Celanese inks MoU for long-term supply of its ethylene-based VAM to Wanwei

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a long-term commercial agreement with Anhui Wanwei Group (Wanwei) for the supply of its green-technology, ethylene-based vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), reported Apic-online.

The VAM will support about 50% of Wanwei's captive product needs in the manufacture of chemicals, fibers and new material in Chaohu, Anhui Province, China. The company's main product is polyvinyl alcohol.

"As the world's largest producer of vinyl acetate monomer, Celanese is advancing green technologies used in the production of various emulsion polymers that not only meet stringent environmental regulations, but also help our customers meet their sustainability goals and product expectations," noted Florian Kohl, vice president of Celanese's VAM, Emulsion & Redispersible Powders businesses.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese Corporation has restarted its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) unit in Singapore. The company has resumed operations at the unit on March 16, 2020. The unit was shut since February 4, 2020 following a fire at the site. Located in Jurong Island, Singapore, the unit has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/year.

VAM is the main feedstock for the production of ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA).

According to MRC's DataScope report, February EVA imports to Russia rose by 9,83% year on year to 3,107 tonnes from 2,829 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation increased in January-February 2020 by 8,36% year on year to 6,194 tonnes (5,716 tonnes a year earlier).

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2019 net sales of USD6.3 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LLC Gazprom neftekhim Salavat conducts a comprehensive testing of units under the reconstruction project on sewage treatment facilities, said the company.

The industrial wastewater treatment at the reconstructed units began on 6 April. This system works in full test mode. Within the Company’s priority project, there were reconstructed, modernized or rebuilt facilities for mechanical cleaning of industrial effluents.

As a result of this stage, industrial, salt- and soluble organics-containing sewage water was converted to a new technological process with the most up-to-date, environmentally friendly technologies. The automated process control system, embedded in the reconstruction project, plays the leading role in shifting towards the best available technologies.

The new bar screen building with new equipment was built and started up at the plant. Old oil separators were replaced with the new more efficient deeper ones of closed type with sludge and oil products collecting pigs. This block is the first barrier in the multi-staged sewage treatment technology and provides containment of oil products that are not allowed to the next cleaning step, i.e. biological, happening inside aeration tanks.

New oil separators have gas-proof covers, and all evaporation is removed via gas cleaning system. There is used the modern filtration: the first, cellular bag filter, contains aerosols and dust, next to it is a carbon filter, that absorbs all evaporation.

— It is important to highlight, that the stages, implemented for reconstruction of sewage treatment facilities, solve both ecological issues of the cleaning works and can help introduce new future development projects for Gazprom neftekhim Salavat, — deputy director general, chief engineer, Ayrat Akhmetshin pointed out. — Each of 7 stages may be brought into independently of each other, and a decision to realize a specific one depends on the effectiveness of the already performed works and long-run objectives for the development of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat’s units. The first and second stages already provide an opportunity to work with 110% load, that may be still increased, e.g. in regard to the possible creation of the free economic zone “Alga” at the industrial territory of Salavat. Next reconstruction units are radial-flow settling tanks with pump station OC-203 and the old flotation unit. The 4 settlers, O40 m each, will have a domed roof with a gas treatment system installed.

The cleaning facilities have been in work since 1954 and treated effluents from various sources: Gazrpom neftekhim Salavat itself, Salavat’s housing and public infrastructure, constituting >50% of the total sewage amount, and plants of Salavat and Ishimbay. In order to fulfill step-by-step commissioning of upgraded units in the current production conditions, the reconstruction is divided into 7 stages. Once finished, the project will help decrease emissions, boost water return for re-use from the present 5% to planned 75%, and cut discharges to Belaya river, that has the highest fishery degree. Requirements for discharges here are several times more stringent than those for drinking water in terms of some components. Performed operations will let Gazprom neftekhim Salavat conform with all standards and reduce environmental impact.

As MRC informed earlier,Gazprom neftekhim Salavat shut down its dioctyl phthalate (DOP) production for a scheduled maintenance. Market participants and a plant"s representative said Gazprom neftekhim Salavat took off-stream its DOP production for a long scheduled turnaround. The outage began on 12 May and will last for about 30 day.

Gazprom neftekhim Salavat is one of the largest oil refining and petrochemical complexes in Russia. The Complex was founded in 1948. The Company is integrated into the Gazprom system. It has the basic advantage, consolidating on a single site a full cycle of crude hydrocarbons processing, petrochemistry and mineral fertilizers production. The Company comprises the Oil Refinery, Gas & Chemical Plant and the Monomer Plant. Gazprom neftekhim Salavat produces more than 100 items, over 50% of which are bulk products including motor gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, styrene, polystyrene, low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene, DOP plasticizer, butyl alcohols, sulphur, ammonia, urea, acrylic acid, butyl acrylate etc.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted maintenance at oil and gas projects and refineries from Russia’s Far East to the coast of Canada, storing up problems for an industry already reeling from slumping prices, analysts say, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Below is a list of projects that have been affected in recent months. Total’s Grandpuits refinery near Paris, Feyzin refinery near Lyon and Gonfreville Normandy refinery in northern France all delayed maintenance due to the outbreak.

Phillips 66 (PSX.N) is delaying three sizeable scheduled shutdowns at its refineries this year, the company said last week, because of concerns that coronavirus could spread among the refineries’ workers if the maintenance goes ahead.

BP Plc (BP.L) delayed a planned turnaround at its Australian refinery to late 2021 from early next year to observe coronavirus social distancing restrictions. It has also delayed the start date of its Cherry Point refinery in Washington.

Energy trader Gunvor Group told Reuters that a major turnaround at its 88,000-bpd refinery in Rotterdam remained on hold.

Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC.N) pushed back the start date of a multi-unit overhaul at its 585,000 barrel-per-day Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, to late April, said sources familiar with plant operations.

INEOS INEOSG.UL postponed a planned shutdown of its Forties Pipeline System (FPS) planned for June until spring next year “as a consequence of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Citgo’s refinery in Lemont, Illinois, had pushed a multi-unit turnaround project due to start in late March to May 1, but further delayed the turnaround to another 2-3 weeks, according to a source familiar with plant operations.

In Vietnam, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co delayed maintenance at its Dung Quat refinery once to July and then to August, after travel curbs affected its preparation for the maintenance, according to a company statement. The firm faced difficulties shipping needed equipment to Vietnam, a source told Reuters, and travel bans made it difficult for foreign contractors to send workers to the refinery.

A major maintenance programme in Russia’s Far East Sakhalin-2 project faced delay as the firm could not received pre-ordered pieces of machinery, two sources told Reuters.

Its neighbour, Sakhalin-1 project, operated by ExxonMobil (XOM.N), has said that it was adjusting the schedule and scope of its activities.

Qatar Petroleum has delayed some routine and unnecessary maintenance, its chief executive Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters in April, due to the spread of the coronavirus and constraints on movement.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and 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) -- Energy powerhouse OQ (formerly Oman Oil and Orpic Group) has announced the launch of the commissioning phase of Liwa Plastics Industries Complex (LPIC), a giant petrochemicals project being set up at an investment of USD6.7 billion, according to ZAWYA.

This transformational project will firmly put the Sultanate on the global petrochemicals map and enhance OQ, stated the Oman Observer, citing the wholly government-owned energy conglomerate in a tweet.

Located within Sohar Port, with an upstream Natural Gas Extraction (NGL) around 300 km away in Fahud, Liwa Plastics is OQ’s signature investment.

At full capacity, Liwa Plastics will boost OQ’s production of polyethylene and polypropylene to 1.4 million tonnes.

The product portfolio will include linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE), High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Polypropylene (PP). The improvement of the product mix helps OQ’s partners to address the growing global demand for innovative polymers.

In addition to maximizing value addition to the nation’s hydrocarbon wealth, the mega venture will also spawn investments in a wide array of downstream activities.

The LPIC steam cracker project will allow polyethylene (PE) to be produced in Oman for the first time, as well as strengthen the company’s polypropylene (PP) capabilities.

As MRC wrote before, in February 2020, Oman, the biggest Middle East oil producer outside OPEC, awarded France's Total and Thailand's PTTEP rights to explore and develop non-associated gas deposits in the sultanate, which is ramping up exploration and development of gas resources.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 557,060 tonnes in the first three month of 2020, up by 7% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments rose because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. Demand for LDPE subsided. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 267,630 tonnes in January-March 2020, down 20% year on year. Homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis says it will not proceed with the development of a multi-billion-dollar integrated steam cracker and polyethylene (PE) project in Kazakhstan, said the company.

“The decision to discontinue this project is based on a thorough assessment of all aspects of the prospective venture and impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic as well as the increased uncertainty of future market assumptions,” Borealis states.

The company signed a joint development agreement in March 2018 with United Chemical Co. (UCC; Astana, Kazakhstan) to develop the world-scale petrochemical project at Atyrau, Kazakhstan. UCC has previously put the estimated total investment figure for the integrated petchem project at $6.8 billion. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was also signed simultaneously with the development agreement to cooperate on a 500,000-metric tons/year polypropylene (PP) project being implemented by the Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund, which is the sole owner of UCC. The PP project was not included in the statement by Borealis.

Borealis said in late March it had concluded a feasibility study for the petchem project at Atyrau, with the development at that point in the basic engineering phase. An onstream date was scheduled for late 2025, with commissioning in 2026, according to Philippe Roodhooft, executive vice president/Middle East and growth projects, speaking at an exclusive briefing with CW. The project plan entailed the construction of a 1.2-million metric tons/year (MMt/y) steam cracker fed by ethane from the giant onshore Tengiz oil and gas field in Kazakhstan. The cracker was to have fed a 1.25 MMt/y PE complex based on two third-generation Borstar-process PE units. Borealis was expected to have about 50% of the joint venture (JV) with UCC, with the project initially planned to target growing markets in the CIS, with some exports outside the region.

Earlier this month Alfred Stern, CEO of Borealis, and Mark Tonkens, CFO, outlined cost-cutting plans to mitigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the company’s balance sheet, including reducing its capital expenditure in 2020 by 25% to €750 million ($821 million) from its original plan, but did not highlight specific longer-term projects that could be affected. Borealis is progressing with three major growth projects—the Kallo, Belgium, propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant; its Baystar 50/50 JV with Total in the US; and the PP5 Borouge PP project at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, but Stern said it was “unrealistic” to expect them to be completed on time due to current circumstances.

OMV (Vienna, Austria) is currently in the process of raising its stake in Borealis from 36% to 75% by acquiring part of Mubadala Group’s (Abu Dhabi) shareholding. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this 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 557,060 tonnes in the first three month of 2020, up by 7% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments rose because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. Demand for LDPE subsided. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 267,630 tonnes in January-March 2020, down 20% year on year. Homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC