BASF Total shut steam cracker at Port Arthur, Texas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An unexpected outage occurred at BASF Total Petrochemical’s joint-venture (JV) olefins unit at Port Arthur, Texas, on Thursday afternoon, according to Chemweek.

The cause of the outage is being investigated, with a compressor shutdown cited as a possible factor, according to a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality filing.

Total’s refinery near the olefins plant has also drastically reduced rates. The outage had little effect on Friday’s US spot ethylene market.

Few olefins plants are shut but many have reduced rates. Overall operating rates for the US Gulf Coast region are estimated at around 85%. Against this backdrop, ethylene exports are scheduled to be taking more than 75,000 metric tons out of the US market this month from the Houston Ship Channel, with seven cargoes scheduled to leave the Enterprise export terminal during June and one cargo scheduled to lift from Targa’s export terminal, all bound for Asia.

The JV’s steam cracker at Port Arthur has a production capacity of more than 1 million metric tons/year of ethylene and 544,000 metric tons/year of propylene, according to IHS Markit data.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Top Chinese state refiner Sinopec Corp said on Tuesday it had started up a USD6 billion new refinery and petrochemical plant in south China, making it the country’s third integrated complex to start operations in the past 18 months or so, reported Reuters.

The Sinopec venture, situated in coastal city of Zhanjiang, comprises a 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude oil refinery and an 800,000 tonne-per-year ethylene facility, built at a cost of 44 billion yuan (USD6.2 billion), Sinopec said in a statement.

Two other complexes with combined refining capacity of 800,000 bpd have started up since early 2019, one built by privately-controlled Hengli Petrochemical Corp and the other by Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp.

Sinopec said its project would bring new investment worth 200 billion yuan to Guangdong province and thousands more jobs by supporting the manufacture of high-grade plastics, electronics and chemicals.

The new plant operates a 300,000 tonnage crude oil terminal and also berths that can dock vessels with capacity to carry 100,000 tonnes of refined products, Sinopec said.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2019, Sinopec SABIC Tianjin Petrochemical Co. (SSTPC), a 50-50 joint venture of Sinopec and SABIC, began construction on an ethylene expansion project in Tianjin Province, China. The project will boost the company's ethylene capacity to 1.3-million t/y from 1-million t/y currently. Cost and a schedule for the project were not given.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group"s key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iranian gas exports to Turkey will resume by the end of this month, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said June 15, said S&P Global.

Register Now Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Zarif said he had received assurances that repairs to the pipeline, which has been closed since March 31, will be completed and that gas flows will be reinstated. Cavusoglu, who spoke at length on other bilateral issues, did not comment on the pipeline.

Flows through the Iran-Turkey gas pipeline were halted early March 31 following an explosion subsequently claimed as a sabotage attack by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK has attacked the pipeline on at least 11 previous occasions when repairs were completed within a few days, prompting speculation that Turkey was stalling repairs in order to pressure Iran to improve their terms under which Turkey imports gas, and to allow state gas importer Botas to import cheap spot LNG cargoes in place of Iranian gas.

Turkey's deputy energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar told a conference in Istanbul in February that Turkey planned to use the availability of cheap spot LNG to persuade its long-term gas suppliers to lower their prices.

Ten days ago Iran's NIGC said Tehran had rejected Ankara's claim that the explosion was a force majeure event, and that the company expected flow to be restarted on June 21 at the earliest.

Turkey imports gas from Iran under an agreement signed in 1996 for up to 10 Bcm/year, which began operation in 2001 and was later reduced to 9.6 Bcm/year.

Disagreements over the terms of the contract and frequent cuts in supply to due to problems in Iran have seen the two countries resort to international arbitration on at least two occasions.

The contract ends in July 2026 with Ankara expected to be unlikely to renew unless the terms are competitive with spot market LNG prices and offer flexibility to allow for future market fluctuations.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and PP.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant is launching its next-generation phthalate-free olefin polymerization catalysts, expanding its portfolio to include a new offering to meet the most demanding customer toxicity requirements, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Developed in partnership with McDermott’s Lummus Novolen Technology, the new PolyMax 600 Series catalysts answer the market’s increasing need for safer polypropylene solutions.

Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President & General Manager at Clariant Catalysts, commented, "Performance is the key difference with our new PolyMax 600 Series catalysts. We have successfully developed a phthalate-free solution that adds significant value to our customers’ businesses. The innovative technology, which allows customers to achieve higher productivity rates and reduced process fluctuations, is delivering excellent results - with one major polypropylene producer now estimating economic benefits to exceed USD8 million annually."

The improved performance is due to a new proprietary technology that increases catalyst activity up to 25% compared to phthalate-based catalysts. This new technology results in not only higher plant productivity, but also superior polymer properties, such as increased impact strength for better durability.

PolyMax 600 Series catalysts are a drop-in replacement for phthalate-based polyolefin catalysts and are designed to suit a broad range of process requirements, in applications ranging from food packaging to engineered automotive parts. Considering the rapid growth of the polypropylene market, the catalysts come at an opportune time to help producers meet both increasing demand and stricter regulations.

As MRC reported earlier, in May 2020, Clariant’s CATOFIN catalysts was selected by Advanced Global Investment Co. (AGIC), a joint venture between Advanced Petrochemical Company (APC) and SK Group, to build a PDH facility in the Middle East.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

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) -- Daqing Petrochemical, part of PetroChina, has brought on-stream its No. 1 linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit this week, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that, the company has planned to resume operations at the unit on June 15, 2020. The unit was shut for unplanned maintenance on June 8, 2020.

Located in Daqing, China, the No. 1 LLDPE unit has a production capacity of 85,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, PetroChina has nearly doubled the amount of Russian crude being processed at its refinery in Dalian, the company’s biggest, since January 2018, as a new supply agreement had come into effect. The Dalian Petrochemical Corp, located in the northeast port city of Dalian, is expected to process 13 million tonnes, or 260,000 bpd of Russian pipeline crude this year, up by about 85 to 90 percent from last year’s level. Dalian has the capacity to process about 410,000 bpd of crude. The increase follows an agreement worked out between the Russian and Chinese governments under which Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft will supply 30 million tonnes of ESPO Blend crude to PetroChina in 2018, or about 600,000 bpd. That would represent an increase of 50 percent over 2017 volumes. The additional oil sent to Dalian is about 120,000 bpd and will make up the bulk of the Russian increases.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, April LLDPE shipments to Russia rose to 42,830 tonnes from 36,790 tonnes a month earlier, production increased. Russia's overall LLDPE shipments totalled 152,840 tonnes in the first four months of 2020, up by 13% year on year. SabSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in shipments.

PetroChina Company Limited, is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer.
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