COVID-19 - News digest as of 13.05.2020

1. API expects Falconara refinery to restart next week

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italian oil refiner API said it expected its Falconara Marittima facility to restart production early next week after shutting down at the end of March as a result of COVID-19, said Hydrocarbonprocessing. “The refinery ... has launched preliminary operations for the restart,” the group said in a statement. The lockdown imposed by the Italian government to stop the spread of the pandemic led to a sharp fall in demand for oil products with excess supply saturating storage capacity.


MRC

Lotte Chemical Titan postpones maintenance at its No. 1 cracker in Malaysia to 2021

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Titan might carry out a scheduled turnaround at its No. 1 cracker in Malaysia in 2021, reported CommoPlast with reference to a source close to the producer.

No further details on the exact time period is revealed at the moment. The previous news reported that the company might shut down the No. 1 cracker with a capacity of 285,000 tonnes of ethylene per year and polyethylene (PE) 1 in June 2020 for 35 days overhaul.

The company also has a cracker No. 2 at this site with a capacity of 522,000 tonnes of ethylene and 360,000 tonnes of propylene per year, which was shut for maintenance from early March 2020 to late March-early April 2020.

It is also reported that Lotte Chemical Titan completed all maintenance works at its petrochemical plants in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, in early April 2020. The plants under maintenance included two polypropylene (PP) lines with the capacity of 150,000 and 240,000 tonnes/year, low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant with a capacity of 320,000 tonnes/year and high density polyethylene (HDPE) line No. 3 with a capacity of 115,000 tonnes/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.

Lotte Chemical Titan produces Malaysia's most comprehensive portfolio of olefins and polyolefins which contribute to the enhancement of everyday life. Lotte Chemical Titan's production site in Malaysia consists of eleven process facilities, two co-generation plants and three tank farms. They are located on 2 sites in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat in the state of Johor. In 2006, Lotte Chemical Titan acquired PT Lotte Chemical Titan Nusantara, Indonesia’s first and largest polyethylene plant in the country. This acquisition boosted the polyolefins capacity by approximately 50%, thus making the company one of the largest producers in South East Asia. Lotte Chemical Titan was acquired by Lotte Chemical Corp., forming part of the Lotte conglomerate of Korea, in 2010. The company thus became one of Lotte Chemical Corp.’s largest overseas subsidiaries.
MRC

Tianjin Dagu to resume operations at ABS plant in Tianjin

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tianjin Dagu Chemical, is in plans to bring on-stream its acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) units following a turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that, the company has planned to complete maintenance at the units by mid-May, 2020. The units were shut for maintenance on March 31, 2020.

Located in Tianjin, China, the ABS units have a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

Tianjin Dagu Chemical also operates a styrene monomer (SM) plant at the same site. Located in Tianjin, China, the plant has a production capacity of 500,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's output of ABS was 920 tonnes in March. Russian producers manufactured 2,600 tonnes of ABS plastics in January-March 2020, down by 59% a year earlier.

Tianjin Dagu Chemical Co. Ltd. manufactures diversified chemicals. The company produces and sells caustic soda, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin, propane, synthetic hydrochloric acid, liquid chlorine, styrene, industrial hydrochloric, and other chemicals. Tianjin Dagu Chemical markets its products domestically and internationally.
MRC

Borealis declares force majeure following fire incident in Sweden

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austria-based petrochemicals producer Borealis declared force majeure on its steam cracker operations at Stenungsund, Sweden, on 11 May 2020, following a technical incident that led to the shutdown of the olefins plant, reported Chemweek.

The company has informed the affected customers. Borealis says it does not know when the force majeure will be lifted.

The shutdown has impacted the output of the company’s downstream production and supply of certain low density polyethylene (LDPE) grades. Its LDPE plant was shut down and the potential start-up date of the facility is currently being investigated.

As a consequence, there is some shortage of certain LDPE film, masterbatch, and wire and cable products, the company says. Borealis aims to minimize the impact to its customers with supply from other Borealis polyolefin production locations. The LDPE plant is the only affected unit from the cracker outage. All other polyolefin plants of Borealis’s production location in Stenungsund are running.

As MRC informed earlier, Borealis said Monday that it was still investigating a fire that broke out late Saturday at its Stenungsund steam cracker in Sweden. Borealis said in an initial public statement issued Sunday that "its emergency plan was immediately activated by the local crisis team." The fire broke out on 9 May, at 20:45 CEST.

Market sources said the incident would have an impact on the market, referring back to when the Stenungsund cracker was under force majeure for around 10 days in April which helped noticeably to balance ethylene supply in Northwest Europe, which had been particularly long. Sources are predicting a similar impact as a result of this latest incident, with additional impact on propylene, a source said, as "they were cracking heavier."

We remind that the company declared FM on April 8 due to a technical incident, while before that Borealis had had lowered its steam cracker operating rates as a result of the recent slump in oil prices and the coronavirus lockdowns in Europe.

The Stenungsund cracker can produce 625,000 mt/year of ethylene and 150,000 mt/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 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.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
MRC

PVC exports from Russia up by 2% in Jan-Apr 2020, import down by 23%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) from Russia totalled 69,100 tonnes in the first four months of 2020, up by 2% year on year. Imports fell almost by a quarter, according to MRC's DataScope report.


Last month's exports of Russian suspension (excluding shipments to the countries of the Customs Union ) were 23,700 tonnes, compared to 12,500 tonnes in March. Two of the four producers significantly increased their April exports due to weaker demand for resin in the domestic market. Thus, overall exports totalled 69,100 tonnes in the first four months of 2020 versus 68,000 tonnes a year earlier.

Indian buyers remained the main foreign importers of Russian resin this year. Overall sales of resin exceeded 30,000 tonnes over the stated period. Belarus and Poland with shipments of 11,000 tonnes and 8,000 tonnes, respectively, occupied the second and third positions.


There was a slight surge in imports last month partially because of the pressure from a significant price increase of Russian PVC. April total imports of suspension were 1,400 tonnes, compared to 800 tonnes a month earlier. However, overall PVC imports did not exceed 4,000 tonnes in January-April 2020 versus 5,200 a year earlier.

MRC