ChemOne to build world-scale aromatics complex in Johor, Malaysia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ChemOne Group (Singapore), an oil & gas, petrochemicals and natural resources conglomerate, has announced the launch of a USD3.38-billion Pengerang Energy Complex (PEC) in the state of Johor, Malaysia, according to Chemweek.

ChemOne said construction of the project, which it says will be one of the world's largest and most competitive integrated condensate splitters and aromatics production facilities, will start in the second half of 2020 with completion due four years later.

ChemOne is the master developer and majority shareholder through its sponsorship in PEC. Maire Tecnimont is ChemOne's engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning partner for the project, and UOP is the technology provider for PEC. The project is in line with the government's transformation program to increase Malaysia's petrochemical output and establish it as a regional trading hub. At full capacity, expected from 2024, PEC is expected to generate an annual export revenue of USD5 billion for Malaysia. It is expected to serve the Asian markets.

PEC will have a processing capacity of 150,000 b/d of condensate and side feed of naphtha; an aromatics capacity of 2.3 million metric tons/year (MMt/y); oil products output of 3.9 MMt/y and hydrogen of 50,000 metric tons/year. The condensate splitter will produce heavy aromatics naphtha, a primary feedstock for the aromatics plant. The second phase of the development envisages a 300,000 b/d refinery complex to serve regional demand, and with back integrated supply chain to the aromatics complex.

Edwin Seow, a principal at ChemOne, said, "With the petrochemical market set to pick up further, PEC is poised to deliver profitable growth while creating gainful local employment and moving Malaysia further up the value chain in the petrochemical sector."

ChemOne was one of the developers of the Jurong aromatics complex in Singapore, now owned by ExxonMobil. A major refinery and petrochemical project is already nearing completion in Johor. Both are being built by a joint venture of Petronas (Kuala Lumpur) and Saudi Aramco.

As MRC wrote before, ExxonMobil Corp completed maintenance work at its Singapore chemical plant. The company said earlier that the plant was undergoing maintenance, which had caused flaring at the plant. ExxonMobil’s petrochemical complex located on Jurong Island is integrated with its refinery there and produces a range of feedstock and products such as polymers and aromatics.

Besides, we remind that on 12 November, 2019, Exxon Mobil Corp’s Baytown, Texas, chemical plant returned to normal operations after a malfunction in the polypropylene (PP) production area. Exxon’s adjoining 560,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Baytown refinery was unaffected by a transformer malfunction in the chemical plant.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tianjin Bohai Chemical will likely postpone the restart of its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant by another 19 days to February 29 due to sluggish demand, reported S&P Global with reference to a company source.

This came after the facility, located in northeastern China, had delayed the restart of its 600,000 mt/year propylene plant to February 10, from February 6, extending the Lunar New Year holidays in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Tianjin Bohai uses 720,000 mt/year of propane when at full capacity.

"We have to postpone the restart further back to February 29, due to poor demand for propylene," the company source said.

Except for Tianjin Bohai, other PDH plants were said to have resumed operations, though Shaoxing Sanyuan may shut again due to limited propane feedstock, market sources said.

The company originally planned to shut its 600,000 mt/year PDH plant for 30 days maintenance starting from December 28, 2019.

Located in Tianjin, China, the PDH plant has a propylene capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, the company last shut this plant for an unscheduled turnaround from 1 to 11 November, 2019.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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).

Tianjin Bohai is a state owned enterprise, with over 100 subsidiaries and 35,000 employees. It has joint venture relationships with a number of foreign partners, including: LG Chem, Solvay, Akzo Nobel, Clariant, Veolia, Air Liquide and Vopak.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has undertaken a turnaround at its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) unit in Singapore, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Singapore informed that, the company has shut the unit for maintenance on February 4, 2020. The unit is likely to remain off-line for about 10-12 days.

Located in Jurong Island, Singapore, the unit has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, Celanese Corporation brought capacity untilisation at its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) unit in Clear Lake (Texas, USA) to 100% in late January 2020. In October 2019, the company was progressing in restarting on-site production units after experiencing an emergency incident on Saturday, September 21, 2019, at its Clear Lake facility in Pasadena, Texas. The Fairway Methanol unit restarted in early October 2019 and approached full operating rates in mid-October. The acetic acid and VAM production units restarted at reduced rates during October, with full operating rates inititally expected for all production units at Clear Lake within the fourth quarter of 2019.

According to MRC's DataScope report, December 2019 EVA imports to Russia dropped by 4,1% year on year to 3,600 tonnes from 3,760 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation decreased in January-December 2019 by 17,8% year on year to 39,55 tonnes (48,09 tonnes in 2018).

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2018 net sales of USD7.2 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US oil refiner Phillips 66 has suspended business travel to China due to the coronavirus outbreak, reported Reuters with reference to a spokesman for the company.

The company said it is monitoring the outbreak and updates from the World Health Organization.

As MRC informed before, 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 earllier 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.

We remind that Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell said it is planning a major maintenance turnaround at its Pernis oil refinery in the Netherlands starting on May 4, 2020, reported Reuters.

A video posted on the company’s Dutch website said the major maintenance will take place in May and June and involve cleaning towers and heat exchangers as well as replacing others.

The major maintenance means Shell will not have to do another maintenance of the same scale for another 3 to 6 years at the refinery, which is Europe’s largest with a capacity to process 404,000 barrels per day of crude.

As MRC informed previously, Shell Singapore restarted its naphtha cracker in Bukom Island this week following a two months maintenance shutdown since the beginning of October 2019. Thus, this cracker was taken off-stream for the turnaround on 1 October 2019. The cracker is able to produce 960,000 tons/year of ethylene and 550,000 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).

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC