Chinese ZPC to start up its 4th CDU in November

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical (ZPC) is in plans to start up its No. 4 crude distillation unit (CDU) in Zhoushan, China, which is part of the company's phase 2 petrochemical project in the cournty, in November 2021, reported S&P Global.

The sufficient feedstock, as the company has increased its crude oil imports recently, will help ZPC not only to start up its fourth CDU, but also to boost utilisation rates in the other three CDUs.

Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical and Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery lifted their imports by 7.1% on the month to 4.12 million mt.

ZPC in late-October separately gained 12 million mt of crude import quotas for 2021, which would enable the complex to import crude through the rest of the year and use up the quotas as much as possible.

As MRC informed earlier, ZPC started operations at its No. 1 cracker in the first half of November 2019, whereas the commercial procution at this cracker was received in late December 2019.

And this year, ZPC started up its No. 2 cracker in Zhoushan, China, which is part of the company's phase 2 petrochemical project in the cournty. Thus, the cracker with an annual capacity of 1.4 million tons/year of ethylene and 700,000 tons/year of propylene began trial runs in H1 April, 2021. The commercial production at this facility was received later that month.

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Many polypropylene (PP) plants in China have reduced their run rates due to emissions cuts and are selling their propylene feedstock in the spot market, reported S&P Global with reference to sources.

The Chinese government announced new emissions mitigation measures mid-September that require industries that use coal for power generation to reduce rates or shut down.

As MRC informed earlier, China's Oriental Energy-Ningbo, a subsidiary of Oriental Energy, a major petrochemical producer in the country, resumed production at its No. 1 (PP plant in Ningbo (Ningbo, Zhejiang province, China) on October 6. This plant with a capacity of 400,000 tonnes of PP per year was shut on September 28 due to the policy of dual control of energy consumption in the region.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over prices of European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for November shipments to the CIS countries began in the middle of last week. Given a major increase in ethylene prices and the cost of electricity in the region, European producers raised their export prices by EUR95/tonne, and in rare cases, there was even a price rise of EUR150/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The November contract price of ethylene was agreed up by EUR92,5/tonne from the previous month, which theoretically allows to talk about an increase of EUR47/tonne from October in the net cost of PVC production. Electricity prices have also grown significantly for the past few months. All these factors amid an acute and long shortage led to another wave of growth in European producers' PVC prices. Producers raised their export prices by EUR95-100/tonne for November shipments.

Disruptions in operations and scheduled shutdowns for maintenance at production capacities in Europe, as well as low PVC imports from the United States seen for a long time, have negatively affected the balance of the European PVC market, including exports. As a result, some buyers from the CIS countries reported an almost complete absence of PVC for them from some European producers for the past three months.

Overall, deals for November shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the CIS markets were discussed in the range of EUR1,650-1,710/tonne FCA, whereas the previous month's deals were negotiated at EUR1,500-1,615/tonne FCA.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices rose on Monday after Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil producer Aramco raised the official selling price for its crude, suggesting demand remains strong at a time of tighter supplies, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Brent crude was up by 90 cents or 1.1% at USD83.64 a barrel, after dropping nearly 2% last week. U.S. oil gained 87 cents or 1.1% to USD82.14, having declined almost 3% through Friday.

Aramco late on Friday raised its December official selling price to Asia for its Arab light crude to USD2.70 a barrel versus Oman/Dubai crude, up USD1.40 from this month.

The move by Aramco suggests "demand remains strong" as the OPEC producer and other major oil exporters keep the reins on supply, ANZ Research said in a note.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, together known as OPEC+, agreed last week to stick to their plan to raise oil output by 400,000 bpd from December.

U.S. President Joe Biden had called on OPEC+ to produce more barrels to dampen rising prices and on Saturday said his administration has "other tools" to deal with the higher price of oil.

Elsewhere, China's oil imports slumped in October to the lowest in three yr, as state-owned refiners withheld purchases due to higher prices, while independent refiners were restrained by limited quotas for bringing in crude.

As per MRC, crude oil futures edged higher in mid-morning trade in Asia Nov. 8, extending gains from the previous session amid a broad risk-on sentiment in financial markets following a strong US jobs report and news of Pfizer's antiviral drug. At 10:10 am Singapore time (0210 GMT), the ICE January Brent futures contract was up USD1.03/b (1.24%) from the previous close at USD83.75/b, while the NYMEX December light sweet crude contract rose USD1.02/b (1.26%) at USD82.29/b. Both benchmarks had settled higher by 2.7%-3.1% in the last session Nov. 5.

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polymir, part of JSC "Naftan", has resumed some of its low density polyethylene (LDPE) production capacities after a scheduled shutdown for maintenance, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's customers said the Belarusian producer had resumed production at its second LDPE line (158 grade polyethylene) by 8 November, after the scheduled turnaround. The outage began on 1 October. The second line's annual production capacity is 65,000 tonnes.

Polymir (part of Naftan) is Belarus' largest petrochemical company, producing a wide range of chemical products, such as low density polyethylene (LDPE), acrylic fibers, products of organic synthesis, hydrocarbon fractions, etc. Polymir was founded in 1968. The producer uses technologies of the largest foreign companies from Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Italy (Courtaulds, Asahi Chemical Co. Ltd, Kanematsu Gosho, SNIA BPD, etc.), as well as the developments of scientific research institutes and design institutes of the CIS countries. The plant's annual production capacity is 130,000 tonnes.
MRC