Epsilyte reduces June EPS prices on lower feedstock costs

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Epsilyte (The Woodlands, Texas), a leading North American producer of expandable polystyrene (EPS), has announced a reduction in its prices for all EPS grades for June shipments, said the company.

Thus, the price of the company's EPS grades dropped by 3 cents/pound (cts/lb) or USD66/tonne, effective 1 June, 2021 or as contracts permit.

The present adjustment reflects current EPS supply and demand dynamics as well as expected feedstock trends.

As MRC reported earlier, Epsilyte raised its May EPS prices in the region by 8 cts/lb or USD176/tonne.

EPS is a rigid form of polystyrene (PS) used in insulation foams for the construction industry as well as for packaging.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, last week's prices of Russian EPS remained at the level as of early June. Prices of SIBUR-Khimprom's spot EPS quantities were at Rb167,000-175,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Plastik, Uzlovaya shipped material at Rb178,000-180,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, depending on the grade.

Epsilyte is owned by private equity firm Balmoral Funds (Los Angeles, California). Epsilyte is one of North America’s leading producers of expandable polystyrene resin. The company is focused on solving customer needs for efficient, high-R value EPS. This includes reducing energy usage in buildings, ensuring safe and healthy food through innovative packaging technology, and participating in infrastructure investment both in the United States and abroad.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Uzbekistan's state energy company, Uzbekneftegaz, and UOP Limited, a subsidiary of Honeywell International, are in talks about upgrading the Central Asian nation's Bukhara Oil refinery, reported Reuters with reference to the Uzbek government's statement.

The companies have discussed a project worth USD184 million which would involve financing from the United States' EXIM Bank, the authorities said.

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2021, Honeywell announced that Lotte GS Chemical Corp. will use Honeywell UOP Q-Max, Phenol 3G, and Evonik MSHP technologies to produce more than 565,000 metric tons per year of phenol and acetone at its petrochemicals facility in Yeosu, Korea. UOP is providing a license for the technology, in addition to basic engineering design services, key equipment, catalysts and adsorbents and technical services.

Along with phenol, acetone is largely used to produce bisphenol A (BPA), which, in its turn, is used in the production of plastics such as polycarbonate (PC) and epoxy resins.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PC granules (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus) totalled 34,000 tonnes in the first four months of 2021, up by 11% year on year (30,500 tonnes a year earlier).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Axens and Sulzer Chemtech (GTC Technology) have formed an alliance to license an advanced process for fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) naphtha processing, said the company.

The combined offering is based on Axens’ Prime-G+® hydrodesulfurisation technology and Sulzer Chemtech’s GT-BTX PluS® extraction technology. Axens' Prime-G+ technology is a leading technology for FCC gasoline selective desulfurisation with more than 300 references worldwide and Sulzer Chemtech is a leader for aromatics recovery for downstream FCC applications through its extractive distillation technology GT-BTX PluS. The combined solution of both technologies brings outstanding advantages for the gasoline and the petrochemical segments.

The combination offers a unique solution to reduce octane loss to a very low level for the gasoline pool. The technology is especially important in countries that are upgrading fuel specifications to meet environmental requirements, and it can be applied in new, or retrofits of existing units in operation to maximise profit.

It also provides refiners the option of converting FCC gasoline into petrochemical products – BTX and additional propylene – and obtaining additional margin in regions where gasoline demand is not sufficient. For those, the combined offer can convert their excess gasoline into petrochemical products to adapt to the market change with minimum investment.

Axens’ Process Licensing Global Business Unit Executive Vice-President Patrick Sarrazin said: “We look forward to collaborating with Sulzer Chemtech, to provide a comprehensive, high-quality processing solution to different players in the oil refining sector. The combination of Prime-G+ and GT-BTX PluS will help them address current and future market demands as well as increase their competitiveness."

"We are excited about the partnership with Axens. We are committed to delivering state-of-the-art technologies and are confident that this combined solution will bring many benefits to our customers. It will allow them to prepare for the changing gasoline and petrochemicals demand in both the near and longer term,” added Sander van Donk, Head of Global Technology Business at Sulzer Chemtech.

As per MRC, Baltic Chemical Complex (BHK), a subsidiary of JSC Rusgazdobycha, and the international company Axens signed an agreement on the supply of technology for the production of alpha-olefins used for the production of polyethylene. The technology will be applied within the framework of a project for the construction of a gas chemical complex as part of an ethane-containing gas processing complex near Ust-Luga in the Leningrad Region.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased.

Axens is an international company providing technologies (licensor), catalysts, adsorbents and services (technical assistance, consulting) for the refining, petrochemical, gas and alternative fuels industries. Axens focuses primarily on the processing of oil, gas, biomass and coal into fuels and basic petrochemical intermediates.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- TotalEnergies' 225,500-bpd Port Arthur, Texas refinery was operating normally on Wednesday after reporting flaring on Tuesday night, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

A Total spokeswoman declined to comment.

The refinery reported flaring following a severe thunderstorm. The flaring was over within two hours of the report, the sources said.

Refineries use safety flares when they cannot process hydrocarbons normally.

As MRC wrote before, earlier this month, TotalEnergies and Novatek signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly work on sustainable reductions of the CO emission resulting from the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) including with the use of renewable power, to develop large-scale carbon capture and storage solutions (CCS) and to explore new opportunities for developing decarbonized hydrogen and ammonia.

We remind that in November 2019, Total disclosed that itis evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.

TotalEnergies is a 19.4% shareholder in Novatek and holds a 20% stake in Yamal LNG, a project that started up in December 2017 and produced more than 18.8 million tons of LNG in 2020. The company also holds a 10% stake in Arctic LNG 2, a project currently under construction and on track to deliver its first LNG cargo in 2023.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- President Joe Biden's administration, under pressure from labor unions and US senators including from his home state of Delaware, is considering ways to provide relief to US oil refiners from biofuel blending mandates, reported Reuters with reference to three sources familiar with the matter.

The issue pits two of the administration's important political constituencies against each other: blue-collar refinery workers and farmers who depend on biofuel mandates to prop up a massive market for corn.

It could prompt an about-face for the administration, which had been rolling back former President Donald Trump's dramatic expansion of waivers for US refiners from the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The law requires them to blend billions of gallons of ethanol and other biofuels into their fuel each year or buy credits from those that do. The credits, known as RINs, are currently at their highest price in the program's 13-year history, and refiners have said the policy threatens to bankrupt fuel makers already slammed by sinking demand during the pandemic.

Biofuel advocates counter that fuel makers should have invested in biofuel blending facilities years ago and can pass through added costs for buying credits.

Democratic senators Chris Coons and Tom Carper of Delaware have held at least two discussions in recent weeks with Michael Regan, head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, to discuss providing relief for refiners, according to the three sources.

Merchant refiners like PBF Energy, which operates the Delaware City plant, say biofuel laws could shut down plants and kill thousands of union jobs. The company recently shut most of its refinery in New Jersey, the latest in a series of shutdowns along the US East Coast. The region, which faces higher refining costs because of its distance from US oil fields, has seen fuel production capacity drop about 40% since 2000.

Federal data shows that only eight refineries remain out of the 17 that were operating on the US East Coast in 2000.

As MRC wrote previously, POET, the largest biofuels producer in the United States, is in discussions with Flint Hills Resources to acquire the entirety of Flint Hills’ ethanol assets. Flint Hills, a refining, biofuels and petrochemical company, is based in Wichita, Kansas, and is currently the fifth-largest ethanol producer in the United States. Its biofuels division includes six ethanol plants with a combined capacity of about 800 million gallons per year, 1.5 million tons of distillers grains and about 200 million pounds of corn oil, Reint said.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC