VYNOVA to conduct turnaround at its PVC plant in France

MOSCOW (MRC) -- European chlor-alkali and polyvinyl cloride (PVC) producer VYNOVA will conduct maintenance originally planned for August at Mazingarbe, France, in October, along with its Beek site in Netherlands, where the associated Tessenderlo chlor-alkali and monomer vinyl cloride (VCM) production will also undergo works, reported S&P Global with reference to the source.

"Our large Tessenderlo unit will be down in October and two out of three plants will be down in October," the source said.

As MRC wrote before, VYNOVA last carried out a maintenance turnaround at its PVC plant at Mazingarbe within 10 days from late July to eary August, 2017.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production totalled 718,500 tonnes in January-September 2020, down by 0.3% year on year. At the same time, only two producers managed to increase their PVC output.

VYNOVA is a leading European PVC and chlor-alkali company. It operates production sites in five countries and has over 1,250 employees, realising an annual turnover of EUR1 billion. The company's products play a key role in manufacturing numerous industrial products and consumer goods that improve the quality of life. Established in 2015, VYNOVA is the chlor-vinyls platform of the International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Zhongke Refinery and Petrochemical has reportedly resumed operations at its newly constructed plant in Guangdong Province, China earlier last week after an explosion at the ethylene oxide (EO) line forced the company to shut down during mid-September 2020, reported CommoPlast.

Market sources said that most of the units are now producing off-specification cargoes and once stabilize the operating rates, the company would immediately kickstart the commercial production.

Started up units including the 1 million tons/year naphtha cracker, two polypropylene (PP) lines with a combined capacity of 550,000 tons/year, and the 350,000 tons/year high density polyethylene (HDPE)/linear low density polyethyleneLLDPE swing plant.

At the time of this report, the 100,000 tons/year low density polyethylene (LDPE) line remains idled without a specific startup schedule.

As MRC informed earlier, Sinopec Zhongke Refinery and Petrochemical has started selling first lots of on-spec PP materials in the open market with limited quantity from its new plant in China in early September, 2020. The company successfully completed the trial run at its newly constructed PP plant, consisting of two lines, and proceeded to commercial production within the month of August.

Thus, No. 1 PP unit with an annual capacity of 350,000 tons/year started producing commercial cargoes on 18 August 2020. The initial output might be homo-PP yarn before the company switches to PP fiber grades. And No. 2 PP line with nameplate capacity of 200,000 tons/year was scheduled to produce commercial cargoes on 24 August 2020, making homo-PP injection and high MI PP copolymer.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

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) -- India is "treading very cautiously" in its plan to privatize state-run oil refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), reported Rueters with reference to Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's statement, in a sign that the process could be delayed.

New Delhi's plan to sell its 53.29% stake in BPCL was first announced in November 2019, and is part of a broader program to spin off or sell stakes in dozens of state-owned companies. India had planned to sell the stake by the end of the fiscal year to March 2021.

"Bharat Petroleum divestment is very much on the cards," Pradhan told a virtual energy conference.

"But we all will appreciate looking into the net worth and looking into the size ... the government is treading very cautiously (on) how to offload (the stake) through (a) proper process".

Reuters last month reported that BPCL's privatization could spill over into the next fiscal year that begins in April 2021 and that Saudi Aramco and Russia's Rosneft may not participate in the bid as low oil prices affect their investment plans.

BPCL's shares have tumbled by about 38% from highs seen in November last year as fuel demand in India has been hit by restrictions imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Long term, India's demand for refined products is expected to rise, requiring a 40% increase in the country's refining capacity to 350 MM tons a year or 7 MM barrels per day (bpd) by 2030, Pradhan said.

India plans to build a 1.2 million bpd refinery and petrochemical plant on the country's west coast through a joint venture made up of Indian state refiners, Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

But the project has been held up as the joint venture has not yet acquired land after protests from farmers.

Pradhan said the local issues impacting the project would be sorted out "very soon."

The minister also said that the federal government planned to gradually end the subsidy on cooking gas.

As MRC informed before, in January 2020, BPCL said it would invest about Rs25,000 crore to set up an ethylene cracker plant at Rasayani, 50 kilometres from its Mumbai refinery, as the firm pushes further into the petrochemicals business to fuel growth.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian state-controlled oil and gas company headquartered in Mumbai, India. Bharat Petroleum owns refineries at Mumbai, Maharashtra and Kochi, Kerala (Kochi Refineries) with a capacity of 12 and 9.5 million metric tonnes per year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Henkel says that its adhesive technologies business is investing in Actnano (Boston, Massachusetts), an advanced materials startup that provides tailored conformal coatings technology for the protection of printed circuit boards in a variety of applications in growing electronics segments, said Chemweek.

With this investment, Henkel's adhesive technologies segment will expand its expertise for functional coating solutions in automotive electronics and consumer electronics, it says. No further details about the investment, or the amount, have been disclosed.

Actnano has developed a commercialized technology for gel-based coatings with comprehensive waterproofing and environmental resistant properties, Henkel says. The technology is hydrophobic, electrically insulating, and allows electrical connection through the coating, it says. Together with Henkel, the startup aims to further optimize waterproofing properties for tailored products in target markets and to scale up the technology worldwide, it says.

As MRC informed earlier, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (Dusseldorf, Germany) announced that Henkel Adhesives Technologies has officially inaugurated its new production facility in Kurkumbh, India.

Henkel are also partnering with Borealis and plastics solutions company Borouge to develop flexible packaging solutions for detergents containing both virgin polyethylene (PE) and high amounts of post-consumer recyclate (PCR) in efforts to increase sustainability.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Within the framework of its net zero strategy, Total will convert its Grandpuits refinery (Seine-et-Marne) into a zero-crude platform and will invest more then EUR500 mln into this project, as per the company's press release.

By 2024 the platform will focus on four new industrial activities: production of renewable diesel primarily intended for the aviation industry, production of bioplastics, plastics recycling and operation of two photovoltaic solar power plants.

Meanwhile, crude oil refining at the platform will be discontinued in the first quarter of 2021 and storage of petroleum products will end in late 2023. Operations at service stations and airports in the Greater Paris region will not be affected: they will be supplied by the refineries at Donges - currently undergoing a EUR€450 million modernization - and Normandy.

This decision to end its oil refining comes in the wake of an audit conducted over several months on the 260-kilometer Ile-de-France pipeline (PLIF), which carries crude oil from the Port of Le Havre to the Grandpuits refinery.

The refinery was forced to shut down for more than five months in 2019 when a leak appeared on the PLIF, following an earlier leak near Le Havre in 2014. With the approval of government officials, the PLIF’s maximum working pressure was reduced to ensure safe operation. As a result, the refinery could operate at only 70% of its capacity, threatening its long-term financial viability.

The audit found that normal operations at the refinery could be restored only by replacing the PLIF, at a cost of nearly EUR600 million. Given France’s plans for the energy transition up to 2040, therefore, Total has decided to end its oil refining at Grandpuits and embark on an industrial transformation of the site, backed by a major investment plan.

“With the industrial repurposing of the Grandpuits refinery into a zero-crude platform focused on energies of the future connected with biomass and the circular economy, Total is demonstrating its commitment to the energy transition and reaffirming its ambition to achieve carbon neutrality in Europe by 2050,” says Bernard Pinatel, President of Total Refining & Chemicals. “Grandpuits will remain a major industrial site drawing on the know-how and expertise of its teams, and our partner firms will be playing a key role as well.”

As MRC wrote before, French energy major Total said in April that its joint USD5 billion petrochemical project with Saudi Aramco in the Saudi city of Jubail would not be hit by planned cuts in investment, although the partners were focused on controlling costs.

We remind that 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 ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

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