Total to delay refinery restart due to coronavirus

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French oil major Total has decided to delay the restart of its Grandpuits refinery near Paris by eight days to April 1 due to the coronavirus outbreak, reported Reuters with reference to CGT union delegate Thierry Dufresne's statement.

Other sources said the maintenance work at the company’s Feyzin refinery was suspended following the lockdown put in place by the government to contain the spread of coronavirus.

As MRC wrote before, Total said Tuesday it had a suspected case of coronavirus on a rig at its Culzean gas field in the UK North Sea, but production was unaffected.

We also remind that Total has recently disclosed that it is evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 215,390 tonnes in the first month of 2020, up by 23% year on year. Shipments of all grades of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased due to higher capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 127,240 tonnes in January 2020, up by 33% year on year. ZapSibNeftekhim's homopolymer PP accounted for the main increase in shipments.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

Hengli Petrochemical reaches full rates at new PTA line No. 4 in Dalian City

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co. has reached full rate at its fourth purified terephthalic acid (PTA) line located on Changxing Island, Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China, reported Apic-online.

The 2.5-million-t/y PTA line, which came online in January 2020, utilizes Invista's P8 PTA technology. The line also produces benzoic acid, using Invista's RP2PR technology.

A fifth PTA line, identical to the fourth, is currently under construction and scheduled to start up around the middle of this year.

As MRC wrote previously, in the second week of February 2020, China’s private chemical giant and refiner Hengli Petrochemical cut to 90% its crude oil processing rate at a northeastern plant, down from 109%, as a spreading coronavirus hits demand. The cuts at the 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery and petrochemical complex in Dalian were equivalent to 17%, or 76,000 bpd, Reuters’ calculations show.

In face of weakening demand for petrochemical products, Hengli also cut back operations at a newly started plant making PTA, to half its capacity, from 80% earlier, the spokesman said then.

PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

As per MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PET consumption in Russia increased in January 2020 by 9% year on year. Totally, Russia recycled 55,390 tonnes of PET chips in January (excluding shipments of Russian material to the countries of the Customs Union). Russia's PET chips production totalled 43,200 tonnes in January 2020.

Hengli Petrochemical Co., Ltd. manufactures chemical fibers. The Company researches, produces, and sells polyester filament and chips for consumer and industry products. Hengli Petrochemical markets it products worldwide.
MRC

Celanese completes maintenance at VAM unit in Singapore

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

A Polymerupdate source in Singapore informed that, the company has resumed operations at the unit on March 16, 2020. The unit was shut since February 4, 2020 following a fire at the site.

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

As MRC informed earlier, Celanese Corporation brought capacity utilization at its 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 initially 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

Zhejiang Petrochemical selects Honeywell UOP to supply PSA units for petrochemical project in Zhoushan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Petrochemical Co. (ZPC) will utilize four Honey-well UOP Polybed pressure swing adsorption (PSA) units to supply high-purity hydrogen to the second phase of ZPC's integrated refining and petrochemical complex located in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China, according to Apic-online.

The second phase will double the plant's aromatics capacity to about 12-million t/y. Cost of the project and an expected completion date were not given. The first phase was started up in January 2020.

When complete, the new plant will be the "largest" crude-to-chemicals complex in China and "one of the larg-est" in the world, said Honeywell UOP.

"With more than 50% of its crude capacity converted to petrochemicals, it will move china closer to self-sufficiency in paraxylene production and be a major new source of propylene and other products," it added.

As MRC wrote previously, Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co Ltd had started test-run at a 2-million-ton-per-year No. 2 paraxylene (PX) unit in east China before the Lunar New Year break. The No. 1 and No. 2 PX lines each have a nameplate capacity of 2 million mt/year.

PX is a feedstock for the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA). PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which, in its turn, is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PET consumption in Russia increased in January 2020 by 9% year on year. Totally, Russia recycled 55,390 tonnes of PET chips in January (excluding shipments of Russian material to the countries of the Customs Union). Russia's PET chips production totalled 43,200 tonnes in January 2020.
MRC

PP imports to Ukraine rose by 4% in January-February 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ukraine's polypropylene (PP) imports totalled about 20,400 tonnes in January-February of this year, up 4% year on year.
The greatest increase in imports accounted for homopolymer PP, according to MRC DataScope.

February PP imports to Ukraine increased to 10,500 tonnes from 9,900 tonnes a month earlier, local companies increased their purchasing of homopolymer PP in Russia. Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 20,400 tonnes in January-February 2020, compared to 19,600 tonnes a year earlier. The demand for only homopolymer PP increased, but demand for propylene copolymers decreased.

The structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

February imports of homopolymer PP to the Ukrainian market grew due to stronger purchases of raffia in Russia despite the low demand in the domestic market, the total import volume amounted to about 8,700 tonnes against 7,800 tonnes a month earlier. Total homopolymer PP imports were 16,500 tonnes in January-February, compared to 14,900 tonnes a year earlier.

February imports of PP block copolymers into the country amounted to about 726 tonnes compared to 890 tonnes in January, local companies reduced the volume of purchases of injection moulding polypropylene. Over the reporting period, about 1,600 tonnes of propylene block copolymers were imported against 2,200 tonnes for the same period in 2019.

February imports of PP random copolymers fell below the level of 1,000 tonnes against, which is slightly lower than a month earlier. Overall PP random copolymers imports reached 2,000 tonnes in January-February 2020, compared to 2,200 tonnes a year earlier.

Overall imports of other propylene copolymers were about 300 tonnes over the stated period.

MRC