PTTGC America delays final investment decision on new petchem complex in Ohio until new partner secured

PTTGC America delays final investment decision on new petchem complex in Ohio until new partner secured

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTTGC America's final investment decision on a new petrochemical complex in southeast Ohio remains on indefinite hold until the company secures a new partner in the project, reported S&P Global with reference to the company's email Aug. 25.

"PTTGCA is currently focused on securing a partner for the project," the email said. "Once there is a partner in place, the company will be in a position to reach FID."

In July 2020, the company announced it had struck a deal with Energy Storage Ventures to develop a USD250 million natural gas liquids storage and transportation facility for the proposed complex. The facility would be the first underground NGL storage site in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

Shortly before PTTGCA announced the storage deal, the company said that its former partner in the petrochemical complex, South Korea's Daelim, had withdrawn from the project. Daelim had signed on to the project in February 2018, and the companies had planned a final investment decision, or FID, by the end of that year. More recently, the company had aimed FID by early 2020, but COVID-19 related delays pushed that to early 2021 and then without a new target date until a partner is secured.

According to permitting documents, PTTGC's project includes a 1.5 million mt/year cracker, two 350,000 mt/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) plants, a 450,000 mt/year HDPE plant and a 450,000 mt/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant.

As MRC informed earlier, in February 2021, PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC; Bangkok, Thailand) awarded Samsung Engineering a USD127-MM EPC contract to modify the Map Ta Phut olefins complex in Thailand. Samsung"s scope is to increase the throughput of propane for the production of propylene by building propane-propylene split and distillation towers and modify the current facilities. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2023.

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.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

PVC imports to Russia up by 3% in Jan-Jul 2021, exports down by 12%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Russia totalled 28,700 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 3% year on year. At the same time, exports decrease by 12%, according to MRC's DataScope report.


Last month's SPVC imports to Russia grew to 8,700 tonnes from 5,000 tonnes in June. Good seasonal demand and shutdowns for maintenance at two major Russian plants led to a surge in imports in July. Overall imports totalled 28,700 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, compared to 27,900 tonnes a year earlier, with resin from China accounting for the main increase in imports.

After a spike in May export sales, driven by high prices in foreign markets, exports of Russian SPVC decreased in the following months. 8,700 tonnes of PVC were exported in July versus 16,500 tonnes a month earlier. Overall exports totalled 117,900 tonnes in January-July 2021, compared to 133,600 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

NNPC turns a profit for first time in its 44-year history

NNPC turns a profit for first time in its 44-year history

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has made a profit for the first time in its 44-year history, generating an income of 287 billion naira (USD698 million) after tax in 2020, reported Reuters with reference to President Muhammadu Buhari's statement.

Buhari, who also holds the title of minister of petroleum resources, gave no explanation for the state company's swing to profit in 2020, a year when the economic shock caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic triggered a slump in the oil price.

"This development is consistent with this administration's commitment to ensuring prudent management of resources and maximisation of value for the Nigerian people from their natural resources," Buhari said in a statement.

NNPC, which operates joint production ventures with Western oil majors and is also involved in refining and marketing petroleum products, made losses of 803 billion naira in 2018 and 1.7 billion naira in 2019 but has otherwise released few details of its finances for most of its history.

Anti-corruption campaigners have long been asking for NNPC to be more transparent, and last year it published audited 2019 accounts of 20 of its subsidiaries in what it said was a historical first.

As MRC wrote before, earlier this month, Nigeria gave its state oil firm the green light to acquire a 20% stake in Dangote's oil refinery for USD2.76 billion, reported. The 650,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery, owned by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote, is under construction in Lagos, the biggest city in the most fuel-consuming nation in the region. The refinery is scheduled for commissioning by January.

We remind that loadings of Nigeria's key crude grade Forcados are on force majeure due to some operational issues at the export terminal, according to Shell's statement Aug. 16. Force majeure was declared effective Aug. 13 due to "the curtailment of production and suspension of export operations as a result of some sheen noticed on the water around the loading buoy," Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd. said in a statement.

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

Kazanorgsintez launched the Ethylene-100 unit after an unscheduled compressor shutdown

MOSCOW (MRC) - Kazanorgsintez, one of the largest producers of polyethylene and polyethylene pipes in Russia, has returned the Ethylene-100 unit to normal operation after an unscheduled compressor shutdown in the afternoon on 25 August, Interfax reports.

"Late in the evening of August 25, the normal operation of the installation was restored. The incident will not affect the supply of products to customers. All obligations of Kazanorgsintez PJSC will fulfill on time and in full," a company representative told the publication.

Earlier it was reported that in the afternoon of August 25, an unscheduled shutdown of one of the compressors of the Ethylene-100 unit took place. The automated industrial safety systems of the enterprise worked normally. The ethylene plant is the first in the technological chain of Kazanorgsintez, it consists of four stages for the production of ethylene.

It was also reported earlier that on 21 August, there was a failure in the unified power supply system of the Republic of Tatarstan. This led to an unscheduled shutdown of production at Kazanorgsintez. The automated industrial safety systems of the enterprise worked in the normal mode, and the product immediately went to the torch at the moment of production stoppage. a large-scale power surge occurred due to forest fires in the Volga region. The regular work of most of Kazanorgsintez's production facilities was restored on 21 August.

Earlier it was reported that the subsidiaries of the Italian engineering company Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. received a contract for the construction of a new Kazanorgsintez plant (KOS, part of TAIF) for the production of high-pressure polyethylene (LDPE) / ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) at the existing KOS complex in Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia). The capacity of the new enterprise will be 100,000 tonnes of LDPE / EVA per year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, in June the estimated consumption of LDPE in Russia fell to 45,190 tonnes against 47,780 tonnes a month earlier. Russian manufacturers have increased export sales of polyethylene (PE). In the first six months of the year, the estimated consumption of LDPE in Russia amounted to 280,850 tonnes, which is 2% less than a year earlier. PE output decreased, while export volumes increased.

Kazanorgsintez PJSC is one of the largest enterprises in the Russian Federation (TAIF Group of Companies). It produces 40% of all Russian polyethylene and is its largest exporter. Currently, PE, polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene pipes, phenol, acetone, bisphenol A are produced. KOS is the only Russian PC manufacturer. There are 170 types of products in total. The annual production volume is 1.6 million tonnes. The enterprise is the largest Russian manufacturer of low-pressure polyethylene (HDPE) pipes. The annual production capacity of HDPE is 540,000 tonnes, and LDPE - 225,000 tonnes.
MRC

JSC Kaustik increased the share of exports of its products last year

MOSCOW (MRC) - The export share of Volgograd-based Kaustik , the fourth largest producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in Russia, accounted for 26.5% of the company's total revenue last year, the company said.

It is reported that this indicator is increasing from year to year due to the expansion of the range of products manufactured at the enterprise, diversification of the sales network, the creation of a system of technical support for consumers and a quality management system. At the end of last year, the company exported 18 types of products to 52 countries of the world.

In particular, the volume of supplies outside Russia of granulated caustic soda last year increased by 3.7%, household chemicals by 41.9%, magnesium hydroxide - by 83.7%. At the end of the first half of 2021, bischofite supplies to foreign markets increased by 35.5%, magnesium hydroxide by 12.8% and granulated caustic soda by 12.4%.

According to the MRC's ScanPlast, Kaustik (Volgograd) last month produced 7,100 tonnes of SPVC, while in June this figure was 7,200 tonnes. During the period under review, the total volume of PVC production at the enterprise reached 50,300 tonnes against 43,700 tonnes in the same period in 2020.

According to the ICIS-MRC Price Report, in the middle of the week, negotiations started regarding the September price level for Russian PVC. At the same time, only one manufacturer began negotiations; other players postponed the price agreement for the next week. But in general, manufacturers are quite optimistic about September and do not plan to seriously adjust their prices, despite a serious increase in imports and a decline in demand for finished PVC products. In addition, prices have resumed on foreign markets in a number of regions.

The holding includes: JSC Kaustik - the main enterprise of the group, produces basic products - caustic soda, chlorinated paraffins, synthetic hydrochloric acid, commercial chlorine, polyvinyl chloride, sodium hypochlorite, etc .; JSC "NikoMag" - production of anti-icing materials, magnesium chloride, hydroxide and magnesium oxide; LLC "Zirax" - production of high-purity reagents for various industries and JSC "Poligran" - production of plastic compounds and rigid PVC-compositions.
MRC