SK Global to discontinue production of ethylene & EPDM at Ulsan site

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SK Global Chemical, a subsidiary of SK Innovation, plans to shut down its production processes for ethylene and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) within its naphtha cracking center in Ulsan, South Korea, according to Apic-online.

The 200,000-t/y naphtha cracker, which started commercial operation in 1972, and the EPDM unit, which began commercial operation in 1992, will be mothballed from December 2020 to shift the company's focus to high-value added chemicals.

Separately, SK Global Chemical's planned purchase of Arkema's functional polyolefins business is on schedule to be completed in the first half of this year.

Last October, Arkema announced the proposed divestment of the business to SK for an enterprise value of 335-million.

Part of the PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) business unit, functional polyolefins comprises ethylene, copolymers and terpolymers.

As MRC wrote before, South Koreaпї's SK Global Chemical had restarted its naphtha cracker in late January 2018, after a brief but unplanned one-day shutdown. The 660,000 tonnes-per-year (tpy) naphtha cracker was expected to be operating normally the following day after the restart. Located in Ulsan, South Korea, the No. 2 cracker has a production capacity of 690,000 mt/year. SK Global Chemical also operates a smaller 200,000 tpy cracker.

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) -- Taiwan’s state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp will cut crude throughput rates in April by less than 10%, from around 70%-80% currently, as the coronavirus pandemic has lowered fuel demand, reported Reuters with reference to two sources familiar with the matter.

CPC, which primarily supplies fuel to the Taiwan market, operates two refineries in Talin and Taoyuan which have a combined capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd).

CPC typically issues monthly tenders to buy Middle East sour crude and sweet crude from West Africa and the United States by the third week of each month.

However, the company has decided not to issue crude tenders in March to seek cargoes for June arrival due to the output reduction, sluggish demand and a sufficient amount of crude in storage, according to the sources.

"Facing the situation of the COVID-19, we are trying to minimize the impact, therefore we decided not issue our crude purchase tender temporarily," CPC spokesman J. Z. Fang said in an emailed response.

"We are still checking how serious the impact is and might reduce our run rate as result," he added.

In February, CPC bought 500,000 barrels of April-loading Upper Zakum crude, 3 million barrels of US West Texas Intermediate Midland crude and 3 million barrels of Angola crude via spot tenders, trade sources said.

As MRC informed earlier, CPC Corporation took one of its naphtha crackers off-stream on 8 November 2019 for major maintenance work. The cracker number 4 remained offline for about 65 days and resumed operation by mid of January 2020. The No. 4 unit has an annual capacity of 380,000 tons/year of ethylene and 193,000 tons/year of propylene. The shutdown resulted in a production loss of 67,671 tons of ethylene and 34,370 tons 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).

CPC Corporation, Taiwan, is engaged in the exploration, production, refining, procurement, transportation, storage, and marketing of oil and gas. The company provides fuel oil, including automotive unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel, low-sulfur fuel oil, marine distillate fuels, marine residual fuels, and aviation fuel; petrochemicals, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, para-xylene, and ortho-xylene; liquefied petroleum gas products comprising liquefied petroleum gas, propane, butane, and a propane/butane mixture; lubricants, motor oil, industrial oil, grease, and marilube oil; SNC products, including petroleum ether, naphtha, toluene, xylene, crude octene, methyl alcohol, normal paraffin, viscosity-graded asphalt cement, and sulfur; and natural gas.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over April shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the domestic market began in the Russian market on Wednesday. On the back of the weakening rouble exchange rate and upcoming shutdowns for maintenance, domestic producers a major price increase for the next month, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

High level of capacity utilisation and weak domestic demand did not lead to a surplus of PVC in the Russian market in the first three months of the year. On the contrary, most domestic producers had optimal stocks at their warehouses, and two shutdowns for maintenance are scheduled for April-May. In addition, the current significant weakening of the rouble against the dollar made imports much more expensive than Russian material. On the back of this, producers said they intend to achieve an increase of roubles (Rb) 5,000-10,000/tonne from March in April contract prices.

Despite the "low season", domestic producers managed to balance the domestic market in the first three months. Moreover, since February, some producers have begun to limit their customers in additional supplies of resin. This trend remained in March.

RusVinyl intends to take off-stream its production capacities for a two-week turnaround in the second half of April, the producer has not announced the exact dates of the outage. The plant's annual production capacity is 330,000 tonnes.

Kaustik Volgograd plans to shut its PVC production for maintenance from 12 to 31 May. The plant's annual production capacity is 90,000 tonnes.

This year's next and last turnaround is expected at SayanskKhimPlast's production capacities in June-July.

The March weakening of the rouble against the dollar led to higher prices of finished products from PVC because of imported additives. And many converters had already announced the need to increase April prices for finished products in the middle of this month. Converters said that the very expectations of higher prices of finished products from PVC led to an unprecedented increase in demand for these products in March.

Chinese producers constantly adjusted their export prices for acetylene PVC during March. But the collapse of the rouble against the dollar completely offset the price reduction in foreign markets and virtually deprived Russian consumers of a cheap import alternative.

Most converters understood that to avoid higher contract prices of domestic PVC would not be possible in April partially because of the absence of the alternative, although some consumers do not rule out their refraining from purchasing. But it is worth noting that these are rather rare cases.

Overall, deals for April shipments of Russian resin with K64/67 were negotiated in the range of Rb79,000-82,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, for quantities of less than 500 tonnes. Resin with K70 was offered by Rb1,000-2,000/tonnes higher.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's private-sector Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) has shut its naphtha cracker, a person familiar with the matter said, after ports in the country declared force majeure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, reported Reuters.

The petrochemical maker operates a 670,000 tonnes per year cracker, which on average would need more than 150,000 tonnes of naphtha feedstock a month if the unit is at full capacity, based on Reuters calculations.

Haldia Petrochemicals buys naphtha from Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC).

The federal shipping ministry in India has issued a letter allowing ports to use the COVID-19 pandemic as valid grounds to declare force majeure.

As MRC wrote before, on 20 September 2019, a major fire broke out at Haldia Petrochemicals’ cracker in India. The company's plant restarted operations in early October, 2019, after a nearly 10-day closure caused by a September 20 fire that had claimed the lives of two employees.

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).

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are PE and PP.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borouge (part of Borealis) has brought on-stream its No. 1 cracker following a turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source based in the Middle East informed that the company resumed operations at its cracker in mid-March, 2020. The cracker remained under maintenance for around one month.

Located at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi in UAE, the No.1 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, Borouge restarted its No. 3 cracker in UAE in mid-March 2019, following a maintenance turnaround. The cracker was shut for maintenance on January 5, 2019. Located at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi in UAE, the No.3 cracker has a production capacity of 1.5 mmt/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).

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
MRC