Penoplex will increase the production of thermal insulation in Uzbekistan

MOSCOW (MRC) - Penoplex, the largest Russian producer of extruded polystyrene foam, is investing in expanding a site for the production of thermal insulation in Uzbekistan, the company said.

The launch of a new line for the production of thermal insulation from extruded polystyrene foam in the city of Angren, Tashkent region of Uzbekistan, will allow the company to increase its production capacity by 450,000 tonnes m3 of thermal insulation boards per year.

The additional line will not only provide an opportunity to expand the range of products within the region, but will also fully satisfy the growing demand for high-quality building materials in neighboring countries - Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The launch of the new line is scheduled for 2022.

In the summer of this year, Penoplex launched a plant for the production of thermal insulation from extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) in the Ungheni-Business economic zone of the city of Ungheni, Republic of Moldova.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, the estimated consumption of polystyrene and styrene plastics for ten months of this year amounted to 469.95 thousand tons, which is 15% higher than the same indicator a year earlier. In October, the total estimated consumption was 50.06 thousand tons, 4% more than the total consumption in October 2020.

Penoplex products are exported to more than 30 countries around the world. The company includes 13 production sites: ten in Russian cities, as well as three factories abroad. The sites are equipped with modern laboratories, where each batch of materials is tested. They are equipped with equipment from leading world manufacturers.
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1. Crude oil prices show biggest weekly gain since August on easing concerns over Omicron coronavirus variant impact

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices rose slightly on Friday and posted their biggest weekly gain since late August, with market sentiment buoyed by easing concerns over the Omicron coronavirus variant's impact on global economic growth and fuel demand, reported Reuters. The Brent and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude benchmarks each posted gains of about 8% this week, their first weekly gain in seven, even after a brief bout of profit-taking. Brent futures settled up 73 cents, or 1%, at USD75.15 a barrel, after falling 1.9% on Thursday. WTI rose 73 cents, or 1%, to USD71.67 after sliding 2% in a volatile session the previous day.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP), one of the largest integrated petrochemical companies in Indonesia, is in plans to announce its final investment decision (FID) for its second petrochemical complex in Indonesia (CAP2) in 2022, according to CommoPlast with reference to the company's official statement on its website.

CAP has already appointed four contractors to carry out the front-end engineering design (FEED) for its second petrochemical plant in Indonesia (CAP2). These contractors are Toyo Engineering Corporation, Samsung Engineering Co., Ltd., Wood, and PT Haskoning Indonesia.

Once completed, the company would enter the second stage of the project by selecting engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors.

Chandra Asri has been planning to build the second petchem complex since 2018 to meet the growing domestic demand, reducing the country’s need to rely on the import market.

The initial plan is for CAP2 to construct a cracker with an annual output of 1.1 million tons/year of ethylene, 600,000 tons/year of propylene, 175,000 tons/year of butadiene, and 363,000 tons of benzene. The downstream units include an high deiisty polyethylene (HDPE) line with an annual output of 450,000 tons/year, a 300,000 tons/year low density polyethylene (LDPE) line, and a 450,000 tons/year of polypropylene (PP).

As MRC reported earlier, in H1 July, 2020, CAP, one of the largest petrochemical producers in Indonesia, received commercial products at its linear low denisty polyethylene (LLDPE)/high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant in Cilegon (Indonesia) and started ramping up its capacity utilisation. On May 22, the company was forced to reduce the capacity utilisation at this plant with a capacity of 400,000 mt/year of LLDPE/HDPE due to various technical issues.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Thailand's Siam Cement Group (30%) and Indonesian PT Barito Pacific and (64.87%) are the main owners of Chandra Asri.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Australia's Woodside Petroleum is in discussions for supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) to an LNG import terminal that Viva Energy plans to build in Victoria state, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Viva and Woodside have agreed on a framework and timeline to negotiate capacity rights for Woodside, the country's biggest independent oil and gas company, to regasify LNG for sale into Australia's east coast market, which is expected to face a gas supply shortfall from the mid-2020s.

The deal potentially gives Viva's terminal a leg up over a rival project in New South Wales, the Port Kembla LNG import terminal which is backed by Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest. The Port Kembla terminal is yet to line up LNG supply sources.

Viva Energy said it plans to make a final investment decision on the project by the third quarter of fiscal 2022. "Working to secure regasification capacity at Viva Energy's proposed import terminal aligns with Woodside's future production profile and the ongoing needs of east coast Australian customers," Woodside Chief Executive Officer Meg O'Neill said.

Viva Energy said it also signed an agreement with Norway-based Hoegh LNG Ltd to charter a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for the proposed Geelong terminal.

As per MRC, BHP Group has agreed to sell its petroleum business to Woodside Petroleum in a merger to create a top 10 independent oil and gas producer worth AD38.5 billion (USD28 billion) with growth assets in Australia and the Americas.

As per MRC, BP acquired US shale assets from BHP Billiton for USD10.5 billion in the largest deal since the 1999 acquisition of Atlantic Richfield oil company. British oil and gas company BP bought US shale assets owned by mining company BHP Billiton.

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) -- Shriram Fertilizers & Chemicals (SFC), a unit of DCM Shriram Ltd. and the third largest chlor-alkali producer in India, will use Topsoe’s ClearView solution for digitalizing its ammonia plant, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The digital platform will expectedly be operational by early 2022.

“We are proud that DCM Shriram Ltd’s has chosen our ClearView solution for this innovative project to digitalize its ammonia plant operations at the Kota complex. ClearView monitors the plant digitally in near real-time and generates a new level of detailed insights that enables our customers like SFC to optimize plant performance on a continuous basis,” said Alok Verma, Managing Director, Haldor Topsoe Southern Asia.

DCM Shriram’s ammonia plant at Kota is the first ammonia plant in India completely based on Topsoe technology. For almost half a century, the plant has kept itself at the cutting edge of ammonia technology via successful adoption of technological advancements and practices to improve on-stream days, energy efficiency, and low carbon feedstock changeover from Naphtha to natural gas. Digitalization via ClearView is the next step in that pioneering journey.

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2016, DCM Shriram notified the Bombay Stock Exchange that it expected to complete a chlor-alkali capacity expansion at its facilities in Bharuch and Kota, India, by September or October that year. At Bharuch, chlor-alkali capacity was increased by 499 t/d to a total of 949 t/d. DCM Shriram had already commissioned 420 t/d of the new chlor-alkali capacity on 14 June 2016. Chlor-alkali capacity at Kota was raised by 6 t/d to a total of 336 t/d. The company is also expanding the power plant at both locations. Total investment for the projects was Rs 607.20 crore. "The brownfield expansion and technology upgradation will strengthen our competitiveness and industry position," the company said then.

We remind that Russia's June production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 103,000 tonnes (100% of the main substance) versus 105,000 tonnes a month earlier. The overall output of caustic soda in Russia totalled 642,500 tonnes in the first half of 2021, down by 1.2% year on year.
MRC