No major structural damage seen at Citgo Lake Charles refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Citgo Petroleum Corp said an early assessment of its 418,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Lake Charles, Louisiana, refinery revealed “no major structural damage to operating equipment”, reported Reuters.

Sources familiar with plant operations have said that significant damage was done by the winds of deadly Hurricane Laura, especially to cooling towers, and it would be four to six weeks before the refinery restarts.

“The refinery itself fared well and our very initial assessments have revealed no significant safety issues or hydrocarbon releases and no major structural damage to operating equipment,” Citgo said in an emailed statement.

Citgo said repairing the refinery would depend in part on when the Lake Charles power grid is repaired.

On Monday, local power provider Entergy said all seven power line corridors to Lake Charles, of which it operates five, received catastrophic damage.

“We do not currently have a timeline from the local power utility as to when the electricity supply will be re-established in the Lake Charles area,” Citgo said.

While the power supply to the refinery is being repaired, “Citgo will be repairing any critical items required to safely restart our facility,” the company said.

Citgo did not identify items needing repair.

Citgo’s Lake Charles refinery is located in Sulphur, Louisiana, which is 135 miles (217 km) east of Houston.

As MRC wrote earlier, in the first week of July, 2020, Citgo Petroleum Corp restarted the large gasoline-producing fluid catalytic cracker at its 167,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, 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) -- Total SA is waiting for the external power supply to be restored at its 225,500 barrrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery before restarting units, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The refinery was shut on Aug. 25 when Hurricane Laura’s forecast was included a possible landfall near Port Arthur.

Total spokeswoman Marie Maitre declined to discuss the status of the refinery.

“The refinery’s management and teams on the ground continue taking measures to safely work towards restarting operations,” Maitre said.

As MRC wrote before, in November 2019, Total disclosed that itis 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 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.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis announces that it has successfully acquired a controlling stake in South Korean compounder DYM Solution Co. Ltd., as per the company's press release.

The acquisition solidifies Borealis’ position as a partner of choice for global wire and cable customers, helping to meet the growing needs and requirements of the wire and cable industry today and in the future.

Based in Cheonan South Korea, DYM Solution Co. Ltd. was founded in 1992 and is a provider of compound solutions for the global wire and cable industry. It specialises in semi-conductive, halogen-free flame retardant (HFFR), rubber and silane cured compounds.

With this investment, Borealis extends its global wire & cable asset footprint, hereby embodying its mission of Bringing Energy All Around. Borealis will broaden its extensive and sophisticated portfolio, with complementary products and technologies for semi-conductive, flame retardant, rubber and silane cross-linkable compounds.

The acquisition enables Borealis and Borouge to better serve their customers by: offering an immediate capacity increase to further secure the product supply; geographically extending the asset footprint and supply base, enabling more local service in the region; building upon Borealis’ broad and sophisticated portfolio with DYM’s complementary products and technologies - thereby increasing the offering to the market; and
improving the full system offering to better meet the growing market requirements for longer lifetime cables.

“Decarbonisation of the energy sector is creating substantial growth opportunities for the global wire and cable industry. Borealis and Borouge remain committed to assist our customers around the world with the most complete offering to enable this Energy transformation The DYM acquisition will complement our offering to better serve our clients,” says Lucrece Foufopoulos, Borealis Executive Vice President Polyolefins, Innovation and Circular Economy Solutions.

“We see Borealis as a reliable and strong partner with an excellent track record for innovation and customer service and are very happy that the transaction has been successfully concluded. We look forward to our common future activities and have already identified potential future opportunities for growth enabled by the transaction. In other words, the deal will allow DYM Solution to secure a world-class method of compound production and to significantly expand its capabilities through continuous and organic cooperation with Borealis, and to provide services that far exceed customer requirements in the Wire and Cable industries. Therefore, the combination of DYM Solution and Borealis has the potential to serve the wire and cable customers around the world even better,” says DYM Solution Chief Executive and founder Mr. Park.

As MRC informed earlier, Borealis has maintained its cracker in Stenungsund (Sweden) offline longer than initially anticipated, after it was shut following a force majeure declaration at the site on May 11, 2020. Sources said that the unit has been offline longer than initially expected with no confirmed startup date. The Stenungsund cracker has an ethylene capacity of 625,000 tonnes and a propylene capacity of 150,000 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.

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

1. Changing demand for petroleum products has led to operational changes at US refineries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Demand for transportation fuels in the United States has fallen since mid-March because of the spread of coronavirus and efforts to mitigate it, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing. Demand for motor gasoline and jet fuel in particular has fallen to its lowest levels in years. In response, U. refineries reduced their operations to adjust to changing levels of overall demand for petroleum products and made other changes that resulted in proportionately less production of motor gasoline and jet fuel and more production of distillate fuel oil.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's overall polypropylene (PP) production increased in the first seven months of 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

Russian plants' total PP production grew to 158,800 tonnes in July, compared to 149,400 tonnes a month earlier; ZapSibNeftekhim, Nizhnekamskneftekhim and Poliom increased their capacity utilisation. Russia's overall PP production reached 1,063,700 tonnes in January-July 2020, compared to 854,500 tonnes a year earlier. Five out of eight producers raised their capacity utilisation, with a new producer - ZapSibNeftekhim - accounting for the main increase in the output.

The structure of PP production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

SIBUR Tobolsk reduced its capacity utilisation in July, the plant's PP production dropped to 41,800 tonnes that month versus 49,500 tonnes a month earlier. The Tobolsk plant's overall PP production reached 259,900 tonnes in January-July 2020, down by 9% year on year.

ZapSibNeftekhim, the second Tobolsk manufacturer, produced 39,100 tonnes of PP in July versus 20,100 tonnes in June, when there was a scheduled two-week shutdown for maintenance. The plant's overall output totalled 241,700 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020.

Omsk Poliom increased its capacity utilisation in July, having produced 16,400 tonnes of PP, compared to 15,100 tonnes a month earlier. The Omsk plant's PP production totalled about 94,000 tonnes over the stated period, down by 13% year on year.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim produced 18,900 tonnes of propylene polymers in July versus 17,900 tonnes a month earlier. The Nizhnekamsk plant's overall output of polymer reached 129,000 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, compared to 124,700 tonnes a year earlier.

Tomskneftekhim produced 12,700 tonnes of propylene polymers in July versus 12,700 tonnes a month earlier. The Tomsk plant's overall PP output reached 90,000 tonnes in January-July 2020, up by 4% year on year.

Ufaorgsintez's PP production was 10,900 tonnes in July versus 11,000 tonnes in June. The Ufa plant's overall output of polymer reached 76,200 tonnes in January-July 2020, down by 3% year on year.

Neftekhimiya (Kapotnya) produced 12,800 tonnes of PP in July, compared to 12,500 tonnes a month earlier. The plant's overall PP output reached 87,900 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 6% year on year.

Stavrolen (LUKOIL) shut its PP production in July due to technical issues, and, as a result, it produced only about 6,000 tonnes of propylene polymers versus 10,700 tonnes in June. The Budenovsk plant's overall production of propylene polymers exceeded 68,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020 versus 67,300 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC