Repsol forms lubricants joint venture to expand in Asia-Pacific

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Repsol signed the purchase agreement for a 40% stake in the Singapore-based lubricants manufacturer United Oil Company, which will manufacture and supply Repsol’s brand of products in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, said Euro-petrole.

The agreement will allow Repsol to increase its presence in Southeast Asia, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing lubricants markets with sales of 3 million metric tons per year and an annual growth rate of 4%.

Southeast Asia, and particularly Indonesia, are key target markets for growth, fitting in with the Strategic Plan 2018–2020 goals to increase the international expansion of the Downstream Unit. Repsol aims to be a top-five player in Indonesia thorough the capabilities incorporated in this partnership.

The deal represents a third regional manufacturing hub to the ones Repsol already has in Spain and Mexico. United Oil Company has two lubricants plants, in Singapore and Indonesia, with total capacity of 140,000 metric tonnes.

The joint venture unveiled today plans to upgrade United Oil Company’s existing manufacturing plant in Indonesia and expand the network of dealers and distributors though a targeted sales and marketing drive. The alliance with United Global Limited will provide immediate access to new customer segments due to the complementary nature of both companies’ brands and product lines.

The partnership in Asia adds to the joint venture created last year with Bardahl of Mexico, completing the foundations for the company’s immediate strategic growth goals. Repsol aims to double its lubricants sales volumes to 300,000 metric tonnes, with 70% sourced from international business units.

Repsol has allocated 1.5 billion euros in investments for the period 2018–2020 for the growth of its Downstream unit, specifically its service stations, petrochemicals and lubricants businesses.

The agreement signed today is subject to the fulfillment of standard authorizations for this type of transaction.

As MRC informed earlier, Repsol resumed operations at its cracker in Sines, Portugal. 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.

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

Bahrain says oil refinery unaffected by Saudi attacks

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bahrain’s oil refinery has not been affected by attacks that disrupted Saudi crude exports earlier this month, reported Reuters with reference to Bahrain’s Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Khalifa.

Bahrain’s oil imports from Saudi Arabia have now returned to normal, the statement said.

Some units in the oil refinery are under maintenance, reducing its capacity, but reserves of oil products are sufficient to meet clients’ needs in the long run, 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.

Besides, as MRC reported earlier, 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 polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) facilities, by an average of 30-50% due to the attacks on key Saudi Aramco facilities on Saturday.

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. 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.
MRC

BASF resumes production at Ludwigshafen cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's petrochemical major, has restarted its No. 1 steam cracker following a maintenance turnaorund, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Germany informed that the company has resumed operations at the plant on September 30, 2019. The plant was shut for maintenance in mid-August, 2019.

Located at Ludwigshafen in Germany, the No. 1 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 235,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 125,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in early September 2019, SIBUR, the largest petrochemical comples in Russia and Eastern Europe, and BASF agreed to closely cooperate on sustainable development to share their best practices.

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. 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. BASF generated sales of around EUR63 billion in 2018.
MRC

Sulzer GTC wins award for benzene production complex modernization project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sulzer GTC Technology has signed an agreement with JSC SIBUR-Neftehim (SIBUR) to provide its licensed pyrolysis gasoline (pygas) processing technologies, including design of the fractionation, first and second stage hydrotreating, aromatics extraction and thermal hydrodealkylation technologies for the modernization of a benzene production facility at SIBUR’s Kstovo olefins production plant near Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The modernized facility will serve as a hub for processing full range pygas from several SIBUR facilities, allow production of high-purity benzene with the lowest cash cost, and recover non-aromatics to be used as cracker feed. Sulzer GTC will design a new GT-BTX unit as well as revamp the existing pygas fractionation; first and second stage hydrotreating; and the thermal hydrodealkylation unit to process additional feed. Scope of supply includes the basic engineering package, technical services, proprietary catalyst, solvent and equipment.

"We are pleased to work with such a prestigious company as SIBUR to provide effective solutions for producing aromatics from pyrolysis gasoline and modernizing olefins production complexes," said Ilya L. Aranovich, Sulzer GTC Director of Licensing, North America, Europe, and CIS Countries. He added, "We are excited to extend our track record of providing leading-edge solutions to improve the economics of naphtha-based crackers for clients in the CIS region and around the world."

Benzene is a feedstock for the production of styrene monomer (SM), which, in its turn, is a feedstock for manufacturing polystyrene (PS).

As MRC MRC's ScanPlast report, Russian plants reduced their output of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) in August 2019 by 19% year on year to 27,280 tonnes. This figure was at 33,5400 tonnes in August 2018. Russia's August GPPS and HIPS production decreased by 15% from July 2019. PS production slightly increased in the Russian market in January-August 2019. Thus, the increase was 1% year on year: 251,690 tonnes versus 248,150 tonnes a year earlier.

SIBUR is the largest integrated petrochemicals company in Russia. The Group sells its petrochemical products on the Russian and international markets in two business segments: Olefins & Polyolefins (polypropylene, polyethylene, BOPP films, etc.) Plastics, Elastomers & Intermediates (synthetic rubbers, EPS, PET, etc.). SIBUR’s petrochemicals business utilises mainly own feedstock, which is produced by the Midstream segment using by-products purchased from oil and gas companies. More than 26,000 employees working in SIBUR contribute to the success of customers engaged in the chemical, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, construction, energy and other industries in 80 countries worldwide. In 2018, SIBUR reported revenue of USD 9.1 billion and adjusted EBITDA of USD 3.3 billion.
MRC

Neftekhim Ltd shut PP production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazakh Neftekhim Ltd, Kazakhstan's only polypropylene (PP) producer, shut down its PP production for an unscheduled maintenance, according to the ICIS-MRC Price report.

According to the enterprise’s customers, the producer shut PP production on 1 October due to the termination of the supply of raw materials from the Pavlodar refinery. The local refinery shuts part of the production for emergency repairs from 30 September to 20 October.

After the Pavlodar refinery finished the turnaround, it is planned to resume the production of PP by the Neftekhim LTD Company.

Neftekhim Ltd was commissioned in 2009. The company produces methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and polypropylene (PP). The plant's PP production with the capacity of 45,000 tonnes/year was launched in 2011; the plant did not have PP granulation unit then, polymer was produced in the form of powder, which limited its field of application.
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