PVC production in Russia grew by 3% in Q1 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russian producers of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) have kept a high level of capacity utilisation since the beginning of the year. Overall PVC output totalled 267,100 tonnes in January-March 2020, up by 3% year on year, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

March production of unmixed PVC in Russia was 89,900 tonnes from 85,400 tonnes a month earlier, producers Bashkir Soda Company and RusVinyl increased capacity utilisation. The total volume of PVC production increased to 267,100 tonnes in January-March against 260,200 tonnes a year earlier.

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

RusVinyl (JV of SIBUR and SolVin) produced about 29,900 tonnes of PVC in March, with emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) accounting for 2,400 tonnes, which actually corresponds to the figure a month earlier. Total SPVC production at RusVinyl increased to 92,200 tonnes in the first three months of this year, compared to 89,200 tonnes in the same period in 2019.

SayanskKhimPlast produced 28,500 tonnes of suspension PVC (SPVC) in March, whereas this figure was 26,500 tonnes in February. The Sayansk plant managed to produce about 83,200 tonnes of PVC in January-March, compared to 80,800 tonnes a year earlier.

Baskhir Soda Company produced about 24,200 tonnes of SPVC in March, against 21,900 tonnes a month earlier. Total SPVC production at Baskhir Soda Company increased to 69,700 tonnes in the first three months of this year, compared to 68,900 tonnes in the same period in 2019.

Kaustik (Volgograd) produced 7,400 tonnes of SPVC in March, compared with 7,100 tonnes in February. The plant's overall production of PVC reached 22,000 tonnes over the stated period versus 21,300 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

CSPC starts turnaround at N0. 2 cracker in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Limited (CSPC), has taken off-stream its No. 2 naphtha cracker, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that, the company has commenced turnaround at the cracker on April 7, 2020. The cracker is slated to remain off-line for about 20 days.

Located at Guangdong province, China, the No. 2 cracker has an ethylene capacity of 1.2 million mt/year and a propylene capacity of 620,000 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 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.

CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Limited (CSPC) was established in late 2000. It has built and now operates a world-scale petrochemical complex in the Daya Bay Economic and Technological Development Zone, Huizhou, Guangdong Province. The joint venture partners are Shell Nanhai BV, a member of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, with a 50 per cent stake, and CNOOC Petrochemicals Investment Limited (CPIL), also with 50 per cent. CPIL is owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) (90%) and Guangdong Guangye Investment Group Company Limited(10%).

As an integrated petrochemical complex, the major facilities of the complex include 11 process units, steam and power generation and other utility provisions, storage and handling and shipping facilities, as well as environmental protection facilities. The heart of the complex is a world-scale cracker producing 950,000 tons per annum ethylene and 500,000 tons per annum propylene. In total, the complex produces some 2.7 million tons per annum of ethylene and propylene's derivative products to supply the domestic market.
MRC

Shandong Lihuayi Group to shut No. 1 BPA unit in China for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shandong Lihuayi Group, has planned to take off-stream its No. 1 Bisphenol A (BPA) unit for a maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that, the company is likely to undertake a planned shutdown at the unit on April 15, 2020. The unit is likely to remain off-line for about one month.

Located in Shandong, China, the No. 1 BPA unit has a production capacity of 120,000 mt/year.

BPA is the main feedstock for the production of polycarbonate (PC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall consumption of PC granules (excluding exports from Belarus) totalled 6,700 tonnes in January 2020, up by 43% year on year (4,300 tonnes a year earlier).

BPA is a type of engineering plastic for use in automobiles, mobile phones, and electronics appliances.

Lihuayi Group Co. Ltd. manufactures petrochemical products. The Company manufactures and provides diesels, gasolines, liquid petroleum gas, phthalic anhydride, and other petrochemical products. The Company also operates pharmaceutical, textiles, imports and exports businesses.
MRC

Shell Convent, Louisiana, refinery restarting heavy-oil hydrocracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc began restarting the heavy-oil hydrocracker at its 211,270 barrel-per-day (bpd) Convent, Louisiana, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The 45,000-bpd hydrocracker, called the H-Oil Unit, shut down on Saturday because of a malfunction, the sources said.

As MRC wrote previously, 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.

We also remind that 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 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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

G20 leaders must take collaborative action to increase access to products needed to fight COVID 19

MOSCOW (MRC) – G20 leaders must take collaborative action to increase access to products needed to fight COVID 19, said Americanchemistry.

The following statement may be attributed to American Chemistry Council (ACC) President and CEO, Chris Jahn, in response to the virtual G20 summit:

"U.S. chemicals manufacturers are calling for G20 leaders to increase international coordination and prioritize multilateral responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers and workers in essential industries around the globe are in dire need of products and equipment that can help save lives, and chemicals and plastics have been recognized for their critical role in efforts to ramp up the production and distribution of those products.

“Life-saving products belong in the hands of the heroes who are saving lives – both in the United States and around the globe. We urge G20 leaders to fortify the global supply chains that make these products possible by lifting tariffs and export restrictions and avoiding barriers to trade that will otherwise impede efforts to save lives."

As MRC informed earlier, OPEC and allies led by Russia agreed to a record cut in output to prop up oil prices amid the coronavirus pandemic in an unprecedented deal with fellow oil nations, including the United States, that could curb global oil supply by 20%. Measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus have destroyed demand for fuel and driven down oil prices, straining budgets of oil producers and hammering the U.S. shale industry, which is more vulnerable to low prices due to its higher costs.

We also remind that the COVID-19 outbreak has led Shell Chemical to temporarily suspend construction on the massive plastics and petrochemicals site it"s building in Monaca, Pa, USA.

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