Kaustik Volgograd shut PVC production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Volgograd Kaustik, Russia's fourth largest polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer, shut down its production for a scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

A plant's representative said PVC production was taken off-stream for scheduled repairs on 20 September. The outage will be quite long and will last for about 21 days. The plant's annual production capacity is 90,000 tonnes.

It is also worth noting that this is the last shutdown for a scheduled maintenance at Russian PVC plants in 2021. SayanskKhimPlast and Bashkir Soda Company shut their production capacities in June-July. RusVinyl does not plan to carry out maintenance works this year.

JSC Kaustik is the principal plant of the group, manufactures basic products - caustic soda, chloroparaffins, synthetic hydrochloric acid, chlorine trademark, polyvinyl chloride, sodium hypochlorite, etc .; CJSC NikoMag - production of anti-icing materials, magnesium chloride, magnesium oxide and hydroxide; Zirax, Ltd. - production of high-purity reagents for various industries and JSC Poligran - the production of plastic compounds and rigid PVC compounds.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The company "Geksa - netkanyye materialy" (Moscow region, part of the GEXA Group) intends to use a loan from the Industrial Development Fund (IDF) in the amount of Rb350 m to modernize the production of nonwovens with an increase in capacity at its site in the Tver region by 65% ??- up to 1,700 tonnes per month, the FRP said.

The company plans to increase production of disposable medical products, including surgical kits made from woven fabrics of its own production, as well as a wide range of surgical clothing and underwear for medical institutions, including covering materials for agriculture and construction under-roof single-layer and multi-layer membranes for wind insulation.

In August, GEXA Group opened a representative office of Gexa France in France, which will be engaged in the export of products from Russia to Europe. The representative office is organized in the commune of Villeneuve-Loubet in the south-east of France in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region.

Earlier it was reported that in 2018 the company "Geksa - netkanyye materialy" opened the production of specialized composite nonwovens and disposable medical products at its enterprise in the Toropetsky district of the Tver region.

According to MRC"s ScanPlast report, Russia's PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Shipments of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) increased. Supply of injection moulding statistical copolymer of propylene (PP-random) has decreased.

The production branch "Geksa - netkanyye materialy" in the Toropetsky District of the Tver Region is one of the largest sites for the production of nonwovens using spunbond technology, which is the basis for the manufacture of building membranes, medical products, as well as covering materials for agriculture. The total area of ??production, warehouse and administrative premises is 6 hectares. The Toropetsky plant produces over 18 thousand tons of spunbond per year, and the plant has also debugged the production of a volumetric geogrid (12,000 tonnes per year) and flat polymer filaments (more than 7,200 tonnes per year). Three sewing workshops produce over 220 million medical products a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italian energy group Eni and Chevron Lummus Global LLC, (CLG) have announced the execution of a Joint Cooperation and Licensing Agreement for a complete suite of residue hydrocracking solutions, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This will include Eni's EST (Eni Slurry Technology) and LC-FINING, LC-MAX, LC-SLURRY and LC-LSFO technologies from CLG. These world-class technologies will offer refiners a wide range of conversion options, including complete conversion of residua to valuable distillate products.

Both CLG and Eni bring deep investments in research and development that have led to the fast commercialization of cutting-edge residue hydrocracking technologies and superior technical and engineering services to support these technologies. Eni brings its EST technology to this cooperative arrangement as the market leader in slurry hydrocracking processes, offering to its clients a very high conversion competitive advantage. CLG's residue hydrocracking technologies based on a liquid circulation ebullated bed platform are the most widely used and solidly reliable residue hydrocracking technologies in the market for moderate to high conversion.

The agreement will enable Eni and CLG to utilize and enhance the complementary nature of their respective hydrocracking technologies, offering clients the most comprehensive array of solutions on a large commercial operating base. Eni and CLG will work closely at their leading-edge R&D facilities in Italy and the United States to develop the next generation of process and catalyst technologies suited to address the complete conversion of low-value residua and alternative feedstocks to valuable transportation fuels and petrochemical precursors.

As MRC reported earlier, Eni is evaluating conversion of its Livorno refinery in northwest Italy into a biorefinery, as part of the Italian company's wider strategy to make its activities more environmentally sustainable. Eni has already converted two of its Italian refineries and is looking to almost double its biorefining capacity to around 2 million mt/year by 2024, and expand this to at least five times by 2050, as part of its pledge to achieve complete carbon neutrality by 2050.

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.

Eni, abbreviation of Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi, in full Eni SpA, Italian energy company operating primarily in petroleum, natural gas, and petrochemicals. Established in 1953, it is one of Europe's largest oil companies in terms of sales.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PepsiCo wants to cut the use of virgin plastic by 50% serving and use 50% recycled content in plastic packaging by 2030, said Canplastics.

Beverage and food supplier PepsiCo has announced a new goal to cut virgin plastic per serving by 50 per cent across its global food and beverage portfolio by 2030 as part of its new “pep+,” or PepsiCo Positive, company initiative.

In a Sept. 15 news release, the company also said it plans to use 50 per cent recycled content in its plastic packaging by 2030.

According to the news release, 11 European markets are moving key Pepsi-branded products to 100% rPET bottles by 2022. PepsiCo estimates that shifting to a 100 per cent recycled PET (rPET) bottle will lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 30 per cent per bottle.

And in the U.S., all Pepsi-branded products will be converted to 100 per cent rPET bottles by 2030, with Pepsi Zero Sugar beginning to be sold in 100 per cent rPET bottles by 2022.

Finally, PepsiCo says it has been investing in food packaging technology and is now introducing a fully compostable bag made with plant-based materials. “Starting with Off The Eaten Path, one of Frito-Lay’s plant-based brands, this industrially compostable packaging will be available to consumers in the U.S. at Whole Foods stores beginning this month,” company officials said.

These moves are part of the larger “pep+” initiative, which PepsiCo officials call “a strategic end-to-end transformation” that puts sustainability at the centre of how the company will operate.

As per MRC, petrochemical majors Dow, LyondellBasell and NOVA Chemicals on Wednesday announced a new USD25 million Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund to stimulate polymer recycling. The fund, which is expected to eventually invest USD100 million, will invest in technology. companies and infrastructure projects that will improve the recovery and recycling of polymers, including polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), in the United States and Canada.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption totalled 411,200 tonnes in the first six month of 2021, up by 12% year on year. Russian companies processed 62,910 tonnes in June, compared to 85,890 tonnes a month earlier.
MRC

1. China resumes storing crude oil inventories in August

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China resumed adding crude oil to inventories in August after four consecutive months of draws, but this was a reflection of weak refinery processing rather than a bullish demand signal, reported Reuters. The world's biggest oil importer added about 760,000 barrels per day (bpd) to stockpiles in August, according to calculations based on official data for crude imports, domestic output and refinery throughput. This partially reverses inventories draws in the prior four months, with about 223,700 bpd leaving in July, about 980,000 bpd in June, 589,000 bpd in May and 280,000 bpd in April. China doesn't disclose the volumes of crude flowing into or out of strategic and commercial stockpiles. But an estimate can be made by deducting the total amount of crude available from imports and domestic output from the amount of crude processed. Refinery throughput in August was the equivalent of 13.74 million bpd, the lowest since May 2020, at the height of the economic lockdowns imposed to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

MRC