Sasol to start up its LDPE plant in late December

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol is still commissioning its new low density polyethylene (LDPE) new plant with its start-up expected by end-December 2019, reported S&P Global on Friday with reference to the company's statment.

Thus, Sasol said earlier last week that commissioning continued at its new LDPE plant and was expected to reach beneficial operation - defined by the company as 72 hours of continuous on-spec production - this month.

Overall, the first wave of new polyethylene (PE) production is bringing 6.4 million mt/year of capacity online. About 7.27 million mt/year of new capacity is under construction or planned through the 2020s in the second and third waves, as per company announcements.

As MRC wrote earlier, Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Its 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.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's October estimated LDPE consumption grew to 54,650 tonnes from 47,980 tonnes a month earlier. Local producers increased significantly their polyethylene (PE) shipments partially due to the reduction in exports. The estimated LDPE consumption in Russia totalled 484,360 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Some producers' LDPE exports decreased, whereas imports rose by 19%.

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) -- LyondellBasell has continued commissioning its new high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant in La Porte, Texason, with startup expected soon, reported S&P Global.

"Our Hyperzone polyethylene capacity is being commissioned as we speak," LyondellBasell spokeswoman Chevalier Gray said in an email Friday regarding the company's new 550,000 mt/year high-density PE plant along the Houston Ship Channel. "We now expect volumes to ramp up during the first quarter of 2020 with increasing profitability throughout the year."

She said the company does not "expect any meaningful production before year-end."

As MRC informed before, in early November 2019, LyondellBasell began the commissioning works of its new HDPE plant in La Porte. The brand new plant will utilize LyondellBasell’s patented Hyperzone technology. The cost of the project is estimated at USD900 million.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's HDPE production totalled 729,500 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, down by 8% year on year. Two producers out of three reduced their output.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shintech's new 500,000 mt/year cracker in Plaquemine, Louisiana, is yet to start up, reported S&P Global with reference to a source familiar with company operations.

Originally slated to start up in summer 2018, Shintech delayed that milestone to December 2018, then to the first half of this year, and again to this month.

In November Shintech, the US arm of Japan's Shin-Etsu, said the company tried to feed ethane into the new cracker in October and but "were faced with a problem. We are currently making earnest efforts to make adjustments with the aim of starting operation in December."

Shin-Etsu was unavailable for comment Friday.

As MRC wrote before, in February 2019, Shintech was in the "commissioning phase" of its new cracker in Plaquemine. The cracker will expand Shintech's in-house feedstock output and reduce ethylene purchases from other producers. Ethylene from the company's new cracker will be sent as feedstock to Shintech's polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production at the same site.

According to MRC's DataScope report, exports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) from Russia totalled 175,600 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 22% year on year. Imports increased more significantly - by 230% year on year to 48,500 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Not only did an ExxonMobil-led consortium begin producing oil from its much-watched Stabroek block in Guyana just a few days ago, but the group has stuck another feather in its exploratory cap, reported S&P Global.

On Monday, the group, which includes Hess Corp and China's CNOOC, announced the 15th discovery on its Stabroek block offshore the tiny South American country. The Mako-1 well is located about six miles southeast of Liza, which was the consortium's first find in May 2015.

On Friday, Liza began producing its first oil from Stabroek, ahead of the original Q1 2020 estimated start date.

Mako-1, drilled in 5,315 feet of water, uncovered about 164 feet of high-quality oil-bearing standstone reservoir, the partners said in a statement. They did not release a separate oil reserves projection but said the discovery adds to their estimate of Stabroek's more than 6 billion boe of current gross recoverable resource.

"New discoveries in this world-class basin have the potential to support additional developments," Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures at ExxonMobil, said. "Our proprietary full-wave seismic inversion technology continues to help us better define our discovered resource and move rapidly to the development phase."

"Mako-1 ... further underpins a growing resource base for future developments," Hess CEO John Hess said in a statement.

The consortium has four drillships to further explore, appraise and develop new resources in Guyana.

During Q3 the partners said in Q3 they would drill the Urau exploratory well, 10 miles east of Liza.

"The world-class success that ExxonMobil has enjoyed (in Guyana) ensures that interest will continue to remain high" in the country, where Repsol, Tullow Oil and other large global producers are exploring, Ruaraidh Montgomery, an analyst with energy consultancy Welligence, said.

As MRC wrote previously, ExxonMobil's cracker at Notre Dame de Gravenchon, France, had an "unexpected stoppage" on Friday, 6 December, following a technical failure this October. An electric fire Saturday morning, 19 October, 2019, on the ExxonMobil facilities in Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon (Seine Maritime) resulted in a plume of smoke, below the regulatory thresholds, which could remain visible for several days.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 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.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical Public Co Ltd (PTTGC) is planning to take off-stream its linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) No. 1 plant in Map Ta Phut in the first quarter of 2020, reported CommoPlast.

Thus, this plant is expected to be shut in mid-January, 2020. The planned maintenance is likely to remain in force for around 20 days.

Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the No. 1 LLDPE plant has a capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, the company also plans to shut if cracker No. 1 for a turnaround in Q1 2020. This cracker is expected to be taken off-line in late January 2020. The planned maintenance is likely to remain in force for around 40 days. Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 515,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 310,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, LLDPE shipments to the Russian market rose in the first ten months of 2019 by 11% year on year to 322,140 tonnes. Domestic producers increased their output by 30%, thereby reducing dependence on imports.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC