Uzbek company Uz-core GAZ Chemical will shut production of polyethylene for maintenance works

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The joint venture Uz-Kor Gas Chemical, established by the National Holding Company Uzbekneftegaz and the investment consortium of Korean companies - Kogaz, Lotte Group and STX Energy, plans to take off-stream its production of polymers for a turnaround in October, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report with reference to the plant's customers.

According to the company's customers, Uz-Cor Gas Chemical intends to shut the production of low-pressure polyethylene (HDPE) for scheduled maintenances on 14 October. The shutdown will last approximately 10 lays until 24 October. At the same time, initially the shutdown was not planned and was caused by technical problems.

As MRC reported earlier, Uz-Kor Gas Chemical was founded on the basis of Ustyurt Gas Chemical Comples (Surgil deposit). The total cost of the project is over USD4 billion. The complex provides processing of 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas and includes HDPE and PP production facilities with the annual capacity of 386,000 and 80,000 tonnes, respectively.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Trends in the Russian market for PET chips remained unchanged in early October from the previous month, as per the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Contract and spot prices continued falling.

The contract prices of Russian plants for most buyers this month were in the range of roubles (Rb) 76,500-79,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Most formula buyers buy decreased purchasing volumes of PET; demand was extremely low or not at all in the spot market.

Domestic PET market is expected to improve in November.

As MRC informed earlier, Plant of New Polymers Senege, one of the Russian producers of PET chips, shut production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for scheduled repairs on 1 October. According to a source in the company, the shutdown will take about a month. The exact date of the completion of the turnaround was not reported.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Beaumont confirmed that operations at its cracker resumed in the morning on 26 September, 2019, after being shut down more than a week in the wake of Tropical Depression Imelda, reported BeaumontEnterprise.

Nakisha Burns, government and public affairs manager for Exxon Mobil Beaumont, said crews began the process of restarting the plant Thursday evening and production had been resumed by the next day.

"There was some flairing associated with the process that lasted through the night, but it ended by early Friday morning," Burns said.

The company shut down chemical production at the plant on Sept. 19, the day after Tropical Depression Imelda dumped dozens of inches of rain across Southeast Texas, and said it was considering similar steps for its refinery. The refinery ultimately remained operational, but flares remained heavily active after the storm.

Exxon Mobil Beaumont also reported the largest emissions release associated with the storm, releasing more than 36,000 pounds of pollutants. In its initial report to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the plant said the storm caused a process unit compressor to trip, which compelled employees to shut down a unit.

The company operates a cracker with a capacity of 830,000 mt of ethylene and 195,000 mt of proplyelen per year, low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant with a capacity of 236,000 mt per year and linear low density polyethylene plant with a capacity of 727,000 tonnes per year.

Exxon’s Beaumont refinery is the fourth-largest oil refinery in Texas, churning through about 370,000 barrels of oil a day to produce gasoline and other fuels. The refinery is undergoing a major expansion to make it one of the two largest refineries in the country.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption was 1,081,100 tonnes in the first half of 2019, up by 8% year on year. Deliveries of all PE grades increased. Meanwhile, 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.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR-Khimprom has increased its expandable polystyrene (EPS) prices for October shipments to Ukrainian buyers by USD5/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Thus, October prices of material for the Ukrainian market grew to USD1,275/tonne FCA Voronezh, excluding VAT.

At the same time, the Russian producer did not limit buyers' orders for this month's shipments.

Meantime, SIBUR-Khimprom reduced its September EPS prices for Ukraine by USD25/tonne to USD1,270/tonne FCA Voronezh, excluding VAT.

SIBUR-Khimprom (part of SIBUR Holding) specializes in the processing of liquid hydrocarbons and is one of the leading Russian producers of a number of the most important petrochemical products. The company has three main production capacities: production of butyl alcohols and 2-ethylhexanol with a capacity of 160,000 tonnes per year, production of ethylbenzene (220,000 tonnes per year), styrene monomer (SM) production (135,000 tonnes per year) and polystyrene (PS) production (100,000 tonnes per year), ethylene and propylene unit, production of eco-friendly plasticizer DOTF (100,000 tonnes per year).
MRC

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