Total postpones restart of Donges refinery unit due to strike

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French energy major Total has postponed the restart of a distillation unit at its 220,000-barrel-per-day Donges refinery until Friday due to a nationwide strike over planned pensions reform, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement.

Total, which operates five of France’s seven refineries, said shipments of refined products from Donges were suspended on Tuesday for 72 hours due to the strike action.

It said production was continuing at its other refineries - Normandy, Grandpuits, Feyzin and La Mede - but shipments of refined products from refineries to depots were on hold.

Total halted the distillation unit at Donges on the west coast of France on Sunday due to lack of oil supply after a blockade by port workers prevented crude deliveries to the refinery.

A union official said earlier on Wednesday that workers had voted to prolong the strike at the refinery.

French energy sector workers have said they will intensify actions in the sector this week to pressure the government to drop the planned reform.

Separately, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said in a speech that public transport unions’ strikes against the pension reform “will go nowhere, the government is determined".

Workers and national railway SNCF and Paris metro RATP have been on strike since Dec. 5, causing severe disruption in the longest transport walkout for decades.

As MRC informed before, in November 2019, Total disclosed that it is evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Oil HBP Science & Technology has clinched the bid for a natural gas processing plant project with an annual capacity of 1 billion cubic meters in the Kashagan Oilfield in Kazakhstan at a price of USD242 million, HBP said in a statement, as per Yicaiglobal.

Beijing-based international oil and gas service contractor HBP's stock price jumped to the daily 10 percent limit this afternoon when it hit CNY3.39 (USD0.49), up 8.31 percent.

HBP will provide the project owner Gas Processing Company with a detailed project design and all skid-mounted equipment, along with an on-site guide to equipment installation and project commissioning services. The project will last two years, per the statement.

The Kashagan Oilfield is a massive oil and gas deposit in Kazakhstan's Caspian oil and gas basin believed to be the biggest such find in the world in 30 years. The oil reserve amounts to 38 billion barrels, while the natural gas is 1 trillion cubic meters. The processing projects will solve the problem of gas being wasted through torch combustion and recycle resources.

The processing plant is the first phase of the project, and the second-phase currently under planning will raise capacity to 4 billion cubic meters in the future, per the statement.

QAZAQ Business Group, the parent company of the project owner Gas Processing Company, owns gas supply networks in 10 of Kazakhstan's 14 states, per the statement.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Belarus Mozyr refinery has not yet received oil deliveries from Russia in January 2020, Interfax agency reported citing an oil industry source, said Reuters.

Oil supplies from Russia to Belarus have been partly restored on Jan. 4, but are going only to the Naftan refinery, while Mozyr refinery is not receiving pipeline crude oil from Russia, the source said.

The Gutseriyev family’s Russneft and Neftisa were only companies to restore supplies to Belarus late on Jan. 4, while others try and reach an agreement on new supply terms with state-run Belneftekhim, which controls Belarus’ two refineries.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Petrochemical has received air pollution permits for a USD9.4 billion petrochemical and plastics complex the company has proposed building in St. James Parish, Louisiana, according to Kemicalinfo.

The company has received the final Title V operating permits needed from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

The complex would be built in two phases and produce ethylene, propylene, ethylene glycol and associated polymers, which are used to make products such as plastic bottles, grocery bags, drainage pipes, ropes, artificial turf, polyester clothing, antifreeze and playground equipment.

Formosa Petrochemical already operates a major petrochemicals and plastics site in Point Comfort, Texas.

In November 2019, a Louisiana community group asked a congressional committee to help block FG’s plans in St. James. The call for congressional involvement in the Formosa project came in testimony from Sharon Lavigne, founder of Rise St. James, during a Washington hearing of the House subcommittee on environment and climate change.

As MRC wrote previously, in November, 2013, Formosa Plastics was seeking United States permits for a USD2 billion expansion of its Texas operations as cheaper natural gas prices make US production more competitive. The company asked federal and state environmental regulators to approve plans for an ethane cracker unit and downstream derivatives.

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.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican conglomerate Orbia Advance, a major international polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer, has admitted that it could sell its vinyl business following reports that it received offers for USD4 billion to part ways with its German subsidiary Vestolit, reported LatinFinance.

"Orbia is in the process of analyzing potential divestment alternatives or strategic alliances with respect to our vinyl business without, to date, having any certainty or approval of the execution of any transaction," the company said in a securities filing.

Orbia made the filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) in response to an article from Bloomberg.

Possible buyers include Apollo Management, INEOS and Westlake Chemical, according to analysts, who quoted the Bloomberg article.

The company's vinyl business represents 32.6% of the sales and 30.0% of the EBITDA of Orbia during the past 12 months, Monex said in a research note. The Vinyl business includes Vestolit and AlphaGary.

In addition to the company's vinyl business, Orbia also owns the Fluent business group, which makes pipe. Fluent includes Wavin, Amanco, Dura-Line and Netafim. Orbia's Fluor business mines fluorite and produces fluorochemicals.

Orbia was previously known as Mexichem. It owns emulsion and suspension PVC plants in Mexico, Colombia and the US.

As MRC wrote before, in August 2019, Mexican plastic pipe and chemicals company Mexichem changed its name to Orbia Advance Corporation under a restructuring and reorganization plan.

We also remind that in 2014, Mexichem SAB de CV agreed to buy German PVC paste producer Vestolit GmbH from investment company Strategic Value Partners LLC (SVP Global) for EUR219 million (USD293 million).

As MRC wrote before, Russia's estimated consumption of unmixed PVC was 857,450 tonnes in January-November 2019, up 4% year on year. Emulsion and suspension PVC markets showed an increase in supplies. November estimated consumption of SPVC (excluding exports to Belarus) in the Russian market decreased to 70,620 tonnes from 71,720 tonnes in October. Some producers reduced PVC production in November, which affected export sales. Overall shipments of suspension to the Russian market totalled 736,570 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 3% year on year. Local producers managed to increase suspension output by 3%, while exports grew by 24%.

Oriba, of Tlalnepantla, an industrial municipality close to Mexico City, is Latin America’s largest manufacturer of PVC pipe, vinyl resins and compounds.
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