TCEQ is currently responding to the fire at the TPC plant in Port Neches

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Regional staff continue to provide 24-hour handheld air monitoring around the incident site of TPC Group in Port Neches along with TCEQ contractors, reported TCEQ.

As of Dec. 2, at 10:00 a.m. there have been readings of various compounds including 1,3 Butadiene and Total Volatile Organic Compounds that did not reach levels of immediate health concern. All handheld air monitoring data will continue to be provided to local officials through Unified Command, as well as posted on TCEQ webpage.

EPA is continuing to support TCEQ and local emergency response personnel by conducting flyover monitoring with their ASPECT fixed-winged aircraft. All data continues to be posted on EPA’s emergency response webpage.

Currently all water runoff resulting from firefighting is now being contained onsite and treated prior to discharge. TCEQ has begun to evaluate nearby water bodies for impacts.

As MRC informed earlier, two major explosions and fire hit the TPC Group's Port Neches butadiene and raffinate petrochemical plant east of Houston, Texas, last Wednesday, injuring three workers. The site produces 20% of US butadiene, a raw material used in the production of synthetic rubbers and resins. The outage of the plant is expected to have a "limited impact other than a spike in butadiene prices and more propane feedstock and less ethane on the US Gulf Coast," said Rob Stier, senior lead of global petrochemicals at S&P Global Platts Analytics.

The first explosion occurred at 1 am CST (0700 GMT), and a second occurred about 12 hours later on Wednesday afternoon, according to officials from Jefferson County, which called for evacuations in multiple cities in the area.

Located adjacent to the Sabine Neches River, which is part of the Sabine Neches Waterway, TPC's Port Neches plant can produce more than 900 million lb (426,000 mt) of butadiene and raffinate a year, according to the company's website. The source familiar with company operations said the site has two butadiene lines with capacities of 166,000 mt/year and 260,000 mt/year. The MTBE unit at this site produces up to 400,000 mt/year.

Butadiene is one of the feedstocks for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Asia, the falling prices of feedstocks for ABS production have been pushing prices of material down in the Russian market. LG Chem's import prices for November quantities were as follows for Russian buyers: natural ABS - at USD1,400-1,420/tonne FOB Korea, black ABS - at USD1,610-1,630/tonne FOB Korea, white ABS - at USD1,640-1,660/tonne FOB Korea. December prices may drop by another USD30-50/tonn.
Natural grades of Korean ABS went down to Rb138,000-143,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in the domestic market in mid-November, whereas black ABS was offered at Rb156,000-160,000/tonne and white ABS - at Rb158,000-163,000/tonne CPT Moscow , including VAT.

Headquartered in Houston, TPC was acquired in 2012 by private equity groups First Reserve and SK Capital.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman (The Woodlands, Texas) has idled its propylene oxide/methyl tert-butyl ether (PO/MTBE) plant at Port Neches, Texas, following the fire that destroyed TPC Group’s neighboring butadiene facility last week, reported Chemweek.

There were no injuries or damage at the Huntsman facility, but the PO/MTBE unit was taken offline because of "certain dependencies," says the company.

"While we await access to the adjacent site and further evaluate alternatives to safely bring this unit fully back on line, the expected duration of downtime and economic impact is unknown," Huntsman says in a statement published on 2 December. "The outage is expected to have a minor negative knock-on impact of a few million dollars to fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA for continuing operations, largely relating to the sourcing of PO."

The PO/MTBE unit at Port Neches has capacity to produce 235,000 metric tons/year of propylene oxide, which Huntsman uses to produce propylene glycol and polyether polyols, and 650,000 metric tons/year of MTBE.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, in October 2019, Huntsman Corporation completed the previously announced acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in the Sasol-Huntsman maleic anhydride joint venture from Sasol. Huntsman now owns 100% of the entity with manufacturing assets located in Moers, Germany, and the capacity to produce 230 million pounds annually of maleic anhydride. Huntsman paid Sasol approximately USD100 million, which includes acquired cash net of any debt and is subject to customary post-closing adjustments.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PP production rose to about 1,163,200 tonnes in the first ten months of 2018, up by 1.3% year on year. Three producers out of seven reduced the capacity utilisation.

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2018 revenues of more than USD9 billion. Its chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. The company operate more than 75 manufacturing, R&D and operations facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 10,000 associates within its four distinct business divisions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over December shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) began in the Russian market in the middle of last week. Producers further reduced their prices, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

A seasonal decrease in demand for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from the domestic market and large imports forced domestic producers to reduce November prices by Rb2,500-4,000/tonne from October. December was no exception, the availability of imported alternative and a further decrease in demand from Russian consumers became the main reason for the cut of Rb1,000/tonne from November in December prices.

Demand for finished products from PVC was strong in November, although it somewhat subsided under the pressure of seasonal factors. But in December, many consumers intend to significantly reduce their purchasing of resin, and, first of all, because of the upcoming shutdowns for maintenance at converters' production facilities, which will begin in the third decade of the month and will last, at the least, until mid-January.

After a surge in SPVC imports in July and August to 13,700 tonnes and 10,100 tonnes, respectively, imports fell to 6,100 tonnes and 2,900 tonnes in September and October, respectively. At the same time, despite the reduction in November PVC prices by Russian producers, imports from some destinations were still attractive for some converters. And SPVC imports exceeded 2,000 tonnes for the 24 days of November.

December deals for Russian resin with K64/67 PVC were negotiated in the range of Rb71,000-74,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, for quantities of less than 500 tonnes. Prices for resin with K=70 were by an average of Rb1,000/tonnes higher.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SP Olefins, a subsidiary of SP Chemicals, has recently started up China's "first" gas-based ethylene plant at a new gas cracker facility in Taixing, China, and was able to produce on-spec olefins, according to GV with reference to Wood Mackenzie.

The new 650,000 t/y ethylene cracker will provide feedstock to the plant's 500,000 t/y vinyl chloride monomer unit and 320,000 t/y styrene facility. About 300,000 t/y of ethylene, as well as the entire 122,000 t/y of propylene production, will be supplied to the merchant market. SP Olefins' gas cracker facility is also the "first" to import U.S. ethane as a feedstock, Wood Mackenzie noted.

In 2017, Ineos entered into a long-term supply agreement with SP Chemicals to deliver ethane from US shale gas to the gas cracker facility. The agreement included construction of a Very Large Ethane Carrier with 95,000 cu m of capacity, which Ineos said would be the largest" ethane carrier in the world.

"The ethane import tariff from the U.S. is 2% plus an additional 5% generated by the trade war," said Wood Mackenzie Senior Research Manager Kelly Cui. "Despite this, SP's ethylene cost remains highly competitive compared with naphtha crackers in China."

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2016, SP Olefins let a contract to Technip SA, Paris, to provide technology licensing and process design for the company’s proposed grassroots ethylene plant to be built in Taixing in China’s Jiangsu Province.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Officials began visiting areas impacted by a fiery blast at a TPC Group facility on Port Neches, Texas, that injured three workers, blew locked doors off their hinges and was felt in communities far from the site, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The plant makes chemicals used in production of synthetic rubber, resins and an octane-boosting component of gasoline. Unified Command remains focused on mitigating the event and maintaining the safety of responders and the community.

Response measures are ongoing and the fire at TPC’s Port Neches Operations continues to be contained. Unified Command remains focused on mitigating the event and maintaining the safety of responders and the community.

An impacted distillation tower at TPC’s Port Neches Operations fell inside the fence line as a result of the ongoing event. This was an anticipated result of the fire and response teams managed the action accordingly. No one was injured and there were no offsite impacts.

Claims activities update: Claims representatives began visiting area residents to assess any impacts as a result of the recent event at TPC Group’s Port Neches Operations. Claims representatives began door-to-door visits to all homes within the area of highest impact closest to the event (zones 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) as noted on the Impact Areas Overview Map attached.

The plant's two lines can produce a total of 426,000 tonnes/year of BD, which estimates accounts for 16.4% of US capacity and 2.7% of global capacity. TPC also stores methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) at the site.

Butadiene is one of the feedstocks for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Asia, the falling prices of feedstocks for ABS production have been pushing prices of material down in the Russian market. LG Chem's import prices for November quantities were as follows for Russian buyers: natural ABS - at USD1,400-1,420/tonne FOB Korea, black ABS - at USD1,610-1,630/tonne FOB Korea, white ABS - at USD1,640-1,660/tonne FOB Korea. December prices may drop by another USD30-50/tonn.
Natural grades of Korean ABS went down to Rb138,000-143,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in the domestic market in mid-November, whereas black ABS was offered at Rb156,000-160,000/tonne and white ABS - at Rb158,000-163,000/tonne CPT Moscow , including VAT.

Headquartered in Houston, TPC was acquired in 2012 by private equity groups First Reserve and SK Capital.

MRC