Hexion sells China phenolic resins unit in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BDA Partners is pleased to announce that its client, Hexion Inc., has sold its China phenolic resins plant to Red Avenue New Materials Group Co. Ltd. (Red Avenue), a publicly listed Chinese company providing diversified new materials for electronics, environmental protection, tire, and auto markets, said Chemengonline.

Hexion’s China phenolic resins plant was part of Hexion’s global Phenolic Resins (PSR) division, which has separately been acquired by Black Diamond and Investindustrial. The PSR business is an established technology leader with a long track record for quality and reliability.

The China phenolic resins plant was built in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, as a greenfield project, which was started in 2012 and completed in 2016. The facility was constructed in line with Hexion’s global standards, enjoys convenient access to suppliers and customers, and is well regarded in the region for its unmatched product quality and high EHS standards.

The US-headquartered resins and coatings producer has sold the unit to local firm Red Avenue New Materials, according to BDA Partners, which advised on the deal. Located in Jiangsu Province, wholly operated by Hexion since 2015, the sale is separate to that of the company’s global phenolic resins business, which has been acquired by Black Diamond and Investindustrial. Deal terms were not disclosed.

As per MRC, Hexion, a major US manufacturer of phenol and bisphenol A (BPA), has resumed bisphenol A (BPA) production in Pernis, The Netherlands. According to a letter from the company to customers on February 11, the company announced force majeure for the supply of BPA from a plant in Pernis with a capacity of 120 thousand tons per year due to unexpected equipment shutdowns due to cold weather.

Bisphenol A is used as a hardener in the manufacture of plastics and plastic-based products. It is one of the key monomers in the production of epoxy resins and polycarbonate (PC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast, the estimated consumption of PC granulate in Russia (excluding imports and exports to Belarus) amounted to 89.3 thousand tons at the end of 2020, which is 14% higher than the volume in 2019 (78,500 tonnes).

Hexion Inc., formerly Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc., is a chemical company based in Columbus, Ohio. It manufactures thermosetting resins and related technologies and specialty products. Hexion has two divisions: the epoxy, phenolic and coating resins division and the forest products division.
MRC

Asia distillates-jet fuel refining margins post third straight weekly drop

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asian jet fuel refining margins dropped on Friday, posting their third consecutive weekly decline, weighed down by persistent weakness in aviation demand, reported Reuters.

Refining profit margins, also known as cracks, for jet fuel were at USD3.53 per barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, 7 cents lower from Thursday.

The jet fuel cracks have dropped 13% this week, and remained nearly 70% lower than their five-year seasonal average for this time of the year, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. Prolonged international travel restrictions and sluggish pace of vaccinations in several markets have impacted the aviation demand recovery, while the recent strength in feedstock crude prices have hurt the refining margins, trade sources said.

The aviation market is expected to gradually strengthen in coming months as countries lift border restrictions, but a majority of market watchers believe it would take years for the sector to reach pre-pandemic levels. "I think the aviation sector needs more time to achieve a sustainable or stable recovery. Global vaccines rollouts definitely need more than six months," a Singapore-based trader said. "Our lives, be it personal or for business are never going to be the same as before. We cannot just grab our bags and fly anywhere we want, without having to worry if the place is safe enough." The regional jet fuel market, however, is getting some support as supplies are currently limited with refineries in South Korea not running high and some refineries in Japan scheduled to undergo spring maintenance, traders said.

Cash discounts for jet fuel widened by 10 cents on Friday to 80 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes, the biggest discounts since Oct. 22.

ARA INVENTORIES - Gasoil stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub dropped 4.8% to 2.4 million tonnes in the week to March 11, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed. - The data showed ARA jet fuel inventories rose 0.6% to 964,000 tonnes.

TENDERS - Sri Lanka's Ceylon Petroleum Corp (Ceypetco) is seeking gasoil for delivery into Colombo over the eight months between June and January 2022.

As MRC informed before, slumping fuel consumption during the pandemic is accelerating the long-term shift of refining capacity from North America and Europe to Asia, and from older, smaller refineries to modern, higher-capacity mega-refineries. The result is a wave of closures, often centering on refineries that only narrowly survived the previous closure wave in the years after the recession in 2008/09.

We remind that PetroChina has nearly doubled the amount of Russian crude being processed at its refinery in Dalian, the company's biggest, since January 2018, as a new supply agreement had come into effect. The Dalian Petrochemical Corp, located in the northeast port city of Dalian, was expected to process 13 million tonnes, or 260,000 bpd of Russian pipeline crude in 2018, up by about 85 to 90 percent from the previous year's level. Dalian has the capacity to process about 410,000 bpd of crude. The increase follows an agreement worked out between the Russian and Chinese governments under which Russia's top oil producer Rosneft was to supply 30 million tonnes of ESPO Blend crude to PetroChina in 2018, or about 600,000 bpd. That would have represented an increase of 50 percent over 2017 volumes.

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

Saudi Arabia, Germany in landmark alliance on green hydrogen

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia and Germany on Thursday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost cooperation on the production and exploitation of hydrogen, said Arabnews.

The kingdom’s Minister of Energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said the MoU will build on existing Saudi-German dialogue on energy developments aimed at achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change, with a focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The world’s first large scale green hydrogen plant is currently under construction in the new “megacity” of Neom on the Red Sea coast. Officials hope the USD5 bn Air Products JV will be the first phase of a mission to turn the country into a global hydrogen hub.

Last year, Saudi Aramco shipped the world’s first cargo of blue hydrogen, with ammonia identified as a key carrier for hydrogen given existing shipping and logistics infrastructure and relatively lower transport costs. On the German side, the MoU was signed by Peter Altmayer, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy.

As per MRC, The European Union is offering assurances on funding for poorer members and countries' ability to choose their own energy mix, as it strives for a deal next week on a tougher target to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

As MRC informed earlier, auctions of carbon permits in the European Union's emissions trading system (ETS) next year will not start until late January or early February. For "technical reasons", auctions of permits on behalf of most EU countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, will kick off later than usual, the Commission said. This year's EU ETS auctions began on Jan. 7. Poland auctions its permits separately.

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, exluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).

MRC

Indian Oil Corp to develop Plastic Park in Paradip, India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) to develop Paradip Plastic Park, according to Kemicalinfo.

Under the MoU, to attract investments in downstream polymer industries at Paradip Plastic Park, IOCL announced a Special Strategic Incentives scheme.

An incentive of Rs 2000/MT (USD27.48/MT) on Polypropylene granules from Paradip Refinery shall be offered to the manufacturing units located in the Paradip Plastic Park till March 31, 2030.

As per the MoU, it is estimated that around 26 units will come up at the plastic Park with an estimated investment of Rs 5 billion (USD68.7 million) and is likely to generate direct and indirect employment of 6,000.

Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan said, “Keeping the enterprise and employment generation potential of the plastic sector in mind, Government of India has initiated the cluster development of the Industry through its Plastic Park scheme. Currently, six such parks have been approved by the Government of India, with Paradip Plastic Park being one of them,” adding that Odisha would become the nerve centre of industrialisation through rapid development in petrochemical, chemical, polymer, textile and fibre sectors.

With a project cost of Rs 1.07 billion (USD14.7 million), the park is spread over 120 acre of land and it is close to a national highway, a railway station and a port.

This project falls under the larger Petroleum Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) at Paradip, a release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office said.

Being the ‘Anchor Tenant’ in PCPIR with its Refinery & Petrochemical Complex, IOCL has now joined hands with IDCO for development of this project with 49% share, it said.

As MRC informed before, Indian Oil has just announced plans to expand the capacity of its refinery at Panipat, India, from 15 million metric tons/year (MMt/y), to 25 MMt/y. The company will also build a polypropylene (PP) unit and a catalytic dewaxing unit at the site. The cost of the project is 329.46 billion Indian rupees (USD4.45 billion). The plan is the latest in a series of projects approved by Indian Oil to improve integration with petrochemicals at the company's refinery sites. The capacity of the planned PP facility has not been disclosed.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated polyethylene (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

Advanced Petrochemical to close PDH, PP plants this week for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi-based Advanced Petrochemical Company, a key manufacturer of polypropylene (PP) products, plans to shut its propane degydranation (PDH) unit and PP plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia for maintenance, reported Chemweek.

These plants will be offstream from 11 March, 2021. PP plant is aimed to restart on 27 March, whereas PDH unit is to come back on-line on 5 April.

As MRC wrote before, SK Advanced is planning to start up the new PP plant in Ulsan, South Korea this March 2021 as construction works are nearly completed. The PP unit is a joint venture between PolyMirae and SK Advanced, using the “Spheripol” process of LyondellBasell, and have an annual output of 400,000 tons/year.

We remind that in December, 2020, Advanced Petrochemical Company said its subsidiary, Advanced Global Investment Company (AGIC), had signed off-take agreements for the sale of PP with two US-based groups - Vinmar International and Tricon Dry Chemicals - and Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan. As per the long-term deal, AGIC will supply 250,000 metric tonnes per annum of PP each to Vinmar and Tricon Dry Chemicals, while Mitsubishi will get 120,000 MT, stated Advanced Petrochemical Company in its filing to Saudi Tadawul.

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.
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