Shell says oil spill contained at Puget Sound, Washington, refinery dock

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A crude oil spill onto a barge docked at Royal Dutch Shell’s oil refinery at Puget Sound, Washington, was contained on Saturday, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement.

Twenty gallons of oil leaked onto the barge, out of which 5 gallons reached the waters of Fidalgo Bay, Shell said in another statement on Sunday. Clean-up operations were completed and all recoverable product was removed from the water, the company said.

The source of the crude spill was identified as a pressure relief valve on the barge and the source was secured, the company said earlier.

The crews were transferring nearly 5 million gallons of oil from the barge to the refinery when the spill occurred, local media reports said.

As MRC wrote before, in mid-October 2019, Royal Dutch Shell Plc restarted the hydrocracker at its 225,300 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery. The 40,000 bpd hydrocracker was shut on Sept. 9 for a planned month-long overhaul. A longer than expected restart of the unit stretched the outage to six weeks, the sources said.

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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik is to expand production for performance rigid foams at its Mobile, Alabama, production facility, said the producer.

The expansion for high-temperature resistant polymethacrylimide (PMI) is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter 2020, the company added. The extent of the expansion and investment level were not disclosed.

The expansion of the light-weight construction material will see the building of a new production hall and the combination of all shipping logistics in the facility.

Evonik has expanded its production capacity of the material in Germany by 20% in the last two years, it added.

"The investment in Mobile strengthens our global position as a reliable partner and solutions provider of high-performance, lightweight PMI-based rigid foams and enables us to meet increasing demand in North America over the long term," says Christina Walkosak, head of the High Performance Polymers business line, Americas, for Evonik.

Last year Linde and Evonik entered into strategic partnership for membrane-based natural gas processing.

As MRC informed earlier, PSC TAIF-NK, a wholly owned subsidiary of TAIF Group of Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia, has let a construction-related contract to Linde Group, Munich, for two hydrogen plants at its 7 million tonnes/year Nizhnekamsk refinery. The contract is valued at about ?120 million, according to Linde.

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.

Evonik is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. The focus on more specialty businesses, customer-oriented innovative prowess and a trustful and performance-oriented corporate culture form the heart of Evonik’s corporate strategy. They are the lever for profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company. Evonik benefits specifically from its customer proximity and leading market positions. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world with more than 36,000 employees.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall production of polycarbonate (PC) at Kazanorgsintez (KOS), Russia's only PC producer, fell in the first ten months of 2019 by 10% year on year to 58,620 tonnes, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

This figure was 64,890 tonnes in January-October 2018.

Kazanorgsintez's October output of material doubled compared to September and reached the highest level since 2012 - 8,310 tonnes. Imports of material were 6,490 tonnes in October 2018.

PC-007 grade was the most popular grade in the market. It accounted for 75% (44,140 tonnes) in January-October 2019 versus the share of 70% (45,430 tonnes) in the first ten months of 2018. The share of PC-007 grade was 32% (2,650 tonnes) in October 2019.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polypropylene (PP) to Belarus rose in the first nine months of 2019 by 8.3% year on year, totalling 81,500 tonnes. All grades of propylene polymers accounted for the increase in demand, according to a MRC's DataScope report.

PP imports into Belarus were about 8,000 tonnes in September 2019 versus 9,000 tonnes a month earlier, local companies reduced their purchasing of homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP), whereas demand for propylene copolymers increased. Overall imports of propylene polymers exceeded 81,500 tonnes in January-September 2019, compared to 75,300 tonnes a year earlier, demand increased for all PP grades, with propylene copolymers accounting for the greatest rise.

The supply structure by PP grades looked the following way over the stated period.

September imports of homopolymer PP reached 5,200 tonnes, compared to 6,500 tonnes a month earlier, purchasing of homopolymer PP in Russia decreased because of shutdowns for maintnenance at the local plants. Overall imports of homopolymer PP reached 54,700 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 6.6% year on year. Russian producers with the share of about 85% of the total shipments were the key suppliers.

Septmeber imports of propylene copolymers to Belarus were 2,800 tonnes versus 2,400 tonnes a month earlier, local companies increased their procurement of injection moulding block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) from Middle Eastern producers. Thus, overall imports of propylene copolymers reached 26,800 tonnes over the stated period, up by 12% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US propane and propylene stocks fell by 3.5 million bbl to a total combined inventory of 94.2 million bbl for the week ended 15 November, as per Chemweek.

Propylene inventories increased by 400,000 bbl week over week (WOW) to 5.1 million bbl, according to the US Department of Energy. A survey of analysts and traders forecast an average propane and propylene stock draw of 1.87 million bbl, according to OPIS, an IHS Markit company.

Products supplied for propane and propylene decreased this week by 90,000 b/d on the week to 1.39 million b/d. Propane and propylene imports WOW rose 15,000 b/d to 137,000 b/d. Exports increased by 251,000 b/d to 1.36 million b/d.

US inventories are up 15.2% over the year-ago period.

Propylene is a feedstock for the production of polyprolypele (PP).

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.
MRC