PT Asahimas resumes production at No. 2 VCM unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PT Asahimas, part of Asahi Glass, has restarted its No. 2 vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) unit following an unplanned outage, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Indonesia informed that the company has resumed operations at the unit in December 2, 2019. The unit remained off-line for about one week owing to technical issues.

Located at Cilegon in Banten province of Indonesia, the No. 2 unit has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, on January 15, 2018, Asahimas, part of Asahi Glass, took its No. 2 VCM unit off-stream for maintenance along with the capacity expansion at the plant. The plant remained off-line for a period of around 7 weeks. Following the expansion at the capacity will be increased by 100,000 MT to 350,000 mt/year. Located in Anyer, Indonesia, the No.2 VCM plant currently has a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.

VCM is a main feedstock for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production reached 809,000 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 3% year on year. At the same time, not all Russian producers raised their output.

Asahi Glass Co., Ltd., more commonly known as AGC, is a global glass manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo. It is one of the core Mitsubishi companies.

PT Asahimas Chemical is owned 52.5% by Asahi Glass, 11.5% by Mitsubishi Corp. and 18% each by the local Rodamas and Ableman Finance.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP and Bunge announced that they have completed the formation of BP Bunge Bioenergia, the Brazilian bioenergy joint venture that combines their Brazilian bioenergy and sugarcane ethanol businesses, said the company.

The continued growth of biofuels will be a key enabler to decarbonizing transportation. Brazil is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing markets for biofuels and, through this transaction, BP Bunge Bioenergia is now the second largest operator by effective crushing capacity in the Brazilian bioethanol market.

Mario Lindenhayn from BP will be the executive chairman of BP Bunge Bionergia and Geovane Consul from Bunge will be chief executive. BP and Bunge have equal representation on the board of directors of the company.

Mario Lindenhayn said: "Biofuels is an increasingly important part of a lower carbon energy system. We are proud to complete the formation of BP Bunge Bioenergia, which provides a strong foundation to build upon the capabilities of both organizations to develop ideas for growth and deliver significant operational and financial synergies."

Geovane Consul added: “BP Bunge Bioenergia is well-placed to support Brazil’s increasing demand for low carbon bioenergy. Our joint venture will enable us to leverage shared best practices to improve efficiency and sustainability, maximizing the use of technology and identifying opportunities to develop future capabilities in this crucial market."

The joint venture has 11 biofuels sites in five Brazilian states, with more than 10,000 employees. It has total crushing capacity of 32 million metric tons of sugarcane per year, capable of producing more than 1.5 billion liters of ethanol, 1.1 million tons of sugar and exporting 1,200 gigawatt hours of electricity to the national grid in Brazil.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2018, BP Refining and Petrochemical (BPRP) has brought on-stream its No.3 cracker at Gelsenkirchen. The cracker remained off-line for repair work for around 10-12 days. Located Gelsenkirchen, Germany, the No. 3 cracker has ethylene capacity of 550,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 335,000 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 1,436,390 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Topsoe and Sasol announced that they have entered into a collaboration agreement to jointly license their GTL technologies. For many years, the two companies have worked together on numerous GTL projects and technologies, and Topsoe’s SynCOR™ technologies and Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch technologies have been licensed into several world-scale GTL ventures, said Chemicalonline.

Under the collaboration agreement, the companies will continue to offer these core technologies and will now also provide Topsoe’s hydroprocessing and hydrogen technologies. This gives potential customers access to a single-point licensing offering that covers the entire value chain from gas feed to liquid fuels. As single-point licensors, Sasol and Topsoe will offer customers all necessary technology licenses for a complete GTL solution and in addition provide basic engineering, catalysts, and hardware.

TechnipFMC has been pre-approved to provide licensor engineering support and carry out front-end engineering design, detailed design, procurement, and construction. TechnipFMC was the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the Oryx GTL facility in Qatar and has performed a number of front-end engineering designs for GTL facilities, including the Uzbekistan GTL.

"It is a pleasure to announce this collaboration. Together, Sasol and Topsoe now offer customers complete
and proven end-to-end GTL solutions. This is unique and extremely valuable for customers seeking bankable GTL solutions for monetizing abundant natural gas reserves. With this collaboration, we now offer customers a full range of solutions based on many of Topsoe’s core technologies, and we are excited to expand our companies’ global leadership for proven gas monetization solutions," says Amy Hebert, Deputy CEO of Topsoe.

Marius Brand, Acting EVP Technology of Sasol, adds: “Sasol and Haldor Topsoe’s technology relationship spans more than 20 years, through which we have successfully commercialized several advanced technologies. We are delighted to enter into this collaboration arrangement, and with the support of TechnipFMC we’re able to offer the best GTL technology to the market. Although Sasol announced in 2017 it would not pursue future equity participation in greenfield Coal to Liquids or GTL opportunities, we recognize that our Fischer-Tropsch technology has a role to play in monetizing in-country natural gas resources otherwise not accessible. In addition, the technology could play a significant role, in conjunction with renewable energy resources, in the conversion of greenhouse gases to sustainable liquid fuels. The combination of the Sasol and Topsoe technologies offers a proven and robust solution for these applications."

As MRC wrote previously, Sasol"s world-scale US ethane cracker reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. SasolпїЅs 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 1,436,390 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.

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) -- KBR has announced that its market-leading ROSE solvent de-asphalting (SDA) process will be integrated with LC-MAX technology, an advanced, patented, ebullated-bed residue upgrading process from Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) to assist Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)'s modernization at the Visakh refinery residue upgrading project in India, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide CLG the technology licensing, basic engineering design and proprietary equipment for the ROSE SDA portion of the LC-MAX unit. ROSE is a cost-effective residue upgrading process that allows refiners to upgrade a larger proportion of their low-value residue streams into high-value products and gives clients the flexibility to respond to market developments in fuel, lube and petrochemical applications as well as reduce the environmental footprint of their products.

"We are proud to announce this latest project award for KBR's world-leading ROSE process," said Doug Kelly, KBR President, Technology Solutions. "Our innovative ROSE technology integrated with the LC-MAX ebullated-bed hydrocracking process is an attractive economic solution and will enhance the overall refinery profitability."

KBR continuously updates ROSE technology with multiple flow schemes for optimum integration with new and existing refineries. The company has been awarded more than 60 ROSE licenses with a combined licensed capacity of nearly 1.6 million BPSD with many repeat licensees.

As MRC reported earlier, in July 2019, Haiwan Chemical Co. awarded a technology contract to KBR for a new 320,000-t/y phenol and acetone facility to be built in Dongjiakou Industrial Zone, Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China. Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide the technology license and basic engineering design, as well as technical and training services to Haiwan Chemical.

Phenol and acetone are the main feedstock component for the production of bisphenol A (BPA), which, in its turn, is used to produce polycarbonate (PC).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, Russia's estimated consumption of polycarbonate (PC) rose in in the first three quarters of 2019 by 11% year on year to 61,000 tonnes (54,800 tonnes a year earlier). Consumption in the injection moulding sector grew in the first nine months of 2019 by 10% year on year to 7,900 tonnes from 7,200 tonnes a year earlier.

KBR is a global provider of differentiated professional services and technologies across the asset and program lifecycle within the Government Solutions and Energy sectors. KBR employs approximately 38,000 people worldwide (including our joint ventures), with customers in more than 80 countries, and operations in 40 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The bankrupt Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refiner is seeking a minimum of USD2.5 MM in bonus payments to the refiner's top executives as part of a plan to reorganize or sell the company, US bankruptcy court filings show, reported Reuters.

This would represent a potential second round of bonuses for PES executives, who were already paid roughly USD4.5 MM in retention awards after a massive June fire that resulted in the plant's shutdown. PES laid off hundreds of workers without severance pay or benefits following the blaze.

The latest round of bonuses will be paid if PES confirms a reorganization within 15 months of its July Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, according to documents filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Friday.

Alternatively, the USD2.5 MM could also be paid if PES secures at least $300 MM in net proceeds from a sale, insurance proceeds or other payments, including a lawsuit the refiner filed against the federal government over excise taxes, the documents show.

Under the plan, Chief Executive Officer Mark Smith would receive 29% of any incentive bonuses, PES board of directors Chairman Mark Cox gets 25%, Chief Financial Officer Rachel Celiberti 18% and attorney Anthony Lagreca would get 14%. Three other employees would receive smaller amounts.

The executives are needed to oversee the bankruptcy and sale process, seek insurance proceeds and manage idling the plant, among other work, the court filings said, with attorneys noting these duties "go well beyond the demands of their day-to-day jobs."

The company was not immediately available for comment.

PES entered bankruptcy on July 21 and shut its last crude distillation unit later that month. The refinery has since been put up for sale and has attracted interest from more than a dozen parties, ranging from biofuels producers to real estate developers.

Bonus payments to the executives would increase by 2.5% on every dollar above the USD300 MM in net proceeds minus expenses. If the proceeds hit USD1 B, bonuses would increase seven-fold.

Smith would get a USD725,000 payment under the minimum payment and as much as USD5.8 MM if the net proceeds hit USD1 B.

The refiner is attempting to secure as much as USD1.25 B in insurance proceeds for damage and business interruption linked to the June fire and explosions.

As MRC wrote before, in mid-November 2019, a US bankruptcy judge approved a process for the sale of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery, the largest and oldest on East Coast, under which city officials and a trade union will consult on the matter.
MRC