Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical continues to run second ACN plant in Jiangsu at 50%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical, also known as Jiangsu Shenghong, will maintain the run rate at its second 260,000 mt/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plants at Lianyungang at half the rate for the short run, reported S&P Global.

The company shut down its both 260,000 mt/yr ACN plants on July 16, 2020 due to the unexpected outage of its upstream methanol-to-olefins plant. The second ACN plant resumed operations on August 6, 2020.

Jiangsu Sailboat is not running the second ACN plant at full due to the lack of propylene feedstock.

As MRC informed before, in March 2018, Honeywell announced that Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical Company, Ltd. had accepted a new methanol-to-olefins (MTO) unit provided by Honeywell UOP, and that the plant was operating and had met all guarantees. With a production capacity of 833,000 metric tons per year, the unit is the largest single-train MTO unit in the world. Honeywell UOP, which pioneered MTO technology, started its first MTO unit for China's Wison Clean Energy in 2013.

ACN is a feedstock for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption decreased in January-June 2020 by 18% year on year in the Russian ABS sector, totalling 19,360 tonnes. 2,680 tonnes of ABS plastics were processed in Russia in June 2020.

Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical, part of the Shenghong Holding Group, is a major petrochemical manufacturer in China, including polyethylene (PE) and ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA). The company's production facilities are located in the new Xuwei Industrial Park in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s Petrobras has initiated the sale process for a group of 26 onshore and shallow water oilfields and a small nearby refinery in the northeastern part of the country, as the state-run company forges ahead with its ambitious divestment program, reported Reuters.

In a securities filing, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the firm is formally known, said it had begun the teaser phase for the sale of the oilfields and the nearby Clara Camarao refinery in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The oilfields, known collectively as Polo Potiguar, produced roughly 23,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in 2020 and 124,000 cubic meters per day of gas, while the refinery has an installed capacity of 39,600 bpd, the company said.

Petrobras is years into a drive to sell of tens of billions of dollars of non-core assets in a bid to reduce its hefty debt load and sharpen its focus on deepwater oil production.

Clara Camarao adds to the list of eight refineries Petrobras has previously put up for sale: RNEST, REPAR, RLAM, REFAP, REGAP, REMAN, LUBNOR and SIX. That group accounts for half of Brazil’s refining capacity, or 1.1 million bpd.

Following the crash in crude oil prices earlier this year, the company announced that it was permanently idling its shallow-water fields, which tend to have relatively high lifting costs.

During the teaser phase, Petrobras makes certain information about the assets and the eligibility criteria for bidders available.

The Clara Camarao refinery serves the regional market, and its main products are diesel, gasoline and jet fuel, Petrobras said.

As MRC reported previously, Petrobras may need more than a year to divest its stake in Braskem, said Andrea Almeida, Petrobras CFO, in early July. She said during the company’s recent webinar that Petrobras plans to give more time for potential investors to make offers for the company's assets, including for its refineries and stakes at its petrochemical and fuel distribution affiliates. The divestment of Petrobras's stake in Braskem in 2020 would be desirable but "might not be possible" as the COVID-19 pandemic has changed market conditions, she said. The company plans to close part of its refinery sales in 2021. In December, Roberto Castello Branco, CEO of Petrobras, said that he wants to sell the company’s stake in Braskem within a year. Petrobras owns 32.15% of Braskem.

We remind that Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia. And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker. The project, announced in 2013, had been on Braskem's back burner for several years.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay says it has issued a new perpetual EUR500-million (USD591 million) hybrid bond, to be used for general corporate purposes, including the possible repayment of other indebtedness, according to Chemweek.

The bond has a perpetual maturity with a first call date on 2 December 2025 and will pay a fixed coupon of 2.5% with corresponding yield of 2.625% until 2 March 2026, which is the first date the coupon resets, and will do so every five years thereafter, the company says.

Solvay says that in accordance with IFRS requirements, the notes will rank junior to all senior debt and will be recorded as equity, and coupons will be recorded as dividends. The hybrid bond will also benefit from 50% rating agency equity treatment by Moody’s and S&P, the company adds.

Solvay has concurrently launched a tender offer to repurchase any-and-all its EUR500-million perpetual hybrid bond with a first call date in June 2021, which bears interest at a rate of 5.118%, the company says. The offer will expire on 1 September 2020, it says.

As MRC wrote previously, through the acquisition of the Solvay polyamide (PA) business, BASF has enhanced its R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific with new technologies, technical expertise, and upgraded material and part testing services.

We remind that BASF-YPC, a 50-50 joint venture of BASF and Sinopec, undertook a planned shutdown at its naphtha cracker on 30 April 2020. The company initially planned to start turnaround at the cracker on April 5, 2020. The plant remained under maintenance unitl 18 June, 2020. Located in Jiangsu, China, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 750,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 24,100 employees in 64 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet plan crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of EUR10.2 billion in 2019.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Private Chinese oil refiner and petrochemical manufacturers Hengli Petrochemical Corp and Rongsheng Petrochemical Corp have each hired a new executive for its Singapore trading desk, reported Reuters with reference to company officials' statement.

Hengli Petrochemical (Singapore) Pte Ltd, the trading unit for Hengli Petrochemical, hired James Zhang, formerly a commodities trading manager at ICBC Standard Bank, as its vice president in charge of finances, a company spokesman said.

Zhang started early this month, the spokesman said.

Separately, Zhu Yanyu, previously a veteran oil products trading manager at state-owned oil and gas company PetroChina , started in June at Rongsheng Petrochemical (Singapore) Pte Ltd as a deputy general manager in charge of refined products trading, said two company officials.

The Singapore operation is the international trading unit for Rongsheng Petrochemical Corp, which is a key stakeholder in Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp (ZPC), one of China's largest private refiners which operates a 400,000 barrels per day refinery in east China's Zhoushan.

ZPC became the first private Chinese refiner to win Chinese government quotas to export low-sulphur marine fuel in April, and in July the firm was granted a license to export other refined products.

As MRC informed previously, Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd was running its new acrylonitrile (ACN) plant at 80% operating rate in July. The company started up new ACN plant on 23 June, 2020, and produced on specification material in the week ended 4 July. Based in Zhejiang, China, this plant is able to produce 260,000 tons/year of ACN.

Besides, earlier, Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd started up its ethylene cracker in late December 2019 and its polyolefin plants in late December 2019-January 2020.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- KBR has been awarded two contracts by Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group Co. Ltd (Baofeng Energy) for its 500KTA coal to olefins project & 500KTA C2-C5 comprehensive utilization project to be built in Ningdong Town, Lingwu City, Ningxia, China, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Under the terms of the contracts, KBR will provide process technology licensing and process design packages for this project, which will have an annual production capacity of one million tons of olefins. Once completed, the complex will be the largest single-train methanol to olefins (MTO) plant in the world.

KBR will use a combination of its best-in-class SCORE steam cracking and MTO recovery technologies to achieve Baofeng Energy's project objectives of highest yields and lowest capital investment. The SCORE steam cracking unit will convert the ethane and propane feedstock into ethylene and propylene, which are later separated and further purified in the MTO recovery section to ensure the quality needed to produce polymer grade ethylene and propylene. The MTO recovery process utilizes KBR's commercially-proven technology, which in addition to superior performance provides CAPEX and OPEX advantages over other technologies.

"We are proud that Baofeng Energy has selected KBR for this breakthrough world-scale MTO complex," said Doug Kelly, KBR President, Technology Solutions. "This award is a reaffirmation of our continued commitment to helping our clients maintain their competitive edge through technological advancements and delivering the best return on their investments."

For more than 50 years, KBR's Technology Solutions business unit has been delivering the technologies, flexible solutions and expertise that petrochemical manufacturers rely on to produce ethylene, propylene, acetyls, phenolics, vinyls and other specialty products from a variety of feedstocks in a safe, efficient, and sustainable manner.

As MRC reported earlier, Ningxia Baofeng Energy has brought on-stream its No.1 (methanol-to-olefins) MTO unit following a maintenance turnaround. Tje company resumed operations at this unit on August 2, 2020. The unit was shut for maintenance on 1 July, 2020. Located at Yinchuan, Ningxia, China, the MTO unit has an ethylene and propylene production capacity of 300,000 mt/year each.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC