Petrochina Daqing resumes LLDPE production

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.
MRC

Total reviewing pipeline to Grandpuits oil refinery after leaks

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French energy group Total is conducting an audit of a pipeline that supplies its Grandpuits refinery near Paris following leaks in recent years, reported Reuters with reference to a company's spokesman.

The audit will look at the cost of replacing the 260-km (161 miles) pipeline, the spokesman said in an email.

“The longer-term future of Grandpuits rests on the viability of the pipeline,” he said, adding that the pipeline was only operating at 70% of capacity.

The ageing PLIF pipeline brings crude oil from Le Havre port on France’s north coast to supply Grandpuits, which has a capacity of 102,000 barrels per day.

A leak last year, following a previous spillage in 2014, halted output at the refinery for several months. The facility went offline again in March for maintenance, with the outage extended to the beginning of June due to the coronavirus epidemic.

Faced with the potential cost of replacing the pipeline as France moves away from fossil fuels, Total is considering low-carbon activities for Grandpuits as an alternative to crude oil refining, Thierry Defresne, a CGT union representative at the group, said.

The group has cited as possibilities carbon capture and bio-plastics, Defresne told Reuters by phone.

Total has also referred to the potential for a second biofuel facility in France, after converting its La Mede refinery to biofuel, but without mentioning Grandpuits, Defresne added.

The CGT estimates the cost of replacing the pipeline at 350 million euros (USD394 million), with a basic cost of 1 million euros per kilometre expected to be increased by the need to re-route the pipeline away from protected areas, Defresne said.

The group is also facing the a bill of 80 million euros to conduct major maintenance done every seven years and due by early 2021, he said.

Total had told unions it would give an update on the pipeline audit in the autumn, he added.

As MRC informed before, Total has recently disclosed that it is evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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.

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

Ships carrying stored gasoline to discharge cargoes at Indonesia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Two of six tankers used to store gasoline in Asia have arrived in Indonesia, with shipments into Asia’s largest petrol importer expected to rise this month versus May as Pertamina replenishes stocks, reported Reuters with reference to industry sources and Refinitiv shipping data.

Indonesia’s fuel demand slumped in the second quarter and inventories rose after the government imposed measures to curb the coronavirus, prompting companies to store gasoline onboard ships off Singapore and Malaysia.

The tankers - Aframax-sized Sloane Square, chartered by Equinor and carrying Norwegian gasoline - and Panamax-sized SCF Prudencia chartered by Pertamina, arrived at Indonesia’s Merak and Tuban ports, respectively, in the past week.

The ships can carry more than 120,000 tonnes (1 million barrels) of gasoline when fully loaded.

The shipments were planned “to maintain our stockpile levels”, Pertamina’s spokeswoman said, although Indonesia’s May petrol demand as of Wednesday, was still 27% below February’s level. Fuel stocks fell in May as its Balikpapan refinery was shut for maintenance.

Equinor has declined to comment.

Indonesia’s June imports are estimated at about 7 million barrels, said a trading source who tracks its purchases closely.

This is up from May which was estimated at between 5 million and 6 million barrels, half of monthly average in 2019 and down from February’s imports of 8 million barrels, according to Refinitiv Oil Research.

A third ship, the Panamax-sized Nordvenus, chartered by Pertamina in April to store gasoline, discharged its cargo in Singapore in May, Refinitiv data showed.

“As countries emerge from lockdowns and economic activities resume, we expect a gradual recovery in oil product demand over 2H. Among the key fuels, the demand recovery for gasoline should come fastest,” said Sri Paravaikkarasu, director for Asia oil at consulting firm FGE.

Asia’s gasoline refining margin has returned to a slight premium of 37 cents to Brent crude on June 3 for the first time in two weeks.

“Gasoline margins have been volatile despite demand recovery as it takes time for the excess cargoes to be absorbed,” said KY Lin, spokesman of Formosa Petrochemical Corp which operates a 540,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in Mailiao, Taiwan.

“But demand for naphtha, as a whole, would help to lift the entire light distillates fundamental.”

As MRC informed earlier, Formosa Petrochemical plans to shut down its No.3 cracker in Taiwan for maintenance in mid-August, 2020. The 1.2-MMt/y No. 3 cracker is due to be offline until end-September.

We also remind that Formosa took off-stream its No.2 cracker in Taiwan on 1 June, 2020. No reason for unplanned closure was given. The cracker came back on-line on 4 June. Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the No.2 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 1.03 million mt/year, propylene production capacity of 515,000 mt/year and butadiene production capacity of 162,000 mt/year.

Formosa, Asia's top naphtha importer, operates three naphtha crackers in Mailiao. These units have a total capacity of 2.93 million tpy of ethylene.

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

Feyzin refinery resumed its maintenance in France

MOSCOW (MRC) -- France's Feyzin refinery has resumed its maintenance and is likely to restart in July, according to trading sources, as per S&P Global.

Planned maintenance at Feyzin was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. The petrochemical part of the plant was operating normally. Work started on February 14 and was due to last around seven weeks.

As MRC informed before, France's Feyzin refinery was in the process of halting units and the steam cracker was running at reduced rates on 9 October, 2019. Local media had reported earlier that the refinery had been halting operations since Monday, 7 October, 2019 due to a strike. The company said it regrets the decision by labor unions to call a strike while discussions were ongoing with refinery staff about a planned indefinite closure of a unit due to lower product demand.

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

Dow and Shell collaborate on developing e-cracker technology

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow and Shell say they have teamed up to accelerate the development of technology that can potentially electrify steam crackers, said Chemweek.

The two companies say project teams in Amsterdam and Terneuzen, Netherlands, and in Texas, are collaborating under a joint development agreement on the conceptual design and scaling of “e-cracker” technologies. Current steam crackers rely on fossil fuel combustion to heat their furnaces, making them CO2 intensive, the companies say. “As the energy grid becomes increasingly renewables-led, using renewable electricity to heat steam cracker furnaces could become one of the routes to decarbonize the chemicals industry. The challenge is to develop a technologically and economically feasible solution,” they say. Shell and Dow will first work on proving out process technology innovations in laboratory and pilot operations, and then scale up to commercial crackers.

"Significant technological breakthroughs are needed to reduce our industry’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, which will require companies to step out of their comfort zones and work together to achieve bold and ambitious new goals. Our partnership with Shell is an important step in making this vision a reality,” says Keith Cleason, Dow’s vice president/olefins, aromatics, and alternatives business.

The work "has the potential to contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions from the manufacture of chemicals and to Shell’s ambition of becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 or sooner," says Thomas Casparie, executive vice president/global chemicals at Shell.

As MRC informed earlier, in mid-May 2020, USA based Dow Chemical announced plans to shut three polyethylene (PE) plants in the USA and Argentina to avoid piling inventories amid sluggish global demand conditions due to the COVID-19 related lockdown.

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.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
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