (UAE). The reported contract value is comparable to the previous quarter, which recorded US$45.5bn in value – despite there being a slight decline in the number of contracts from 1,528 in Q2 2019 to 1,386 in Q3 2019.

The company’s latest report, ‘Q3 2019 Global Oil & Gas Industry Contracts Review’, states that the upstream sector reported 1,035 contracts in Q3 2019, followed by midstream and downstream/petrochemical sector with 255 and 109 contracts, respectively, during the quarter.

North America recorded the most contracts with 489, representing 35% of the total in Q3 2019. This was followed closely by Europe with 471 contracts, accounting for 34% of the total.

Pritam Kad, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, commented: “Saudi Aramco’s commitment towards enhancing local presence is demonstrated in-line with its’ In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) initiative, which is designed to drive domestic value creation. The recent 34 EPC-related contracts, worth over US$18bn, also support this initiative as most of the contract work will be undertaken by local companies/subsidiaries. On the similar note, ADNOC’s US$3.6bn casing and tubing supply contract, awarded during Q3, has the potential to achieve an in-country value of over 50%, which is significant."

Of the total contracts in Q3 2019, 61% were operation and maintenance (O&M) related contracts, followed by multiple-scope contracts such as construction, design and engineering, installation, O&M, and procurement, which accounted for 12%.

Notable contracts awarded by Saudi Aramco during Q3 2019, include multiple EPC-related contracts for the Marjan and Berri field Increment development program. Some of these key contracts were McDermott International and COOEC consortium’s USD3.5bn contract for the EPC and installation (EPCI) of a gas-oil separation plant (GOSP); McDermott International’s USD1.7bn EPCI contract for offshore gas facilities and pipelines; Saipem Onshore’s E&C division’s two EPCI services contracts combined (worth over US$3.5bn) for the development of the land facilities of the Abu Ali Crude expansion, oil and gas separation plant, and Khursaniyah Gas Plant (KGP) facilities; Tecnicas Reunidas’ USD3.36bn EPCI contract for a gas-processing plant and recovery and fractionation facilities; and the L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE) and EMAS AMC consortium’s mega contract (worth over USD1bn) for an EPCI of oil facilities, tie-in platforms, production deck modules (wellhead decks), subsea pipelines and subsea cables, as well as the replacement of existing control gears at offshore platforms.

As MRC informed in the late October, The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Adani Group (Adani), BASF SE (BASF) and Borealis AG (Borealis) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to engage in a joint feasibility study to further evaluate a collaboration for the establishment of a chemical complex in Mundra, Gujarat, India. The collaboration includes evaluating a joint world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant to produce propylene based on propane feedstock to be supplied by ADNOC. Propylene will be partially used as feedstock for a polypropylene (PP) complex, owned by ADNOC and Borealis, based on proprietary state-of-the-art Borealis Borstar technology.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

ADNOC is now accelerating this transformation by unveiling its plans to become a leading global downstream player. The new strategy will be supported by ADNOC’s 45 year plus legacy of a unique and open approach to partnerships, built on the UAE’s bedrock values, reliability and attractiveness. ADNOC will again look to create long term downstream partnerships, providing access to the most attractive parts of the energy value chain, to redefine ADNOC’s future growth.
MRC

MOL Group completes Aurora acquisition

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petrochemicals company MOL Group (Budapest) announced that it acquired 100% of shares in Aurora, a plastics compounder based in Neuenstein, Germany, said Plasticstoday.

The deal reportedly reinforces MOL’s position in sustainable compounding and as a materials supplier to the automotive sector.

A supplier of virgin polymers, MOL said that it is continuously looking for opportunities to extend its petrochemical value chain toward higher added-value products. To achieve this objective, the group is seeking to expand synergies and gain expertise in both virgin-based and recycled plastic compounding. With the acquisition of Aurora, MOL Group said that it is further expanding its product portfolio in engineering plastics and polypropylene recyclate-based compounds and supporting its sustainability goals.

Aurora operates production plants in proximity to automotive manufacturing and plastics conversion clusters located in Germany’s Baden-Wurttemberg region. Moreover, Aurora has a unique closed-loop business model: It collects industrial plastic waste, recycles it and then upgrades the properties of the material into an enhanced plastic that suits the requirements of the car manufacturing industry. By combining MOL Group’s experience and Aurora’s know-how, the long-term objective is to accelerate further market growth while relieving the burden on the environment.

Aurora has production plants located near automotive manufacturing and plastics conversion clusters in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.

Compounding and recycling are among the key areas defined in MOL’s 2030 strategy and the automotive industry is a strategic sector, where both MOL and Aurora aim to tap into growing demand for recycled materials.

No financial details of the deal were disclosed.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2019, Russian oil producer Lukoil and Hungarian energy company MOL are set to sign a settlement deal over contaminated oil.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, Stavrolen (part of Lukoil), Russia's major polyolefins producer, has resumed its polypropylene (PP) production in Budennovsk after a long scheduled turnaround. The plant's customers said Stavrolen had fully resumed its PP production after the long scheduled maintenance by 15 October. The outage began on 6 September. The start-up of the plant"s high density polyethylene (HDPE) production will take place with a week delay.

MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas PLC is an integrated oil and gas company. The Company produces crude oil, petroleum products, bitumens, lubricants and natural gas. MOL owns and operates refineries, oil and gas pipelines, service stations, and natural gas storage facilities.
MRC

BASF ChemCycling project faces legislative problems due to German environmental law

MOSCOW (MRC) --The prospect of chemical recycling becoming a viable reality is looming on the horizon, but it is not yet a foregone conclusion as it faces some legislative problems, said Bioplasticsnews.

BASF is among the key drivers with its ChemCycling project at its site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. While costs are expected to come down in line with economies of scale as the technology is developed, the use of products made through chemical recycling could not be rolled out throughout Europe.

German environment agency the BMU does not include chemical recycling within its definition of recycling in the Packaging Act (VerpackG), which replaced the German Packaging Ordinance at the beginning of 2019.

The new legislation aims to reduce the impact of waste on the environment, with material recycling pitched at 65% (58.5% of all packaging) rising to 70% (63% of total volume) in 2022.

So for the time being while BASF may be able to break down monomers to reproduce polymers in Ludwigshafen, these products will not be classified as material recycling within Germany.

In September 2019, SIBUR, the largest petrochemical comples in Russia and Eastern Europe, and BASF, Geman petrochemical major, agreed to closely cooperate on sustainable development to share their best practices.

Apart from BASF, SIBUR’s design session was attended by representatives of Unilever, Boston Consulting Group, Renaissance Capital, as well as Razdelniy Sbor, the association for ecology and environmental protection.

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. Meanwhile, 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.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
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