Arlanxeo finishes rubber plant upgrade un Germany

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arlanxeo a leading synthetic elastomers company, is strengthening its market position by investing in its high-performance elastomer products CR (chloroprene rubber) and NBR (nitrile butadiene rubber), laying the foundation for the further increase of production capacity in order to meet the increasing global demand of these polymers, said the company.

The turnaround of Arlanxeo ?s CR plant in Dormagen, Germany, announced in the beginning of 2018, has been successfully completed allowing for a production of up to 70,000 metric tons of CR per year. The multiple million Euro investment to upgrade and modernize the plant is a strong signal of ARLANXEO’s long-term commitment to the CR business, leading to an increased flexibility and capability of the plant to produce specialty products.

In addition to its investment in Dormagen, ARLANXEO has also already made substantial progress modernizing its NBR plant in La Wantzenau, France. The double-digit million Euro investment program started in mid-2018 and aims to bring the plant up to the latest technology standards. Through this investment, ARLANXEO will serve the increasing demand of its high-quality NBR rubbers in the coming years while underlining the company?s long term commitment to NBR and strengthening its position as the leading global NBR supplier. This applies to the traditional business areas and new applications as well as for the use of NBR as raw material for the production of the company’s Therban® (HNBR) specialty products.

Arlanxeo ?s La Wantzenau facility is the world’s largest NBR production site and also the company?s center for research and development activities for NBR. ARLANXEO produces a broad high quality NBR grade portfolio in La Wantzenau which is supplied to more than 500 customers in over 60 countries worldwide.

Arlanxeo is part of Saudi energy major Saudi Aramco. In December 2018, Saudi Aramco completed the acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in Arlanxeo joint venture from German speciality chemicals company Lanxess. Also in Saudi Arabia, Aramco is considering a USD5bn joint venture with France’s major Total for a new complex next to its SATORP refining and chemicals site.

Announced in April 2018, the world-class complex will be located next to the SATORP refinery, operated by Saudi Aramco (62.5%) and Total (37.5%), in order to fully exploit operational synergies. It will comprise a mixed-feed cracker (50% ethane and refinery off-gases) - the first in the Gulf region to be integrated with a refinery - with a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year of ethylene and related high-added-value petrochemical units. The project represents an investment of around $5 billion and is scheduled to start-up in 2024.

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.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Union workers at Phillips 66’s 285,000-barrel-per-day Bayway refinery in Linden, NJ, voted against a three-year contract, raising the chances of a strike or lockout at the largest petrochemical complex on the US East Coast, reported Reuters.

Some 266 of the 429 union workers who voted opposed ratifying the agreement, while 163 voted in its favor, according to a union representative from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 877.

The union intends to continue negotiations with Phillips 66 under a 24-hour rolling contract that has been in place since the previous deal expired on Sept. 30, the representative said.

If an agreement is not reached, the unionized refinery workers could be subject to a lockout, leaving the company without access to certain emergency response systems such as a fire department.

A spokesperson for Phillips 66 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Key provisions of the contract voted on Friday included expanding operators’ responsibilities to include several different operating refinery units, a provision some union members said is a safety concern.

Two sources familiar with the negotiations said that the proposed contract also included an across-the-board 11% raise for refinery workers.

As MRC wrote before, US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), was up 0.1 percent in September on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis following a 0.1 percent decline in August and gains averaging 0.2 percent per month during the second quarter, said Americanchemistry.

On a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis, the barometer was flat at 0.0 percent (3MMA). The unadjusted measure of the CAB was up 0.6 percent in September following a 0.7 percent decline in August. The diffusion index rose to 67 percent in September. The diffusion index marks the number of positive contributors relative to the total number of indicators monitored. The CAB reading for August was revised upward by 0.09 points and that for July by 0.34 points.

“Although one month does not make a trend, the positive September CAB reading and upward revisions in the data are encouraging signs,” said Kevin Swift, chief economist at ACC. “The barometer indicates gains in U.S. commerce into the second quarter of 2020, but at a slow pace."

The CAB has four main components, each consisting of a variety of indicators: 1) production; 2) equity prices; 3) product prices; and 4) inventories and other indicators.

Production-related indicators in September were slightly positive. Housing activity rebounded sharply in August, while trends in construction-related resins, pigments and related performance chemistry were mixed, suggesting slow gains in housing activity. Plastic resins used in packaging and for consumer and institutional applications were mixed. Performance chemistry improved. U.S. exports were mixed, reflecting trade tensions, a high dollar and a weak global manufacturing environment. Equity prices rebounded this month, as did product and input prices. Inventory and other indicators were positive.

The CAB is a leading economic indicator derived from a composite index of chemical industry activity. Due to its early position in the supply chain, chemical industry activity has been found to consistently lead the U.S. economy’s business cycle, and this barometer can be used to determine turning points and likely trends in the broader economy. Month-to-month movements can be volatile, so a three-month moving average of the CAB reading is provided. This provides a more consistent and illustrative picture of national economic trends.

Applying the CAB back to 1912, it has been shown to provide a lead of two to 14 months, with an average lead of eight months at cycle peaks as determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The median lead was also eight months. At business cycle troughs, the CAB leads by one to seven months, with an average lead of four months. The median lead was three months. The CAB is rebased to the average lead (in months) of an average 100 in the base year (the year 2012 was used) of a reference time series. The latter is the Federal Reserve’s Industrial Production Index.

As MRC informed earlier, Russia"s output of products from polymers rose in August by only 0.5% year on year. And this figure increased by 1.2% year on year in the first eight months of 2019. According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, August production of unreinforced and non-combined films was slightly over 110,000 tonnes, compared to 112,000 tonnes a month earlier. Output of films products grew in January-August 2019 by 8.5% year on year to 718,900 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Chemical's propylene dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Freeport, Texas, is offline for a turnaround, reported S&P Global with reference to US olefin market participants.

Sources said the PDH unit went offline for scheduled maintenance September 26, and the work is expected to last 45-60 days. Originally, sources expected the turnaround to begin in early September, but then learned it had been delayed.

Dow said it does not typically comment on turnaround activity.

One market participant said that as a result of the turnaround, she expects US propylene inventory to begin decreasing. This comes a day after the US Energy Information Administration data showed an increase in inventories last week, the third consecutive weekly rise for propylene inventories.

As MRC informed previously, Dow Chemical began major maintenance on the LHC 1 cracker at Terneuzen, Netherlands from 9 September, 2019. More than 1,500 extra employees from various external companies will carry out maintenance work in the subsequent period.

Propylene is a feedstock for producing 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.

Dow believes that plastic waste has value and can be transformed into new products and energy. In addition to plastic roads, Dow is working with key partners in South America to use recycled plastics to develop construction materials for schools in Colombia. Dow is also at the forefront of developing and scaling chemical recycling technology to take recycled plastic waste back to feedstock for the creation of new products. By reimagining new ways to reuse, recycle and repurpose plastic waste, Dow and its partners are leading the way in the development of innovative circular economy solutions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell announced that its Board of Directors has elected Deborah Flint, 52, chief executive officer of Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), to its Board of Directors as an independent Director, said the company.

Flint was appointed CEO of LAWA in 2015. LAWA is a self-supporting department of the City of Los Angeles and owns and operates Los Angeles International (LAX) and Van Nuys (VNY) general aviation airports. Flint's responsibilities include managing the comprehensive modernization of LAX, including championing the use of connected, Internet of Things technologies to manage the airport more efficiently, provide a world-class experience for travelers, and enhance safety and security. Prior to her leadership at LAWA, Flint held senior roles at the Port of Oakland, where she honed her management and finance skills over 23 years.

"Deborah brings to the Honeywell Board of Directors a skillset that supports our strategy of becoming the premier software-industrial company, including innovation and technology, finance, and operations in many of the verticals we serve," said Darius Adamczyk, chairman and CEO of Honeywell. "Her deep experience in areas such as critical infrastructure, connected buildings and advanced security solutions will be invaluable to Honeywell's leadership team. Her leadership skills are demonstrated each day at LAX, where she is leading the largest public works project in the history of the City of Los Angeles and oversees the largest airport police force in the U.S. We are confident that Deborah's invaluable expertise and experiences will help advance Honeywell's ongoing transformation and the acceleration of our growth in software across our end markets."

In her current role, Flint oversees more than USD14 billion in contracts. Among the LAX upgrades completed or in progress under Flint's leadership are several major airfield and facility improvements, including a state-of-the-art midfield concourse, new taxiways and taxilanes, and major renovations and infrastructure upgrades in all terminals.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2019, Honeywell announced that Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co., Ltd. is using Honeywell UOP’s C3 OleflexTM technology to produce 450 000 tpy of polymer-grade propylene for a new petrochemicals complex in China. This is the second C3 Oleflex unit now operating with Satellite. Honeywell UOP delivered Satellite’s first Oleflex unit in 2014.

Propylene has historically been produced as a by-product of refining fuels, but demand for propylene has exceeded the supply from refining processes. Propane dehydrogenation such as the Oleflex process can bridge this gap by producing ‘on-purpose’ propylene from propane that is derived from natural gas as well as from refining processes.

Propylene is the main feedstock for producing polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.
MRC