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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol (Johannesburg,
South Africa) says it has taken a hit of approximately 170,000 net saleable tons
on its operations at Lake Charles, Louisiana, due to the impact of Hurricanes
Laura and Delta, reported Chemweek.
The impact of the hurricanes
on its North American operations was outlined in a quarterly production and
sales update for the first quarter of its 2021 financial year, ended 30
September. Sasol says seven of its chemical manufacturing units at Lake Charles
have returned to operation, with all remaining units that were operating prior
to Hurricane Laura “expected to return to operation by end October.” The
availability of “sufficient industrial-level power from the local provider”
resulted in the commencement of a coordinated startup of the chemicals complex,
it says.
Commissioning activities at the last new unit planned to come
online at the company’s Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), a low-density
polyethylene (LDPE) unit, are continuing, with
beneficial operation “still trending” towards the end of this month, it
adds.
Sasol says its group base chemicals business saw first quarter
sales volumes rise 4% year on year (YOY), due to improved market demand and
supported by higher production rates following the lifting of COVID-19 lockdown
restrictions.
The company excludes US polymers product sales volumes
from this figure. US polymers sales volumes in the quarter were 65% higher YOY
at 306,000 metric tons “due to the new ethylene cracker which achieved
beneficial operation in August 2019,” it says. The first-quarter US polymers
sales volumes were 28% lower than the previous quarter to end June due to the
impact of Hurricane Laura, it adds. US polymers sales volumes totaled 1.26
million metric tons for the full-year 2020. The US polymers average sales basket
price declined 29% YOY to SD551/metric ton.
Sasol’s group base chemicals
average sales basket price for the quarter fell 15% YOY to USD630/metric ton.
Base chemicals sales volumes, excluding US polymers, are expected to be 1-2%
higher than the prior-year quarter.
In the first quarter, Sasol’s east
cracker at Lake Charles produced 67,000 metric tons of ethylene, down 41% YOY,
while its newer west cracker produced 217,000 metric tons of ethylene, up from
44,000 metric tons in the prior-year period. Polyethylene (PE) production,
including its share of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) declined 24% YOY to
132,000 metric tons, while its ethylene oxide (EO) value chain saw output fall
29% YOY to 67,000 metric tons. Production of Ziegler alcohols, alumina, and
Guerbet alcohols declined 22% compared to the equivalent period last year to
25,000 metric tons, it says.
Sales volumes in Sasol’s performance
chemicals business fell 11% YOY due mainly to COVID-19 restrictions and the
Hurricane Laura outage, it says. Due to the impact of the hurricane on its
operations, Sasol has revised its market guidance lower and is now estimating
its performance chemicals total sales volumes for the financial year 2021 will
be “in line” with the prior financial year.
Earlier this month Sasol
agreed to enter into a joint venture with LyondellBasell for its LCCP base
chemicals business, including its west ethane cracker, linear low-density
polyethylene (LLDPE) and LDPE plants. Sasol will retain full ownership and
operational control of the Lake Charles east plant ethane cracker and eight
performance chemicals business assets at Lake Charles, as well as its US
phenolics business, and HDPE JV with Ineos at LaPorte, TX.
As MRC wrote previously,
Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker with the capacity of 1.5 mln tonnes per
year reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol's new cracker, the
heart of Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), is the third and most
significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide
feedstock to the company's six new derivative units at its Lake Charles
multi-asset site.
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.
Sasol is an international integrated
chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of
our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and
commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to
produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels,
petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity. |
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