Enterprise, Navigator load first vessel at new ethylene export terminal

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Enterprise Products Partners and Navigator Holdings confirmed that a first cargo of ethylene has been exported from their 50/50 joint venture marine terminal at Morgan’s Point, Texas, on the Houston Ship Channel, said the producer.

The "Navigator Europa" recently departed the facility carrying 25m pounds (11,300 tonnes) of ethylene for Japanese trading company Marubeni, Enterprise said in statement. Latest shipping data shows the vessel at the Panama Canal:

The first cargo had been earmarked to load in H2 December, according to European market sources, likely heading to Asia. There was also unconfirmed talk that the next ethylene shipment to load would be in February on the vessel the Happy Albatross, potentially for a European receiver.

The new terminal features two docks and the capacity to load 2.2bn lb/year (1m tonnes/year) of ethylene. A refrigerated storage tank for 66m pounds of ethylene is also being built on-site and will increase the capability to load ethylene up to a rate of 2.2m lb/hour.

Tank construction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020, Enterprise said.The export terminal is pipeline-connected to Enterprise’s Mont Belvieu, Texas complex, where the company is in the process of commissioning a high-capacity ethylene salt dome storage well with a capacity of 600m pounds.

The terminal, expected to reach full operations by the fourth quarter of 2020, should help ease US ethylene oversupply by connecting it to overseas demand. Enterprise has designed the system to serve as an open market storage and trading hub for the ethylene industry through storage, connections to multiple ethylene pipelines and high-capacity export capabilities, it said.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals.

Navigator Holdings Ltd. is the owner and operator of the world’s largest fleet of handysize liquefied gas carriers and a global leader in the seaborne transportation of petrochemical gases, such as ethylene and ethane, liquefied petroleum gas (“LPG”) and ammonia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CPC Corporation plans to resume operations at one of its naphtha crackers in Taiwan by around mid-January 2020 after major maintenance works, reported CommoPlast with reference to market sources.

The cracker number 4 was shut on 8 November 2019 and was expected to remain offline for about 65 days.

The No. 4 unit has an annual capacity of 380,000 tons/year of ethylene and 193,000 tons/year of propylene. The shutdown would result in a production loss of 67,671 tons of ethylene and 34,370 tons of propylene.

Sources added that for December 2019 contract, CPC was to fulfill only 85% of the volume due to the shutdown.

As MRC informed earllier, CPC Corporation took its No. 4 cracker off-line in mid-November 2017 owing to technical issues and resumed its operations in late January, 2018. Located in Linyuan, Taiwan, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 380,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 193,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.

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) -- US crude stocks, gasoline and distillate inventories rose last week, reported Reuters with reference to the Energy Information Administration's statement.

Crude inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 3 to 431.1 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.6 million-barrel drop.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 821,000 barrels in the last week, EIA said.

Refinery crude runs fell by 386,000 barrels in the last week, EIA said. Refinery utilization rates fell by 1.5 percentage points, in the week.

US gasoline stocks rose by 9.1 million barrels in the week to 251.6 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.7 million-barrel rise.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 5.3 million barrels in the week to 139 million barrels, versus expectations for a 3.9 million-barrel rise, the data showed.

Net US crude imports rose by 1.78 million barrels in the last week, EIA said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tianjin Bohai has undertaken a planned shutdown at its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has started turnaround at the plant in end-December, 2019. The plant is likely to remain under maintenance for around six weeks.

Located in Tianjin, China, the PDH plant has a propylene capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, the company last shut this plant for an unscheduled turnaround from 1 to 11 November, 2019.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.

Tianjin Bohai is a state owned enterprise, with over 100 subsidiaries and 35,000 employees. It has joint venture relationships with a number of foreign partners, including: LG Chem, Solvay, Akzo Nobel, Clariant, Veolia, Air Liquide and Vopak.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jiangsu Sabron Petrochemical CO LTD, has shut its polystyrene (PS) plant for a turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that, the company has started maintenance at the plant on January 4, 2020. The is likely to restart on January 18, 2020.

Located at Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, China, the PS plant has a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, the company last conducted scheduled maintenance works at this plant from 12 to 24 June, 2019.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics totalled 458,770 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, which corresponds to the level of 2018. November estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics rose by 2% year on year, totalling 49,210 tonnes. PS production remained in January-November 2019 the same as a year earlier. Russian producers manufactured 471,390 tonnes of material in the first eleven months of 2019.
MRC