Philly refiner bankruptcy plan, sale to real estate developer approved

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery site will be sold for USD252 million and redeveloped under a plan approved in bankruptcy court on Thursday, ending months of uncertainty over whether the idled plant would be restarted, reported Reuters.

Hilco Redevelopment Partners, which will become the new owner of the roughly 1,300-acre (526-hectare) PES refinery site as part of the plan, is expected to begin demolition work before building warehousing and other commercial projects on the land.

PES shut its 335,000-barrel-per-day refinery in South Philadelphia, the largest and oldest on the East Coast, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a fire destroyed a section of the plant over the summer.

As MRC wrote previously, in November 2019, US and local officials were opposing the sale procedure for the bankrupt Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery, arguing the plan discourages bidders and keeps the city locked out of the process.

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) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC), has planned to bring on-stream its No. 2 cracker in Map Ta Phut, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that, the company is likely to resume operations at the cracker by end-February, 2020. The cracker was shut for maintenance on January 20, 2020.

Located at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, the No. 2 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

The company also operates No. 1 cracker at the same site with a capacity of 515,000 tonnes of ethylene and 310,000 tonnes of propylene per year, which was also shut on 23 January, 2020, for a 40-day turnaround.

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).

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant is in a “clear transition phase” redefining the business’ direction over the next couple of years, said Wallstreet-online.

Hariolf Kottmann added that Clariant is looking for a new CEO as the executive committee and board continues to play an active role in shaping the company’s future direction. The focus is on finding the right person “as soon as possible, not as fast as possible”, according to Kottmann, who returned to the helm of Clariant after Ernesto Occhiello’s short-lived tenure last year.

“We designed a profile of the personality, the skills, and [what that person] should look like. There is nothing extraordinary included here, we are just looking for a capable woman or a capable man who can guide a company like Clariant,” said Kottmann, speaking to reporters in Zurich.

“We cannot wait [for further corporate moves] until a new CEO is in place … There is competition and a market, and if you do not change the way you operate, then you are irrelevant – which can happen in one-two years."

The process to find someone to take the helm of Clariant has continued since Kottmann’s returned to the role after Occhiello, but the incumbent asserted his opinion on remaining in the position. “I am not interested to staying in the position for the next two-three years in this role, this is a clear transition phase,” he added.

Clariant is continuing its divestment strategy, started last year with the sale of its healthcare business to Arsenal Capital Partners and the recent divestment of its masterbatch business unit to PolyOne.

As MRC informed earlier, Clariant announced that it has been awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. Ltd. to develop a new propane dehydrogenation unit in cooperation with CB&I. The Dongguan plant will be one of the largest single-train dehydrogenation units in the world. Clariant's technology partner CB&I will base the plant's design on its Catofin® catalytic dehydrogenation technology, which uses Clariant's tailor-made Catofin catalyst and Heat Generating Material (HGM).

Propylene is the main feedstock for producing polyprolypele (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).

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude exporter, plans to add gas and petrochemicals to its slate of exports and will soon make a major announcement on the topic, reported S&P Global with reference to the country's energy minister's statement on Sunday.

"Soon you will hear about the ability of the kingdom to be a gas exporter and a petrochemical exporter," Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said in a televised speech. He didn't provide further details.

Saudi Arabia has been ramping up exploration for gas to help feed an expanding industrial base and to replace crude with gas in power generation. The kingdom plans to produce 70% of its power from gas and 30% from renewable energy, the minister has previously stated. Currently the country burns mostly oil to produce power.

Last March, former Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih announced the discovery of large amounts of gas in the Red Sea, without specifying the amount found.

Saudi Aramco, the state-run energy giant that is the world's biggest oil producing company, had output of 8.9 billion standard cubic feet/day of natural gas and 1 Bscf/d of ethane in 2018. Its gas reserves at the end of 2018 stood at 233.8 Tscf.

Aramco is also in the midst of taking over SABIC, the Middle East's largest petrochemical producer. It announced a deal last year to acquire a 70% stake in the Riyadh-based company for USD69 billion. Aramco had a net and gross chemical production capacity of 16.7 million tons/year and 33.2 million tons/year, respectively at the end of 2018, according to its IPO prospectus. The company will release its full-year 2019 results on March 16.

At the end of 2018, SABIC's total annual production was 75.3 million tons, including 61.8 million tons of petrochemical and specialty products.

Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest oil producer by far, pumped 9.74 million b/d in January, according to the latest S&P Global Platts OPEC survey, as exports were largely stable while refinery runs were down due to planned maintenance. That is 400,000 b/d below its quota of 10.14 million b/d as it seeks higher oil prices to carry out major economic reforms.

As MRC informed before, in October 2018, Saudi Aramco signed an agreement to invest in a refinery-petrochemical project in eastern China, part of its strategy to expand in downstream operations globally.

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).

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco"s value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-run China National Chemical Corp, or ChemChina, was forced to shut down a 100,000 barrels per day crude oil refinery in east China and cut processing rates at other two plants due to the coronavirus, three sources told Reuters on Thursday.

ChemChina switched off the 5 million tonnes per year crude oil unit at Zhenghe refinery in Shandong province on Wednesday, two of the sources said.

The company also reduced operating rates at two other plants in the province - Changyi and Huaxing - to 60% earlier this week from 70% previously. The two plants have a combined crude processing capacity of around 300,000 bpd.

As MRC wrote before, China's independent refineries in eastern Shandong province have cut February run rates to a four-year-low of around 40% in February, down from 63.5% in January, as product sales slump due to the coronavirus outbreak. Twelve refineries with a combined capacity of 39.6 million mt/year have shut since late January, resulting in the average run rate in the province falling to 40.9% in February, according to local energy information provider JLC.

We remind that Sinopec Guangzhou Petrochemical, part of China's petrochemical giant - Sinopec, resumed operations at its cracker in China on December 5, 2019, following a turnaround. The cracker was shut for maintenance on October 12, 2019. Located in the Guangzhou province of China, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 260,000 mt/year and propylene production capacity of 150,000 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 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