Motiva may finish Port Arthur, Tx., chemical plant purchase by end October

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises will be ready to complete the purchase of a Flint Hills Resources chemical plant next to its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery by the end of October, sources familiar with Motiva’s plans said Reuters.

With the addition of the chemical plant, which has an ethane cracker but lacks units to process ethylene coming from the cracker, Motiva plans to accelerate construction of a polyethylene unit to process the ethylene, the sources said.

Due to the accelerated timeline for the polyethylene unit, Motiva will slow down work on an ethane cracker and an aromatics unit it planned to build in the refinery, the sources said.

The final investment decision on the last two units is being pushed back to late 2021, the sources said.

Neither Motiva nor Flint Hills representatives were immediately available to comment.

A final investment decision on the polyethylene and aromatics units as well as the ethane cracker had been expected between late this year and spring 2020.

Motiva is still awaiting regulatory approval of the purchase, which could change the final acquisition date, the sources said.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations between Indonesian state energy firm PT Pertamina and Saudi Aramco over a joint venture to upgrade Pertamina’s Cilacap refinery have been extended further until the end of this month, reported Reuters with reference to officials' statement.

Arcandra Tahar, Indonesia’s deputy energy minister, said the extension was to give the two companies more time to agree on asset valuation.

Talks had been extended several times over disagreement on valuation for the refinery and Pertamina in April warned that if talks with Aramco failed, it would launch the project without a partner to meet an operational target of 2025.

Aramco and Pertamina agreed to negotiate to form a joint venture for this project in 2016.

Pertamina will decide "as soon as practical" its preferred partner for Balikpapan refinery upgrade, Tahar also said.

Pertamina already approached the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (Socar), Japan’s JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for possible partnership in the Balikpapan project.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2018, Eni and PT Pertamina (Persero) signed in Porto Marghera, at Eni Green Refinery, a Memorandum of Understanding further expanding the relationship into green refinery.

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.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco"s value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrian polyolefin supplier Borealis AG has lifted a force majeure declared early last month at its production site in Kallo, the company has confirmed to PNE.

On 2 Sep, the company declared force majeure on refinery grade propylene and propane from its production site in Kallo, Belgium, as a consequence of “unforeseen technical issues."

At the same time, the company’s operations in Burghausen, Germany experienced "an incident" due to a disruption in the monomer supply from the nearby OMV cracker on 24 Aug, which resulted in a force majeure on all of its Burghausen production on 2 Sept.

The FM in Burghausen is still in place, Borealis told PNE 1 Oct.

Borealis produces polypropylene at the Burghausen site.

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.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Olin has been conducting a turnaround at its 748,000 mt/year ethylene dichloride (EDC) plant in Freeport, Texas, reported S&P Global with reference to a source familiar with company operations.

The turnaround was expected to reduce EDC oversupply when prices have been under pressure amid seasonally high chlor-alkali rates, market sources said.

Olin, the world's largest chlor-alkali producer, did not respond to an inquiry seeking comment. The work was expected to last into the early fourth quarter.

The latest industry statistics show US chlor-alkali rates reached 92% in August, the highest so far in 2019. While chlorine demand seasonally rises for water treatment during the summer months, higher chlor-alkali rates also boost EDC stocks as chlorine mixed with ethylene makes EDC, a precursor to construction staple polyvinyl chloride, for which demand also rises during the construction-heavy warmer months.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2015, Olin completed merger with Dow chlorine products businesses.

EDC is a feedstock for the production of polyvinyl cloride (PVC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, demand in the Russian unmixed PVC market increased only in the emulsion segment in January-July 2019, the market of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) decreased by 7%. Only producers of plastic compounds and plasticized films showed the growth in demand for the suspension. Scheduled maintenance works simultaneously at two Russian plants did not result in an acute shortage of SPVC in the market. Higher imports helped to avoid shortages.

Olin Corporation manufactures chemicals and ammunition products. The Company manufactures and sells chlorine, caustic soda, sodium hydrosulfite, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen, sodium chlorate, bleach products, and potassium hydroxide. Olin also manufactures products that include sporting ammunition, reloading components, small caliber military ammunition and industrial cartridges.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nizhnekamskneftekhim (part of the TAIF group) has increased its October selling prices of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) by Rb2,000/tonne for Russian buyers, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Thus, several major market participants said last Friday Nizhnekamskneftekhim's selling prices would rise by Rb2,000/tonne in October.

The on-going shortage of PS in the Russian market was the main reason for the increase. All September quantities were reserved by customers, and most market participants did not manage to get additional material at the prices as of early September.

As reported earlier, Nizhnekamskneftekhim also raised September PS prices for the Russian market by Rb2,000/tonne. Thus, September prices of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's GPPS for injection moulding and extrusion were in the range of Rb90,500-95,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, and for foaming - at Rb88,500-93,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, whereas HIPS prices were at Rb95,500-100,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

PJSC "Nizhnekamskneftekhim" (NKNK) - one of the largest Russian manufacturers of petrochemical products. The industrial complex of the company includes ten major production plants and ten departments (Railway Transport, Ethylene trunk, etc..). NKNKh produces more than 120 types of chemical products, including synthetic rubber, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, surfactants. Nizhnekamskneftekhim is a member of TAIF Group of Companies.
MRC