Celanese starts maintenance at Singapore VAM unit

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is lowering crude oil throughput this month at a refinery in south China by about 8% from the original plan as the coronavirus cuts demand for its refined fuel, a company source said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) plant in Huizhou, Guangdong province, will process about 220,000 bpd in February, the source, who has direct knowledge of the plant’s operations, told Reuters.

CNOOC did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The decision to cut output was made on Tuesday as CNOOC started to receive feedback from its refined fuel customers that demand was falling faster than expected because of the spread of coronavirus.

The cut at a similar level will be extended into March, said the source, who declined to be named as he is not authorised to talk to the press.

At the same site, CNOOC has kept operations at another 200,000-bpd capacity refinery unchanged at 70% utilisation, the source added.

Reuters reported on Monday that China’s Sinopec, Asia’s top refiner, has lowered its throughput this month by around 12% in the steepest cut in more than a decade and independent refineries in east China’s Shandong have reduced operations by 30%-50%.

As MRC informed earlier, China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Shell International Petroleum Company Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore their existing collaboration and the development of petrochemical manufacturing facilities at the Nanhai site in Huizhou, Guangdong province.

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) -- PPG Industries Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa) announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Alpha Coating Technologies, LLC (Alpha), a manufacturer of powder coatings for light industrial applications and heat sensitive substrates, said Chemengonline.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020, subject to customary closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 2000, Alpha focuses on the development, manufacture and sale of powder coatings for light industrial applications; medium density fiberboard and heat sensitive substrates; and toll manufactures powder coatings for metal and light industrial applications. Alpha employs approximately 35 people at its operations in West Chicago, Illinois.

"Alpha’s best-in-class service, technology and quick turnaround color matching capabilities will be a strategic complement to PPG,” said Kevin Braun, PPG vice president, Industrial Coatings, Americas. “We are pleased to welcome Alpha into the PPG family and continue providing our customers with outstanding products and services."

As MRC wrote previously, Russia's output of chemical products dropped by 3.2% in November 2019 month on month. However, production of basic chemicals increased by 3.6% in the first eleven months of 2019, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, the largest increase in production volumes on an annualized basis accounted for mineral fertilizers and polymers in primary form. Last month, 255,000 tonnes of ethylene were produced versus 210,000 tonnes in October; by November, Russian producers had completed all their scheduled works. Thus, 2,721,000 tonnes of this olefin were produced in January-November 2019, up by 0.3% year on year.

Ethylene is the main feedstock for the production of polyethylene (PE).

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.
MRC