Dow and Ineos make hand sanitizer to fight COVID-19

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow and Ineos, two international petrochemical majors, have made a decision to make hand sanitizer to fight COVID-19, acording to PlasticsToday.

Finding store shelves emptied of essential products has been an alarming and frustrating experience for consumers in the United States and numerous other countries. When shoppers find bare store shelves instead of those typically packed with hand sanitizers, an inconvenience becomes a matter of personal safety in protecting oneself and loved ones from the coronavirus.

The shortage prompted the FDA to weigh in on the topic on March 20.

"We are aware of significant supply disruptions for alcohol-based hand sanitizers," said Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D. "Many manufacturers make hand sanitizers, and several have indicated that they are working to increase supply. We will continue to work with manufacturers, compounders, state boards of pharmacy and the public to increase the supply of alcohol-based hand sanitizer available to Americans."

However, that lack of availability for consumers repeats a similar critical need for hospitals and pharmacies.

Two plastics companies that manufacture polymers, Dow Europe and Ineos, have stepped up with a solution: Taking the key ingredients the polymer producers already have available and redirect their use to make sanitizers and help address the shortfall.

Ineos is the leading European producer of the two key raw materials needed for sanitizers, isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and ethanol. It announced March 24 it would build a hand sanitizer plant near Middlesbrough to produce one million bottles of sanitizer monthly within 10 days. The company stated that these will be produced according to World Health Organisation specifications and be specifically designed to kill bacteria and viruses.

It can produce hospital-grade hand sanitizer at its sites in Grangemouth, Scotland, and in northern Germany, making almost one million tonnes/1.1 million tons yearly.

Due to the critical shortage of hand sanitizers across Europe, Ineos expects to concentrate on meeting the needs of front-line medical and care services as well as making the "pocket bottle" hand sanitizers for personal use for people across the UK and Europe. It will supply free products to hospitals.

As MRC informed before, in January 2019, INEOS announced Antwerp as the location for its new petrochemical investment. The EUR3 billion investment will be the biggest ever made by INEOS and is first cracker to be built in Europe in 20 years. The investment is a game changer for the chemical sectors and will bring huge benefits to the Belgium and wider European economies.

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.

INEOS is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and oil products employing 22,000 people. It has 34 businesses, with a production network spanning 183 manufacturing facilities in 26 countries.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- There has been stronger demand in the Russian polypropylene (PP) market since early March, while supply has been gradually subsiding. Because of this some grades of polypropylene increased by Rb5,000 - 7,000/tonne, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The need for homopolymer PP in the Russian market began to grow in the last days of February under the pressure of a seasonal factor. The demand was also pressured by the upcoming restrictions on trucking and the upcoming shutdown of facilities in Tobolsk.

As a result, in a weekly mode, homopolymer PP prices grew every week at some sellers, and by the end of the month prices increased on average by Rb2,000/tonne. Homopolymer PP raffia was in great demand during the whole March, and some buyers reported a slight lack of material supply in the market. It is also worth noting that some sellers were in no hurry to sell their stocks.

According to unofficial information, the largest polypropylene producer in Russia, SIBUR Tobolsk, with an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes/year stopped its capacity for scheduled and preventive repairs from 11 March. The outage will last for 45 days.

The supply of cheap homopolymer PP raffia from Turkmenistan decreased significantly in March. So, if in February imports of this polypropylene amounted to about 2,000 tonnes, in March this figure fell to 500 tonnes.

Thus, if in the first week of March, homopolymer PP raffia in the spot market was sold in the range of Rb81,000-83,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, then by the end of the month polypropylene price grew to Rb86,000-90,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

At the same time, injection moulding copolymers of propylene did not rise in price in April in the Russian market with a few exceptions. And in some cases, prices were already comparable to homopolymer PP, while Russian manufacturers have no plans to increase them in April.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- According to Eastman Chemical Company officials, two employees at their Kingsport location have tested positive for COVID-19. reported WCYB.

Officials say both employees have been away from work since March 17.

The local public health department is in contact with other employees who worked closely with those who tested positive.

Eastman officials say they will conduct proper disinfection of the potentially affected spaces in accordance with CDC guidelines.

"With an employee population of our size, it was just a matter of time that some of our own team members would test positive as COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly across the US. That’s why we acted early, asking some of our team members to work from home and those on site to do so in the smallest groups possible or with limited access and contact to other areas," says Betty Payne from Eastman Chemical Company.

As MRC reported earlier, in 2016, Eastman Chemical's chief executive Mark Costa announced that the company wanted to reduce its surplus ethylene and commodity intermediates, but did not intend to sell its cracker in Longview, Texas.

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.

Eastman is a global specialty chemical company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With a portfolio of specialty businesses, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. Its market-driven approaches take advantage of world-class technology platforms and leading positions in attractive end-markets such as transportation, building and construction and consumables. Eastman focuses on creating consistent, superior value for all stakeholders. As a globally diverse company, Eastman serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA and employs approximately 14,500 people around the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Subsidiary AGIC and SK Gas have formed a joint venture named Advanced Polyolefins Company to work on the project, according to ConstructionWeek.

Saudi Arabian Stock Market-listed Advanced Petrochemical Company has signed a deal with South Korea’s SK Gas to construct and operate a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) plants in the kingdom’s Jubail Industrial City, with the project value being USD1.8bn (SAR6.8bn).

In a stock market missive the company said that its subsidiary Advanced Global Investment Company (AGIC) and SK Gas have formed a joint venture (JV), Advanced Polyolefins Company, which will work on the plants.

Together the plants will have a nameplate capacity to manufacture 843,000 tons per year (764,756.7 tonnes) of propylene and 800,000 tons per year (725,747.8 tonnes) of polypropylene.

According to the company, 25% of the finance for the project has been secured by equity from shareholders and remaining 75% will be financed by the newly formed JV, with borrowing from lenders.

AGIC will own 85% stake in JV, which will be financed by the parent firm Advanced Petrochemical Company, while the remaining 15% will be owned by SK Gas.

Additionally, AGIC has also signed a conditional land allocation letter with Royal Commission in Jubail 2 for the project.

Meanwhile, for the project, AGIC has also inked a license agreement with US-based Lummus Technology for the supply of CATOFIN Technology for 843 KTA PDH plant.

Two other license agreements have also been signed with Italy’s Basell Poliolefine Italia, for the supply of SPHERIPOL Technology and SPHERIZONE Technology for two PP plants with capacity of 400 KTA each.

Saudi Aramco will supply propane on a long-term basis for the project, project management consultants for which has also been selected.

Construction work on the plants is expected to being in 2021.

The company said: “The financial impact of the above investment is expected after the commencement of commercial operations of the project by H2 of 2024.”

As MRC informed before, in September 2019, SK Advanced signed a joint venture agreement with South Korea’s Polymerae Ltd. to establish a polypropylene plant in South Korea with an annual design capacity of 400,000 metric tons. The facility is expected to launch commercial operations in 2021.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell said Monday it will not move ahead with its planned equity interested in the Lake Charles LNG project in Louisiana, citing difficult market conditions, and that its partner, Energy Transfer, would instead take over as the project's developer, reported S&P Global.

"This decision is consistent with the initiatives we announced last week to preserve cash and reinforce the resilience of our business," Shell's director of integrated gas and new energies, Maarten Wetselaar, said in a statement.
Last week Shell announced plans to cut 2020 capital expenditures to USD20 billion from the roughly USD25 billion previously envisaged and operating costs by USD3 billion to USD4 billion over the next 12 months.

"Whilst we continue to believe in the long-term viability and advantages of the project, the time is not right for Shell to invest," Wetselaar said.

Shell said that, during the transition, it would continue to help Energy Transfer with the bidding process for the energy, procurement, and construction contract, and then planned a phased handover of the remaining activities. The two companies signed a project framework agreement last March.

Energy Transfer, in a separate announcement, confirmed it will take over as lead developer and continue advancing project, although it is evaluating alternatives including bringing in one or more equity partners and scaling back the project from three trains to two and reducing the planned capacity to 11 million mt/year from 16.45 million mt/year.

Energy Transfer's Executive Vice President and President-LNG, Tom Mason, said the company is in "discussions with several significant LNG buyers from Europe and Asia regarding LNG offtake arrangements as well as, in some cases, a potential equity investment in the project."

"We continue to believe that Lake Charles is the most competitive and credible LNG project on the Gulf Coast," said Mason. "Having the ability to capitalize on our existing regasification infrastructure at Lake Charles provides a cost advantage over other proposed LNG projects on the Gulf Coast," he said, adding the project also benefits from connectivity to Energy Transfer's nationwide pipeline system.

The Louisiana project has approved capacity of more than 2 Bcf/d. It received authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in December 2015. Completion of the terminal was previously targeted for late 2025, but the project had yet to reach a final investment decision.

As MRC informed earlier, Shell Singapore restarted its naphtha cracker in Bukom Island in early December 2019, following a two months maintenance shutdown since the beginning of October 2019. Thus, this cracker was taken off-stream for the turnaround on 1 October 2019. The cracker is able to produce 960,000 tons/year of ethylene and 550,000 tons/year 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 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.
MRC