Synthos reduces October EPS prices for Ukrainian buyers by USD30/tonne

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Synthos SA, Poland's largest petrochemical producer, has reduced its October export prices of expandable polystyrene (EPS) for the Ukrainian market by an average of EUR30/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Thus, this month's shipments of material to Ukrainian buyers will be done at EUR1,200-1,220/tonne FCA Oswiecim, excluding VAT.

As reported earlier, SIBUR-Khimprom, Russia's largest EPS producer, raised its October prices for Ukraine by USD5/tonne to USD1,275/tonne FCA Voronezh, excluding VAT.

Synthos SA is one of the largest producers of petrochemical products in Poland and is the largest producer of emulsion rubbers in Europe. Besides, it is the third largest European EPS producer.
MRC

Strike halts Total Feyzin in France, steam cracker at reduced runs

MOSCOW (MRC) -- France's Feyzin refinery is in the process of halting units and the steam cracker is running at reduced rates, reported S&P Global with reference to Total's statement on Wednesday.

Local media reported earlier that the refinery has been halting operations since Monday due to a strike.
The company said it regrets the decision by labor unions to call a strike while discussions are ongoing with refinery staff about a planned indefinite closure of a unit due to lower product demand.

Feyzin is considering mothballing a visbreaker unit around 2021 as demand for heavy fuel is gradually declining and the unit currently works on average no more than three days per month. As a result of closing the position of a unit operator, seven people would lose their jobs, but would be offered different jobs within the organization, the company said.

But the strike has been called before the process of consultation with staff has been concluded, Total said, adding that the refinery hopes the talks will resume, since there would be no job losses as a result of the project.

Traders said they were currently uncertain about the market impact of the refinery's temporary closure due to the strike. Some dismissed any immediate impact, but others indicated that product availability would decrease.

As MRC informed earlier, in Septermber 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) have announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies have agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

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.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

Shell forms catalyst recycling joint venture

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. and Shell Catalysts & Technologies have signed an agreement to form a joint venture which will be called Shell & AMG Recycling B.V., reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The joint venture will provide a long-term sustainable solution for catalyst reclamation and recycling.

Dr. Heinz C. Schimmelbusch, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of AMG, said "AMG has developed a world-leading spent-catalyst recycling technology and we are very pleased to be able to form this joint venture and thereby significantly expand and deepen our 17-year relationship with Shell. With the implementation of the IMO 2020 fuel sulfur regulation we expect significant spent-catalyst volume growth. The end-to-end option that will be available to oil refineries will represent an outstanding CO2 reduction opportunity."

Andy Gosse, President Shell Catalysts & Technologies said, "These changing regulations and an increased focus on oil to chemicals in our industry have significantly increased the number of residue-upgrading units already in operation, in construction or being planned. With this opportunity comes the environmental challenge managing the large volume of catalysts that will be required. Coupled with Shell Catalysts & Technologies’ existing offering, we will be able to deliver refiners the option of a truly circular solution, turning waste into value, replacing disposal with recycling and reuse, and significantly reducing pollution and emissions."

Refineries will benefit from the combined technical capabilities and integrated resources of Shell & AMG Recycling B.V. by reducing the risk and cost of transporting and disposing of spent catalysts and eliminating the need to landfill. In addition, they will benefit from the monetization of the valuable metals contained in their waste.

The process employed by Shell & AMG Recycling B.V. extracts critical materials, including vanadium, in the form of ferrovanadium from spent catalysts. Ferrovanadium is an alloy which increases the strength of steel and is primarily used in infrastructure applications such as rebar or girders. Through the reclamation of ferrovanadium from spent catalysts, steel manufacturers benefit from a low CO2 alternative compared to sourcing the vanadium through mining.

The joint venture will operate outside of North America and is subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.

As MRC informed before, operations were stable on 13 September at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 340,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) joint-venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas, after the upper Houston Ship Channel was closed by protesters from Greenpeace USA. The Deer Park refinery is a 50-50 joint-venture between Shell and Mexico’s national oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). Shell is the managing partner of the joint-venture. Shell has three crackers at Deer Park site with a combined ethylene capacity of 1,67 mln per year and petrochemical plants.

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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

Petrobras CEO: Brazil oil spill something extraordinary

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Roberto Castello Branco, the chief executive of Brazilian oil company Petrobras, called the oil spill hitting the country’s northeastern coast “something extraordinary,” ruling out a tanker cleaning operation as the possible cause due to the amount of crude collected, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Castello Branco said on Tuesday that it was not the role of his company to investigate the possible origins of the oil spill, but rather a job for Brazil’s federal police and navy.

As MRC wrote previously, in October 2017, Petrobras’s minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica was excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette. The decree prevented Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced last year. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

U.S. specialty chemical markets rebounded in August

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reflecting a rebound of manufacturing production, U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes rose 0.2 percent in August after falling 0.1 percent in July, rising 0.2 percent in June and a generally weak early 2019, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC), said Americanchemistry.

All changes in the data are reported on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. Of the 28 specialty chemical segments ACC monitors, 18 expanded in August – double the figure for July – seven markets declined and three were flat. Large market volume gains (1.0 percent and over) occurred only in rubber processing chemicals. On a sequential basis, diffusion was 70 percent, up sharply from 38 percent in July.

During August, the overall specialty chemicals volume index was up 0.8 percent on a year-over-year (Y/Y) 3MMA basis. Year-earlier comparisons eased after third quarter 2018 and August 2019 marks the first improving comparison. The index stood at 114.9 percent of its average 2012 levels in August. This is equivalent to 7.83 billion pounds (3.55 million metric tons). On a Y/Y basis, there were gains in 13 market and functional specialty chemical segments. Compared to last year, volumes were down in 15 segment. On a year-earlier basis, diffusion was 46 percent.

Specialty chemicals are materials manufactured on the basis of the unique performance or function and provide a wide variety of effects on which many other sectors and end-use products rely. They can be individual molecules or mixtures of molecules, known as formulations. The physical and chemical characteristics of the single molecule or mixtures along with the composition of the mixtures influence the performance end product. Individual market sectors that rely on such products include automobile, aerospace, agriculture, cosmetics and food, among others.

Specialty chemicals differ from commodity chemicals. They may only have one or two uses, while commodities may have multiple or different applications for each chemical. Commodity chemicals comprise most of the production volume in the global marketplace, while specialty chemicals make up most of the diversity in commerce at any given time, and are relatively high value with greater market growth rates.

This data set is the only timely source of market trends for 28 market and functional specialty chemical segments. Chemistry directly touches over 96 percent of all manufactured goods, and trends in these specialty chemical segments provide a detailed view of trends in manufacturing. The data also shed light on how various consumer end-use markets are performing compared with others in the marketplace.

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