Hexion expands its capacities in USA

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hexion is strategically strengthening its manufacturing footprint in support of its ArmorBuilt Fire Protection product through an expansion of its Missoula, Montana site, said the company.

To meet the continued strong demand, Hexion previously announced two capacity expansions at its Portland, Oregon manufacturing site in 2021. The Missoula site expansion will enable Hexion to significantly increase its capacity to serve customers more easily in the Western United States and beyond, which are areas prone to wildfires. The new capacity is expected to come online in fourth quarter of 2022.

Hexion’s ArmorBuilt Fire Protection product offers a durable, fire mitigation safeguard for securing critical infrastructure. The state-of-the-art smart material that is triggered by heat protects a renewably sourced power infrastructure – wooden utility poles – while substantially minimizing the cost of disruption and repair. ArmorBuilt has also passed two industry approved wildfire simulation burn tests for fire resistance With its insulating and self-healing properties, ArmorBuilt provides a safe and reliable burn-prevention material for a variety of industries that are potentially affected by fires, including wildfires.

As previously announced, Hexion is working closely with one of the largest wood pole producers in North America to make ArmorBuilt wrap the specified solution for Pacific Gas & Electric Company to protect their utility pole infrastructure in wildfire prone areas. Hexion also continues to strategically expand its manufacturing capabilities for other adhesive applications around the globe, such as the expansion of its Brimbank, Australia, site.

We remind, Hexion Holdings Corporation announced that it has completed the sale of its epoxy-based Coatings and Composite businesses, which includes the epoxy specialty resins and base epoxy resins and intermediates product lines for approximately USD1.2 billion to Westlake Chemical Corporation.

Based in Columbus, Ohio, Hexion Inc. is a global leader in thermoset resins. Hexion Inc. serves the global adhesive, coatings, and industrial markets through a broad range of thermoset technologies, specialty products and technical support for customers in a diverse range of applications and industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Samsung Engineering, one of the world’s leading engineering, procurement, construction and project management companies, announced that it had signed a EUR1 bln contract with China National Chemical Engineering & Construction Corporation Seven (CC7), a Chinese state-owned construction company, for the engineering and procurement for the ethane cracker in gas to chemicals project in Russia, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Baltic Chemical Complex, the original owner of the contract, previously signed an EPC contract with CC7 in 2019. The project is located at the Gulf of Finland near the seaport of Ust-Luga, Leningrad Oblast, 110 km southwest of St. Petersburg, Russia.

Samsung Engineering’s work of scope includes an ethane cracker unit with a total design capacity of 2.8 MMtpy (ethylene 1.4 MMtpy, 2 Trains) and procurement for the project.

The ethane cracker unit is the core process element of the plant. The Baltic Ethane Cracker Project produces ethylene from separated C2 out of natural gas.

The ethane cracker in gas to chemicals project marks a major milestone for Samsung Engineering with its first project in Russia. Samsung Engineering entering the Russian market is achieving further diversification in their overseas markets.

As MRC reported before, in April, 2021, RusGazDobycha, a business partner of Russian gas giant Gazprom, started building a chemical plant as part of a massive gas processing cluster on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The cluster is designed to process annually 45 billion cubic metres of natural gas, produce 13 million tons of LNG, 3.6 million tons of ethane and up to 1.8 million tons of LPG. A first stage of the cluster is set to come on stream in 2024, while the second is to be launched in 2025.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

1. Asahi Kasei net income increased amid record sales

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahi Kasei's net income surged to yen (Y) 140.7bn in April-December 2021, up by 75.9% year on year from the same period of 2020, supported by record high sales and operating income, said the company. Net sales, operating income and net income were all at new record highs for the April-December period, the company said in a statement. In the Material business, operating income more than doubled to Y91.7bn in April-December 2021 compared with Y42.8bn in the same period a year earlier amid higher petrochemical prices as well as increased shipments of engineering plastics.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- EIA forecasts that crude oil prices will fall in 2022 and 2023 from 2021 levels, according to its January 2022 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the price of Brent crude oil, the international pricing benchmark, averaged USD79 per barrel (b). EIA forecasts that the price of Brent will average USD75/b in 2022 and USD68/b in 2023.

The declining prices are driven by a shift from global petroleum inventory declines during 2021 to inventory increases in 2022 and 2023. Global petroleum inventories decline when consumption is greater than production and increase when production is greater than consumption.

In 2021, withdrawals from global petroleum inventories averaged 1.4 million barrels per day (b/d) and contributed to higher crude oil prices. These inventory draws resulted from petroleum consumption returning faster than petroleum production after the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. In 2022, we expect that petroleum production will increase and consumption growth will slow, leading to increases in petroleum inventories globally.

EIA expects global petroleum production to increase by 5.5 million b/d in 2022, driven by production increases in the United States, OPEC, and Russia, which together account for 84%, or 4.6 million b/d, of the growth. According to its forecast, increased tight oil production in the United States and gradually increasing crude oil production from OPEC+ (which includes OPEC members and Russia) will account for most of the increased crude oil production.

The global petroleum consumption will increase by 3.6 million b/d in 2022, driven by more consumption in the United States and China, which together account for 39% of the consumption growth. We forecast that global petroleum inventories will increase by 0.5 million b/d in 2022, which will put downward pressure on crude oil prices. EIA forecasts that the price of Brent crude oil in 2022 will fall from USD79/b in the first quarter to USD71/b in the fourth quarter.

In 2023, EIA expects continued inventory growth, averaging 0.6 million b/d. Global petroleum production will increase by 1.8 million b/d in 2023 from 2022, averaging 102.8 million b/d. In 2023, most of the growth in global petroleum production comes from producers in the United States and Russia. Production in the United States is forecast to increase by 0.8 million b/d, and production in Russia is forecast to increase by 0.3 million b/d. We forecast that OPEC production will increase by 0.1 million b/d in 2023.

Global petroleum consumption in 2023 will increase by 1.8 million b/d. Like in 2022, the growth is largely driven by rising consumption in the United States and China, which, according to EIA's forecast, will account for 43% of the consumption growth in 2023. India's petroleum consumption growth accounts for another 14% of the global total.

As MRC wrote before, oil supply will soon overtake demand as some producers are set to pump at or above all-time highs, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last Wednesday, while demand holds up despite the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

We remind that global oil refining capacity fell for the first time in 30 years last year, as new capacity was outweighed by closures, said the International Energy Agency's (IEA) in its monthly oil market report on Wednesday. Refining capacity was down by 730,000 bpd in 2021, the IEA said, but net additions were expected to amount to 1.2 MMbpd in 2022.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahi Kasei's net income surged to yen (Y) 140.7bn in April-December 2021, up by 75.9% year on year from the same period of 2020, supported by record high sales and operating income, said the company.

Net sales, operating income and net income were all at new record highs for the April-December period, the company said in a statement.

In the Material business, operating income more than doubled to Y91.7bn in April-December 2021 compared with Y42.8bn in the same period a year earlier amid higher petrochemical prices as well as increased shipments of engineering plastics.

The company expects its operating net income to more than double to Y185.5bn for its financial year ending 31 March 2022, compared with Y79.8m in the previous year.

Operating net sales are expected to rise by 16.5% year on year to Y2.45 trillion for the year ending 31 March.
The company expects a "large increase in net sales and operating income" in the Material business for the year ending 31 March compared to the year-ago period which was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As per MRC, Asahi Kasei’s net profit for the fiscal year ending March 2021 slumped by 23.2%, weighed down by weakness in its materials business, and as the company booked a one-off loss for the period. The materials segment was hit by global economic deterioration amid the coronavirus pandemic. Sales for the segment declined by 9.3% year on year to Y991.2bn, with operating profit falling by 28% to Y66.5bn.

As MRC informed before, in July 2019, Asahi Kasei decided to expand its plant for the artificial suede LamousTM in Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, by four million m2/year, increasing the total production capacity to 14 million m2/year upon completion in 2021.

Asahi Kasei Corporation is a multinational Japanese chemical company. Its main products are chemicals and materials science. It was founded in May 1931, using the paid in capital of Nobeoka Ammonia Fiber Co., Ltd, a Nobeoka, Miyazaki based producer of ammonia, nitric acid, and other chemicals. Now headquartered in Tokyo, with offices and plants across Japan, as well as China, Singapore, Thailand, USA and Germany.
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