CPC opens office in India, plans to set up joint petrochemical factory

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-run oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan has recently opened a representative office in New Delhi as part of its plans to set up a plant in India and forge ties in the petrochemical industry here, reported TaiwanNews.

At the opening ceremony, CPC President Lee Shun-chin said the New Delhi office was symbolic of the company's efforts to establish a presence in India in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" policy.

In addition, Lee said, CPC's decision reflected the Taiwan government's New Southbound Policy that promotes exchanges with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand in a bid to reduce Taiwan's economic reliance on China.

With the establishment of CPC's representative office in New Delhi, the company will be able to forge cooperation with businesses in India's petrochemical industry, Lee said.

CPC is currently in negotiations with the government-owned Indian Oil Corp. to jointly set up a USD800 million plant in India to produce propylene derivatives, he said.

Propylene derivatives, which are usually used in the production of a wide range of items such as acrylic resin and raw materials for computer monitors, are in short supply in India, according to Lee.

With India's huge population and fast-growing economy, demand for propylene derivatives is expected to rise sharply, he said.

Also on Monday, during a visit to India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Lee and a delegation from CPC's investment division said the company was willing to bring Taiwan's petrochemical product development technology to the South Asian country to boost bilateral economic exchanges.

Lee said he envisioned an expansion of CPC's business in India and diversification of its product portfolio under Taiwan's New Southbound Policy and Modi's Make In India initiative.

Commenting on the CPC investment, Tien Chung-kwang, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to India, said it turned a new page in relations between Taiwan and India.

As MRC informed earlier, CPC Corporation took one of its naphtha crackers off-stream on 8 November 2019 for major maintenance work. The cracker number 4 remained offline for about 65 days and resumed operation by mid of January 2020. The No. 4 unit has an annual capacity of 380,000 tons/year of ethylene and 193,000 tons/year of propylene.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

CPC Corporation, Taiwan, is engaged in the exploration, production, refining, procurement, transportation, storage, and marketing of oil and gas. The company provides fuel oil, including automotive unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel, low-sulfur fuel oil, marine distillate fuels, marine residual fuels, and aviation fuel; petrochemicals, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, para-xylene, and ortho-xylene; liquefied petroleum gas products comprising liquefied petroleum gas, propane, butane, and a propane/butane mixture; lubricants, motor oil, industrial oil, grease, and marilube oil; SNC products, including petroleum ether, naphtha, toluene, xylene, crude octene, methyl alcohol, normal paraffin, viscosity-graded asphalt cement, and sulfur; and natural gas.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polypropylene (PP) into Belarus rose last year by 10% year on year, totalling 109,400 tonnes. All grades of propylene polymers accounted for an increase in demand, according to a MRC's DataScope report.

December 2019 PP imports to the Belarusian Republic were 9,600 tonnes, compared to 9,800 tonnes a month earlier, local companies reduced their purchasing of PP in Russia. Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 109,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, compared to 99,500 tonnes a year earlier, demand increased for all PP grades, with propylene copolymers accounting for the greatest growth.

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

December imports of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) reached 7,300 tonnes versus 7,500 tonnes a month earlier, purchasing of homopolymer PP in Russia dropped under the pressure of seasonal factors. Overall imports of homopolymer PP reached 75,200 tonnes in 2019, up by 8.7% year on year. Russian producers with the share of about 85% of the total shipments were the key suppliers.

December imports of propylene copolymers to Belarus were 2,200 tonnes versus 2,300 tonnes a month earlier, local companies reduced their procurement of injection moulding block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) from Middle Eastern producers. Thus, overall imports of propylene copolymers reached 34,200 tonnes over the stated period, up by 12.7% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last year's overall imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into Belarus increased by 19% year on year, totalling 38,800 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

According to the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus, local converters slightly reduced their purchasing of PVC in December 2019, overall imports totalled 3,400 tonnes, compared to 3,300 tonnes a month earlier.
Thus, imports of unmixed PVC reached 38,800 tonnes in the twelve months of 2019 versus 32,600 tonnes a year earlier, with local windows producers accounting for a increase in demand.

Russian producers with the share of about 82% of the Belarusian market were the key suppliers of resin to Belarus over the stated period.

Producers from Ukraine and Germany with the share of 8% and 6%, respectively, were the second and third largest suppliers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A natural gas pipeline fire that began on Monday morning near Citgo Petroleum Corp’s (PDVSA) 157,500-barrel-per-day refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, was extinguished, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement.

"At approximately 8:37 a.m. (local time), a pipeline owned by a third party caught fire outside the Citgo Refinery East Plant and was extinguished at 10:40 a.m. without injury," it said in a statement, adding that the incident does not pose any threat to the community and employees.

Operations at Citgo’s Corpus Christi refinery were not immediately affected by the pipeline fire, sources familiar with plant operations said earlier.

Investigation is underway to determine who owns the natgas pipeline, a city spokesman said.

As informed before, in May 2019, Citgo restarted larger reformer at its US Corpus Christi 52,000 bbl/day refinery with capacity 225,000 benzene; 180,000 toluene tonnes/year.

Benzene is a feedstock for the production of styrene monomer (SM), which, in its turn, is a feedstock for manufacturing polystyrene (PS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 46,260 tonnes in December 2019, up by 8% year on year. The estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics totalled 500,660 tonnes in 2019, down by 1% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- NOVA Chemicals Corporation (Calgary, Alberta), a leading supplier of polyethylene in the Americas, has announced the appointment of Musabbeh Al Kaabi, Chief Executive Officer, Petroleum & Petrochemicals for Mubadala Investment Company to the position of Chairman, NOVA Chemicals Board of Directors, according to GlobeNewsWire.

Al Kaabi succeeds His Excellency Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy & Industry who has served as chairman for nearly five years. Faris Al Mazrui, Head of Moscow Office, Mubadala Investment Company, and Tim Breen, Executive Director, Technology, Mubadala Investment Company, have also joined NOVA Chemicals Board of Directors.

Musabbeh Al Kaabi said, "I am proud and honored to have been appointed as chairman. I would like to thank H.E. Suhail Al Mazrouei for his insightful leadership during a time of growth and transformation at NOVA Chemicals. I look forward to continuing to work with NOVA’s management team to deliver the current slate of investment projects and build on the company’s position as a leading player in the North American petrochemicals market."

As MRC reported earlier, in January 2017, NOVA Chemicals announced the start up of its new world-scale linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) gas phase reactor at its Joffre, Alberta site.

Besides, NOVA Chemicals expanded ethylene production capacity by 20% at its cracker in Corunna, Ontario from the previous capacity of about 839,000 tpy. The expansion occurred between 2014 and 2018 and was part of a wave of expansions and upgrades to NOVA's existing facilities near Sarnia, Ontario. Other upgrades in the plan included a debottlenecking of the Moore low-density polyethylene (LDPE) line and a retrofit of the Moore high-density polyethylene (HDPE) line.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

NOVA Chemicals Corporation is a plastics and chemical company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is wholly-owned ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
MRC