Louisiana city council nixes chemical plant in surprise vote

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Members of a Louisiana city council surprised residents and a representative from a Chinese chemical company at a public hearing by voting to turn down the company's request to build a plant, according to local media.

A vote had not been scheduled for Tuesday night's public hearing in Westwego, news outlets reported. The meeting was intended to provide information about a proposal from Wanhua to build a storage and distribution facility.

Eduardo Doval, CEO of the company's US operations, gave a presentation on the plan before residents were given the opportunity to ask questions.

The plant was expected to take in shipments of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, or MDI, from China. The product would then be distilled on site for use in paint, shoe soles and padding for furniture and cars.

"This project, we believe, is safe," Doval said. "It's very benign and very environmentally sound."

But residents and city leaders said the representative failed to answer questions about potential dangers of the chemical under different conditions like reacting to heat and water and in the event of a hurricane.

After about an hour, city councilman Glenn Green said he had heard enough.

"I'd like to make a motion, mister mayor, that we deny the permit for this operation," he said.

The council then voted unanimously to deny the company's request.

Last year, Wanhua dropped its bid for a chemical manufacturing plant in Convent.

As MRC wrote before, early 2020, Wanhua Chemical Group disclosed plans for a second ethylene cracker project at its Yantai, China, site with local government officials.

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) - The Chinese company Useon (Nanjing) Extrusion Machinery Co., a manufacturer of extruders, tested 2,000kg/hr CO2 Foam XPS, said the company.

The biggest ever China-made XPS production line is being wet tested successfully.

In 2009, Useon delivered the then-biggest CO2 foam XPS production line, TDS95-TDD300, which can produce 1,000kg/hr.

Now, this new TDS135-TDD400 is another milestone for XPS industry. The new line can yield 2,000kg/hr, and it is able to produce 100mm thickness XPS board directly with merely CO2 and ethanol. Innovation is one of the company's core values.

As MRC informed earlier, Useon (Nanjing) Extrusion Machinery Co., a manufacturer of extruders, installed a polypropylene (PP) granulation line with a capacity of 70,000 tonnes/year in Indonesia.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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) -- Since Saras launched its very low-sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) blend in early September its sales have topped 120,000 tons, reported Reuters with reference to an executive at the Italian refiner.

VLSFO is the name given to a range of new fuel blends that refiners have created to comply with International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules which kicked off at the start of the year limiting sulfur content in shipping fuel to 0.5%.

"Saras’ flexible and complex refinery configuration allows cost effective VLSFO production," Massimo Vacca, planning, benchmarking and sustainability manager for Saras told reporters.

"We are very pleased with this new product," he added.

Saras is targeting 550,000 tonnes of VLSFO and 180,000 tonnes of marine gasoil (MGO) in annual sales, according to company figures.

Profit margins for VLSFO have surprised market participants on the upside, and prices have even traded at parity with the usually more expensive MGO at some ports.

Saras is able to produce a 380-cst specification and has so far received "very positive feedback from its clients and no complaints concerning the stability of its VLSFO," Vacca said.

Saras operates the 300,000 barrel per day Sarroch refinery in Sardinia.

As MRC informed before, in early 2017, Rosneft JV Projects S.A. (Luxembourg), an indirect subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Company, announced the agreement to sell to institutional investors 114,120,000 ordinary shares in Saras S.p.A., representing 12% of the total share capital in Saras S.p.A., at a price of EUR 1.53 per share through an accelerated bookbuilding.

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) -- ExxonMobil has reported its poorest quarterly operating earnings in three years in results dragged down by slim oil refining margins and a rare loss in its chemicals business, said the Financial Times.

The largest US oil group on Friday reported net income of USD5.7bn in the fourth quarter, or 1.33 per share, down from $6bn or USD1.41 per share a year earlier.

The results were buoyed by one-off items worth about USD3.9bn, or USD0.92 per share, largely from gains involving the USD4.5bn sale of Exxon properties in Norway to Var Energi late last year.

Without those items, net profit was about USD1.8bn or USD0.41 per share — below analysts’ expectations of USD0.45.

The USD355m loss in Exxon’s chemicals business was its first in at least two decades. according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Exxon’s oil refining business earned USD898m in the quarter, down by two-thirds from a year before.

“Our operations performed well, while short-term supply length in the downstream and chemicals businesses impacted margins and financial results,” said Darren Woods, chief executive.

The global chemicals business has been difficult, with a “particularly bearish” outlook for polyethylene, a building block for plastics, analysts at Barclays said before the earnings release. Industry profit margins are likely to be strained for some time as supply growth of 5-6 per cent per year outpaces demand growth of 2-3 per cent per year.

Exxon is among the companies adding to capacity as it builds a 1.8m tonne-per-year chemical and polyethylene plant in Texas with Sabic of Saudi Arabia.

China, the world’s largest polyethylene importer, this month announced restrictions on the use of single-use plastics, which will eventually affect its consumption, Wood Mackenzie said.

Exxon has been investing heavily to expand output in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, home to the most prolific oilfields in the US. Production there increased by 54 per cent on the previous year, a slower annual growth rate than the 72 per cent the company reported in the third quarter.

The company’s overall liquids production increased by 2 per cent on year driven by growth in the Permian, while natural gas volumes decreased 4 per cent. Exxon’s results came a day after Royal Dutch Shell reported an almost 50 per cent drop in fourth-quarter profits caused by lower oil and gas prices and weaker refining and chemicals margins.

Chevron, the second-largest US oil group, was set to report fourth-quarter results later on Friday.

As MRC informed earlier, ExxonMobil resumed PE production at its site in Notre Dame de Gravenchon, France after a temporary shutdown due to commercial reasons. Thus, this plant wa taken off-stream at the end of the 2nd week of December 2019.

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.

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) -- CPC Corporation is in plans to shut its No. 3 cracker for a maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan, informed that, the company has schedule to commence a turnaround at the cracker, in mid-February 2020. The cracker is likely to remain off-stream for around two months.

Located at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the No. 3 cracker has an ethylene capacity of 720,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 370,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, CPC Corporation took one of its naphtha crackers off-stream on 8 November 2019 for major maintenance work. The cracker number 4 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.

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