Large crude unit shut at Lyondell oil refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries shut the large crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 263,776-bpd Houston oil refinery to begin repairs to the cooling water system, said two sources familiar with plant operations, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Prior to being shut, the 147,000-bpd 537 CDU was circulating at minimum operating levels following the severe winter weather that hit the Houston area on Feb. 15, the sources said.

Lyondell spokeswoman Chevalier Gray declined to discuss the status of individual units at Lyondell’s Gulf Coast assets.

“Power has been restored to our U.S. Gulf Coast asset locations and personnel are performing storm-related repairs,” Gray said. “When repairs are complete and raw materials and utilities become available, we will safely resume operations."

Lyondell shut the 120,000-bpd 536 CDU on Feb. 1 for planned maintenance.

As per MRC, LyondellBasell (LBI), one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world and the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), one of the largest integrated energy companies in China, have announced the signing of an agreement to form a 50:50 joint venture (JV) which will produce propylene oxide (PO) and styrene monomer (SM) in China's domestic market. First announced on December 23, 2019, the JV will operate under the name Ningbo ZRCC LyondellBasell New Material Company Limited.

We remind that in September 2020, LyondellBasell announced that Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company LLC (DRPIC) selected LyondellBasell's world-leading polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) technologies for a new facility. The new plants will comprise of a PP plant that will utilize LyondellBasell's Spheripol PP process technology to produce 280,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of PP and a 480-m.t./yr high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plant which will utilize LyondellBasell's Hostalen ACP process technology and will be built in Al Duqm, Oman.

Styrene is the main feestock for the production of polystyrene (PS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics totalled 454,990 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020, which corresponds to the last year's figure. November estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics grew by 4% year on year to 45,830 tonnes.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges, like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road, and ensuring the safe and effective functionality in electronics and appliances. LyondellBasell sells products into more than 100 countries and is the world's largest producer of polymer compounds and the largest licensor of polyolefin technologies. In 2020, LyondellBasell was named to Fortune Magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies" for the third consecutive year

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Chemical has concluded an agreement with Kazanorgsintez (KOS), in the Republic of Tatarstan of the Russian Federation, to license out its high-pressure production process for low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) to boost KOS’s polyethylene production, said the company.

KOS started manufacturing polyethylene in 1965. Among the leading Russian petrochemical companies, it is now one of the largest domestic producers of polyethylene. With the goal of increasing production capacity and further diversifying the product mix at its manufacturing site in Kazan, the capital city of Tatarstan, KOS is removing part of its existing manufacturing facilities and installing a state-of-the-art facility. For this facility, KOS has adopted Sumitomo Chemical’s high-pressure production process. The new facility will have an annual production capacity of 100KTA.

Sumitomo Chemical’s high pressure polyethylene technology is a proprietary autoclaving polyethylene production process, which is switchable between LDPE and EVA in one manufacturing facility. For EVA, a wide range of product grades can be accommodated by adjusting the spike level of vinyl acetate. The technology is also energy efficient because of its high monomer reaction efficiency, and offers excellent operational stability. These points were highly regarded and led to the conclusion of this license agreement.

Sumitomo Chemical continues to improve the business portfolio of its Petrochemicals & Plastics Sector through the global expansion of its technology licensing activities and address issues faced by the petrochemical industry.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2020, Sumitomo Chemical and Axens signed a license agreement of ethanol-to-ethylene technology Atol for Sumitomo Chemical’s waste-to-polyolefins project in Japan. In the project, to promote circular economy, Axens’ Atol technology will transform ethanol produced from waste into polymer-grade ethylene that will be polymerized in Sumitomo Chemical’s assets into polyolefin, a key product in the petrochemical industry.

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) -- Epsilyte (The Woodlands, Texas) says it will raise its prices for all grades of expandable polystyrene (EPS) by an additional 12 cents/pound (cts/lb) as of 1 March 2021, or as contracts allow, due to continued increases in feedstock costs, said Chemweek.

The price hike is in addition to a previously announced increase, also due to be implemented on 1 March, of 5 cts/lb. The EPS producer says the total increase of 17 cts/lb “is necessary to keep pace with rapidly escalating feedstock costs.” It also implemented price rises in January and February for the same reasons.

EPS demand has remained strong in recent months amid strong demand from construction and foam food packaging applications.

EPS is a rigid form of polystyrene (PS) used in insulation foams for the construction industry as well as for packaging.

As per MRC, Epsilyte (Woodlands, Texas) increased prices by 4 cents per pound (USD88 per tonne) from February 1 on all PSV-S grades in North America. In January, the company raised PSV-S prices by 6 cents per pound.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, in Russia, the estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics for the eleven months of 2020 amounted to 454.990 tonnes, which corresponds to the consumption indicator for the same period last year. The estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in the country in November increased by 4% compared to the same month of 2019 and amounted to 45,830 tonnes.

Major North American producers of EPS include Styropek, EPSilyte, Styrochem, Nexkemia and Dart Polymers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Synthomer (Harlow, UK) has released a statement by its executive board following media reports of a potential USD3-billion bid for the business, saying it "confirms it is not in discussions regarding a possible offer for the company", said Chemweek.

The statement, which Synthomer says was issued following "press speculation," is in response to a Bloomberg report that private equity firm CVC Capital Partners was exploring a potential bid for Synthomer, according to "people with knowledge of the matter."

CVC was reported to have made an initial approach to Synthomer to gauge its interest in a deal, although the two parties were said to not be holding any negotiations. A representative for CVC declined to comment.

In January, Synthomer raised guidance for its full-year 2020 EBITDA earnings by 10% compared with its prior forecast, due mainly to a stronger trading performance in the fourth quarter. It also announced current CEO Calum MacLean intends to stand down as CEO by January 2022.

The company is scheduled to release its full-year results on 4 March.

As per MRC, Synthomer (Harlow, UK) says it decided to close its styrene-butadiene-rubber (SBR) production site at Oulu, Finland, by the end of the first quarter of 2021. The company confirmed in August that it was in a consultation process with employees at Oulu concerning future options for the facility.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, 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-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Siegfried says its core net profit for 2020 increased 10.4%, to 72.2 million Swiss francs (USD79.6 million) on sales up 1.4%, to SFr845.1 million, said Chemweek.

Core EBITDA also grew by 6.2%, to SFr149.4 million. The positive performance was driven by growth in the company’s two businesses with sales in drug substances going up 1.4%, to SFr647.8 million, and drug products’ sales increasing 1.2%, to SFr197.2 million. Fourth-quarter figures have not been disclosed.

"Siegfried achieved a robust operating result in a challenging environment and exceeded its own targets in terms of sales and margin,” says Wolfgang Wienand, CEO at Siegfried. The company has also been active in an “M&A environment that has largely come to a standstill,” Wienand says. “With the acquisition of two large drug products sites from Novartis in Spain, Siegfried has reached the next level and is now among the leaders in the CDMO market," he adds.

Siegfried expects “a significant jump” in sales in 2021, to well above SFr1 billion, driven by robust organic growth in all business areas, the contributions of the two former Novartis sites, and the additional business from a cooperation and supply agreement with BioNTech for the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The forecast increase in sales is expected to lift profitability toward “the target range of a core EBITDA margin of around 20%,” the company says. “We are looking to the medium-term development of our company with healthy optimism and expect robust organic growth with a further stepwise expansion of our profitability,” Siegfried says.

As per MRC, Siegfried (Zofingen, Switzerland) says net profit for the first half of 2020 shrunk 33.2% year on year (YOY) to 20.67 million Swiss francs (USD22.62 million) on revenue that was slightly lower at SFr388 million, down 1.4% YOY.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, 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-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.
MRC