Output of chemical products in Russia up by 7.5% in Jan-Feb 2021

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of chemical products rose in February 2021 by 5.3% year on year. Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 7.5% in the first two months of 2021, according to Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, mineral fertilizers accounted for the greatest increase in the January-February output.

Production of benzene dropped to 113,000 tonnes in February 2021, compared to 120,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 241,000 tonnes over the stated period, down by 7.5% year on year.

February production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 98,400 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) versus 113,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of caustic soda totalled 211,400 tonnes in the first two months of 2021, down by 4.6% year on year.

2,098,000 tonnes of mineral fertilizers (in terms of 100% nutrients) were produced in February 2021 versus 2,318,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall, Russian plants produced slightly over 4,416,000 tonnes of fertilizers in January-February 2021, up by 15.4% year on year.

Last month's production of polymers in primary form was 861,000 tonnes versus 196,000 tonnes in January. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 1,770,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 8.4% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The collaboration between BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, and OMV, the international, integrated oil, gas and chemical company headquartered in Vienna, has reached a new milestone with the commissioning of OMV's new isobutene (ISO C4) plant at the Burghausen site, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The ISO C4 plant is based on technology developed jointly by the two companies. The plant’s production capacity is 60,000 t/a.

The plant’s exceptional energy efficiency saves 20,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. Up to 80% of the heating energy required for the new process can be met by thermal discharge from an existing associated facility thanks to a heat integration approach.

The new unit for the production of high-purity isobutene, which does not need chemical conversion of isobutene, has been integrated into the existing metathesis plant at OMV’s Burghausen site.The isobutene produced here complements OMV’s existing product portfolio and will be used for manufacturing glues, grease and other chemicals such as antioxidants, as well as in the production of vitamin C.

Investment volume of this largescale project including auxiliary facilities was EUR64 mn. Construction on the plant had started in the summer of 2019. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the project was successfully realized with the implementation of a customized hygiene and safety concept.

“The new ISO C4 plant illustrates OMV’s innovative strength. It marks another step in implementing our chemicals strategy and safeguards the Burghausen site’s long-term future. The technology, jointly developed with our partner BASF, and the global patent are set to unlock new markets and customer segments for us. The project team has done an outstanding job. The first product deliveries have already been completed and they have met and even exceeded the expectations of everyone involved,” said Wolfram Krenn, OMV Senior Vice President Refining & Petchem Assets Europe.

“As a global leader for process catalysts, BASF serves also as a development partner for our customers. We are proud to support OMV in becoming even more successful. Having demonstrated the performance in OMV’s new ISO C4 plant, the new process will now be available to third parties,” said Detlef Ruff, Senior Vice President, Process Catalysts at BASF.

As MRC informed earlier, OMV (Vienna, Austria) says it is investing EUR40 million (USD48 million) to expand and modernize a steam cracker and associated units at its refining and petrochemicals complex at Burghausen, Germany. The upgrade will increase the site’s ethylene and propylene production capacity by 50,000 metric tons/year. Following a planned turnaround of the refinery, the revamped cracker and petchem units are expected to start operations in the third quarter of 2022. Initial groundwork is already underway ahead of the upgrade.

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) -- U.S. air travel fell significantly in 2020 because of reduced travel in response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects total U.S. passenger air travel demand will return to 2019 levels by 2025, but passenger travel jet fuel consumption will not return to 2019 levels until nearly 2030. Increasing air travel efficiency means that increasing air travel does not necessarily result in similar changes in jet fuel consumption.

The energy efficiency of passenger air travel depends on both operational efficiency (how many passengers, as opposed to empty seats, are on a flight) as well as aircraft fuel efficiency. In 2019, 85% of the seats on domestic flights and 83% of seats on international flights were filled, according to U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics data. In 2020, those percentages—known as load factors—fell because of mismatches in seat supply and demand as well as some airlines’ seating restrictions to allow passengers to distance from each other. EIA projects that load factors will increase in the near term as airlines adjust their capacity to more closely align with demand and as they remove seating restrictions.

In 2020, many planes—primarily older planes—went unused for much of the year. These planes may not return to service because of their age or because they were converted to dedicated freighters to offset the loss in passenger aircraft belly freight capacity. EIA projects that newer, more efficient aircraft will replace these retired and converted aircraft, further accelerating improvement in passenger aircraft efficiency. Passenger travel accounted for an estimated 87% of U.S. commercial jet fuel consumption in 2019 and 83% of commercial jet fuel consumption in 2020.

As per MRC, US renewable fuel credits hit fresh multi-year highs this week, while an oil refining trade group urged the Biden administration to use its authority to help stabilize the market. Prices for so-called Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, have climbed all year as costs for feedstocks such as soybean oil increase and as market participants bet on reduced exemptions granted to oil refiners that would waive them from US biofuel blending requirements.

As MRC informed earlier, in January 2021, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted three waivers to oil refiners that exempt them from US biofuel blending obligations, a last-minute move before President Donald Trump left office. The agency granted two waivers for the 2019 compliance year and one waiver for the 2018 compliance year. The announcement followed four years of controversy around the waiver program under the Trump administration, but left many questions unresolved. Some 30 waiver requests remain outstanding for 2019 and 15 for 2020, which the incoming administration of Joe Biden will need to deal with.

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) -- In line with US olefins capacity, over 80% of US polyolefins capacity was downed by the recent winter storm, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

There remains a considerable amount of capacity offline or in the early stages of restarting a full month later. This is partly due to the limited feedstock availability for olefins monomer, comonomer, and additives in the region.

Analysis shows that US polyethylene and polypropylene operating rates fell 33% and 36%, respectively, in February. These outages coincide with domestic consumption that has remained robust through Q1 2021, sending inventory levels of both polyethylene and polypropylene into a sharp decline.

In response to the market tightness, polyolefin prices surged in February. US domestic prices for polyethylene increased to almost seven-year highs while prices for polypropylene were the highest on record, according to Wood Mackenzie’s price history dating back to 2005. We anticipate that prices will continue to be elevated over much of the first half of 2021, supported by pent-up demand related to coronavirus recovery and weather-related shortages.

As per MRC, more than 80% of US olefins capacity was immediately offline following the peak of extreme weather conditions in mid-February. During that time, Wood Mackenzie noted it could take weeks to recover given that disruptions across the value chain would lead to a staggered and complex restart, setting the stage for volatility in supply and prices amid stronger demand. As of mid-March, the US olefins industry has yet to regain its footing with only 60% of capacity back in operation, according to data from Genscape, a Wood Mackenzie company. Several facilities in both the Houston and Corpus Christi metropolitan areas remain shut. Those further west appear to be experiencing longer outages, likely due to encountering relatively colder temperatures during the winter storm.

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) -- Fulcrum BioEnergy, a pioneer in the production of low-carbon, transportation fuels from municipal solid waste, has recently announced the site selection and launch of development activities on its first United Kingdom residual waste to low-carbon, Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) plant, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The "Fulcrum NorthPoint" biorefinery will be located at the Essar Oil (UK) Limited refinery at Stanlow, Ellesmere Port, in the North West of England.

"The UK has a rich history in aviation related innovation, and we are proud to be able to continue to support the industry with the introduction of our low-carbon, waste-to-jet fuel platform," said Jim Macias, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fulcrum. "Launching our first UK project at Stanlow, in collaboration with Essar, brings tremendous benefits in terms of plant operability, efficiency of feedstock and fuel product logistics. On-site storage via Stanlow Terminals Limited and direct access to airport pipelines, make this an attractive site for our project. Fulcrum's innovative and patented waste-to-fuels process will help reduce the impacts from climate change, boost the economy by supplying low-carbon, drop in transportation fuel as well as bringing high-paying jobs and investment to the North West of England."

Construction on Fulcrum NorthPoint, subject to planning permission and financing, is expected to begin in late 2023 and will take approximately 18-24 months to complete. Fulcrum NorthPoint will convert several hundred thousand tons of pre-processed waste, which would otherwise be destined for incineration or the landfill, into approximately 30 million gallons of low-carbon Sustainable Aviation Fuel annually. The biorefinery will utilize Fulcrum's proprietary waste-to-fuel process, which will help contribute to the UK's Net Zero ambitions while generating hundreds of jobs in the region during construction and operations of the project.

Fulcrum's first commercial project, the Sierra BioFuels Plant located outside of Reno, Nevada, is in late-stage construction and is set to begin operations in 2021. The Sierra plant will be the first commercial-scale plant in the world to convert municipal solid waste, or household garbage, into low-carbon transportation fuels. In addition to Fulcrum NorthPoint, Fulcrum has an extensive, global development program underway including the 33 million gallon a year Centerpoint biorefinery in Gary, Indiana, and a similar sized project in the United States Gulf Coast region where the company is finalizing site selection.

As MRC reported previously, in November 2018, Praxair, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Linde plc announced it has signed a long-term agreement to supply oxygen to Fulcrum BioEnergy’s Sierra BioFuels Plant in Storey County, Nevada.

We remind that in January, 2021, Linde said it will build, own, and operate the world’s largest proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer plant for the production of green hydrogen at the Leuna chemical complex in Germany.

We also remind that in late 2019, the TOTAL refinery in Leuna awarded Bilfinger two further major contracts worth roughly EUR30 million: the first involves exchanging the reactor systems; the second, performing the turnaround for the plant’s POX methanol facility.

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