Motiva Port Arthur, Texas, refinery FCC shut due to leak

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises shut the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at its 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery to repair a leak, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The 81,000-bpd FCC was shut on Monday night to begin repair of the leak, the sources said.

As MRC informed earlier, Motiva is evaluating opportunities to build a new polyethylene (PE) line within its proposed steam cracker and aromatics project in Jefferson County, Texas. The new PE capacity will be located at the company’s Port Arthur Refinery Complex in Jefferson County, Texas. The planned capacity of the unit was not specified, while the value of the project is reportedly estimated at around USD3.1 billion.

Besides, in late 2019, Motiva Enterprises acquired 100% of Flint Hills Resources chemical plant, adjacent to its Port Arthur, Texas, oil refinery. The Flint Hills plant operates a 1.57 billion-pound-per-year ethylene cracker, a unit producing nylon component cyclohexane, and a network of pipelines and storage caverns. Saudi Aramco, in its IPO prospectus, said the cash payment will be determined as per the project value at SAR 7.13 billion (USD1.9 billion).

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.

Motiva Enterprises, LLC, is a fully owned affiliate of Saudi Refining Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States with revenue of USD24 billion. Previously, it was a 50–50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company (the wholly owned American subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell) and Saudi Refining Inc. (controlled by Saudi Aramco).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- PBS’s Frontline last night aired an episode called “Plastic Wars.” ACC’s Keith Christman, managing director of plastics markets, as per Americanchemistry.

Plastic waste is a very real problem, and America’s plastic makers are helping to drive change and modernize today’s plastics recycling systems. From working with customers to design reusable and more recyclable packaging, to innovating and improving traditional recycling operations, to expanding collection and investing in next-generation advanced recycling technologies that transform used packaging into completely new plastics – much of this work is underway today. We are acting now to help build a future without plastic waste.

Plastic plays a vital role in modern life. Too often it is not recycled or recovered, and far too much winds up in our rivers and oceans. Designing waste out of our systems requires a sustained commitment and ongoing collaboration with government, major brands, nonprofits, and other stakeholders. More than ever, consumers are driving demand for more sustainable products, and brands are committed to using more recycled content. Right now, plastics makers are developing the products and processes to deliver recycled materials needed for viable, long-term markets.

Unfortunately, Frontline failed to acknowledge this changing economic and technology landscape, or mention the industry’s rapidly growing and tangible investments in traditional and advanced plastics recycling technologies and their growing impact.

In the last three years, the private sector has invested $4.6 billion in improving recycling in the United States, primarily in advanced plastics recycling technologies that are already beginning to revolutionize the way we recycle and reuse the vast majority of plastic packaging in use today. Plastic makers are proud to be on the forefront of reshaping our own business models and are committed to help make all plastic packaging recyclable by 2030 and reusing, recycling, or recovering all plastic packing by 2040.

Plastic makers also are committed to helping end plastic waste in the environment – because plastic does not belong in our oceans or waterways. That’s why many of our members helped found the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, which has committed to invest $1.5 billion over five years, primarily in many of the rapidly developing countries highlighted on Frontline. Through the Alliance and other initiatives, new systems and investments are underway that will have positive, substantive, long-term benefits for communities and our planet.

As MRC informed earlier, Shell announced it has successfully made high-end chemicals using a liquid feedstock made from plastic waste. The technique, known as pyrolysis, is considered a breakthrough for hard-to-recycle plastics and advances Shell's ambition to use one million tons of plastic waste a year in its global chemicals plants by 2025.

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).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. production of major plastic resins totaled 7.2 billion pounds during February 2020, an increase of 8.1 percent compared to the same month in 2019, according to statistics released today by the American Chemistry Council (ACC). Year-to-date production was 15.1 billion pounds, a 6.7 percent increase as compared to the same period in 2018, said Americanchemistry.

Sales and captive (internal) use of major plastic resins totaled 7.2 billion pounds during February 2020, an increase of 3.1 percent from the same month one year earlier. Year-to-date sales and captive use was 15.0 billion pounds, a 5.0 percent increase as compared to the same period in 2019.

As MRC informed earlier, in February of this year, the index of production of chemicals in the Russian Federation grew by 9% compared with the same period a year earlier. Thus, the cumulative release for the first two months of 2020, the release of basic chemicals showed an increase of 6%, follows from Rosstat materials. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, the largest increase in production volumes in January - February came from polymers in primary form.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- At a Strategy Update meeting on April 2, Arkema (Paris:AKE) presents its ambition to become a world leader in Specialty Materials realigned around three coherent businesses with attractive growth prospects: Adhesive Solutions, Advanced Materials, and Coating Solutions, said the company.

The Group unveils its roadmap and its objectives for 2024 at this event. In the context of Covid-19, Arkema also provides an update on the management and the consequences of this unprecedented health crisis.

While the management of the crisis related to Covid-19 requires everybody to be mobilized -priority being given to the health and safety of its employees while supporting its customers and its other stakeholders to the best of its abilities-, Arkema decided to maintain its Strategy Update meeting today to share its vision and unveil its strong ambitions for the mid-term.

Since 2006, the Group has undertaken an in-depth transformation that has enabled it to progressively develop leading positions in Specialty Materials through targeted investments, an innovation policy focused on the major sustainable development trends, and pro-active portfolio management. These activities now account for almost 80% of its sales.

Today, Arkema is entering a new phase in this transformation. This is based on three coherent and complementary divisions focused on Specialty Materials, namely Adhesive Solutions, Advanced Materials, and Coating Solutions. In a world in which demand for sustainable and high performance materials is growing, Arkema enjoys a unique positioning around those three growth platforms. These combine real in-house innovation expertise, strong commercial and industrial synergies, and a common approach to serving customers in sustainable and growing markets.

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) -- US carbon black producer Cabot (Boston, Massachusetts) apparently has to put restrictions in place, at least to a certain extent. The company says its coronavirus emergency plans have taken effect to ensure that only personnel critical to production are still working at its European and North American facilities, said Plasteurope.

However, a spokesperson told Plasteurope that there will be no allocations, as the company expects to have sufficient capacities to supply all customer requests.

CEO Sean Keohane is anticipating solid figures for the first quarter. The low demand in China between January and March was balanced out by strong order activity in the rest of the world.

However, due to the challenging situation in the next weeks as well as the accompanying insecurity in demand, Keohane has revised the full-year outlook, which had previously not taken the virus pandemic into account. He expects decreases in both sales and earnings in the third quarter, presumably among other things because of the falling oil prices that will reduce raw material costs – see Plasteurope.com of 19.12.2019.

Apart from the initiated takeover of carbon nanotube producer Shenzhen Sanshun Nano New Materials, which is set to be complete in April 2020, Cabot intends to reduce capital expenditures. Dividend payouts, however, will not be suspended.

Carbon black is used in plastics, among other things.

As MRC informed earlier, Cabot Corporation has announced a planned investment in new capacity to enhance its production capabilities for plastic formulations specifically for conductive compounds and masterbatches for engineering thermoplastic applications.

As MRC informed earlier, in February of this year, the index of production of chemicals in the Russian Federation grew by 9% compared with the same period a year earlier. Thus, the cumulative release for the first two months of 2020, the release of basic chemicals showed an increase of 6%, follows from Rosstat materials. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, the largest increase in production volumes in January - February came from polymers in primary form.

Cabot Corporation is an American specialty chemicals and performance materials company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The company operates in over 20 countries with 36 manufacturing plants, eight research and development facilities and 28 sales offices.
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