Lotte Chemical Titan achieves on-spec output at its catalytic cracking unit in Malaysia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Titan has resumed production at its fluidised catalytic cracking unit in Malayisia, reported Chemweek.

Thus, the unit producing up to 92,000 metric tons/year of ethylene, 160,000 metric tons/year of propylene was brought on-line on 6-7 February and recieved on-spec production on 6-7 February. It was shut on 15 January because of a technical issue.

As MRC informed earlier, Lotte Chemical Titan also shut its No. 2 cracker in Malayisia in mid-January because of a technical glitch. This cracker is located in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, and produces 522,000 tons/year of ethylene and 360,000 tons/year of propylene.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Lotte Chemical Titan produces Malaysia's most comprehensive portfolio of olefins and polyolefins which contribute to the enhancement of everyday life. Lotte Chemical Titan's production site in Malaysia consists of eleven process facilities, two co-generation plants and three tank farms. They are located on 2 sites in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat in the state of Johor. In 2006, Lotte Chemical Titan acquired PT Lotte Chemical Titan Nusantara, Indonesia’s first and largest polyethylene plant in the country. This acquisition boosted the polyolefins capacity by approximately 50%, thus making the company one of the largest producers in South East Asia. Lotte Chemical Titan was acquired by Lotte Chemical Corp., forming part of the Lotte conglomerate of Korea, in 2010. The company thus became one of Lotte Chemical Corp.’s largest overseas subsidiaries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- 2020 was a difficult year for the world’s refineries as the coronavirus pandemic reduced refinery utilization and OPEC+ supply restraint narrowed crude price differentials, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Despite this, integrated refinery and petrochemical sites significantly outperformed their fuels-only peers, according to Wood Mackenzie. One of the most highly integrated sites in China, Hengli, generated a net income of more than USD1.4 B during 1Q to 3Q 2020, at a time when most of the refining industry was incurring significant losses.

Alan Gelder, Wood Mackenzie VP Refining, Chemicals & Oil Markets, said: “Over the coming years, the energy transition and the associated electrification of the passenger car fleet will slow the pace of global gasoline demand growth and drive it into decline after 2030.

“Meanwhile the versatility and durability of petrochemicals will see sustained demand growth, particularly in the developing economies of Asia, with global petrochemical feedstock demand growing by over 500,000 bpd each year over the next decade. This growth in petrochemical feedstocks will be tempered by an increase in global recycling rates as societies focus on reducing the environmental challenges of plastic waste.

"This switch in demand away from gasoline to petrochemicals promotes the adoption of refinery and petrochemical integration, particularly for new facilities in Asia and the Middle East. Currently, more than 30% of the world’s refineries are now integrated with commodity petrochemicals. These sites benefit from both a diversified product slate, and the potential to unlock greater value through economies of scale and operational cost synergies.

China has already outlined an integrated refinery and petrochemicals path that achieves earnings comparable with the most profitable refining sites in North America, says Wood Mackenzie. Two second-generation integrated sites, Hengli and RhongSheng, were brought online in 2019 and achieved full operations in 2020. Had they been fully operational in 2019, they would have been among the world’s top performing sites for 2020 when measured in earnings per barrel of crude processed, estimated at around USD10/bbl, according to Wood Mackenzie’s REM-Chemicals tool.

"The development of these sites and fast followers is to be closed watched as their deployment has global consequences. The new integrated sites in China are achieving a chemical yield of over 40 wt%. The development of such highly competitive sites makes it increasingly difficult for refineries in the Atlantic Basin to export their surplus gasoline, so the further growth of such sites will accelerate refinery closures in Europe and the U.S.

“Though China is currently a runaway leader in the integrated refinery and petrochemicals space, India’s significance as an investment location is expected to rise over the coming years. The Middle East has invested in expert refining and has recently become more interested in integration as a means of adding value to its crude exports because its supplies of gas-based feedstocks are dwindling,” added Gelder.

As per MRC, a winter storm has brought unusually cold temperatures, snow, and freezing rain to Texas and western Louisiana, forcing a large share of US light olefins production offline. As of the evening of Tuesday, 16 February, IHS Markit had confirmed the shutdown of at least 61% of US ethylene capacity, 59% of US chemical- and polymer-grade propylene (CGP, PGP) capacity, and 22% of US fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) capacity. Many plants that remained online were running at reduced capacity.

As MRC informed earlier, in late August 2020, Chevron Phillips Chemical shut down its Port Arthur, Texas cracker in preparation for Hurricane Laura. The unit's capacity of 855,000 mt/year. Chevron Phillips also shut its Cedar Bayou, Texas, crackers ahead of the storm. The company's Cedar Bayou crackers 1 and 2 have capacities of 837,000 mt/year and 1.7 million mt/year, respectively.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polynt Composites (Scanzorosciate, Italy) has announced a price rise in Europe for all its unsaturated polyester resins (UPRs), gelcoats, and vinyl esters, effective 1 March 2021 or as contracts allow, reported Chemweek.

Raw and auxiliary materials costs “are relentlessly increasing during the first months of 2021,” it says. Freight and logistic costs, as well as packaging costs, are also rising, it says.

Polynt’s full vinyl ester range will be increased by EUR300/metric ton (USD364/metric ton), while its UPRs, gelcoats, and ancillary products will rise by EUR200/metric ton.

The thermoset composites manufacturer imposed similar price increases in January for the same given reasons, and says it will “make every effort” to limit the impact of rising costs on its product pricing.

As MRC informed previously, in early March, 2020, Polynt announced that all its sites and activities in Italy were running smoothly and according to plan, despite the news about the Italian situation related to the spreading of the coronavirus in the country.

Polynt runs two maleic anhydride (MA) plants in northern Italy, including Bergamo’s 36,000 tonne unit in Lombardy and Ravenna’s 60,000 tonne plant on the east coast. The bigger production line at Ravenna had been operating at a reduced rate since March 2019 due to technical issues, the firm previously said. A new reactor ordered is expected to be operational in 2021. Polynt also produces phthalic anhydride at Bergamo and its San Giovanni Valdarno site, as well as plasticizers at San Giovanni Valdarno.

Maleic anhydride is a feedstock for the production of tetrahydrofuran, tetrahydrophthalic anhydride, films and synthetic fibers, pharmaceuticals, detergents, plasticizers, maleic, succinic, fumaric and malic acids and a number of chemicals for agriculture.

Plasticizers are substances introduced into a polymeric material to give it elasticity and plasticity during processing and operation. In particular, plasticizers are used to produce polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The share of plasticizers used for the production of PVC products is about 80%.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shares in Technip Energies skyrocketed on Tuesday, the first trading day after Franco-American oilfield company TechnipFMC split its engineering and construction activities from its upstream oil services business, reported Chemweek.

Shares were up 31.5% at EUR11.83 at 0901 GMT (USD14.38), above the IPO reference price of EUR9.00.

TechnipFMC on Monday completed its spin-off deal to create two publicly traded companies, TechnipFMC and Technip Energies.

Technip Energies, which specializes in engineering and technologies for liquefied natural gas, hydrogen and ethylene, said last month it aimed for 2021 revenue of between EUR6.5 B and EUR7 B.

The company also said it targeted an operating margin of between 5.5% and 6% this year.

As MRC reported earlier, in November 2020, TechnipFMC successfully completed the remaining conditions required to enable work to commence on the EPC contract with Assiut National Oil Processing Company (ANOPC) for the construction of a new hydrocracking complex for the Assiut refinery in Egypt.

We remind that Saad Helal, the Chairman of Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM), stated in September 2020 that his company is rapidly working on implementing a number of seven new projects to the national plan for the period of 2020-2035. He said that these projects include one by Wood Technology Company for producing medium-density fibreboard (MDF) wood which is being installed and implemented by Petrojet, a methanol derivative production project which produce a capacity of 140 tons per year and is worth USD117 million, and a project by the Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives Company (Ethydco) for producing rubber polybutadiene at a capacity of 36,000 tons per year with costs USD183 million.

Ethylene is the main feedstock for the production of polyethylene (PE).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A winter storm has brought unusually cold temperatures, snow, and freezing rain to Texas and western Louisiana, forcing a large share of US light olefins production offline, according to Chemweek.

As of the evening of Tuesday, 16 February, IHS Markit had confirmed the shutdown of at least 61% of US ethylene capacity, 59% of US chemical- and polymer-grade propylene (CGP, PGP) capacity, and 22% of US fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) capacity. Many plants that remained online were running at reduced capacity.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has been inundated with air emission reports from producers whose operations have been affected by the weather. “Extreme cold and instability of electrical supply, nitrogen, and fuel gas systems caused operating unit monitoring and control systems failures,” says a submission by Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) relating to its Sweeny site in Old Ocean, Texas. CPChem shut down its Pasadena plastics complex because the cold has prevented delivery of nitrogen from a supplier. Many producers are also citing loss of steam because of the cold.

The National Weather Service expects temperatures in the Houston area to begin warming up Friday, with a high of 66 F forecast for Sunday.

IHS Markit believes the great majority of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) lines in the area have been offline since Sunday, and they are not expected to restart until the end of the week. IHS Markit has also estimated that at least half of the region’s chlor-alkali and vinyls capacity could be out of service.

Specific South Texas operations shut down by the winter storm include Formosa Plastics’ three steam crackers at Point Comfort, and LyondellBasell’s cracker at Corpus Christi.

Houston, Texas, area, steam crackers shut down include CPChem’s three at Sweeny and two at Cedar Bayou; ExxonMobil’s three at Channelview and Baytown; Ineos’s two at Alvin; and Shell’s one at Deer Park. Dow has shut down one of its Freeport crackers and is running two at reduced rates. LyondellBasell has shut down two of the three crackers it has at La Porte and Channelview, while one has been stabilized.

The Houston area is also home to five on-purpose propylene units. The Enterprise propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at Mont Belvieu is offline, as is the Flint Hills Resources PDH unit in Houston. Dow’s Freeport PDH unit is running at reduced rates, as are LyondellBasell’s metathesis units at Channelview.

The six steam crackers in the “golden triangle” northeast of Houston have all been shut down. These include BASF/Total, CPChem, and Motiva’s respective units at Port Arthur as well as Dow’s unit at Orange, ExxonMobil’s at Beaumont, and Indorama’s at Port Neches. BASF/Total’s metathesis unit is also offline.

Eastman’s three steam crackers in Longview, Texas, have also been shut down.

IHS Markit has confirmed the shutdown of three steam crackers in Louisiana: Westlake Chemical’s units at Sulphur and Indorama’s unit at Westlake. The status of Louisiana’s other steam crackers, which account for about 24% of US ethylene capacity, is uncertain. Located further east, they have been spared the worst of the cold, but with the winter storm moving in their direction over the next few days, that could change.

As MRC informed earlier, in late August 2020, Chevron Phillips Chemical shut down its Port Arthur, Texas cracker in preparation for Hurricane Laura. The unit's capacity of 855,000 mt/year. Chevron Phillips also shut its Cedar Bayou, Texas, crackers ahead of the storm. The company's Cedar Bayou crackers 1 and 2 have capacities of 837,000 mt/year and 1.7 million mt/year, respectively.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC