Eneos shuts Sendai and Chiba refineries after earthquake

Eneos shuts Sendai and Chiba refineries after earthquake

Japan's biggest refiner, Eneos Corp, shut its Sendai refinery including the 145,000 bpd crude distillation unit (CDU) after a magnitude 7.3 earthquake jolted Japan's northeast coast off Fukushima late on Wednesday, reported Reuters with reference to a company spokesperson's statement.

The strong quake activated a safety shutdown system at the Sendai refinery, the spokesperson said on Thursday.

The refiner, a unit of Eneos Holdings Inc, also shut its Chiba refinery, including the 129,000 bpd CDU, as well as one of the two CDUs in its Kawasaki refinery, due to an external power outage, the spokesperson said.

Eneos does not know when the facilities will be back online, the spokesperson said, adding that there has been no confirmed damage on its facilities.

Tens of thousands of Japanese households remained without power on Thursday morning after the quake struck shortly before midnight.

As MRC wrote previously, ENEOS restarted its Sendai refinery in northeast Japanon 18 May, 2021. This refinery was hit by an earthquake on 1 May, 2021. Besides, on 18 May, the company shut down its Sakai refinery in western Japan for maintenance.

We remind that ENEOS Corporation restarted its naphtha cracker in Kawasaki on 1 February 2021. The company shut this cracker with an annual capacity of 515,000 tons/year of ethylene, 300,000 tons/year of propylene, and 105,000 tons/year of butadiene on 4 December, 2020, for repairment after a technical issue reported at the butadiene separation unit and initially planned to resume operations on 28 December, 2020.

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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Japan's largest refiner JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy was renamed ENEOS Corporation on 25 June, 2020, as part of a wider re-organization of the parent company JXTG Holdings. The move, which also involved renaming the parent company to ENEOS Holdings upon approval at its annual shareholders meeting in June 2020, comes as it strives to be a more comprehensive energy and materials company under its 2040 vision announced in May, 2019. JXTG Holdings was formed as a result of a merger between JX Holdings and TonenGeneral in April 2017. This followed the establishment of JX Holdings as a result of the merger between Nippon Oil and Nippon Mining Holdings in April 2010.
MRC

Shin-Etsu Chemical temporarily suspended operations due to earthquake

Shin-Etsu Chemical temporarily suspended operations due to earthquake

Due to the earthquake that occurred at around 11:36 p.m. on Wednesday evening March 16th, whose epicenter was located off the Pacific coast of the northeastern region of Japan, Shin-Etsu Chemical and some of the Shin-Etsu Group Companies’ plants temporarily suspended operations, said the company.

No plant employees suffered any injuries, and there was no large damage to the facilities.

With safety as our utmost priority, the plants that temporarily suspended operations are sequentially resuming their operations upon carrying out the process of inspections to confirm plant safety.

We remind, on 16 Feb 2022, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd announced plans to invest over $695 M to expand its silicone manufacturing plants across Japan to meet a very strong demand for advanced functional products. According to the company, the new plant investments will expand the manufacturing capacity of "highly diversified" kinds of silicone resins, fluids, and rubber end products by 2025. The expansion project will start with Shin-Etsu's main facility, the Gunma Complex in Gunma Prefecture, and will be followed by two other facilities in Naoetsu, Niigata Prefecture, and Takefu, Fukui Prefecture.


mrchub.com

Topsoe to raise prices on catalysts due to higher feedstock and energy prices

Topsoe to raise prices on catalysts due to higher feedstock and energy prices

As a result of the increasing raw material price of nonferrous metals, natural gas, electricity and other key raw materials used in its catalyst production process, Topsoe will increase prices across its catalyst product line, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The general price adjustment will take effect immediately.

As MRC reported earlier, in February 2021, Haldor Topsoe and Acron Group signed a MoU with the purpose of jointly working within green technologies area. The MoU includes initiatives within joint development of technologies aimed to reduce GHG emissions (СО2 and N2O) at the existing production sites of Acron Group and development of promising projects for new products with minimum environmental impact. Acron Engineering, a Russian engineering research center, which is a part of Acron Group, will be engaged in the work.

We remind that in October 2021, Dow (Midland, Michigan), the world's petrochemical major, and Haldor Topsoe partnered to promote the circular economy. About 300 million tons of plastic waste is produced every year on a global scale. The partnership between Dow and Topsoe marks a new initiative to efficiently convert waste plastics to circular plastics, keeping them out of the environment and responsibly reclaiming their value.

Plans include Dow to proceed with the design and engineering for a 10,000 ton per year market development unit using Haldor Topsoe’s PureStepTM technology to purify pyrolysis oil feedstock derived from waste plastics for use in circular products. Dow’s development unit will advance the technology for industrial-scale purification of circular feedstocks, which will be used to meet strong market demand for circular polyethylene (PE).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased.
MRC

Azelis acquired WhitChem in the UK

Azelis acquired WhitChem in the UK

Azelis announces the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Whitfield Chemical Group Limited, a well-regarded distributor focused on coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers and rubber & plastic additives in the UK, said the company.

This acquisition reinforces Azelis’ position in industrial chemicals, and specifically in the CASE and R&PA market segments in the UK. WhitChem’s long-standing relationships with blue-chip principals and product portfolio strengthen Azelis’ lateral value chain in the UK, whilst their wide customer base and strong local technical sales team further expands the Group’s product offering and customer reach.

WhitChem employs 30 staff and generates the vast majority of their sales in the UK, with some exports to Ireland. Following the closing, the WhitChem management will stay and support the integration into Azelis, remain committed to growing the business, and further strengthen Azelis’ CASE & R&PA team.

As MRC informed earlier, in June 2021, Azelis announced the extension of its distribution scope with CP Kelco in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. CP Kelco’s product range is a significant addition to Azelis’ portfolio and the new agreement marks an important milestone in the strong and continuously developing collaboration between both companies globally.

Besides, Azelis made two acquisitions in July, 2021, both in South Korea. The most recent agreement, announced on Jul. 14, is the proposed takeover of Seoul-headquartered Coseal, which specializes in the distribution, repackaging and blending of agricultural/horticultural surfactants. This transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, when all of Coseal’s 45 employees, along with its owner and CEO Sang Jin Kang, will transfer to the Belgium-based distributor.

Nearly two weeks earlier, on Jul. 1, Azelis revealed it had purchased MH, a local distributor in the food ingredients market, providing the multinational specialty chemicals distribution group with a foothold in the food and health segment. Also headquartered in Seoul, MH is a family-owned business, supplying products such as gluten, starches, sweeteners and functional food ingredients.

Azelis is a leading distributor of speciality chemicals and food ingredients present in over 50 countries across the globe with around 2,200 employees. Our knowledgeable teams of industry, market and technical experts are each dedicated to a specific market within Life Sciences and Industrial Chemicals.

mrchub.com

Reliance may avoid buying Russian fuel after sanctions

Reliance may avoid buying Russian fuel after sanctions

India's Reliance Industries, operator of the world's biggest refining complex, may avoid buying Russian fuels for its plants following western sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, reported Reuters with reference to a senior company official's statement.

"Even if we can source some of the feeds (from Russia), probably we will be out of it because of the sanctions," Rajesh Rawat, senior vice president and business head cracker, told an industry event on Wednesday.

Reliance buys Urals crude and straight run fuel oil for its refineries from Russia. The private refiner mostly buys its petrochemical feedstock from the Middle East and the US.

Sanctions on Russia have prompted many companies and countries to shun its oil, depressing Russian crude to record discount levels.

Rawat said in India most of the oil supplies from Russia are going to the state-run companies.

"So probably, those feed streams will still continue, or may have a lesser impact compared to the private sector players. Because we deal with banks, and also even if we can source some of the feeds (from Russia), probably we will be out of it because of the sanctions," Rawat told the Asia Refining and Petrochemical Summit.

As MRC informed before, in November 2021, Reliance Industries and Saudi Aramco decided to re-evaluate their agreement for the Middle Eastern producer to buy a stake in the refining and petrochemical business of India's biggest private refiner, and both companies would look at broader areas of cooperation due to the changing energy scenario.

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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company produces polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride and other petrochemical products.
MRC