Asahi Kasei Mitsubishi to delay restart of Mizushima naphtha cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahi Kasei Mitsubishi Chemical Ethylene Corp, a joint venture of Asahi Kasei Corp and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp , said on Thursday it will delay the restart of a naphtha cracker in Mizushima, western Japan, to Jan. 28 from Jan. 24, reported Reuters.

The delay is due to a glitch in the steam system, which is operated in case of an emergency, Asahi Kasei said in a statement.

The company shut the naphtha cracker on Jan. 14 after a malfunction in the refrigerant system.

The naphtha cracker has a production capacity of 567,000 tonnes a year without any turnaround and 496,000 tonnes with turnaround, the firm 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of bottle grade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from China dropped by 15% year on year to 90,100 tonnes in the twelve months of 2019 from 106,100 tonnes a year earlier, according to MRC's DataScope report.
Deliveries of Chinese bottle grade PET to the Ukrainian market fell to the two times in December amounted to 4,700 tonnes compared to 9,500 tonnes in December last year and 3,900 tonnes in November 2019 year.

The share of imports from China in the total volume amounted to 49% in December against 36% a month earlier and 79% in December 2018.
The key suppliers of injection moulding Chinese PET chips to the Ukrainian market were producers Dragon, Wankai, Yisheng Petrochemical.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INVISTA’s technology and licensing group, INVISTA Performance Technologies (IPT) and Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co., Ltd (Hengli) announced the successful start-up of Hengli’s fourth purified terephthalic acid (PTA) line, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This 2.5 million tons per annum capacity plant, located in Changxing Island, Dalian City, Liaoning Province, utilizes INVISTA’s P8 PTA technology with industry leading variable cost, capital productivity, energy usage, water usage, effluent generation and footprint, came online on January 8th, 2020. As the result of joint effort of all parties involved, the schedule of this project is significantly shorter than other PTA projects, with start-up only 22 months after the project kicked off in early March, 2018.

A fifth PTA line, identical to the fourth PTA line is currently under construction and is expected to start-up around the middle of 2020. Hengli also operates another 3 PTA lines on the same site, each with a capacity of 2.2 million tons per annum, using INVISTA’s P7 PTA technology. This makes the Hengli site the largest PTA site in the world.

Mike Pickens, IPT President, commented, "I congratulate Hengli on the successful start-up. The achievement represents yet another major milestone for Hengli, and for INVISTA, it lifts us beyond the 30 million tons mark in terms of successful PTA startups. I am appreciative of the collaborative efforts of the Hengli and INVISTA commissioning teams. The successful start-up of Hengli’s fourth line again demonstrates INVISTA’s capability in the global PTA market."

PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

As per MRC's ScanPlast report, imports of PET chips into Russia increased by 13% year on year in the first eleven months of 2019, reaching 130,800 tonnes, compared to 116,100 tonnes a year earlier (excluding shipments from Belarus). Russia's PET imports almost doubled in November 2019, totalling 12,300 tonnes, versus 6,300 tonnes in October; imports of material were 8,200 tonnes in November 2018. The share of Chinese material was 78% (9,600 tonnes) in November versus 92% (5,800 tonnes) a month earlier.

Hengli Petrochemical Co., Ltd. manufactures chemical fibers. The Company researches, produces, and sells polyester filament and chips for consumer and industry products. Hengli Petrochemical markets it products worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Sinochem Group is expected to start up a new crude processing unit and a petrochemical complex in southeastern China around mid-2020, marking the state firm's first foray into making petrochemicals, reported Reuters with reference to three company sources' statement.

The state-run oil and chemicals group is adding 60,000 barrels per day of crude processing capacity at an existing 240,000-bpd refinery in Quanzhou, Fujian province.

It will also begin operations around June of a petrochemical plant, including a naphtha cracker that can produce one million tonnes per year (tpy) of ethylene, the sources said.

The expansion is part of a new wave of investments in China, led by private chemical giants Hengli Petrochemical and Zhejiang Rongsheng Holdings, that have boosted output of petrochemicals such as paraxylene (PX), the key raw material for synthetic fibre and water bottles. China is the world's largest petrochemical importer.

The Quanzhou refinery additions will come on top of some 900,000 bpd of refining capacity added during 2019 in China, nearly 8% of national total refinery throughput, that swelled China's fuel glut and spurred record product exports.

The 32.5 billion yuan (USD4.64 billion) investment is a pivotal part of Sinochem's growth strategy. The state group is seeking a multi-billion-dollar stock listing for its energy department, and believes petrochemicals can add value to its dominant refining and oil trading business.

Sinochem plans to process light crude oil at the new 60,000-bpd crude distillation unit to make naphtha for the cracker. The existing refinery units process mainly heavier grades, according to the three sources, who declined to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the press.

"The company is looking to start the new refining and ethylene facilities around May/June," said one of the sources.

Wood Group, the service contractor building the facilities, said on its website last month it was conducting safety and quality checks as construction was near completion.

Sinochem did not respond to a request for comment.

Since its start-up in 2014 - the existing 240,000-bpd Quanzhou plant, Sinochem's single fully-owned refinery - has been a leading contributor of revenue and profits to the group's energy business, which for decades has been dependent on the international trading of oil and chemicals.

Sinochem is also expected to start operating towards the fourth quarter an 800,000-tpy PX unit, according to Bian Chenhui, an analyst with Chinese consultancy JLC Technology Network who closely follows China's PX expansions.

As MRC informed before, in January 2020, Sinochem Energy, a unit of China’s Sinochem Group, agreed to sell a 20% stake to five state-owned firms for 11.56 billion yuan (USD1.65 billion).

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

Sinochem Group engages in energy, agriculture, chemicals, real estate, and finance service businesses in China and internationally. It is involved in the exploration and production, refining and trading, warehousing and logistics, and distribution and retailing of oil and gas. The company also produces and distributes fertilizers, such as nitrogen, phosphate, potash, and other fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of injection moulding PET chips from Lithuania by Neo Group grew by 43% in twelve months of this year and amounted to 46,000 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope report.
This figure was 32,100 tonnes in January-December 2018. December imports of PET from Lithuania to Ukraine increased more than three times in comparison with the same period last year and amounted to 3,700 tonnes compared to 2,200 tonnes, the November import volume amounted to 5,600 tonnes.

The total volume of Lithuanian PET imports to the country increased to 32% in January-December 2019 against 22% in January-December last year. The main buyers of Lithuanian bottled PET were Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine Limited and Retal.
MRC