PetroChina Guangdong to build world's largest single-train paraxylene unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PetroChina Guangdong Petrochemical Company has selected Honeywell UOP to build the world's largest single-train paraxylene unit at its new integrated petrochemical complex in Jieyang, Guangdong province, reported S&P Global with reference to Honeywell's statement Thursday.

The new light desorbent parex aromatics complex will be able to produce 2.6 million mt/year of PX, using sulfolane, isomar, tatoray and olefin removal processes.

The Chinese major will also use heavy oil processing technology from Honeywell UOP with an annual crude processing capacity of 20 million mt/year.

Other units include a 3.7 million mt/year hydrocracking unit as well as two continuous catalytic reforming platforming process units, or reformers, each with the capacity of 3 million mt/year, the statement said.

Trial operations at the refining complex are expected to start in October 2021, while trial operation at the petrochemical units will begin two months later.

The complex also includes a 1.2 million mt/year naphtha cracker and high density and low density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE), polypropylene (PP), styrene monomer (SM) and butadiene.

As MRC wrote before, in August 2019, W. R. Grace & Co., the leading independent supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology and polypropylene (PP) process technology, licensed its UNIPOL PP Process Technology to PetroChina Guangdong Petrochemical Company Limited. Located in Jieyang, Guangdong province, China, the new facility is slated to be completed in 2023 and will produce 500 KTA of PP. This will be the largest single-line UNIPOL PP unit in China and will produce homopolymer, random copolymer, and impact copolymer resins.

PX is a feedstock for the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA). PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which, in its turn, is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's DataScope report, Chinese bottle grade PET deliveries to Russia increased 34% in the first eight months of 2019 to 95,600 tonnes. China accounted for 90% of the total imports, compared to 85% a year earlier.
August imports of material from China decreased by 41% to 7,600 tonnes from 12,800 tonnes in July. Jiangsu Sanfangxiang, Yisheng, Wankai and Sinopec were the leading Chinese suppliersof material to the Russian market.

PetroChina Company Limited, is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Import deliveries of injection moulded PET chips to the Belarusian market increased by 18% in eight months of this year and reached 15,800 tonnes compared to 13,400 tonnes in January-August last year, said MRC DataScope.

August imports of material into Belarus decreased by 29% and amounted to 1,500 tonnes compared to 2,200 tonnes in August last year, in July of the current supply amounted to 2,000 tonnes.

The main supplier is Russia with an import share of 97%. August imports of material from Russian decreased by 25% to 1,500 tonnes against 2,000 tonnes in July.

Import deliveries of injection moulded PET chips to the Belarusian market increased by 27% in seven months of this year and reached 14,250 tonnes compared to 11,240 tonnes in January-July last year.

July imports of material into Belarus decreased by 6% and amounted to 2,040 tonnes compared to 2,180 tonnes in July last year, in June of the current supply amounted to 1,760 tonnes.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Export deliveries of injection moulding PET chips from Belarus in January-August increased by 40% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 10,000 tonnes against 7,800 tonnes year on year, according to MRC DataScope.

Exports of injection moulding PET in August from Belarus decreased by 41% to 1,000 tonnes from 1,800 tonnes in July. There were no practically exports of PET from the country last August.

Deliveries to Russia amounted to 43% (4,700 tonnes) in January-August from the total exports against a share of 67% (5,200 tonnes) in the same period last year. The share of exports to Russia from Belarus in August reached 59% (600 tonnes), in July it amounted to 29% (500 tonnes).

Export deliveries of injection moulding PET chips from Belarus in January-July increased by 28% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 9,940 tonnes against 7,760 tonnes year on year.

At the same time, export of injection moulding PET from the country in July almost doubled - from 1,010 tonnes to 1,840 tonnes. In July of the previous year, exports shipments of PET chips were 710 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polyethylene (PE) into Kazakhstan increased to about 110,100 tonnes in January-August 2019, up 3% compared with the same time a year earlier. Shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased, reported MRC analysts.

PE imports to Kazakhstan were 11,500 tonnes in August 2019, compared to 20,700 tonnes a month earlier, local companies reduced their purchases of HDPE in Uzbekistan. Total PE imports into the country were 110,100 tonnes in January - August 2019, compared with 107,100 tonnes in the same time a year earlier. LDPE and LLDPE shipments increased, whereas demand for high density polyethylene (HDPE) subsided.

The structure of PE imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

August imports of HDPE to Kazakhstan decreased to 8,400 tonnes against 17,300 tonnes a month earlier, local companies almost halved the purchase of bimodal polyethylene in Uzbekistan, and the delivery of HDPE from Turkmenistan was suspended. Thus, last year's overall HDPE imports exceeded 86,000 tonnes, down by 2% year on year.

August LDPE purchases by local companies decreased to 1,400 tonnes from 2,200 tonnes in July, local companies decreased their purchasing of PE in Russia. Overall LDPE imports into Kazakhstan totalled about 15,800 tonnes over the stated period, up by 29% year on year.


Purchasing of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) by local companies was 8,300 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, compared to 6,900 tonnes a month earlier.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- McDermott International has announced that it has been awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco and Total Raffinage Chimie (Total) for their joint venture (JV) Amiral steam cracker project at Jubail, Saudi Arabia, according to Chemweek.

Amiral is a JV in which Aramco holds 62.5% and Total the rest. The plant, designed to produce 1.5 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) of ethylene, will be one of the world's largest mixed-feed crackers.

As part of the contract, McDermott's Lummus Technology will provide licensing and engineering services for its olefins technology, low-pressure recovery, pygas hydrotreating, CDMtbe methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) production technology using catalytic distillation, CDIB back cracking of MTBE to produce high-purity isobutylene and methanol, and BASF’s butadiene extraction process. In addition, Lummus will provide its proprietary Short Residence Time cracking furnaces.

Aramco and Total launched their USD5-billion Amiral JV project in October 2018. The steam cracker will be fed with a mixture of 50% ethane and refinery off-gases. It will supply ethylene to a downstream 1 MMt/y polyethylene manufacturing complex and other petrochemical products. The project aims to fully exploit operational synergies with the adjacent refinery, owned by Satorp, another JV between Aramco and Total. Third-party investors, including Daelim and Ineos, will locate plants at the value park adjacent to Amiral with a combined investment of USD4 billion. A final investment decision is expected in 2021.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,436,390 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.

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