President inaugurates Chandra Asri PE plant in Banten

MOSCOW (MRC) -- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inaugurated national petrochemical company PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk’s new plant, worth USD380 million, or Rp5.7 trillion, for production of polyethylene (PE) in Cilegon, Banten Province, on Friday, 6 December, reported AntaraNews.

"PT Chandra Asri is a pioneer in the petrochemical industry in the country. We must support investment in this field to stop imports," he remarked while inaugurating the plant.

With the new plant becoming operational, PT Chandra Asri’s PE production capacity will increase by 400 thousand tons to reach 736 thousand tons annually.

The president further highlighted the balance of trade in all chemicals suffering a deficit of Rp193 trillion, with exports, standing at Rp124 trillion, and imports, touching Rp317 trillion.

The demand for domestic PE currently reaches 2.3 million tons annually, while the national PE production stands at 280 thousand tons per year. To meet the domestic requirements, the country continues to import 1.52 million tons of PE annually.

"The figure is very large. Hence, we provide tax holiday and tax allowances (to domestic polyethylene investors) since the deficit is still (high) at Rp193 trillion. What is it for? If we can produce it, why do we have to import it," he stated.

The president lauded PT Chandra Asri for its efforts to develop its business that he described as a concrete step to overcoming the country's trade deficit.

"Construction of the new plant is a concrete step. This is what our country really needs," he remarked.

During the inauguration of the new plant, the president was accompanied by Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir.

As MRC informed before, in June 2018, W. R. Grace & Co., the leading independent supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology and polypropylene (PP) process technology, granted a license which allows CAP to expand its existing UNIPOL PP plant. The world-scale capacity UNIPOL PP facility, located in Ciwandan, Indonesia, will be expanded to 590 KTA of polypropylene.

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.

PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP) is the largest integrated petrochemical company in Indonesia and operates the country’s only world-scale size Naphtha Cracker. The CAP plant is strategically located in Banten province, providing convenient access to key customers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Co (CSPC) has planned to restart its No. 2 polypropylene (PP) unit in Guangdong, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company is likely to resume production at the unit on December 15, 2019.

The plant was shut for unplanned maintenance on December 1, 2019, and was initially supposed to come back on-line on 5 December, 2019.

Located in Guangdong province of China, the No. 2 PP unit has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, CSPC took off-stream it No. 2 PP unit in Guangdong province on April 7, 2019, owing to technical issues. The plant remained idle for around 10 days.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Limited (CSPC) was established in late 2000. It has built and now operates a world-scale petrochemical complex in the Daya Bay Economic and Technological Development Zone, Huizhou, Guangdong Province. The joint venture partners are Shell Nanhai BV, a member of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, with a 50 per cent stake, and CNOOC Petrochemicals Investment Limited (CPIL), also with 50 per cent. CPIL is owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) (90%) and Guangdong Guangye Investment Group Company Limited(10%).

As an integrated petrochemical complex, the major facilities of the complex include 11 process units, steam and power generation and other utility provisions, storage and handling and shipping facilities, as well as environmental protection facilities. The heart of the complex is a world-scale cracker producing 950,000 tons per annum ethylene and 500,000 tons per annum propylene. In total, the complex produces some 2.7 million tons per annum of ethylene and propylene's derivative products to supply the domestic market.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) says it has been unable to enter TPC’s Port Neches, Texas, facility, but interviews with the three employees injured by the explosion at 1 a.m. on 27 November suggest that the incident began with a leak in a processing unit, reported Chemweek.

"They reported a loss of process fluid from a unit and tried to evacuate the scene," CSB board member Manuel Ehrlich said at a news conference held Thursday and reported by the Beaumont Enterprise, a local newspaper. The fluid, probably butadiene, vaporized and soon ignited, Ehrlich said, stressing that the information was preliminary, and that the cause of the release had not been identified. The incident, he said, represented a "fundamental failure of the system."

The fire that followed destroyed two distillation towers at the site and significantly damaged two others before it was extinguished on 4 December. On 6 December, TPC reported that small residual fires had been identified and were being contained.

Citing Jason Sanders, environmental manager of TPC’s Houston facility, the Beaumont Enterprise says TPC has begun planning to transfer products stored at Port Neches to other TPC facilities "while repairs are underway." The report says 71 spherical storage tanks contained raffinate, butadiene, and other products at the time of the explosion, while 17 cylindrical atmospheric tanks held methanol, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), and N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP). TPC says 12 tanks were damaged by fire.

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) - The Gazprom Neft Moscow refinery has completed the autumn repair campaign. The work was carried out at 12 technological installations of the plant, said the company in its press release.

Everything was carried out over 200 major events for the repair and diagnostics of equipment. At the refineries, work was carried out to replace the heating element coils, repair pipelines, heat exchangers, refrigeration equipment and internal devices of the columns.

"Technological facilities not involved in the repair continued to operate normally and ensured the release of petroleum products in accordance with the production plan," the report said. The company informs that all work was completed on time.

Over 1,500 specialists were involved in the scheduled repair. "The completed repair of the" small technological ring "guarantees its further uninterrupted operation," concluded Maxim Artemenko, deputy director general of the MNPZ on technical issues.

In early 2017, MNPZ stopped the installation of the "large technological ring" for continuous repairs. In May 2018, a scheduled repair of the Small Ring installations was carried out, which was completed in 28 days.

Since 2019, the company planned to switch to a four-year cycle of equipment overhaul. This will increase the volume of oil refining and production of motor fuels.

Today MNPZ is one of the main producers of fuel for the Moscow region, the share of the enterprise is 34%. The plant produces 30 types of petroleum products: Euro-5 standard motor fuels, road, construction and polymer-modified bitumen, liquefied gases for municipal use, etc.

Gazpromneft - Moscow Oil Refinery is a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft. The installed capacity of the plant is 12.15 million tons per year. The company produces automobile gasolines, diesel, marine and aviation fuel, fuel oil, high-octane additives to motor gasolines, bitumen and gases for various purposes, as well as polypropylene (PP). And since 2010, the Moscow Oil Refinery and SIBUR have established a joint venture for the production of polypropylene - NPP Neftekhimiya LLC. Currently, the Moscow Oil Refinery is implementing a large-scale modernization program, the total investment in which will reach more than 130 billion rubles by 2020.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker Chemie has said that it intends to take an impairment charge of around EUR750 million (USD831 million) in its financial statements for 2019 on its hyperpure polysilicon production facilities, as per Chemweek.

The write-down is due to the continued absence of a recovery in solar-grade polysilicon prices on the back of high overcapacity created by Chinese manufacturers, the company says.

The exact amount to be written down will become clear during the completion of the financial statements. The impairment will reduce the value of property, plant, and equipment in the consolidated statement of financial position and also group earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), Wacker Polysilicon’s EBIT, and the group net result for the year. Cash flow will not be affected by the write-down.

"The expected solar-market recovery has not yet materialized, and prices are still very low for polysilicon used in photovoltaic applications," said chief financial officer (CFO) Tobias Ohler. "At the same time, we only have limited visibility at present of how the market will develop. That is chiefly because China’s construction of new solar installations falls short of initial expectations. An additional burden is the high polysilicon overcapacity in China. The Chinese government is subsidizing this expansion not only with loans and incentives, but also by providing polysilicon producers there with coal-generated electricity at extremely favorable prices. We have adjusted our projections for the coming year accordingly."

Wacker’s polysilicon strategy remains unchanged. “We are continuing to work hard to reduce our costs and are keeping our focus on polysilicon for semiconductor applications and on high-quality material for monocrystalline solar cells,” Ohler said.

Due to the impairment, Wacker now expects a net loss for 2019 of around EUR750 million compared with previous guidance of "slightly positive net income." Today’s guidance excludes special income of EUR112.5 million in insurance compensation, which Wacker booked in the third quarter of 2019. Wacker’s net result would exceed EUR100 million before the special effect stemming from the write-down but including this insurance compensation.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2019, following a construction phase lasting 20 months, Wacker Chemie AG brought a new spray dryer for the production of dispersible polymer powders on stream in Ulsan, South Korea. The plant is part of an ongoing site expansion aimed at boosting the company’s production capacity for dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in Asia.

We also remind that in 2013, Wacker launched a new EVA production plant - with an additional 40,000 tonnes annually - at its Ulsan site in South Korea back in February. The production capacity of the site has, thus, almost doubled then, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea - thereby solidifying the company's global leading position in this segment.

According to MRC's DataScope report, September EVA imports to Russia fell by 22,7% year on year to 3,420 tonnes from 4,430 tonnes in September 2018, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation decreased in January-September 2019 by 18,2% year on year to 29,190 tonnes (35,690 tonnes in the first nine months of 2018).

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC