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