Fre broke out at Haldia Petrochemical plant

Fre broke out at Haldia Petrochemical plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire broke out at one of the naphtha pipelines belong to Haldia Petrochemical in West Bengal, India on Tuesday, 3 August 2021, which took several hours to bring under control, according to CommoPlast.

The petrochemical complex was carrying out maintenance works when the incident took place. A senior official from Haldia was quoted as “Naphtha is highly combustible and a little spark might cause a fire. Generally, we clear the entire tank before any kind of repair work, but there is a possibility that some residual chemical was lying in the pipeline which caused the fire."

In September 2019, as MRC reported earlier, a similar incident occurred at the naphtha cracker that injured 15 people at the site.

The 700,000 tons/year naphtha cracker was shut on 1 August for routine maintenance. The unit was initially scheduled to restart in the first week of September 2021. However, the fire might force the company to take longer to come back, though confirmation from Haldia at the time of this report.

The company also shut downstream units including 340,000 tons/year polypropylene (PP) line, 250,000 tons/year standalone high density polyethylene (HDPE) line, and a 240,000 tons/year HDPE/linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) swing line.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP)


mrcplast.com

PVC production in Russia up by 4% in Jan-Jul 2021

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's overall production of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) totalled 580,500 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 4% year on year. At the same time, one producer reduced its output, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

July total production of unmixed PVC fell to 64,600 tonnes from 83,800 tonnes a month earlier, Bashkir Soda Company and SayanskKhimPlast shut their production capacities for scheduled turnarounds. Overall output of polymer totalled 580,500 tonnes in January-July 2021, compared to 556,800 tonnes a year earlier. Only Bashkir Soda Company reduced its production, whereas three other producers showed an increase in the output of resin.

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.


RusVinyl produced 31,700 tonnes of PVC in July, with emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) accounting for 2,500 tonnes, compared to 29,900 tonnes a month earlier. RusVinyl's overall output of resin exceeded 206,900 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, compared to 190,500 tonnes a year earlier. Higher production was mainly caused by the absence of a shutdown for maintenances this year.

Sayanskkhimplast shut its production capacities for a 10-day scheduled maintenance last month and, as a result, produced 14,200 tonnes of suspension polyvinyl chlorie (SPVC) versus 23,400 tonnes in June. The Sayansk plant managed to produce 171,100 tonnes of PVC in January-July 2021, compared to 168,300 tonnes a year earlier.

Baskhir Soda Company produced 11,600 tonnes of SPVC in July versus 23,300 tonnes a month earlier. The Baskhir plant's overall production of resin reached 152,100 tonnes in January-July 2021, down by 1% year on year.

Kaustik (Volgograd) produced 7,100 tonnes of SPVC last month, whereas this figure was 7,200 tonnes in June. The plant's overall production of resin reached 50,300 tonnes over the stated period versus 43,700 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

August prices of European PP for consumers in CIS countries generally roll over from July

August prices of European PP for consumers in CIS countries generally roll over from July

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The August contract price of propylene was settled in Europe up by EUR58/tonne from the previous month. At the same time, the difference in monomer and polymer prices has been quite large for several months already, and on the back of this, European producers rolled over July PP prices for August shipments with a few exceptions, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations over August export prices of European PP began last week. All market participants said most European producers still had export restrictions, especially, on propylene copolymers. Producers also announced a roll-over of July PP prices for August shipments, with propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) raffia grade, for which some producers had cut prices, being the exception.

European producers had the largest restrictions on PP exports to the CIS markets in May-June, when export quotas were virtually completely absent from most of the sellers. The availability of PP for export has increased from some producers for the past two months, but it was often typical for homopolymer PP.

Deals for August shipments of homopolymer PP were done in the range of EUR1,550-1,640/tonne FCA, whereas last month's deals were done in the range of EUR1,560-1,640/tonne FCA. Deals for block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) started from EUR1,800/tonne FCA and higher, which corresponded to the level a month earlier.
MRC

Intense blaze at Pemex largest refinery was quickly put out

Intense blaze at Pemex largest refinery was quickly put out

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An intense blaze at Mexican national oil company Pemex's largest refinery was quickly put out, reported Reuters with reference to a company official, but it remained unclear what sparked the fire.

Local and social media had published images of bright orange flames burning near the facility's distillation towers from early on Saturday.

The Pemex official, who requested anonymity in line with the company's communications policy, told Reuters the early Saturday morning blaze was extinguished in just 15 minutes.

"It didn't stop operations and nobody was injured," the official said, but did not provide further information on what caused the fire.

The Salina Cruz refinery, on the coast of southern Oaxaca state, can process up to 330,000 barrels of crude oil per day and is a key Pemex trading and logistical hub along Mexico's Pacific coast.

As MRC wrote before, a major fire broke out at an oil refinery run by Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) in the eastern city of Minatitlan in the southern state of Veracruz earlier this year. The blaze started at this refinery, one of six operated by Pemex, which has a capacity of up to 285,000 barrels per day, on Wednesday afternoon, 7 April, 2021.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC

ADNOC to sell blue ammonia to Idemitsu for its refining and petrochemicals operations

ADNOC to sell blue ammonia to Idemitsu for its refining and petrochemicals operations

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) partnered with Fertiglobe for the sale of blue ammonia to Idemitsu in Japan, for use in its refining and petrochemicals operations, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The sale builds upon recently announced joint efforts to enhance industrial cooperation between the UAE and Japan and support the development of new UAE-Japan blue ammonia supply chains and follows the first sale of UAE blue ammonia cargos to Itochu.

Fertiglobe, a 58:42 partnership between OCI and ADNOC, will produce blue ammonia at its Fertil plant in the Ruwais Industrial Complex in Abu Dhabi for delivery to ADNOC’s customers in Japan. The shipment, which was sold at an attractive premium to grey ammonia, underscores the favorable economics for blue ammonia as an emerging source of low-carbon energy. It represents a further production milestone of a planned scale-up of blue ammonia production capabilities in Abu Dhabi, which is expected to include a low-cost debottlenecking program at Fertil.

In addition, it was announced in June that Fertiglobe will join ADNOC and ADQ as a partner in a new world-scale 1 million metric tons per annum blue ammonia project at TA’ZIZ in Ruwais, subject to regulatory approvals.

Ammonia can be used as a low-carbon fuel across a wide range of industrial applications, including transportation, power generation, refining and industries including steel, wastewater treatment, cement and fertilizer production.

For Japan, in particular, hydrogen and its carrier fuels, such as blue ammonia, are expected to play an important role in the country’s ongoing industrial decarbonization efforts. Idemitsu will use the cargo to pilot the use of blue ammonia to decarbonize its refinery operations.

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2021, Indian refining giant Reliance Industries has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) to build a multi-billion-dollar chemical project in Ruwais, marking the group’s first investment in a greenfield overseas project.

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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
MRC