Daesan MEG unit to be shut by Lotte Chemical in mid-October

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical is likely to undertake a planned shutdown at its monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the company has planned to take its unit off-stream for maintenance in mid-October, 2020. The unit is expected to remain off-line for about two weeks.

Located at Daesan in South Korea, the unit has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, Lotte Chemical's second-quarter net profit fell 88.7 percent from a year earlier due to low demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. For the April-June period, Lotte Chemical posted a net profit of 30.6 billion won (USD25.8 million), compared with a profit of 271.2 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

MEG is one of the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption totalled 367,720 tonnes in the first six months of 2020, up by 19% year on year. Russian companies processed 62,910 tonnes in June.
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МОSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess plans to expand capacity for Oxone monopersulfate - a main active ingredient for disinfectants, said the company.

Due to the continuous strong demand for disinfectants, specialty chemicals company Lanxess is planning to expand its production capacity for Oxone monopersulfate by around 50 percent. To this end, the company intends to invest a lower double-digit million euro sum in its production facility in Memphis, USA.

Lanxess uses Oxone monopersulfate as the main active ingredient in many of its Virkon and Rely+On disinfection products. Demand for these products has increased significantly in recent months due to, amongst others, the outbreak of African swine fever as well as the corona pandemic. The company also sells Oxone as a powerful oxidizing agent for numerous other applications. The capacity expansion is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022.

“Disinfection products are important growth drivers in our highly profitable Consumer Protection segment. We expect a sustainable high level of demand even after the corona pandemic,” said Matthias Zachert, Chairman of the Lanxess Board of Management.

Michael Schafer, head of Lanxess Material Protection Products business unit, added: “We are also seeing a growing demand for Oxone in the water treatment sector as well as from the electronics and paper industries. We want to meet this demand by expanding our production capacity."

Lanxess also offers disinfectants for human health: The product Rely+On Virkon is used in hospitals, laboratories, public institutions and for medical equipment. It is proven to completely inactivate the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in only 60 seconds.

Oxone is used, for example, to clean pool water, thereby reducing the use of chlorine. In the electronics industry, it is applied to prepare surfaces within the production process of printed circuit boards. Paper manufacturers use the product to effectively break down paper products containing wet strength resins during paper reprocessing. In addition, Oxone is a primary component of denture cleansers. Demand in these industries is growing, not least because regulatory requirements are becoming stricter and customers increasingly prefer chlorine-free oxidation solutions.

The expansion will meet growing demand for disinfectants and be completed in the second half of 2022.

Russia's output of chemical products rose in June 2020 by 2.6% year on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 4.9% in the first six months of 2020. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the output in January-June. Production of benzene was 106,000 tonnes in June 2020, compared to 110,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 721,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 3.9% year on year.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP and Microsoft Corp. announced that they have agreed to collaborate as strategic partners to further digital transformation in energy systems and advance the net zero carbon goals of both companies, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This includes a co-innovation effort focused on digital solutions, the continued use of Microsoft Azure as a cloud-based solution for bp infrastructure and bp supplying renewable energy to help Microsoft meet its 2025 renewable energy goals.

“Bp is determined to get to net zero and to help the world do the same. No one can do it alone – partnerships with leading companies like Microsoft, with aligned ambitions, are going to be key to achieving this,” said William Lin, bp executive vice president for regions, cities & solutions. “By bringing our complementary skills and experience together, we are not only helping each other achieve our decarbonization ambitions but also creating opportunities to support others on their ?journey towards reducing carbon emissions."

“Bp shares our vision for a net zero carbon future, and we are committed to working together to drive reductions in carbon emissions and fulfil demand with new renewable energy sources,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Worldwide Commercial Business. “A strategic partnership such as this enables each organization to bring its unique expertise for industry-leading change and the potential to positively impact billions of lives around the world."

Earlier this year, bp announced its ambition to become a net zero emissions company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world reach net zero. By the end of the decade, it aims to have developed around 50 gigawatts of net renewable generating capacity – a 20-fold increase on what it has previously developed, increased annual low carbon investment 10-fold to around USD5 billion and cut oil ?and gas production by 40%. In January 2020, Microsoft announced its goal to be carbon negative by ??2030 and remove more carbon from the environment than it has emitted since its founding by 2050. Today’s announcements build on the potential that both companies see in working together to help deliver a net zero carbon future.

Earlier this year, as MRC wrote previously, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40 per cent in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hurricane Sally crawled offshore along the US Gulf Coast on Wednesday, moving away from oil fields while soaking the region with heavy rains that could dampen fuel demand in the US southeast, reported Reuters.

The hurricane has shut more than a quarter of US offshore Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production and stirred heavy seas that closed ports from Louisiana to Florida. It moved at a snail's pace toward a Wednesday landfall on the coast between Mississippi and Florida.

While Sally's intensity lessened, it remained a Category 1 hurricane with 85 miles per hour (140 kmh) winds. Oil and chemical ports along the Mississippi River were moving to reopen with restrictions and some offshore operators were preparing to return workers to offshore platforms.

Nearly 500,000 bpd of offshore crude oil production and 759 MM cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of natural gas output were shut in the US Gulf of Mexico, according to the US Interior Department.

Crude oil prices were higher in Asian trading on Wednesday, extending the day-earlier's gains on shut-ins and an industry report forecasting a drop in US crude stockpiles. Oil futures rose about 1.5% after trading up more than 2% on Tuesday.

The National Hurricane Center warned Sally could drop 10 to 20 inches (25-50 cm) of rain and up to 30 inches in some spots. It warned of life-threatening flash flooding along the coast between Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle.

Sally's slow crawl will continue after landfall and leave as much as 6 inches of rain through Friday as far inland as Atlanta, said Jim Foerster, chief meteorologist at weather data provider DTN. "It's going to be a catastrophic flooding event" for much of the southeastern United States, he said.

Rain will spread across Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina by Friday, forecasters said, cutting into travel and damping fuel demand in the southeast.

US gasoline stocks rose by 3.8 MM barrels last week, according to data released on Tuesday by trade group American Petroleum Institute, above analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a draw of 160,000 barrels.

As MRC wrote earlier, US Gulf of Mexico producers have shut in roughly 27% of offshore oil and natural gas output ahead of the landfall of Hurricane Sally, which was slowly heading towards the Alabama coast Sept. 15, according to the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Producers have shut in 497,072 b/d of crude and 760 MMcf/d of gas output, 26.87% and 28.03% of total offshore US Gulf output, respectively. A total of 152 platforms and rigs were evacuated, according to BSEE.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuela's state-run PDVSA is preparing to recover a portion of the oil output lost in recent months by boosting crude blending operations at its main producing region, the Orinoco Belt, according to sources and a company document, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

U.S. sanctions imposed since 2019 have deprived PDVSA of the diluents it imports to produce exportable crude grades. The sanctions have cut off its customer base and the number of tanker owners willing to work with the firm, causing oil exports to fall to their lowest levels since the 1940s and cutting heavily into PDVSA's production.

PDVSA and its joint ventures produced 336,000 bpd of crude at the end of August, internal figures from the company showed. Just a year earlier the nation's output was 933,000 bpd, according to figures reported to OPEC. Venezuela's oil exports are the nation's largest source of foreign revenue.

Two weeks ago, PDVSA restarted blending operations at the joint venture Petrosinovensa, which it shares with China National Petroleum Corp, after months of paralysis. It is now processing 64,500 bpd of diluted crude oil (DCO) to produce about 77,000 bpd of exportable Merey crude, according to the document.

PDVSA finished discharging a 500,000-barrel parcel of Iranian condensate for another joint venture, Petropiar, operated with U.S.-based Chevron Corp, aiming to boost blending operations there, the document also showed. The condensate, to be used for diluting Venezuela's extra heavy crude, arrived last weekend in the nation's main oil port of Jose in an unnamed very large crude carrier (VLCC). Tracking service TankerTrackers.com identified the vessel as Iran-flagged Horse by using satellite images.

PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. The full content of the shipment from Iran is unknown, but imported heavy naphtha is also expected to be used as diluent by PDVSA to jumpstart output, one of the sources said. PDVSA is struggling to deliver Merey heavy crude to its customers in Asia and Europe due to quality problems, according to company documents.

The issues, which have caused delays in exports, are forcing the firm to replace scheduled cargoes of Merey crude with other grades, including Hamaca and Leona 24, the documents showed. PDVSA plans to switch a portion of its Orinoco Belt crude production, currently entirely focused on Merey, to DCO, the sources said.

The company also expects to continue draining oil inventories as nearly full storage due to a lack of buyers in recent months forced it to slash output. As of Sept. 14, its stocks of Orinoco Belt heavy crudes had declined to 8.15 MM barrels from almost 15 MM barrels three months ago. Three separate vessels carrying Iranian fuel bound for Venezuela - the Forest, Fortune and Faxon - are expected to begin arriving at the end of this month, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, to ease the country's acute shortage of gasoline.

As MRC informed before, Russian state oil company Rosneft's decision to cease operations in Venezuela and sell its assets there to a Russian government-owned company was a "maneuver" made in reaction to collapsing oil prices, a US State Department official said earlier this year.

We remind that Angarsk Polymers Plant, part of Russian oil giant Rosneft, has resumed its low density polyethylene (LDPE) production after an unscheduled shutdown because of a technical issues at the ethylene unit. The plant"s customers said Angarsk Polymers Plant had brought on-stream its LDPE production by 28 August after the forced shutdown due to technical problems at its ethylene production. And the first shipments of polyethylene (PE) to customers began on 31 August. The outage lasted slightly over two weeks and began on 10 August The plant"s annual production capacity is about 75,000 tonnes.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, June estimated LDPE consumption in Russia grew to 55,260 tonnes from 45,490 tonnes a month earlier. Kazanorgsintez raised its PE output after a spring shutdown for a scheduled turnaround. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption rose to 291,270 tonnes in January-June 2020, up by 5% year on year. Russian producers raised their production, and LDPE imports also increased.

We also remind that Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
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