Marathon Galveston Bay refinery in Texas preparing crude unit for restart

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marathon Petroleum Corp is preparing to restart a CDU by early next week at its 585,000 bpd Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The restart of the 225,000-bpd Pipestill 3B CDU will be the second crude unit restart since the refinery was shut on Feb. 15 by severe cold weather, the sources said. Marathon restarted the 225,000-bpd Pipestill 3A CDU on Sunday.

As MRC informed earlier, most units were shut on Sunday night and Monday morning (15-16 February) at Marathon Petroleum Corp's 585,000 barrel-per-day Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, as temperatures plunged due to a Arctic cold front reaching the Gulf Coast.

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) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc pushed back the restart of its 318,000 bpd joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery to March 13, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Shell spokesman Curtis Smith declined comment.

Shell had planned to restart the 270,000-bpd DU-2 crude distillation unit (CDU), the largest at the refinery, by early this week, the sources said.

Shell is continuing repairs at the refinery to enable it to restart from the Feb. 15 shutdown because of cold weather, the sources said. Repairs could last until April.

The Deer Park refinery is a 50-50 joint venture between Shell and Mexican national oil company Pemex. Shell is the managing partner.

As MRC informed previously, in early November 2020, Royal Dutch Shell announced it was closing its refinery in Convent, Louisiana, the largest such US facility and first on the US Gulf Coast to shut down since the coronavirus pandemic devastated worldwide demand.

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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess has lifted a force majeure declared on supplies of certain polymer-based compounds, caprolactam, and other materials from its sites in Germany and Belgium following technical issues last year, according to Chemweek.

The company lifted force majeure on supplies of nylon-6 copolymer-based compounds and film materials produced at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site in Germany, and on supplies of caprolactam produced at its plant in Antwerp, Belgium, the producer told its customers in a letter on 18 February.

“With our letters dated 30 October and 22 December 2020, we regretfully had to inform you about technical defects in our caprolactam plant in Antwerp and a reactor in Uerdingen, which made it necessary to shut down both plants,” the producer said in the letter. The force majeure for the EAME region has now been lifted “with immediate effect” for its caprolactam and Durethan-brand compounds, and nylon-6 copolymer-based Durethan-brand compounds and films, it said.

The 220,000-metric tons/year caprolactam plant in Antwerp and the Uerdingen site are both operating at “normal production levels,” it added. The Krefeld-Uerdingen site has a nameplate capacity to produce 120,000 metric tons/year of nylon-6.

Lanxess has, however, warned customers of potential shortages due to raw material and logistical constraints. “The demand in the market is extraordinarily high and, due to the force majeure, we are still in the process to rebuild our inventory levels. In consequence, we can hardly offer any additional quantities in all our product groups,” it said.

The European nylon-6 market is typically structurally long, according to Prem Chitkara, director/nylon and polyester fibers EMEA at IHS Markit. “However, [the market] has been experiencing a somewhat tight situation since the fourth quarter of 2020 due to extremely healthy demand from automotive, film packaging, and electrical and electronics components,” he says. “The removal of Lanxess’s force majeure will bring some relief sentiment to the current tight market."

Caprolactam is used to produce nylon-6 resins, used in various applications such as fibers and film materials. Nylon-6 copolymer-based compounds are used in the production of automotive parts and electrical and electronic components.

As per MRC, specialty chemicals company Lanxess expanded its capacity for black synthetic iron oxide pigments at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site by more than 5,000 metric tons per year. “The increased demand from the construction industry, in particular for our unique black pigments to color concrete, can be even better met with the debottlenecking measures that have now been completed,” says Holger Huppeler, head of the Inorganic Pigments business unit at Lanxess. The company is thus continuing the systematic expansion of its production capacities for synthetic iron oxide pigments. Lanxess is the only supplier worldwide to produce these pigments using the Laux process.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SUEZ signed a contract for a large wastewater treatment project and has been awarded an associated 10-year service agreement with Irkutsk Polymer Plant of Irkutsk Oil Company, one of the largest independent oil and gas producers located in Russia building a new, modern polymer plant in the Eastern Siberia region of the country, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Through its Water Technologies & Solutions business, SUEZ will supply critical water technology for the new plant and will guarantee performance and membrane replacements for the duration of the service agreement.

Selected for its experience with similar projects in Russia that face harsh weather conditions and winter temperatures consistently well below freezing, SUEZ will treat all wastewater from the new plant using 3 main technologies; membrane bioreactor (MBR), electrodialysis reversal (EDR) and thermal vapor recompression (TVR). The combination of technologies will enable the plant to reach near-zero liquid discharge and implement water reuse, thereby limiting the plant’s impact on the local environment.

"This project demonstrates the value of our broad portfolio and how the right combination of advanced technologies can help a customer reach their unique goals,” said Kevin Cassidy, executive vice president engineered systems for SUEZ – Water Technologies & Solutions. “Because of our global expertise and local experience, we have the honor to help Irkutsk Polymer Plant reuse up to 98% of their wastewater."

For the remaining effluent stream, the treatment process will enable the Irkutsk Polymer Plant to meet strict government regulations for discharge, including the fishery body standards of the Russian Federation for discharged water, which are among the strictest on the globe. Once commissioned, the wastewater treatment plant will treat a total maximum design flow of 400 m3/hr. The plant is expected to be commissioned in 2024.

"During the construction and further operation of the plant, advanced technologies and equipment from the world's leading manufacturers will be involved,” said Egor Fomin, director of the Irkutsk Polymer Plant. “Thanks to our partners, including SUEZ, we intend to create in Eastern Siberia a high-tech safe production for the deep processing of hydrocarbons."

As per MRC, LyondellBasell, one of the world"s largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies and SUEZ, a world leader in environmental services, jointly announced the acquisition of TIVACO, a plastics recycling company located in Blandain, Belgium.

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) -- BASF started up its new acrylic dispersions production line in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, doubling its capacity, according to Process world wide.
The state-of-the-art facility will produce acrylic dispersions serving the coatings, construction, adhesives, and packaging industries in Asia Pacific.

The new production line complements the existing set-up and allows the production of new dispersions technologies under Acronal Edge, Acronal Plus, Joncryl and next generation Acronal Eco product ranges. We are committed to ensuring that our systems are environment-friendly. This new line is equipped with the condensate stripping recovery technology that reduces freshwater consumption and wastewater generation.

The production site at Pasir Gudang is situated in the integrated multi-purpose Johor Port Free Trade Zone, thus making it a strategic location for exports to the region. “With proximity to three world-class ports, the expansion will be a key supply point for our customers in Malaysia, Singapore and other ASEAN countries, also in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). The first commercial quantities will be produced for our customers in March this year,” said Peter van der Zwan, Director of ASEAN & ANZ Dispersions & Resins, BASF.

“As a growth business within BASF, we will continue to invest into enhancing our asset network for polymer dispersions in this region, which is strongly backed by our own R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific. The new production line enables us to capture growth opportunities in the fast-growing emerging markets, as well as enhance our reliability towards our customers in ASEAN and ANZ,” said Jeff Knight, Senior Vice President, Dispersions & Resins, Asia Pacific, BASF.

BASF began operating its first acrylics dispersions production line in Malaysia in 2015 at Pasir Gudang.

We remind, as MRC reported earlier, that in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted last Wednesday due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other's capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year, according to IHS Markit data.

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.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC