McDermott licenses alpha-methylstyrene technology to Formosa Chemicals

MOSCOW (MRC) -- McDermott International, Inc. (MDR) has announced that it has been awarded a sizeable technology contract by Formosa Chemicals Industries Ningbo Limited for the technology license and basic engineering services for a grassroots alpha-methylstyrene (AMS) recovery unit in Ningbo, China, reported Chemweek.

This 10,000 MTA unit will utilize AMS technology jointly licensed by Versalis and McDermott's Lummus Technology to recover specialty chemicals for niche market sale.

"This award represents the first license of this AMS technology," said Leon de Bruyn, Senior Vice President of McDermott's Lummus Technology business. "The commercialization of this technology illustrates the effectiveness of our continuous innovation process. Lummus works to provide our customers market-leading solutions to enhance their competitiveness; the addition of the AMS recovery unit will enable Formosa to recover this specialty chemical with unmatched purity, ultimately enhancing the operating margins while lessening the environmental footprint."

The award strengthens the ongoing collaboration, dating back to 1995, between the Formosa organization and Lummus Technology. This technology incorporates many decades of operating and design experience by Versalis with Lummus design expertise.

McDermott's Lummus Technology is a leading licensor of proprietary petrochemicals, refining, gasification and gas processing technologies, and a supplier of proprietary catalysts and related engineering. With a heritage spanning more than 100 years, encompassing approximately 3,400 patents and patent applications, Lummus Technology provides one of the industry's most diversified technology portfolios to the hydrocarbon processing sector. Versalis (the chemical company of Italian energy major Eni) and Lummus have a long-standing collaboration to develop and offer a variety of petrochemical process licenses.

This award was reflected in McDermott's second quarter 2019 backlog.

As MRC informed before, on 19 March, 2018, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC) undertook an emergency shutdown at its No. 1 cracker in Mailiao owing to technical issues. The plant remained off-line for around one day. Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the No. 1 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 700,000 mt/year, propylene production capacity of 350,000 mt/year and butadiene production capacity of 109,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

McDermott is a premier, fully integrated provider of technology, engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry. For more than a century, customers have trusted McDermott to design and build end-to-end infrastructure and technology solutions to transport and transform oil and gas into the products the world needs today. Operating in over 54 countries, McDermott's locally focused and globally-integrated resources include approximately 32,000 employees, a diversified fleet of specialty marine construction vessels and fabrication facilities around the world.

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

MOSCOW (Market Report) -- Penoplex, Russia's largest producer of foaming polystyrene (PS), has not raised its November selling prices of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) for the Russian market, thus, rolling them over from October, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Thus, the company's prices for November shipments will be in the range of Rb96,000-98,000/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT, this month.

Demand for material was strong, and the plant's entire future monthly output was distributed among customers over the course of one day.

As reported earlier, Penoplex raised its October selling GPPS prices by Rb2,000/tonne for Russian buyers.

Penoplex is a large Russian producer of polymer-based building and decorative materials. The company began its activity in 1998 with the launch of Russia's first line for the production of heat-insulating materials from extruded polystyrene foam under the PENOPLEX trademark. The company has eight production sites, seven of which are located in Russia and one - in the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty region), with a total production capacity of 4 million cubic metres.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gazprom neftekhim Salavat, one of Russia's largest production complexes for oil refining and petrochemicals, reduces its November selling polystyrene (PS) prices for Russian buyers, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

There was a shortage of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) in the Russian PS market in late October, whereas the shortage was even more acute in the high impact polystyrene (HIPS) market. On the back of this, some market participants expected October prices of Russian PS to roll over for November, despite the price pressure from foreign markets.

Meanwhile, Gazprom neftekhim Salavt reduced prices for its material by Rb2,000/tonne.

As reported earlier, Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNH, part of the TAIF group), also lowered its selling HIPS and GPPS prices for the Russian market by a similar amount.

OAO "Gazprom neftekhim Salavat" (formerly OAO "Salavatnefteorgsintez") is one of the leading petrochemical companies in Russia, carrying out a full cycle of processing hydrocarbon material. The list of products manufactured by the plant includes more than 140 items, including 76 grades of the main products: gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, fuel oil, toluene, solvent, liquefied gases, benzene, styrene, ethylbenzene, butyl alcohols, phthalic anhydride and plasticizers, polyethylene, polystyrenes, silica gels and zeolite catalysts, corrosion inhibitors, elemental sulfur, ammonia and urea, glycols and amines, a wide range of household products made of plastics, surfactants and much more.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SCG plastics is in plans to take its high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant off-stream for a maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the plant is planned to be taken off-line on November 21, 2019. It is likely to remain under maintenance for around 18-20 days.

Located in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, on June 28, 2017, Thai Polyethylene took off-stream its No. 4 HDPE plant in Thailand for 15 days owing to tehcnical issues. Located at Map Tha Phut in Thailand, the unit has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's September estimated HDPE consumption fell to 70,570 tonnes from 108,320 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers reduced their output due to maintenance works, whereas imports were high partially because of an increase in US shipments. The estimated HDPE consumption totalled 862,170 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 7% year on year. HDPE imports increased by 47%, whereas production dropped by 5% due to a long period of maintenance works at three production capacities.

SCG Chemicals is a subsidiary of SCG and is one of SCG’s 3 core businesses consisting of Chemicals, Paper and Cement-Building Materials. SCG embarked upon the chemicals business in 1989. At present, SCG Chemicals manufactures and supplies a full range of petrochemical products ranging from upstream petrochemicals such as Olefins, intermediate petrochemicals such as Styrene Monomer, PTA, and MMA, to downstream petrochemicals such as Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Polyvinyl Chloride, and Polystyrene resins. SCG Chemicals is now one of the largest integrated petrochemical companies in Thailand and a key industry leader in the Asia-Pacific region.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thai Polyethylene Co, a subsidiary of Siam Cement Group, is in plans to shut its high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit owing to economic fundamentals, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the unit will be taken off-stream on November 21, 2019. It is expected to remain off-stream for around 20-30 days.

Located in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, the unit has a production capacity of 220,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, on June 28, 2017, Thai Polyethylene took off-stream its No. 4 HDPE plant in Thailand for 15 days owing to tehcnical issues. Located at Map Tha Phut in Thailand, the unit has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's September estimated HDPE consumption fell to 70,570 tonnes from 108,320 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers reduced their output due to maintenance works, whereas imports were high partially because of an increase in US shipments. The estimated HDPE consumption totalled 862,170 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 7% year on year. HDPE imports increased by 47%, whereas production dropped by 5% due to a long period of maintenance works at three production capacities.

SCG Chemicals is a subsidiary of SCG and is one of SCG’s 3 core businesses consisting of Chemicals, Paper and Cement-Building Materials. SCG embarked upon the chemicals business in 1989. At present, SCG Chemicals manufactures and supplies a full range of petrochemical products ranging from upstream petrochemicals such as Olefins, intermediate petrochemicals such as Styrene Monomer, PTA, and MMA, to downstream petrochemicals such as Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Polyvinyl Chloride, and Polystyrene resins. SCG Chemicals is now one of the largest integrated petrochemical companies in Thailand and a key industry leader in the Asia-Pacific region.
MRC