Port Arthur Total refinery employee tests positive for COVID-19

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An employee at the Port Arthur Total refinery has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to 12News.

The company confirmed Tuesday that the employee who tested positive is in self-quarantine and hasn't been at the site since March 26.

Total says it has 'implemented its pandemic response in the case of a positive COVID-19 test, which includes disinfecting and sanitation of the potentially-affected areas.'

Employees who may have been in contact with the patient are asked to self-quarantine according to a Total news release.

The Port Arthur Refinery works with Total’s U.S. COVID-19 Task Force to implement a wide range of mitigation measures.

As MRC informed earlier, European oil majors Shell and Total announced in late March plans to cut capital expenditure by around 20% and suspend their share buybacks as part of a raft of measures to strengthen balance sheets in response to collapsing oil prices and the economic impact of the global coronavirus pandemic. Shell said it would cut its cash spending by USD5 billion from planned levels to USD20 billion "or below" in 2020 and reduce its operating costs over the next 12 months from 2019 levels. Separately, Total announced a "USD30/b action plan,” under which it will cut more than USD3 billion, or over 20%, mostly from its organic capex this year, taking its net investments to less than USD15 billion.

We also remind that a contractor working at Shell's Pulau Bukom manufacturing site in Singapore has contracted the new coronavirus. The Bukom manufacturing site in Singapore houses Shell's biggest wholly-owned refinery. The company said earlier it had sent some staff home from its main office at Metropolis in western Singapore after discovering another employee had been in contact with a carrier.

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.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess’ managing board has decided to indefinitely suspend its planned share buyback program announced on Mar. 10, in view of the coronavirus crisis, reported CHEManager.

The program launched on March 12 with a first tranche of up to EUR250 million foresaw repurchasing shares up to a volume of EUR500 million over a 24-month period.

Michael Pontzen, chief financial officer of the Cologne, Germany-based specialty chemical producer, said the challenges resulting from the corona pandemic require the company to conserve its liquidity.

“Lanxess has built up a very solid financial base in recent years. Nevertheless, we want to secure the greatest possible flexibility in the current situation,” Pontzen said, adding that management will “continuously monitor the challenging situation and decide about a resumption of the share buy-back program in due course.”

The German company had planned to leverage a provision granted by its supervisory board at the May 2019 annual general meeting, buying back outstanding shares equivalent to 10% of equity. In announcing the scheme, CEO Matthias Zachert said it demonstrated management’s confidence in the strategic direction of Lanxess and would create value for shareholders.

Recent financial market reports, however, suggest that amid the economic turmoil that will undoubtedly follow the pandemic, the buybacks would be misplaced. At the beginning of this week, analysts at Goldman Sachs predicted that share repurchases “will slow dramatically, both for political and practical reasons.”

“First, politicians are denouncing repurchases given the impending recession,” the investment bank said. “Second, from a practical perspective, as revenues evaporate, firms will be looking to preserve cash.”

But even before the coronavirus crisis, critics of buybacks argued that these were a poor use of company cash that could instead be invested in long-term growth and workers.

As MRC informed earlier, Vinmar Polymers America will distribute Lanxess Corp.'s high-performance plastics to customers in North America.

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.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 7.2 billion in 2018. The company currently has about 15,500 employees in 33 countries and is represented at 60 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant announced it has started monthly production of 2 million liters of disinfectant at its facilities in Gendorf, Germany, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This disinfectant is then directly or via repacking partners provided to regional hospitals and other vital institutions in Bavaria, who are currently facing limited availability of this critical product during the COVID-19 outbreak.

At its facility in Gendorf, Clariant is able to use its available infrastructure to blend the necessary ingredients into disinfectant at a large scale. This allows the company to fulfill close to two-thirds of the monthly target demand of the Bavarian State, which aims for a total of 10 million liters of disinfectants to be produced over the next three months. Costs associated with this program are financed by a crisis fund set up by the State of Bavaria, Clariant offered its contribution at cost price.

“At times like this, it is vital that everyone, be it individuals or companies, contributes in every way possible to reduce the spread of the virus. We at Clariant have the capability to support those working the hardest to protect all of us. Therefore, our employees acted decisively to ensure it was done”, said Hans Bohnen, Chief Operating Officer of Clariant.

In order to realize the production of such large volumes of disinfectant, Clariant has cooperated with several other companies. The main ingredient, ethanol from renewable sources, was provided by CropEnergies AG. Their facility in Zeitz, Saxony-Anhalt, one of Europe’s largest production sites for renewable ethanol, produces the ethanol and ships it to Clariant in Gendorf. For this process, support was given by several logistics and infrastructure partners. After inspection and approval, the ethanol is then mixed with other ingredients in Clariant’s production facilities to produce disinfectant according to an official standard of the World Health Organization (WHO). Upon completion, the disinfectant is filled into large tank containers. Other partnering companies fill packaging in suitable sizes, ranging from 1 to 1,000 liters, after which the disinfectant is distributed to regional hospitals and other vital institutions.

Thanks to all these contributions, it was possible to support the Bavarian authorities and establish a stable supply chain for disinfectant on short notice and of large proportions. The total of 10 million liters would represent approximately 750 ml. of disinfectant for every resident of Bavaria.

Stephan Trautschold, Head of Operations for Clariant’s Industrial and Consumer Specialties business, added: “Being able to establish production of such large quantities of disinfectant so quickly is an impressive achievement. I am very proud of our entire team at the Gendorf site, Clariant’s service functions and very appreciative of the support from all other partnering companies and the Bavarian authorities. Together we can make a difference by supporting those in need."

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) -- As part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, global packaging supplier Sidel has transformed its international centre of excellence for PET packaging development and blowing solutions in Octeville-sur-Mer, France into a production centre to make bottles for hydro-alcoholic gel, said Canplastics.

According to an April 6 press release, the first batch of 5,000 PET plastic bottles for the disinfectant has already been provided to the Hospital of Dijon and an additional one has been distributed for Le Havre (Normandy) town’s pharmacies and hospitals.

"In France, just like anywhere else at the moment, there is a high demand for hydro-alcoholic gel for sanitization,” Sidel said. “Therefore, the French government issued a general plea for assistance as regards the production of the currently scarcely available product. Several industries as well as hospitals have responded to the call and are producing the gel. However, healthcare players are facing difficulties to distribute it to their employees as the gel is being produced in big size containers.”

“With collaborative skills and agile and creative work, our engaged employees were able to transform our centre of excellence into a small production centre in only two days,” said Vincent Le Guen, Sidel’s vice president of packaging. A first request was received from the Hospital of Dijon in the middle of March asking to provide small size containers in order to package the hydro-alcoholic gel, Le Guen continued, and Sidel responded quickly and found the right raw materials and cooperation partners to produce the bottles – these are made from an existing Sidel’s 500 ml mold and the preforms were provided by a key beverage player while the sport caps were supplied by a cap manufacturer. The sport closure allows controlling the gel flow and keeping it safe.

Within one week, the first 5,000 PET bottles have already been sent to the Hospital of Dijon, and in the meantime Sidel has started other similar initiatives. “We got in contact with a local deputy in Normandy and discussed how Sidel could support local health players in these challenging times,” Le Guen said. “The deputy informed us that also pharmacies are facing difficulties in gel distribution, therefore, in addition to the 500 ml bottle for hospitals, we quickly designed a smaller 200 ml bottle format, which is more user-friendly for individual use to be distributed in the local pharmacies.” In total, more than 1,000 bottles were delivered to the local pharmacies on April 1, Le Guen said – and all of them are 100 per cent recyclable and potentially refillable after sterilization.

Traditionally, the Sidel lab in Octeville-sur-Mer is a PET packaging development centre, and is not usually dedicated for industrial production. But these are not usual times. “Flexibility has long been a centrepiece of our solutions and services,” Le Guan said. “By working in this mode, our weekly production capacity is up to 20,000 bottles and we can handle more requests of this kind."

As MRC informed before, in October 2018, Sidel Group has acquired blow molder and packaging designer PET Engineering Srl. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Founded in 1999 and based in San Vendemiano, Italy, PET Engineering has 40 employees and a global customer base.

As per MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PET consumption in Russia increased in January 2020 by 9% year on year. Totally, Russia recycled 55,390 tonnes of PET chips in January (excluding shipments of Russian material to the countries of the Customs Union). Russia's PET chips production totalled 43,200 tonnes in January 2020.
MRC

MOSOCW (MRC) -- Braskem, has taken its polypropylene (PP) plant off-stream owing to technical issues, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in US informed that, the company halted operations at the plant on end-March, 2020. The exact duration of the unplanned outage could not be confirmed.

Located at La Porte, Texas, US, the PP plant has a production capacity of 390,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia. And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker. The project, announced in 2013, had been on Braskem's back burner for several years.

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.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
mrplast.com