Ecopet will be sold until the end of 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) - The non-core asset bank Trust plans to sell the Kaliningrad-based Ecopet enterprise by the end of 2020, Rugrad reports citing the company's press service.

The process of preparing an asset for sale has not yet been finalized. Earlier, the general director of the plant, Alexander Anikeev, expressed the hope that the deal would be closed in a short time, and reported at least three potential investors.

The press service of the Trust did not specify the price at which the Kaliningrad enterprise will be sold; it is considered the largest producer of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - materials for plastic packaging in Russia and Europe. However, in 2020, the bank plans to sell 20 real estate in the amount of 8.1 billion rubles. and 4 companies worth 6.3 billion rubles.

"We plan to sell these assets, but everything will depend on the market conditions. Enterprises are more difficult to sell than real estate, as there are fewer potential buyers, and it is more difficult to structure transactions. Nevertheless, all enterprises are finalizing the sales preparation process," the press reports - word service of the chairman of the board of Trust Alexander Sokolov.

In addition, in the second week of February, Ecopet began launching PET production after a planned shutdown. The manufacturer stopped its facilities at a scheduled stop on January 20. The plant still does not ship granules for export, the current level of export prices is EUR840 per tonne, FCA Kaliningrad, excluding VAT.

In May 2017, Alco-Nafta CJSC was reorganized into AO, and from June 26, 2017 it was renamed into Ecopet AO.

Ecopet JSC is the successor of Alco-Nafta CJSC, founded in 2003. The company's revenue in 2018 amounted to 1.3 billion rubles. The enterprise participates in the national project “Labor Productivity and Employment Support.” As RUGRAD.EU previously reported, Trust Bank is looking for new owners directly for Ecopet JSC, which owns petrochemical production facilities on the Baltic Highway, and for the Balttehprom infrastructure site The proceeds from the sale of the assets of Trust Bank are used to compensate for government spending on the rehabilitation of the country's largest banks.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical, the subsidiary of one of the world's largest energy and chemical companies - Sinopec, will shut its 3.5 million mt/year CDU and 3.3 million mt/year gasoil hydrogenation unit for maintenance over mid-March to early April, reported S&P Global.

As MRC wrote earlier, Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical, another subsidiary of Sinopec, plans to shut the cracker unit in Tianjin in northeast China for scheduled repairs on 15 June, 2020. This cracking unit with a capacity of 900,000 tonnes of ethylene per year and 480,000 tonnes of propylene tons per year will be closed for scheduled repairs until 24 June, 2020.

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).

Sinopec corp. is one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemical companies. Business Sinopec Corp. includes oil and gas exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas, oil refining, petrochemical production, production of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products. In terms of refining capacity, Sinopec Corp. ranks second in the world, in terms of ethylene capacity - fourth.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec's Jinling Petrochemical plans to shut its 1.5 million mt/year FCC, and a 600,000 mt/year gasoline hydrotreater for three months due to slow gasoline sales, reported S&P Global with reference to a source with the refinery.

Meanwhile, the refinery will also cut crude throughput in February from the planned 1.35 million mt.

As MRC informed before, Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical, the subsidiary of one of the world's largest energy and chemical companies, Sinopec, plans to shut the cracker unit in Tianjin in northeast China for scheduled repairs on 15 June, 2020. This cracking unit with a capacity of 900,000 tonnes of ethylene per year and 480,000 tonnes of propylene tons per year will be closed for scheduled repairs until 24 June, 2020.

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).

Sinopec corp. is one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemical companies. Business Sinopec Corp. includes oil and gas exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas, oil refining, petrochemical production, production of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products. In terms of refining capacity, Sinopec Corp. ranks second in the world, in terms of ethylene capacity - fourth.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-owned PetroChina shut its Guangxi Petrochemical in southern Guangxi province on February 9 for scheduled 50-day maintenance, a refinery source told S&P Global .

The maintenance should help the refinery to offset stock pressure after product demand slumped due to the coronavirus outbreak.

As MRC reported previously, PetroChina's subsidiary refinery, Dalian Petrochemical Corp, plans to have a major turnaround in April-May of 2020, four industry sources told Reuters in early January 2020. The maintenance is scheduled to start from late March or early April and will last for around one and a half months, the sources said.

The 410,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) plant in the northeast Chinese port city of Dalian, PetroChina's biggest refinery, is linked to Russia's East Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline and is China's largest processor of the pipeline ESPO blend crude.

We also remind that Sichuan Petrochemical (part of PetroChina) undertook an emergency shutdown at its naphtha cracker in Sichuan province of China on July 11, 2018 owing to a gas leak at its natural gas supply pipeline. Further details on duration of the outage could not be ascertained. Located at Sichuan province of China, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 800,000 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).

PetroChina Company Limited, is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) and ALPLA have established a new joint venture, named Envicco, to build and operate a recycled plastics resin plant at the Asia Industrial Estate in Rayong Province, Thailand, according to Apic-online.

Envicco, owned 70% by PTTGC and 30% by ALPLA, will manufacture 30,000 t/y of recycled polyethylene ter-ephthalate (PET) and 15,000 t/y of recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Commercial operations are expected to begin within the fourth quarter of 2021.

The new plant "substantially aligns" with PTTGC's Sustainability Strategy for Circular Economy, which aims to be a pilot company for plastic waste management by converting used plastic packaging to "high-quality" recycled plastic resins to serve the increasing market demand, PTTGC noted.

As MRC reported before, PTTGC has planned to bring on-stream its No. 2 cracker in Map Ta Phut 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