Japan assesses damage after earthquake struck near Fukushima

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan began assessing damage and restoring power after a magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck off Fukushima late Saturday, leaving about 150 people injured and temporarily cutting power to almost a million households, reported Bloomberg.

No deaths were reported, according to public broadcaster NHK, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference on Sunday that no incidents were reported from reactors. Six coal- and gas-fired power units, with a combined capacity of about 3.6 gigawatts, are offline due to the quake without any timeline for restart, according to the Japan Electric Power Exchange.

The powerful tremor, which was felt in Tokyo, occurred just one month before the 10-year anniversary of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that led to a meltdown at three reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant and left about 19,000 people dead or missing. The latest tremor was an aftershock of the 2011 quake, according to Japan’s national meteorologist.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said there was a minor overflow of water from the pool that stores used atomic fuel at the Fukushima nuclear plants, but no uncontrolled radiation was detected, NHK reported. Suga said Monday 12 people sustained serious injuries from the quake and 141 were slightly injured.

Mitsui Chemicals Inc. said its Ichihara plant, which includes a naphtha cracker, in Chiba was shut due to a power outage. It would take about 10 days to restart the plant.

ENEOS Holdings Inc. also said it temporarily suspended the Sendai refinery, while some units at the Negishi refinery were halted.

Idemitsu Kosan Co. said the sole crude distillation unit and some secondary units at the Chiba refinery were halted due to power outage following the quake. Some secondary units at the Keihin refinery operated by Idemitsu’s unit Toa Oil Co. were also shut.

As MRC informed earlier, Mitsui Chemicals operated its naphtha cracker normally following a maintenance turnaround. The company resumed operations at the cracker on July 19, 2020. The cracker was shut for maintenance on June 11, 2020. Located in Osaka, Japan, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 500,000 mt/year and a propylene capacity of 280,000 mt/year.

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) -- Canada’s Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is offering to acquire Canadian midstream energy and petrochemicals company Inter Pipeline (IPL) in a deal valued at Canadian dollar (CD) 13.5bn (USD10.6bn), said Reuters.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. made an unsolicited C$7.08 billion (USD5.6 billion) offer on Wednesday to buy Canada’s Inter Pipeline Ltd as it seeks to benefit from rebounding oil and gas demand, after an approach last year was rebuffed.

Brookfield, which owns and operates assets in the utilities, transport and storage sectors, said it has acquired 19.65% economic interest in Inter Pipeline, to become the top shareholder in the Calgary-based company.

The infrastructure firm offered C$16.50 per share for Inter Pipeline, a 23.13% premium Wednesday’s close, valuing the company’s equity at CD7.08 billion. Including debt, the deal is valued at about CD13.5 billion.

Brookfield said it is willing to sweeten its offer to between CD17 and USD18.25 a share if it is granted access to due diligence.

Brookfield said it started amassing Inter Pipeline shares in March 2020 and first approached the company to discuss a deal in September, but discussions stalled as the two companies had markedly different views of Inter Pipeline’s value.

As MRC informed erlier, Inter Pipeline Ltd. has announced that its board of directors has authorized the construction of a world-scale integrated propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) plant. The facilities, collectively referred to as the Heartland Petrochemical Complex, are estimated to cost USD3.5 B in aggregate and will be located in Strathcona County, Alberta near Inter Pipeline’s Redwater Olefinic Fractionator.

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).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- All units at ENEOS' 145,000 b/d Sendai refinery in northeast Japan automatically shutdown after a strong earthquake offshore Fukushima late Feb. 13, reported S&P Global with reference to a spokesman at the country's largest refiner's statement early Feb. 14.

A few unidentified units at ENEOS' 270,000 b/d Negishi refinery in Tokyo Bay also shutdown due to a power outage triggered by the earthquake, he added.

It was not immediately clear when ENEOS will be able to restart the Sendai and Negishi refining units, the spokesman said.

The earthquake hit offshore Fukushima at a depth of 55 km at 11:07 pm local time (1407 GMT) Feb. 13, and the magnitude was revised tentatively to 7.3 from a preliminary 7.1, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

As MRC informed before, ENEOS Corporation (formerly known as JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy) restarted its naphtha cracker in Kawasaki on 1 February 2021. The company shut this cracker with an annual capacity of 515,000 tons/year of ethylene, 300,000 tons/year of propylene, and 105,000 tons/year of butadiene on 4 December, 2020, for repairment after a technical issue reported at the butadiene separation unit and initially planned to resume operations on 28 December.

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.

Japan's largest refiner JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy was renamed ENEOS Corporation on 25 June, 2020, as part of a wider re-organization of the parent company JXTG Holdings. The move, which also involved renaming the parent company to ENEOS Holdings upon approval at its annual shareholders meeting in June 2020, comes as it strives to be a more comprehensive energy and materials company under its 2040 vision announced in May, 2019. JXTG Holdings was formed as a result of a merger between JX Holdings and TonenGeneral in April 2017. This followed the establishment of JX Holdings as a result of the merger between Nippon Oil and Nippon Mining Holdings in April 2010.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- France’s Kem One declared a force majeure (FM) on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) supplies from its Saint-Fons site, France on February 3, reported NCT with reference to a source from the company.

Rising water levels on Rhone River, which interrupted the transportation of feedstock VCM, was cited as the reason behind the FM.

The interrupted navigation on Rhone River prevented the company from transporting vinyl chlorie monomer(VCM) to its Saint-Fons site and forced it to slow down production of PVC there. Internal stocks could not be replenished enough due to very high demand from customers, the source added.

Meanwhile, PVC production at the Balan site has been put under allocation for the same reason.

Saint-Fons site can produce around 210,000 tons/year of PVC, while the company’s Balan plant has a PVC production of 300,000 tons/year.

As MRC wrote before, in late July, 2020, ferric chloride leaked from Kem One’s (Lyon, France) PVC production site at Berre, France, into the Mediterranean Sea. Several reports quoted then a Kem One spokesperson, who confirmed that the leak came from a storage tank and that the liquid was discharged into the sea via a storm sewer. The company said the incident caused no injuries.

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.

Kem One, a fully integrated vinyl production company, was established mid-2012 following the acquisition of Arkema's vinyl products division by the Klesch Group. The company employs 2,600 people at 22 manufacturing sites, primarily in Europe but also in Asia and North America. Europe’s second-largest producer of PVC with revenues in excess of one billion euros, Kem One continues to grow and build on its numerous strengths with a view to becoming market leader for integrated vinyl solutions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall production of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) totalled 89,800 tonnes last month, down by 2% year on year. At the same time, two producers managed to increase their PVC output, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

January production of unmixed PVC was 89,800 tonnes versus 91,300 tonnes and 82,900 tonnes in January and December 2020, respectively. RusVinyl and Kaustic (Volgograd) reduced their capacity utilisation. Overall output of polymer totalled 976,500 tonnes in 2020 versus 975,000 tonnes a year earlier.

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

RusVinyl produced 31,100 tonnes of PVC in January, with emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) accounting for 2,600 tonnes of the whole production volume, compared to 32,400 tonnes of PVC in January 2020 and 27,400 tonnes in December 2020. RusVinyl's overall output reached 332,900 tonnes in 2020, compared to 339,800 tonnes in 2019.

SayanskKhimPlast maintained a high level of capacity utilisation last month and produced 27,900 tonnes of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC), which virtually corresponded to the figures in January and December 2020. The Sayansk plant managed to produce 299,500 tonnes of SPVC in 2020 versus 294,500 tonnes a year earlier.

Bashkir Soda Company produced 23,500 tonnes of SPVC in January 2021, compared to 23,600 tonnes in January 2020 and 23,100 tonnes in December 2020. The Baskhir plant's overall production of PVC reached 267,600 tonnes in 2020, up 2% year on year.

Kaustik, Volgograd produced 7,400 tonnes of SPVC last month, whereas this figure was at 7,500 tonnes in January 2020 and 6,900 tonnes in December 2020. The plant's overall output of resin reached 76,500 tonnes in 2020, compared to 77,500 tonnes in 2019.

MRC