Chambroad Zhongju plans to build new PP plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s Chambroad Zhongju is mulling over building a new PP plant in China, reported NCT with reference to sources close to the company.

The plant will consist of two production lines, with a combined capacity of 600,000 tons/year.

The construction works of the new plant, which is subject to regulatory approval, are yet to start while no details were disclosed regarding the completion and start-up dates, sources stated.

The company has reportedly been in the process of gathering public opinion for the project, meanwhile.

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.
MRC

Sasol provides R400m in financing for first South African-owned chemical tanker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Integrated chemicals and energy company Sasol has provided R400-million to finance the acquisition of the first South African-owned chemical tanker, the Bow Cecil, by empowered entity, Nduna Maritime, said Engineeringnews.

Speaking after the 37 000 dwt vessel, which is equipped with 47 tanks, docked in Durban Harbour on Wednesday, Sasol executive VP: advisory, assurance and supply chain Vuyo Kahla said this was the company’s largest ever enterprise and supplier development (ESD) funding agreement through its Sasol Siyakha Trust.

Since 2007, Sasol has disbursed R426.7-million to 91 small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) as part of its ESD programme. The deal, which was refused by large local and international financiers, took just three hours to conclude.

The Bow Cecil, which will transport chemicals to international markets, will also be the first chemical tanker to become part of the South African ship registry and fly the country’s flag. The South African ship’s registry currently only comprises four ships. The tanker was built in Norway in 1998 and was acquired by Nduna Maritime from Odfjell Chemical Tankers.

"We are particularly proud of this landmark agreement as it is a significant investment into localising and diversifying our supply chain. As a global producer of a number of chemical products, we supply numerous markets around the world. Through Nduna Maritime, we are extending our value chain participation through a wholly owned South African business," Kahla said.

Sasol spends about R1.8-billion a year on shipping costs. As the owner of the Bow Cecil, Nduna Maritime will leverage this asset to increase its capacity to ship more chemical products to markets concentrated in Asia.

Vusi Mazibuko, executive chairperson of the Mnambithi Group, which owns Nduna Maritime, said that the company would acquire more ships. It had also set itself a target of having an all-South African crew on the Bow Cecil by 2024.

“We have plans to expand our fleet in both liquid bulk and dry bulk vessels, which will see us further deepen South African ownership of the maritime industry. The vessel currently handles outbound shipments of chemicals into South East Asia, the Middle East, and Europe for Sasol and other companies," he noted.

He said that about R160-billion of cargo passed through South African ports each year. Ninety-six per cent of this is handled by international companies. Just capturing 10% of that market would be a significant achievement for South African companies.

As MRC wrote previously, Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol’s new cracker, the heart of our Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide feedstock to our six new derivative units at our Lake Charles multi-asset site.

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

Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
MRC

Formosa Plastics shut its No.2 PP plant in Ningbo for unscheduled maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics has taken off-stream its polypropylene (PP) unit owing to technical glitch, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has halted operations at the unit in end-September, 2019. The units is likely to remain off-line till mid-October, 2019.

Located at Ningbo in China, the No. 2 PP unit has a production capacity of 280,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Formosa Petrochemical Corp aims to lower its October average run rate at the 540,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Mailiao refinery in October to about 70% from more than 87% last month due to maintenance. Formosa, Asia’s sixth-largest standalone refinery by capacity, has taken an 80,000-bpd residue desulphurizer down for a planned maintenance since Tuesday.

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.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

Polief partially suspended production due to leakage

MOSCOW (MRC) - The Polief, part of SIBUR holding, partially suspended the production process due to a leak from a tank with industrial effluents, the company told Interfax.

The leak occurred due to the collapse of a part of the wall of a concrete structure. To investigate the cause of the incident, the company will create a commission, according to the website of the company. Eight tonnes of industrial effluents leaked from a 20-tonnes tank.

The waste fell "on the adjacent territory", no one was injured in the incident, the Ministry of Emergency Situations informed. Emergency recovery work was carried out by 167 people, 83 pieces of equipment are involved, an obstruction wall has been created on the way of drains. The quality of drinking water is examined every hour by Ufavodokanal on 105 indicators. This is the third accident at the enterprise over the past six months.

As MRC reported previously, Polief launched the production of terephthalic acid (PTA) in Blagoveshchensk in September 2019. The modernisation of the production of terephthalic acid (PTA) at Polyef was completed in mid-August. The volume of consumption of PTA in the Russian market is about 500,000 tonnes per year. Thus, the reconstruction of the existing production at Polief with an increase in the production capacity of the product from 272,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes per year will significantly replace imports.

SIBUR began the reconstruction of the production of PTA in Blagoveshchensk in December 2017. Polief is the only producer of terephthalic acid in Russia; it is 100% owned by SIBUR; it produces terephthalic acid and polyethylene terephthalate - raw materials for the production of food packaging.
MRC

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