Sinopec Guangzhou to shut No. 2 PP unit in China for scheduled turnaround

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Guangzhou plans to shut down its No.2 polypropylene (PP) unit in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China on 27 April, 2021, for a scheduled turnaround, according to CommoPlast.

The maintenance works at this unit with a production capacity of 50,000 mt/year is likely to last for a period of 34 days. Thus, No. 2 PP unit will be bought on-stream on 31 May, 2021.

Overall, Sinopec Guangzhou's PP plant in Guangzhou has three lines with a combined production capacity of 320,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, on 4-5 March, 2017, Sinopec Guangzhou shut its No. 3 PP line for a maintenance turnaround. The shutdown lasted for a period of around 2 weeks. Located in Guangzhou province of China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

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.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group's key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total, the world's petrochemical major, has appointed Helene Moreau-Leroy as chairman and CEO of its chemical subsidiary - Hutchinson, as per the company's press release.

She succeeds Jacques Maigne as head of the subsidiary which specialises in sealing systems, fluid transfer systems, vibration, acoustic and thermal insulation, and transmission and mobility systems.

Moreau-Leroy served as deputy CEO of Hutchinson for 6 months after moving from aerospace technology company Safran, which she joined in 2003. She was appointed CEO of Safran Transmission Systems in 2013. As part of Safran’s executive committee she oversaw the integration of Zodiac Aerospace following Safran’s acquisition of the firm in 2018.

Moreau-Leroy has been lead director of the board of directors for French chemicals producer Arkema since 2015, and is a Knight of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour.

As MRC informed earlier, Total's Grandpuits refinery in north-central France will be converted into a plant for the production of bio plastics due to potentially costly repairs on the Ile-de-France pipeline (PLIF) bringing crude to the plant.

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) -- The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) have officially started trading the United Arab Emirate’s (UAE) flagship crude oil, Murban, as a Futures contract on the new ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) commodities exchange, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The introduction of the worlds first Murban Futures contract is the latest step in ADNOC’s ongoing transformation into a more market and customer centric organisation. By making Murban a freely traded crude, similar to Brent or WTI, customers have better price transparency, flexibility to hedge and manage risks and increased access to Murban crude. For ADNOC, its flagship crude grade becomes more available to a broader set of market participants around the world.

Alongside ICE and ADNOC, nine of the world’s largest energy companies and traders are joining IFAD as founding partners. This includes BP, GS Caltex, INPEX, ENEOS, PetroChina, PTT, Shell, Total and Vitol. Representatives from the partner companies joined today’s launch event at ADGM, many participating virtually from around the world.

In March, ADNOC announced that its Murban, Upper Zakum, Das and Umm Lulu crude grades will all be sold destination free, from June, allowing its crude oils to become a freely-traded commodity.

Discovered in 1958, Murban has played a pivotal role as the bedrock of the UAE’s sustained economic development. With the launch of IFAD and the new Murban Futures Contract, it enters a new era, further solidifying Abu Dhabi’s position as a global energy hub and a reliable and essential energy provider to the world.

ICE Murban Futures are physically delivered contracts, with one futures contract equating to 1,000 barrels of Murban crude oil delivered from the ADNOC Terminal located in Fujairah, on the East coast of the UAE. Murban is ADNOC’s flagship crude grade, with production capacity of over 2 million barrels per day at present. It currently accounts for around 50% of the UAE’s total production capacity, with plans in place to increase the production of Murban to more than 2.5 million barrels per day by 2030, in line with ADNOC’s goal of growing its production capacity to 5 million barrels of crude per day.

Murban Futures will trade globally on the ICE platform, one of the world’s foremost energy exchange networks. All trades clear through ICE Clear Europe, based in London. From late March, Murban now trades alongside ICE Brent and ICE WTI in the ICE network.

As MRC reported before, in early March, 2021, the UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. signed an agreement with Malaysia's Petronas to explore collaboration in the oil and gas sector of Abu Dhabi and in the low-carbon energy industry in the first such partnership between the two national oil producers.

We remind that in early May, 2020, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) began a gradual restart of its Ruwais oil refinery complex after a scheduled maintenance shutdown. The Ruwais complex, which has capacity of 835,000 barrels per day, was shut down early this year, the ADNOC spokesman said.

And in late July 2019, ADNOC said its Ruwais refinery west cracker was offline for maintenance.

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) -- DSM says it has completed the sale of the resins & functional materials businesses to Covestro for EUR1.6 billion (USD1.9 billion), including EUR1.4 billion in cash, as per the company's press release.

It included DSM Niaga, DSM additive manufacturing, and the coatings activities of the DSM advanced solar business, which together represented EUR1.01 billion of DSM’s 2019 total annual net sales and EUR133 million of DSM’s 2019 total EBITDA.

The deal was initially signed in September 2020 and remains subject to approval.

DSM expects to book a profit on the transaction of around EUR540 million.

Following analysis, Covestro expects permanent run rate synergy effects to build up to EUR120m/year from full integration by 2025, consisting of two-thirds cost and one-third revenue synergies.

As MRC reported earlier, Covestro closed the sale of its European polycarbonates (PC) sheets business to the Munich-based Serafin Group effective January 2, 2020. This includes key management and sales functions throughout Europe as well as production sites in Belgium and Italy.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall consumption of PC granules (excluding exports from Belarus) totalled 8,100 tonnes in January 2021, up by 20% year on year (6,800 tonnes a year earlier).

Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc. With 2020 sales of EUR 10.7 billion, Covestro has 33 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,500 people (calculated as full-time equivalents).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemical maker Dow Inc. is one of several industry firms involved in a new cross-border Canada-U.S. business group that’s developing a five-year plastics pollution plan for the Great Lakes, said Canplastics.

Founded by the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR), the Circular Great Lakes is a new regional initiative focused on identifying projects to tackle plastic pollution in this region.

"Plastic waste and pollution are serious issues in the Great Lakes,” Mark Fisher, president and CEO of CGLR, said in a March 31 news release. “Circular Great Lakes will be the catalyst for identifying the transformational projects, forming the partnerships, and mobilizing the public-private sector investments required to ensure this valuable material never becomes waste in this region, North America’s economic engine."

Circular Great Lakes will work with partners including the Alliance to End Plastic Waste to develop a circular economy strategy for plastics in the region, setting the stage for targeted actions and partnerships over the next five years. “Priorities of the initiative include driving systemic changes necessary to close the loop for plastics in the region, shifting away from a linear, take-make-dispose economy, and materials management mindset,” the news release said.

In addition to Dow, founding corporate activation partners and funders of Circular Great Lakes include Charter Next Generation, Imperial, Pregis Corp., American Packaging Corp., and Rothmans Benson & Hedges.

As MRC informed earlier, Dow will spend approximately USD294 to install and operate air pollution control and monitoring technology at 4 US chemical facilities as part of a settlement with The Department of Justice (DOJ), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ).

As per 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 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.
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