Fire contained at Syria Homs refinery after gas compressor explodes

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire in Syria’s Homs refinery was put out by civil defense and the refinery firefighting unit on Tuesday, shortly after a gas compressor in the 6th project exploded, reported Reuters with reference to state TV.

No information was immediately available on whether production was affected.

The refinery, located west of Homs, is one of two main refineries covering most domestic demand for diesel, heating fuel, gasoline and other products, industry experts say.

As MRC informed earlier, at the end of last week, Militants attacked Syria’s Banias refinery near the Mediterranean coast, sending divers to plant explosives on underwater pipelines. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear, though state media reported that technicians were evaluating the damage and making repairs.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
MRC

LG Chem operating profit dips 60% in 2019 on battery woes

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LG Chem's operating profit fell 60% in 2019 to 895.6 billion won (USD750 million), as it spent around 320 billion won to prop up its ailing battery business, reported NIKKEI Asian Review with reference to the company's statement Monday.

The South Korean chemical and battery maker was hit hard last year by problems with its energy storage systems, a number of which caught fire in South Korea. The batteries are designed to store electricity generated by solar and wind power systems.

LG Chem's sales of batteries for electric vehicles rose. Overall, the company's revenue increased 2% to 28.6 trillion won. However, operating profit fell for the second straight year.

The petrochemical business, which accounts for 54% of the company's sales, produced an operating profit of 1.42 trillion won. But the battery operations, which contribute less than 30% of sales, lost 454.3 billion won.

Despite the setbacks, LG Chem continues to invest heavily in EV batteries, including a joint venture with U.S. automaker General Motors to build a new factory that will produce batteries for electric cars. LG Chem forecasts battery sales will rise 79% to 15 trillion won in 2020, which would put the business on par with the petrochemical operations.

The company faces tough competition from Chinese rivals in EV batteries, weighing on its profitability, in addition to weak demand for smartphone batteries. In the EV battery market, China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. and BYD are spending heavily on development and manufacturing, in tie-ups with big automakers.

As MRC wrote previously, LG Chem, a South Korean petrochemical major, has reduced its operational rates of its cracker to around 90-95% starting January 2020 due to weaker economic fundamentals. Based in Daesan, South Korea, the cracker is able to produce 1.27 million tons/year of ethylene and 650,000 tons/year 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 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. According to ICIS report, it is 15th biggest chemical company in the world in 2011. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.
MRC

Mitsui Chemicals appointed Osamu Hashimoto as new CEO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals has appointed Osamu Hashimoto as its new president and CEO effective from 1 April this year, said the company.

Hashimoto is currently Mitsui Chemicals’ senior managing executive officer and the president of the company’s health care business.

Current president and CEO Tsutomu Tannowa has been appointed as the company’s chairman of the board, effective 1 April this year.

As MRC informed earlier, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. is collaborating with Kaisei Inc. on a project aimed at the development of bio-PP at commercial scale.

As MRC informed before, Mitsui Chemicals restarted its naphtha cracker in Japan on 11-12 May, 2019, following an unplanned outage. The cracker was shut in end-April, 2019 owing to power failure. Located at Chiba in Japan, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 600,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 331,000 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.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
MRC

Chinese independent refiners slash operations as virus hits fuel sales

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Independent refineries in China’s eastern Shandong province, who collectively import about a fifth of the country’s crude, have slashed output by 30% to 50% in just over a week as the coronavirus outbreak hit fuel demand and distribution, reported Reuters with reference to executives and analysts.

Utilisation rates dropped below 50% by the end of January at key plants, from around 66% a week earlier, the lowest since at least 2015, according to surveys of around 40 plants conducted by local consultancies JLC Network Technology and Longzhong Information Group.

The sudden production cut left crude oil storage tanks full at China’s top crude import terminal of Qingdao, causing delays in discharging cargoes and leaving refiners, already under pressure from weak margins, facing hefty demurrage charges to compensate shipowners for delays

is grim - we have gasoline and diesel demand shrinking on one hand, and fuel logistics stalling on the other as local governments put in traffic curbs to contain the spread of the virus,” said a plant executive based in Dongying, a refining and chemicals hub in Shandong.

He and other executives declined to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the media.

While the central province of Hubei, where the virus first emerged, is in virtual quarantine, authorities elsewhere in China have placed restrictions on travel and business to try to contain the spread of the virus.

Spot premiums for Russian ESPO crude, among the most popular grades for the Shandong plants, sometimes known as ‘teapot’ refineries - have hit their lowest in five months.

The city of Dongying, home to some 40 teapot refineries, introduced a ban on Friday on vehicles entering the city from outside and asked local manufacturers to apply for special passes to facilitate the logistics required for production, two refinery executives briefed on the matter said.

"This means refineries can’t move their products out, or at least it slows down the flows drastically" said the Dongying executive.

He said a typical 60,000 barrels per day refinery uses 200-300 trucks a day to deliver refined fuel.

A second executive estimated that even with such steep production cuts in place, most of the plants might have to reduce output again in about 10 days because of logistics constraints.

Shi Linlin, senior analyst with JLC said overall run rates in Shandong could drop to 40% in February.

As MRC wrote before, in April 2019, BP agreed a three-year framework crude oil deal with independent Chinese refinery Shandong Tianhong Chemicals, for annual supplies of 8 million barrels from last year. Li Dongbo, president of Shandong Tianhong Chemicals, told Reuters the deal covers 2019 to 2021.

We also remind that 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 ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
MRC

More Chinese investors sign up for Serbia recycling projects

MOSCOW (MRC) -- More Chinese investors are targeting central Serbia in a new bid to establish a plant to produce recycled polymer granules from waste plastics, said Sustainableplastics.

Last month, the Chinese company Zhong Xiao Nengyuan Zhi signed an agreement with the municipal council of Cuprija to lease a local industrial site for the initial phase of a EUR2m polymers project.

The firm, which will take on a 50-strong workforce at the start, said it plans to expand the operation at a later stage hiring a further 150 employees.

Cuprija was earlier targeted by other investors linked with China’s Taihe Group who proposed to spend €12m on a scheme to build four plastic waste recycling plants. These would provide a polymer raw material base and semi finished products to feed a planned cluster of plastics processing enterprises.

Early in 2018, the representatives of the Taihe-controlled Serbia-based company Blue Sky Europe International Industry & Trade Technology d.o.o. signed a memorandum of understanding for the project with Cuprija’s mayor Ninoslav Eric.

That Chinese company, understood to be 75% controlled by Taihe Group, said it would create as many as 500 jobs in the initial phase of its project development, with the first stage expected to be completed in 2019.

The latest Cuprija investment scheme was unveiled last month (Sept) when Quang Xi He, chief executive officer of the Chinese firm Zhong Xiao Nengyuan Zhi signed a concession agreement with the town’s mayor. This allowed his company to lease the former local factory site of Mladost, a producer of paper and cardboard.

At the 1,500m2 factory site, the Chinese investors intend to install initially a number of lines for producing polymer granules. Later, the company aims to construct a new production hall and create more than 100 new jobs in the new industrial zone, developed specifically to attract entrepreneurs from China.

As MRC informed earlier, China’s polyolefin suppliers have cut their post-holiday production due to logistics restrictions amid authorities’ efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Domestic inventories are high as the plants did not stop production during the Lunar New Year holiday period, which started on 24 January, with most storage warehouses now full.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

MRC