Polyolefin inventories rise to 1,28 mln tonnes in 3rd week of March

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The total inventories of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) at China's Sinopec and PetroChina's (part of CNPC) warehouses were heard at 1.28 million mt last week, reported S&P Global.

This figure is higher than the typical level of 1 million mt.

As MRC informed before, in the 3rd week of February 2020, Asia's largest oil and gas firm PetroChina resumed construction of its oil refinery and petrochemical project in southern Chinese province of Guangdong, as the number of new coronavirus cases fell for a second straight day. With workers and machineries gradually in place, the USD10 billion refinery project in Jieyang city fully restarted construction by end-February. The project is scheduled to be fully completed by June 2022, with the launch of an oil refining section by end-2021 and chemical section in March 2022.

We also remind that Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical, 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 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.

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.

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) -- Sinopec Corp’s Maoming refinery exported low sulfur fuel oil in February for the first time, totaling 21,400 tons, reported Reuters with reference to a report on the state refiner’s website and a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

The supplies, of heavy grade and with low sulfur content, went into a bonded storage in south China’s Guangdong province where the 400,000 barrels per day Maoming refinery is based.

This new production, similar to pilot cargoes moved into bonded tanks along China’s coast by China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp and PetroChina, will benefit from a tax waiver policy Beijing announced in late January, the source said.

Sinopec’s Zhenhai refinery, with annual crude oil refining capacity of 23 million tonnes, also exported 1,000 tonnes of cleaner shipping fuel for the first time to bonded tanks in the eastern port of Zhoushan, Sinopec said in a statement.

Zhenhai currently has low sulfur fuel oil production capacity of 200,000 tons per year, and will continue to expand capacity based on market demand, it said.

As MRC informed before, 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 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.

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) -- Major producer SK Advanced increased capacity utilisation at its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant to 100% on 19 March after a planned outage, according to S&P Global.

The company resumed operations at the plant on 9 March 2020. The plant was shut for maintenance on January 29, 2020 and was expected to resume production in end-February.

Located in Ulsan, South Korea, the plant has a propylene production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, SK Advanced last undertook an emergency shutdown at its PDH plant at Ulsan on November 16, 2019 owing to a technical issue. The unit was brought on-stream on November 20, 2019. Located in Ulsan, South Korea, the plant has a propylene production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.

SK Advanced, a joint venture of South Korea's largest LPG supplier SK Gas and Advanced Petrochemical Company (APC) of Saudi Arabia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tianjin Bohai Chemical is expected to restart its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant later this week, reported S&P Global.

Previously, in early February, Tianjin Bohai Chemical decided to postpone the restart of its PDH plant by another 19 days to February 29 due to sluggish demand for propylene. 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.

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, 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.

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) -- Imports of high density polyethylene (HDPE) into Russia grew in January-February 2020 by 25% year on year to 56,600 tonnes. Pipe grade and film and extrusion blow moulding grade polyethylene (PE) accounted for the greatest increase in imports, according to MRC's DataScope report.

February imports of high density polyethylene increased to 28,900 tonnes compared with 27,700 tonnes in January. Overall HDPE imports reached 56,700 tonnes in January-February 2020 versus 45,200 tonnes a year earlier. HDPE deliveries in all processing sectors increased, but the largest increase in imports came from pipe and blow HDPE.

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

February film HDPE imports exceeded 9,300 tonnes from 8,800 tonnes a month earlier, shipments from Uzbekistan and USA increased. Overall external supply of HDPE in the country grew to 18,100 tonnes in the first two months of 2020, up by 12% year on year.

February imports of extrusion blow moulding HDPE rose to 6,400 tonnes, compared with 6,300 tonnes in January. Total imports of blow moulding HDPE in the country reached 12,700 tonnes in Jan-February 2020, up 56% year on year.

February injection moulding HDPE imports increased to 5,500 tonnes from 4,600 tonnes a month earlier. Overall injection moulding HDPE imports totalled 10,100 tonnes in the first two months of the year, up by 21% year on year.

February imports of pipe HDPE into the country increased to 3,000 tonnes, compared with 5,100 tonnes in January. on a stronger purchases of natural HDPE from Turkmenistan. The overall imports of other ethylene polymers reached 8,100 tonnes over the stated period versus 5,300 tonnes a year earlier.

Overall imports of other grades of HDPE to Russia were 7,600 tonnes in January-February 2020 compared to 7,200 tonnes year earlier.

MRC