Egeplast acquires majority stake in Extena

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German pipe systems producer Egeplast (Greven) has bought a 75% stake in Swedish polyethylene pipe manufacturer Extena (Norsjo) for an undisclosed sum, said the company.

With a workforce of around 40, Extena generated sales of approximately EUR 17m in 2019. The Swedish company’s previous majority shareholder, family-owned investment firm Treac (Skelleftea), will retain a 25% stake, while Extena’s managing director Peter Falk will remain in the role.

Egeplast said the acquisition, which due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic was completed via video conference, would boost its business across Scandinavia. Unlike other European countries, Sweden has yet to lock down its citizens, although there have been increasing calls for restrictions on people’s movements and economic activity as the country’s death toll from Covid-19 rises. Sweden has nearly 6,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 370 deaths. Germany, which has imposed limited movement, has had over 1,300 deaths from nearly 92,000 confirmed cases.

In a statement, Extena said it was still business as usual. "At present, we do not see any impact on our production or delivery capacity. Production as well as imports and exports are normal, and we are taking the necessary measures to protect both our staff and the transporters who visit us."

As it was written earlier, ENERGOMASHKOMPLEKT is the official representative of the Egeplast factory (Turkey) in Russia. The factory was established in 1950, specializes in the production of plastic products, and is the fourth largest plastic pipe in the world. Egeplast holds a leading position as an inventor and innovator in the high-tech industry in products made from PVC, HDPE, MDPE, LDPE, PP and PPRC.

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, the largest petrochemical plant in Ukraine - Karpatneftekhim (Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region) - resumed production of low-pressure polyethylene (HDPE) after prolonged and forced downtime. According to the representative and customers of the enterprise, the Ukrainian manufacturer launched the production of HDPE by March 23rd. The stoppage of production of polyethylene (PE) was forced and took place in early January due to the high cost of raw materials at low prices for PE.

Egeplast is an manufacturer of plastic pipe systems, and has been setting benchmarks for decades. Customers in over 30 countries rely on egeplast consultancy solutions and quality products for transporting water, gas and data. The customers of the owner-run enterprise include some of the largest and most demanding utility companies and network operators in the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asian refiners have called on Saudi Arabia to slash the official selling prices (OSP) of its crude for a third straight month in May, after Middle East benchmarks and refining margins dropped amid ample supplies and lower demand due to the coronavirus, reported Reuters.

Last month, the world’s top exporter Saudi Arabia surprised everyone by slashing prices for April, after OPEC’s supply-cut pact with Russia fell apart, sparking a battle for market share and sending oil prices to 18-year lows.

Markets globally are now flooded with cheap oil with storage spaces filling up fast, while refiners cut output or shut plants following coronavirus lockdowns.

State giant Saudi Aramco was initially planning to announce the prices by Thursday, but this has been pushed back to April 5, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Saudi Aramco officials, as a matter of policy, do not comment on the kingdom’s monthly OSPs.

However, a senior Gulf source familiar with Saudi thinking told Reuters the Kingdom supports cooperation between producers to stabilize oil prices.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said he expected Saudi Arabia and Russia to reach a deal soon to end their price war, sending crude prices soaring 10%.

Prices on both sides of the Atlantic marked their worst ever month in March as the coronavirus pandemic crippled oil demand while the Saudi-Russia price war drove up supplies.

Oil prices for “all grades are plunging ... It’s impossible for the Saudis not to cut prices, unless they no longer want a price war and are switching to reducing production,” said one of the respondents in a Reuters survey of six refining sources.

Saudi OSPs set the trend for Iranian, Kuwaiti and Iraqi prices, affecting more than 12 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude bound for Asia.

Saudi Aramco is expected to cut the May OSP for Arab Light crude by USD1 to USD6 a barrel, the survey showed, with the respondents on average expecting a USD3.67 per barrel cut.

Some of the refining sources also pointed to the wide discounts for competing supplies such as Russia’s Urals crude and U.S. Mars crude as a reason for Saudi to cut prices.

The price cuts would also be necessary to offset surging freight costs that have eroded refiners’ margins, they said.

“It’s tough for refineries to survive,” another respondent said.

Prices for lighter Saudi grades could fall more than the heavier ones due to weak naphtha and gasoline margins and an ample supply of light crude globally, the respondents said.

May-loading light sour grades from Abu Dhabi - Murban and Das - have traded at deep discounts to their OSPs in the spot market.

Saudi Aramco sets its crude prices based on recommendations from customers and after calculating the change in the value of its oil over the past month, based on yields and product prices.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2019, McDermott International was awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco and Total Raffinage Chimie (Total) for their joint venture (JV) Amiral steam cracker project at Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Amiral is a JV in which Aramco holds 62.5% and Total the rest. The plant, designed to produce 1.5 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) of ethylene, will be one of the world's largest mixed-feed crackers.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant’s new ReforMax® 330 LDP Plus catalyst significantly increases energy and production efficiency at ammonia plant, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The first commercial reference for Clariant’s ReforMax 330 LDP Plus catalyst is a major success. Installed at OCI Nitrogen’s ammonia production plant in Geleen, Netherlands, the new steam reforming catalyst has significantly reduced pressure drop, allowing the customer to benefit from a considerable increase in energy and production efficiency leading to savings of more than 300,000€ over the catalyst lifetime.

OCI Nitrogen is one of the European market leaders in mineral fertilizers and the world’s largest producer of melamine. As the company synthesizes its ammonia for both of these products, efficiency is of great importance. The company’s AFA 2 ammonia plant is a Bechtel design with a capacity of 1550 mtpd and runs a side-fired Foster Wheeler reformer. Before the turnaround in 2018, pressure drop over the front end was a crucial production limitation for OCI at AFA 2. The installation of the new ReforMax 330 LDP Plus catalyst, and optimization of catalyst volumes in other reactors, have removed this limitation, significantly increasing the plant’s energy and production efficiency.

Since its start-up in June 2018, ReforMax 330 LDP Plus has demonstrated very stable operation and provided a significant reduction in pressure drop across the catalyst bed in the reformer tubes. This improvement will avail the plant with savings of more than 300,000 € over the expected catalyst lifetime of 8 years, compensating for the catalyst investment.

Andy Vluggen, Chemical Engineer at OCI Nitrogen, commented on the improvements, saying, “We are extremely pleased with the performance of Clariant’s new primary reforming catalyst, which started up in our plant one year ago, and I recommend ReforMax 330 LDP Plus for all plants with similar pressure drop limitations."

Recently launched by Clariant, ReforMax 330 LDP Plus is a novel steam reforming catalyst for ammonia, hydrogen and methanol production. The catalyst owes its pressure drop reduction capacity to an innovative proprietary 8-hole floral LDP Plus shape, which allows higher gas throughput and/or lower pressure drop as well as improved heat transfer. Combined with the catalyst’s high activity and selectivity, these factors enable extremely efficient operation with reduced energy consumption.

Besides the supervision of loading and start-up of the new catalyst, Clariant also provided thermal imaging services for accurately monitoring tube wall temperatures to evaluate the catalyst’s performance and identify potential problems of the steam reformer to optimize the reforming process. The thermal imaging evaluation at OCI Nitrogen’s ammonia plant demonstrated optimal heat distribution throughout the furnace, as well as excellent catalytic activity.

Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President & General Manager at Clariant Catalysts, expressed his satisfaction with the results, stating “OCI Nitrogen’s ammonia plant is the first commercial reference for ReforMax 330 LDP Plus. We are grateful for the close cooperation with the OCI team and delighted that our novel steam reforming catalyst delivered the solution they sought and the advantages we promised. The catalyst’s innovative 8-hole design and exceptional capacity to reduce pressure drop are outstanding in the industry."

As MRC informed earlier, Sabic has announced that it has purchased additional shares in Clariant, increasing its holding in the company from 24.99% to 31.5%. The move is part of Sabic’s growth strategy to achieve a leadership position among global peers in specialties and increase this segment’s contribution to Sabic. Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

Earlier last year, SABIC took off-stream its SABIC Olefins 4 cracker owing to technical issues on May 10, 2019. Further details on duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in beek, the Netherlands, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 690,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 360,000 mt/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 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery has completed a biofuels expansion project with two additional production units coming on-stream, reported Reuters with reference to the state-run Kuwait News Agency, citing the Kuwait National Petroleum Corp (KNPC).

The two new coal and naphtha hydro treating units will produce 37,000 and 8,400 barrels per day (bpd) of oil equivalent respectively, Waleed al-Badr, KNPC chief executive officer said.

Operations are still underway to complete the same project in the Mina Abdullah refinery, he added.

The two refineries are undergoing upgrades and expansion as part of the Clean Fuels Project (CFP) with a focus on producing higher-value products such as diesel and kerosene for export.

Upon completion, Al-Ahmadi refinery, which consists of 31 units, will have a production capacity of 364,000 bpd, KUNA quoted Abdullah al-Ajmi, the deputy CEO for projects, as saying.

The cost of the biofuels project has reached 4.6 billion dinars (USD14.7 billion), according to Al-Ajmi.

After the units in Mina Abdullah come on-stream, the biofuel project will have a capacity of 800,000 bpd.

Kuwait currently has a refining capacity of around 730,000 bpd, mainly from Mina Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdallah, its largest refineries.

As MRC informed previously, in February 2020, Qatargas signed an agreement with Shell to deliver 1 million mt/year of LNG to Kuwait for 15 years, starting this year. The LNG will come from Qatar Liquefied Gas Co. 4, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum (70%) and Shell (30%), Qatargas said Sunday in a statement.

We also remind that in March 2019, Mammoet safely completed a critical lift at Shell’s Pennsylvania Chemicals Project in Potter Township, utilizing its MSG80 to hoist a 2,000 ton quench tower into position. The facility is the first major US project of its kind to be built outside of the Gulf Coast region in 20 years. Once operational, the facility will boast an ethane cracker and three polyethylene units, and is expected to employ up to 600 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 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vietnam’s Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co will likely delay maintenance at its Dung Quat refinery, scheduled to begin on June 12, due to the coronavirus pandemic that has led to travel curbs, reported Reuters with reference to two sources familiar with the matter.

“We have difficulties shipping needed equipment to Vietnam and travel bans will make it difficult for foreign contractors to send their workers to the refinery,” one of the sources said, adding the maintenance may be delayed until 2021.

A trader, however, said it might be delayed until the second half of this year.

Binh Son declined to comment.

The company said in a statement over the weekend that 35% of the maintenance work would be handled by foreign contractors and 65% by domestic ones. It said in January it had signed deals with seven contractors for the maintenance.

“Binh Son is monitoring the COVID-19 situation in Vietnam and (will) keep updating with the contractors to make appropriate changes to the maintenance plan,” the statement said.

The 130,000-barrel-per-day refinery said on Friday it would cut output as domestic demand for refined fuels had fallen 30%-40% since February, adding it may have to cease production “if demand continues to decline”.

Vietnam has reported 241 coronavirus cases as of late Monday, with no reported deaths, the Ministry of Health said.

As MRC informed earlier, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical took its polypropylene (PP) plant off-stream for a maintenance turnaround in June 2017 for a period of around 7 weeks. The exact date shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in Vietnam,the plant has a production capacity of 150,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.
MRC