BASF restarts TDI output, FM still in place at Ludwigshafen, Germany

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has restarted toluene diisocyanate (TDI) production at its 300,000-metric ton/year plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, although output has not yet increased sufficiently for the company to lift a force majeure (FM) it declared in August, said Chemweek.

"BASF is in the process of starting up the TDI unit, [they] are currently producing but not yet at high enough levels to lift the force majeure,” says one market source close to the plant. “Downstream demand is good, and margins are strong, considering the fall in toluene contract price this month, hence [they] want to get up and running as soon as possible."

The company declared FM on 31 August after experiencing technical problems, and has tried to restart the plant since then, until now unsuccessfully, sources say. “We expect BASF to resume healthy production by end of November,” says a second market source. “They are online now but are not producing official levels to be able to lift force majeure."

The FM at Ludwigshafen has exacerbated tightness in the global TDI market, according to IHS Markit principal analyst James Elliott. BASF started operations at the Ludwigshafen TDI plant in November 2015, but has not been able to operate the site consistently at optimal rates due to production and technical issues that have caused delays and shutdowns, Elliott says. "The force majeure at our TDI plant in Ludwigshafen is still in place," a BASF spokeswoman says.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF had put a project to build a petrochemicals complex in India worth up to USD4 billion on hold due to the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in September 2020 by 6.7% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased by 6.1% year on year in the first nine months of 2020, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-September output. Last month's production of primary polymers decreased to 852,000 tonnes from 888,000 tonnes in August due to shutdowns in Tomsk, Ufa and Kazan. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 7,480,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 16.4% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Private equity company Wynnchurch Capital has acquired Drew Foam Companies for an undisclosed sum, the US based company said in a statement.

Monticello, Arkansas-based Drew Foam makes custom fabricated and moulded expanded polystyrene (EPS) products for the packaging, building products and OEM/consumer end markets. It offers both fabricated block and shape moulding capabilities across four manufacturing facilities in the Southeast US.

Drew is “well positioned” to benefit from growing product categories, particularly in geofoam for construction applications and insulated shipping containers for cold chain applications in markets such as food and healthcare, Wynnchurch said.

Wynnchurch bought Drew from private equity firm Branford Castle Partners.

As MRC informed earlier, Nova Chemicals (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) has agreed to sell its expandable styrenics business to a subsidiary of Alpek (Monterrey, Mexico) for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, it says. The sale encompasses Nova’s expandable polystyrene (EPS) and Arcel-brand resin product lines, with manufacturing facilities in Monaca, Pennsylvania, and Painesville, Ohio, as well as commercial operations in Asia, it says. The plant at Monaca has an EPS production capacity of 123,000 metric tons/year, with 36,000 metric tons/year of capacity for Arcel, as well as an R&D pilot plant. The facility at Painesville has an EPS capacity of 45,000 metric tons/year, according to Alpek subsidiary Styropek, which is acquiring Nova’s business.

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, prices of Chinese and Russian EPS were in the range of UAH42,000-45,000/tonne CPT Kiev, including VAT, in the domestic market this week. Demand for material was moderate. Some traders were still selling quantities of Chinese material that were purchased in the previous months at lower import prices. Prices of the future quantities were under an upward pressure from higher import prices.

Branford owned Drew since 2018, when it bought the company from Gladstone Investment Corp, along with members of management and an unnamed co-investor, according to information on Drew’s website.

Founded in 1965, Drew is a leading manufacturer of custom EPS block and shape molding products in the Southeast U.S. The Company offers a diverse product offering, high level of customer service and a differentiated just-in-time delivery model. The Company is headquartered in Monticello, Arkansas, and operates manufacturing facilities in Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia.

Wynnchurch Capital, L.P., headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, with offices in California and Canada, was founded in 1999, and is a leading middle-market private equity investment firm. Wynnchurch’s strategy is to partner with middle market companies in the United States and Canada that possess the potential for substantial growth and profit improvement.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- As of 9 November, Westlake Polymers has left in force the declared on Aug. 31 force majeure on its North American polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and upstream vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plants, after Hurricane Laura adversely impacted its Lake Charles, Louisiana, complex, reported S&P Global.

Westlake's shutdown of its Lake Charles complex idled 38% of its US VCM production, resulting in two VCM plants with a combined capacity of 952,318 mt/year going offline. The complex also has three upstream chlor-alkali plants with a combined capacity of 1.27 million mt/year of chlorine and 1.36 million mt/year of caustic soda - 46% of the company's overall North American chlor-alkali capacity.

Westlake Chemical was in the process of a restart following the loss of electricity from Hurricane Laura on 27 August when the arrival of Hurricane Delta on 9 October interrupted the process.

Hurricane Delta appears to have wreaked minimal damage to chemical facilities in Lake Charles, Louisiana, just six weeks after Hurricane Laura blew through the region, severely damaging major electricity transmission lines that left facilities offline for weeks.

Westlake Chemical said in a statement on Oct. 12 that initial assessments after Delta's Oct. 9 landfall showed "very limited physical damage" to its Lake Charles complex, and facilities were "in the process of restarting."

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.

Westlake Chemical Corporation is an international manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and building products with headquarters in Houston, Texas. The company's range of products includes: ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, chlor-alkali and derivative products, PVC suspension and specialty resins, PVC Compounds, and PVC building products including siding, pipe, fittings and specialty components, windows, fence, deck and film.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Plastics USA, part of Formosa Petrochemical, has left a force majeure on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) supplies from its Texas and Louisiana plants in force as of 09 November, reported S&P Global.

The force majeure circumstanced were announced in mid-August, 2020, due to difficulties to produce the product amid upstream steam cracker problems.

"Formosa Plastics Corporation, USA, on behalf of Formosa Plastics Corporation, Texas, and Formosa Plastics Corporation, Louisiana, has experienced unexpected difficulties in its upstream facility at Point Comfort, Texas, impacting the PVC production at both manufacturing sites," the company said in the letter as of Aug. 14.

As MRC informed before, in March, 2020, Formosa Plastics was emerging from a turnaround at its 798,000 mt/year PVC plant and upstream 753,000 mt/year vinyl chloride monomer unit at its Point Comfort, Texas, complex.

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.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ADNOC LNG has signed up to a six-year supply agreement with Vitol, the world’s largest independent energy trader, for the sale of 1.8 MMtpy of post-2022 LNG volumes and a two-year supply agreement with Total for 0.75 MMtpy of 2021 and 2022 LNG volumes, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

These new agreements represent a continuation of the trusted relationship ADNOC has built with Vitol and Total, including, most recently, ADNOC and Vitol’s 2019 investment partnership in global storage terminal owner and operator VTTI. In the same vein, Total has operated in the United Arab Emirates for more than 80 years and remains one of ADNOC’s most longstanding international partners, with a number of ownership interests across the Group.

Speaking at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Convention (ADIPEC), Fatema Al Nuaimi, CEO of ADNOC LNG, said: “We are pleased to partner with both Vitol and Total on these major deals as they will create reliable, long-term benefits for our company and shareholders. Through collaboration and by adopting a partnership approach, we are driving new growth opportunities for ADNOC and are maximizing the value of our nation’s resources."

"These agreements demonstrate the success of our commercial strategy in unprecedented times and confirm the market’s growing confidence in demand for natural gas. LNG is a fuel that can support the transition to clean energy, especially in many Asian markets where switching to gas will result in significant environmental gains. As a customer-focused business, we will continue to meet the growing demand for LNG as a key fuel in both today’s energy mix and looking ahead to the future."

LNG global demand is currently projected to grow by up to 5% annually over the next 20 years. Much of this market confidence is due to LNG being produced from natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel, which can contribute to better air quality and lower GHG emissions in the power sector. This makes LNG ideal for the transition to a low-carbon energy future, supporting a pragmatic mix of fuels that can help countries balance energy demand with their clean energy goals.

Pablo Galante Escobar, Vitol’s Head of LNG, said: “We are proud to conclude another significant milestone with ADNOC, an important partner across key business areas. For Vitol LNG, this most recent development strengthens our ability to ensure diverse and secure supply to our customers around the world." Thomas Maurisse, Total’s SVP LNG, added: “This new supply agreement contributes to the growth and flexibility of Total’s LNG portfolio and strengthens our long-standing relationship with ADNOC LNG."

As the first LNG exporter in the Middle East, ADNOC LNG has been a reliable supplier of gas to global markets for over four decades. With the global oil and gas industry facing unprecedented challenges in 2020, ADNOC LNG’s strategy has enabled the company to respond quickly to changing market conditions. As well as developing new markets, ADNOC LNG has rapidly shifted from one customer to multiple customers. The agreements with Vitol and TOTAL continue the transition to a multi-customer strategy that began in 2019. Since then, ADNOC LNG has shifted from supplying 90% of its LNG to a single customer in Japan, which remains an important customer, to supplying 90% of its LNG to a range of clients, and in more than eight countries from across Southern and Southeast Asia.

ADNOC LNG produces about 6 MMtpy of LNG from its facilities on Das Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi and is one of the world’s most reliable producers of the supercooled, liquefied gas. The company is owned by ADNOC (70%), with Mitsui & Co (15%), BP (10%), and Total (5%) comprising the remaining shareholders.

As MRC informed earlier, ADNOC announced it has completed the first phase of its large-scale multi-year predictive maintenance project to maximize asset efficiency and integrity across its upstream and downstream operations.

As MRC reported previously, in early May, 2020, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) began a gradual restart of its Ruwais oil refinery complex after a scheduled maintenance shutdown. The Ruwais complex, which has capacity of 835,000 barrels per day, was shut down early this year, the ADNOC spokesman said.

And in late July 2019, ADNOC said its Ruwais refinery west cracker was offline for maintenance.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
MRC