INEOS declares force majeure on ethanolamines, cites EO outage at Plaquemine

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Oxide (League City, Texas) has declared force majeure on all grades of mono-, di-, and triethanolamine, and for Alkanolamine 5503 (polyethanolamine), effective 3 November 2019, reported Chemweek.

According to a letter sent to customers on 6 November, supply of feedstock ethylene oxide (EO) to the company’s manufacturing site at Plaquemine, Louisiana, has been interrupted by "an industrial event affecting its supplier," which appears to be Dow.

INEOS has 159,000 metric tons/year of ethanolamines capacity at Plaquemine. The company also has 57,000 metric tons/year of ethanolamines capacity in Lavera, France.

INEOS says the outage began on 3 November, the same day Dow reported that an explosion had burst a vessel containing water and small volumes of sulfuric acid and ethylene oxide at its Glycol 2 plant at Plaquemine. Dow’s Glycol 2 plant includes 206,000 metric tons/year of ethylene oxide capacity, a small portion of which the company consumes internally, according to data from IHS Markit. Dow on 3 November said the plant was in "recovery mode."

Ethylene is a feedstock for producing polyethylene (PE).

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.
MRC

Sinopec Guangzhou Petrochemical to restart No. 2 PP line in China this week

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Guangzhou Petrochemical, part of China's petrochemical giant - Sinopec, is expected to bring on-line its new PP unit after maintenance in the first week of November, reported CommoPlast with reference to market sources.

Based in Guangzhou, China, this unit's production capacity is 200,000 tons/year. The company also operates an old No. 1 PP line at the site with a production capacity of 140,000 tons/year.

Both units were shut down for a turnaround on 9 October 2019.

Meanwhile, its 60,000 tons/year old No. 2 PP line is still running regularly at the moment.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. Sinopec's business includes oil and gas exploration, refining, and marketing; production and sales of petrochemicals, chemical fibers, chemical fertilizers, and other chemical products; storage and pipeline transportation of crude oil and natural gas; import, export and import/export agency business of crude oil, natural gas, refined oil products, petrochemicals, and other chemicals.
MRC

Sinopec Guangzhou to restart Guangzhou cracker after maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Guangzhou Petrochemical, part of China's petrochemical giant - Sinopec, plans to restart operations at its cracker in early December, 2019, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company started maintenance at the plant on October 12, 2019.

Located in the Guangzhou province of China, the cracker has ethylene production capacity of 260,000 mt/year and propylene production capacity of 150,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported before, Sinopec Guangzhou Petrochemical, part of China's petrochemical giant - Sinopec, is expected to bring on-line its No. 1 PP unit after maintenance in the first week of November. Based in Guangzhou, China, this unit's production capacity is 140,000 tons/year. This is the old PP line. The company also operates a new No. 2 PP line at the site with a production capacity of 200,000 tons/year. Both units were shut down for a turnaround on 9 October 2019. Meanwhile, its 60,000 tons/year old PP line 2 is still running regularly at the moment.

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.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. Sinopec's business includes oil and gas exploration, refining, and marketing; production and sales of petrochemicals, chemical fibers, chemical fertilizers, and other chemical products; storage and pipeline transportation of crude oil and natural gas; import, export and import/export agency business of crude oil, natural gas, refined oil products, petrochemicals, and other chemicals.
MRC

Plastik, Uzlovaya reduces November EPS prices for Russian market

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Plastik (Uzlovaya), the Russian producer of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plastics and suspension polystyrenes (PS), has reduced its November selling prices of expandable polystyrene (EPS) for the Russian market, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Thus, the company's prices for November shipments dropped to Rb100,500-105,000/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT.

At the same time, demand for material in the Russian market is currently moderate.

As reported earlier, another major Russian EPS producer - SIBUR-Khimprom - also reduced its EPS prices for this month's deliveries. Thus, the decrease was Rb2,000/tonne.

OJSC "Plastic" (Uzlovaya) specializes in the production of ABS plastics and polystyrene. The plant's complex includes the following production capacities: styrene - 60,000 tonnes/year, EPS - 11,300 tonnes/year and ABS plastics - 23,000 tonne/year. The plant's sales policy is implemented by the Trading House "Plastik".
MRC

SIBUR-Khimprom reduces November EPS prices for Russian market

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR-Khimprom has reduced its general price range of expandable polystyrene (EPS) for November shipments to Russian customers by Rb2,000/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Thus, prices of material were at Rb103,000-108,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, for the Russian market this month.

Meantime, the Russian producer reduced its October EPS prices by Rb1,500/tonne to Rb105,500-110,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

At the same time, demand for material was moderate in the EPS domestic market in November.

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