INEOS Styrolution joins US Plastics Pact aiming to advance a circular economy for plastics

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Styrolution, a global leader in styrenics, has joined the US Plastics Pact in their support for collaborative, solution-driven initiatives intended to drive significant system change in the design, use, and reuse of plastics, as per the company's press release.

The US Plastic Pact unites cross-sector approaches, setting a national strategy, and creating scalable solutions to create a path forward toward a circular economy for plastics in the United States by 2025.

As part of the US Plastics Pact, activators like INEOS Styrolution recognize that significant change is essential to realizing a circular economy for plastics. As such, the US Plastics Pact is assembling more than 10 brands, retailers, NGOs, and government agencies across the plastics value chain to bring one voice to US packaging. The members will employ coordinated initiatives and innovative solutions for rethinking products, packaging, and business models.

INEOS Styrolution has a strong vision for sustainability aimed at improving and increasing the recovery of post-consumer plastic waste and strengthening innovation for circularity. “We must be solution-focused. It is paramount that we see innovative advancements in sustainability and a circular economy of plastics brought into a global reality,” says Ricardo Cuetos, Vice President, INEOS Styrolution America LLC, Standard Products.

“Together, through the US Plastics Pact, we will ignite system change to accelerate progress toward a circular economy,” says Emily Tipaldo, Executive Director of the US Plastics Pact. “The US Plastics Pact will mobilize system wide change through support for upstream innovation and a coordinated national strategy. This unified framework will enable members to fast-track progress toward our ambitious 2025 sustainability goals. Members’ full participation will be vital to reaching our shared goals.”

As MRC reported earlier, in April 2021, INEOS Styrolution, Recycling Technologies and Trinseo announced that they had reached a significant milestone in their plans to build commercial polystyrene (PS) recycling plants in Europe. Recycling Technologies has been selected as the technology partner.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall estimated consumption of polystyrene (PS) and styrene plastics was 283,400 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 27% year on year. June PS consumption increased by 32% year on year, totalling 48,060 tonnes.

INEOS Styrolution is the leading global styrenics supplier, with a focus on styrene monomer, polystyrene, ABS Standard and styrenic specialties. With world-class production facilities and more than 90 years of experience, INEOS Styrolution helps its customers succeed by offering solutions, designed to give them a competitive edge in their markets. At the same time, these innovative and sustainable best-in-class solutions help make the circular economy for styrenics a reality. The company provides styrenic applications for many everyday products across a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, household, construction, healthcare, packaging and toys/sports/leisure. In 2020, sales were at 4 billion euros. INEOS Styrolution employs approximately 3,600 people and operates 20 production sites in ten countries.
MRC

1. Phillips 66 to sell the smaller of its two Louisiana refineries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The fourth-largest US refiner Phillips 66 said it has put the smaller of its two Louisiana refineries up for sale amid continued losses and an uncertain future for motor fuels, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing. The company is holding talks with a potential buyer on the sale of its 255,600 barrel-per-day (bpd) Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, according to two people familiar with the matter. The identity of the potential buyer could not immediately be learned. US refiners have closed or sold oil processing plants as the COVID-19 pandemic slashed demand for gasoline and jet fuel, generating losses for the industry.



MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures rose during morning trade in Asia Aug. 27 as investors sought to take advantage of lower prices following an overnight decline and the retreat of the dollar, reported S&P Global.

At 11:19 am Singapore time (0319 GMT), the ICE October Brent futures contract was up 80 cents/b (1.11%) from the previous close at USD71.87/b while the NYMEX October light sweet crude contract rose 68 cents/b (1%) to USD68.10/b.

"Prices are slightly higher as the DXY US Dollar index retreated," said Margaret Yang, DailyFX Strategist at IG on Aug. 27.

The dollar index traded at 93.03 at 11:19 am Singapore time, marking a 0.2% decline from the Aug. 26 close.

However, despite the rise in oil prices, uncertainties on whether the US Federal Reserve will taper its asset purchase program, mounting tension in the Middle East and rising COVID-19 cases continue to cloud market outlook.

"Even though the FDA's full approval of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech boosted inflation optimism, sending oil prices 10% higher this week, the rally appears to have run out of steam, as investors are eyeing the Jackson Hole symposium and mulling over rising COVID-19 cases in Japan and Australia," Yang added.

All eyes will be on the upcoming Jackson Hole Symposium for clarity on the US Federal Reserve's position on the tapering of its asset purchase program. Most market watchers expect the Fed's Chairman Jerome Powell to adopt a more hawkish stance, announcing a tapering in September, a move likely to herald rising interest rates and a stronger dollar, which will in turn be bearish for energy prices.

Meanwhile, the OPEC+ alliance is set to hold its own meeting Sept. 1 to review policy, with some market sources expecting the group to hold off on easing supply in the wake of the recent resurgence in COVID-19.

As MRC informed previously, crude oil stockpiles fell modestly in early August, while gasoline inventories dipped to their lowest level since November, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Crude inventories fell by 447,000 barrels in the week to Aug. 6 to 438.8 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel drop. Overall crude inventories have been on the decline for several weeks due to increased demand.

We remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly report, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC

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

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