Dow signs MoU to establish South China Specialties Hub

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Zhanjiang Economic and Technological Development Zone Administrative Committee (Zhanjiang EDZ) to build the Dow South China Specialties Hub, a multi-year project providing customers local access to Dow’s portfolio of high value products and innovative technologies, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"Asia Pacific is the world’s largest chemicals market. Demands in the region are evolving towards high-value, specialty chemicals that help customers meet rapidly-developing megatrends in mobility, urbanization and sustainability,” said Jon Penrice, Dow Asia Pacific president. “The establishment of the Dow South China Specialties Hub would further position Dow to provide industry-leading materials science solutions to continue to grow with our customers in China and throughout the entire region."

The new manufacturing hub would extend Dow’s local reach, further enhancing supply reliability, responsiveness to market needs and customized innovation, and better positions customers for success in markets including automotive, pharmaceuticals, cleaning chemicals, apparel, lubricants and adhesives. Aligned to Dow’s focus on low capital intensive, fast payback and high return growth projects, under the MOU the Company would invest approximately USD250 million to construct specialty polyurethanes and alkoxylates facilities, with a total product capacity of approximately 250,000 tons. The site also offers opportunity for future development and expansion at the Specialties Hub.

Henry Ling, vice president of operations, Dow Asia Pacific, said, “The South China Specialties Hub will be built to Dow’s world-class environmental, health and safety standards and aligned to Dow’s recent commitment to become net carbon neutral by 2050. The new hub will adopt and employ advanced digital, intelligence and automation technologies to create a manufacturing space of world-class safety, productivity, reliability and sustainability performance."

"Dow is a global leader of material science solutions and we are happy to see its planned investment for establishing a specialties manufacturing hub in Zhanjiang,” said Liang Pei, party secretary of the Zhanjiang EDZ. “We are committed to turning our petrochemical park at the Donghai Island into a world-class one, providing a modern infrastructure and necessary supportive policies to Dow and the park’s other companies."

The Dow South China Specialties Hub will be located at Donghai Island in Zhanjiang, the farthest southern tip of mainland China. Unique advantages include a deep-water port, transportation networks, and a world-class chemical park with advanced infrastructure and services. The strategic location enables Dow to cover demand across Asia Pacific.

As MRC informed earlier, last year, Dow Chemical conducted a scheduled maintenance at its PDH unit in Freeport. Thus, the planned turnaround started in the week ended July 10 and lasted for 45 days.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

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.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Products has started operating a new air separation unit (ASU) in Chandler, Arizona, supplying gaseous nitrogen and high-purity oxygen under long-term contracts mainly to electronics industry and other customers, according to Chemweek.

The ASU is the sixth owned and operated by Air Products at the plant site in Chandler, it says.

The new unit is capable of producing over 2 million standard cubic feet/hour of nitrogen and over 20,000 standard cubic feet/hour of oxygen. Air Products says the location at Chandler, which it has operated since 1981, has potential for future capacity expansions. The company also operates two nitrogen pipelines connecting the facility to semiconductor manufacturers and other customers in the area.

The latest ASU project “also added a significant amount of additional low-pressure liquid nitrogen storage to maintain the reliability model at the site, as well as high purity oxygen storage,” it says.

As MRC reported earlier, in January 2021, Air Products signed a long-term gas supply contract with Shandong Binhua New Material Co., Ltd. (Binhua), a subsidiary of Befar Group, which is a leading petroleum and chemical enterprise in China, to support Binhua’s flagship chemical project located in the Beihai Economic Development Zone of Binzhou City, Shandong Province, China.

Under the contract, Air Products will build, own and operate several onsite gas production facilities in the Binzhou Port-centered Chemical Industry Park in phases, including an energy-efficient air separation unit (ASU), to meet Binhua’s gaseous oxygen and nitrogen demand. The ASU will also provide liquid products to other customers in the park and the growing merchant market in Shandong Province. All facilities will be fully operational in 2022.

We remind that China's Shandong Befar resumed production at its No. 1 an 3 propylene oxide lines in Binzhou City (Binzhou, Shandong Province, China) on June 28, 2020, following a scheduled maintenance. The turnaround at these lines with a total capacity of 200,000 mt/year of propylene oxide began on June 14, 2020.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Air Products has been operating in China since 1987 and was one of the first multinational industrial gases corporations to invest in the country. With nearly 90 operating entities, over 200 production facilities and more than 4,000 employees, the company has already established a strong market position across China and serves a broad range of industries. In Shandong Province, Air Products has built a strong presence and supply network since its first investment in 1995, comprising several operating entities, production facilities, hydrogen fueling stations and engineering design capability.
MRC

1. Chevron to slow carbon emissions, raise oil and gas output through 2025

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron outlined a plan to expand oil and gas production through 2025, but without spending significantly more, and pledged to limit the pace of growth of its carbon emissions, reported Reuters. Falling energy demand due to pandemic-driven lockdowns sent the industry into a tailspin in 2020 and led Chevron to a USD5.54 billion annual loss, its first since 2016. Investors have been pressuring Chevron and other oil companies to hold spending flat and reduce emissions that contribute to climate change. Competitors Royal Dutch Shell , BP Plc and Exxon Mobil have vowed to hold output flat or allow it to decline to meet climate or financial goals.



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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures fell during the mid-morning trade in Asia March 16, as the market sentiment was knocked by a trifecta of rising COVID-19 cases, supply-side worries and strengthening dollar, reported S&P Global.

At 10:48 am Singapore time (0248 GMT), the ICE Brent May contract was down 83 cents/b (1.20%) from the March 15 settle to USD68.05/b, while the April NYMEX light sweet crude contract was down by 76 cents/b (1.16%) to USD64.63/b.

Analysts said the oil market has entered a period of consolidation following a rally that has seen both the ICE Brent and the NYMEX light sweet crude markers jump more than 30%.

"It looks like the bullish crude moves that stemmed from the Texas deep freeze and the reopening of the economy are now fully priced in. Oil prices have been extremely bullish since November and now it seems that we could finally be entering a consolidation period," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, in a March 16 note.

Moya was among the analysts who noted that worrying developments on the pandemic front were also putting pressure on prices, as he said that rising infection numbers have been seen in US states such as New Jersey and Michigan.

Coronavirus-related fears simmered after reports emerged that several European countries, contrary to advice by the World Health Organization, are pausing the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine over concerns that the vaccine may cause blood clots. The decision has added doubts over whether the region can recover from the pandemic.

Investors are also keeping a close watch on oil supply, with ANZ analysts saying in a March 16 note that both Iranian exports and US shale supply are on an uptrend.

"The number of crews working wells jumped 10% last week as the US shale industry recovered from the arctic blast that shut the industry," they said. "Traders are also concerned about rising Iranian exports (as) China has been buying increasing amounts of (Iran's) oil."

Meanwhile, the US dollar continued to strengthen, putting further pressure on oil prices. At 10:39 am, the June contract for the US dollar index was up 0.227% from the previous close at 91.885.

"A stronger dollar should start to weigh on commodities and that should prevent oil prices from rallying too much," said Moya.

In inventory data, commercial US crude stocks are expected to have increased 400,000 barrels to around 498.8 million barrels in the week ended March 12, analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts said. The counter-seasonal build would leave stocks 6.5% above the five-year average of US Energy Information Administration data, opening the widest surplus since early January.

The weekly inventory reports from the American Petroleum Institute and the EIA are due to be released March 16 and March 17, respectively.

As MRC informed previously, oil producers face an unprecedented challenge to balance supply and demand as factors including the pace and response to COVID-19 vaccines cloud the outlook, according to an official with International Energy Agency's (IEA) statement.

We remind that the COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented decline in demand affecting all sections of the Russian economy, which has impacted the demand for petrochemicals in the short-term. However, the pandemic triggered an increase in the demand for polymers in food packaging, and cleaning and hygiene products, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. With Russian petrochemical companies having the advantage of access to low-cost feedstock, and proximity to demand-rich Asian (primarily China) and European markets for the supply of petrochemical products, these companies appear to be well-positioned to derive full benefits from an improving market environment and global economy post-COVID-19, says GlobalData.

We also remind that in December 2020, Sibur, Gazprom Neft, and Uzbekneftegaz agreed to cooperate on potential investments in Uzbekistan including a major expansion of Uzbekneftegaz’s existing Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex (SGCC) and the proposed construction of a new gas chemicals facility. The signed cooperation agreement for the projects includes “the creation of a gas chemical complex using methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, and the expansion of the production capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex”.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announced that its subsidiary NextChem, and Agilyx Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Agilyx AS (Euronext Growth (Oslo)б have entered into an agreement to support the development of advanced chemical recycling facilities globally, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This agreement combines Agilyx’ s leading pyrolysis technology with NextChem’s expertise, as a leader in licensing, implementation, and EPC services for plastics recycling solutions.

Under the agreement, NextChem will act as a technology and EPC partner for Agilyx. The aim of this partnership is to accelerate the implementation of chemical recycling facilities globally, utilizing Agilyx advanced pyrolysis technology in the conversion of mixed waste plastic into circular olefins and circular fuels. With a longstanding expertise in the advanced recycling of plastics, Agilyx’s proprietary chemical recycling process can turn post-use plastics back into their original chemical components for continued use, increasing the recovery of plastics that cannot be recycled with traditional recycling processes.

The scope of the partnership, in its first phase, is to develop a series of chemical recycling projects for third parties. The initial focus will be on two already identified projects, one in Europe and one in South America. Furthermore, the agreement would represent an opportunity for co-investments in specific projects in order to accelerate the overall commercial pipeline.

“We are proud to include this new partnership with Agilyx into our portfolio and further develop our basket of technological solutions for the circular economy, that already include Upcycling, waste to chemicals, waste to fuels, polymerization and now also thermochemical conversion (pyrolysis). We are strongly committed to finding solutions for plastics sustainability along its life-cycle and to enabling a new circular, low carbon economy.” commented Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Maire Tecnimont Group and NextChem.

“This alliance represents an acceleration for Agilyx to expand our footprint and implement our advanced recycling technology globally,” said Tim Stedman, Agilyx CEO. “NextChem is a global leader in the deployment and realization of projects and technologies for energy transition and circular economy and we are pleased to be partnering with them to accelerate our go to market strategy as we seek to expand our technology licensing.”

As MRC reported earlier, Agilyx Corporation (AGLX), a wholly owned subsidiary of Agilyx AS (Euronext Growth (Oslo) and a leader in advanced recycling technology, established Cyclyx International LLC., on January 1, 2021. ExxonMobil joined Agilyx to become a founding member of the joint venture which is focused on helping increase plastic waste recycling. Cyclyx will aggregate and pre-process plastic waste to meet the technical requirements of a wide range of recycling processes while ensuring reliable supply of feedstock to its customers. Cyclyx aims to transform the current supply chain and help accelerate the growth of the advanced recycling industry by connecting companies looking for plastic waste solutions with customers engaged in recycling initiatives.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC