COVID-19 - News digest as of 04.10.2021

1. Russian idle primary oil refining capacity to revise up 9% in October

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia is expected to have 3.464 million tonnes of primary oil refining capacity offline in October, a weekly estimate based on Refinitiv Eikon data and Reuters calculations showed on Friday, up 9.1% from last week's estimate, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing. That is still be lower than the previous month, with many plants expected to finish maintenance. Expected idled refining capacity for September was estimated at 3.943 million tonnes, down 7.9% from last week's estimate. The revisions follow adjustments to maintenance schedules by some refineries.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- More than a quarter of the total production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in Europe is currently idle, as plants are shut for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance works, reports Kunststoffweb.

The total PVC production capacity in Europe is approximately 8.7 mln tonnes per year. Market players expect that the availability of SPVC is unlikely to improve in October and even until the end of the year. There will be an acute shortage, and prices will continue to rise, as plants continue to be closed due to force majeure and planned shutdowns.

For example, INOVYN, one of the largest producers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in the world, on 17 September announced force majeure for PVC shipment from the German city of Rheinberg due to interruptions in the supply of VCM. This production with a capacity of 320,000 tonnes/year of PVC and 250,000 tonnes/year of VCM was closed for an unknown time.

According to MRC's DataScope report, August SPVC imports to Russia exceeded 14,000 tonnes from 8,700 tonnes in July. Good seasonal demand and a shortage of polymer from Russian producers led to a jump in imports in July-August. Overall imports totalled 42,700 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, compared to 35,700 tonnes a year earlier, with PVC from China accounting for the main increase in imports.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - TechnoNIKOL, Europe's largest manufacturer and supplier of roofing, waterproofing and heat-insulating materials, will build factories for the production of heat-insulating materials in Kazakhstan, the company said.

Chairman of the Board of JSC National Company KAZAKH INVEST (Kazakhstan) Meirzhan Yusupov and Co-owner and Managing Partner of TechnoNICOL Corporation (Russia) Sergey Kolesnikov signed a cooperation agreement within the framework of the XVII Forum of Interregional Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia, which this year was held online with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation of Vladimir Putin and President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev.

According to the plans for the implementation of the investment project, TechnoNIKOL will build factories for the production of heat-insulating materials based on mineral insulation and extruded polystyrene foam in Talgar district of Almaty region.

The total volume of investments will be over USD100 mln (7.28 bn rubles). The implementation of the project is designed for the period from 2021 to 2023, and TechnoNICOL plans to move to the active stage of construction in 2022.

The parties expressed interest in the development of long-term cooperation in the Republic of Kazakhstan, which implies the creation of favorable conditions for the implementation of investment projects and support for investment activities.

Earlier it was reported that TechnoNIKOL carried out the modernization of the TechnoNIKOL-Ulyanovsk Plant as part of a large-scale investment program in 2021. The set of measures taken made it possible to increase labor productivity by 20%, to increase the volume of products by 25%, as well as to master the production of heat-insulating materials from extruded polystyrene foam with a thickness of up to 500 mm. The volume of investments amounted to 262 mln rubles.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, July total estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in Russia increased by 4% compared to the same month last year and amounted to 46,540 tonnes. The total consumption of PS in the country amounted to 328,980 tonnes, up 23% year on year in January - July 2021.

TechnoNICOL Corporation is one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of hydro, heat and sound insulation. The company includes 49 factories in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, its own trade network of 140 branches and consulates in 33 countries. The company was founded in 1992 by Sergey Kolesnikov and Igor Rybakov.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell and BASF are collaborating to accelerate the transition to a world of net-zero emissions. To this end, both companies worked together to evaluate, de-risk, and deploy BASF’s Sorbead Adsorption Technology for pre- and post-combustion Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) applications, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Sorbead Adsorption Technology is used to dehydrate CO2 gas after it has been captured by Shell’s carbon capture technologies such as ADIP Ultra or CANSOLV.

The Adsorption Technology has several advantages for CCS applications: Sorbead, an aluminosilicate gel material, is acid resistant, has high capacity for water, and regenerates at a lower temperature compared to activated alumina or molecular sieves. Furthermore, Sorbead Adsorption Technology ensures the treated gas is free of glycol and will meet stringent pipeline and underground storage specifications. Customers also benefit from long life, operational turndown flexibility and immediate on-spec gas at startup.

The Sorbead Adsorption Technology is now in Shell’s portfolio for use in the numerous CCS projects around the world to achieve their Powering Progress strategy. “BASF has enjoyed a great partnership with Shell over the past several years and I am happy to see another successful qualification. BASF is proud to support Shell in their effort to reach net-zero emissions and work toward improving environmental conditions around the world”, says Dr. Detlef Ruff, Senior Vice President, Process Catalysts at BASF.

As MRC reported earlier, BASF is strengthening its global catalyst development and helping customers to bring new products faster to the market. As part of this strategy, BASF is building a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site. The new Catalyst Development and Solids Processing Center will serve as a global hub for pilot-scale production and process innovations of chemical catalysts. The new building is scheduled for completion by mid-2024.

We remind that BASF aims is to electrify its production processes for basic chemicals, which are currently based on fossil fuels.

We also remind that in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted earlier that month due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other"s capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year.

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 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
mcplast.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A major manufacturer of synthetic rubber, Firestone Polymers LLC, has agreed to pay USD4 million in fines and an environmental project and make numerous improvements to settle a long list of state and federal air pollution complaints at its plant in southwest Louisiana, said the company.

The plant in Sulphur was “Louisiana’s highest emitter of three types of hazardous air pollutants,” violating the Clean Air Act, David Gray, regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The plant illegally emitted thousands of tons of pollutants including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and more than a dozen other substances and chemicals, according to the 127-page federal complaint against the plant near Lake Charles.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) alleged that Firestone emitted excess amounts of pollutants including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, and hazardous air pollutants including 1,3-butadiene, n-hexane, styrene, formaldehyde, methanol and others, according to a complaint filed the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

The settlement requires several actions from Firestone, including meeting emissions limits, operating and maintenance requirements, equipment controls, limiting hazardous air pollutants from facility dryers, conducting inspections of heat exchangers, installing controls and monitors on covered flares and installing flaring instrumentation and monitoring systems. The EPA noted that Firestone has already taken compliance measures.

Firestone will also complete a Beneficial Environmental Project in Louisiana by funding ambient air monitoring system upgrades in several locations in southwest Louisiana. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As per MRC, Bridgestone Firestone, a subsidiary of Japan's Bridgestone Corporation, shut production at its Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA on February 15 due to cold weather in the region. The plant with a capacity of 134,000 tonnes SBR per year does not work due to problems associated with extreme weather conditions in the US Gulf of Mexico. Although electricity was restored to the plant, cold weather and power outages in the area resulted in the cutoff of water and other circulation needed to keep the plant running.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, July total estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in Russia increased by 4% compared to the same month last year and amounted to 46,540 tonnes. The total consumption of PS in the country amounted to 328,980 tonnes, up 23% year on year in January - July 2021.

MRC