Zhong An United taken off-stream LLDPE unit in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhong An United Coal Chemical Co has undertaken an unplanned shutdown at its linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) units, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has halted operations at this unit owing to technical issues on October 6, 2019. The unit is likely to remain off-line for about one week.

Located at Huainan, Anhui province, China, the LLDPE unit has a production capacity of 145,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, Zhong An United Coal Chemical Co restarted its LLDPE unit following an unplanned outage on August 24, 2019. The plant was shut owing to technical issues on August 10, 2019.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, LLDPE shipments to the Russian market increased in the first seven months of 2019 by 8% year on year to 234,130 tonnes. Local producers increased their production by 24%.

Zhongan United Coal Industry Chemical Co. Ltd. mines, processes, manufactures, and distributes coal products. The company produces brown coal products, bituminous coal products, hard coal products, coking coal products, and other related products. Zhongan United Coal Industry Chemical markets its products throughout China.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer, is expected to file its IPO prospectus by the end of the month, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

The prospectus will reportedly first be published in Arabic on Oct. 25 and then in English two days later, according to a timeline seen by the Journal.

The state-owned oil enterprise will list its shares on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul exchange, as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic reform plan. The crown prince anticipates listing 5% of the company in total domestically and internationally by 2020 or 2021. If the Saudi government decides to move forward with the listing, 1% to 2% of Aramco’s shares will be listed domestically by late November or early December, people familiar with the matter said.

The crown prince has indicated that he wants a valuation of USD2 trillion, though analysts and Aramco officials have valued Aramco at closer to USD1.5 trillion.

The Aramco IPO was delayed in 2018, reportedly over Saudi officials’ concerns about public scrutiny of the company’s finances. A drone and missile strike in September temporarily knocked out more than half of Saudi Arabia’s oil output, though officials stressed at the time that the Aramco IPO scheduling was not impacted.

As MRC informed earlier, in the early October, Saudi Aramco restored full oil production and capacity to the levels they were at before attacks on its facilities on Sept. 14.

As MRC reported before, 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.

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.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco"s value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
MRC

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

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

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