Yanbu refinery shutdown completed

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Employees at Saudi Aramco's wholly owned Yanbu Refinery recently completed a wide-ranging and complex Total Refinery Shutdown (TRS) on schedule and without any safety incidents. The scope of the TRS covered 320 pieces of equipment, 1.000 maintenance work orders and more than 30 projects. The refinery undergoes extensive maintenance every five years to ensure the safety, integrity and reliability of the facility. However, the TRS that ended March 10 was more extensive than previous shutdowns.

The work carried out during this latest shutdown at the refinery included the crude tower trays being upgraded to a new type of high-capacity stainless steel trays, as part of a total revamp to improve the diesel quality and allow a refinery throughput increase to 250.000 bbls per day.

MRC

(Azom) -- Producer of high-tech polymer materials, Bayer MaterialScience now offers a blend of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate (PC) called Makroblend GR 235M. The sustainable high-tech material is suitable for the production of automotive bodywork components.

A technical product service specialist dealing in polycarbonate and its blends at Bayer MaterialScience, Eckhard Wenz stated that the Makroblend GR 235M's performance is comparable with virgin materials. Its performance properties matches with that of Makroblend UT 235M, a proven material used in the production of bodywork components, he added.

The Makroblend GR 235M can be used for the production of convertible top compartments, covers for antennas, skirts, trunk lids and spoilers.

The PET used in the Makroblend GR 235M is obtained by recycling beverage bottles made from high-purity PET grade materials that meet the stringent food industry standards. The PC for the new material is obtained by recycling industrial five-gallon water containers.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. has embarked on the planned shutdown of an ethylene unit at its chemical plant in Port Arthur, Texas, according to a filing with state regulators. ⌠Established procedures and practices will be followed to safely shut down the process equipment, the company said in the filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Emissions associated with the shutdown began at 10:45 a.m. local time and were expected to end on June 6 at the same time, according to the filing.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- The Control Yuan has found the selected Chaunghua County site unsuitable for a petrochemical complex in view of land subsidence problems in the area. The report states that the available surface water resources in Chaunghua and Yunlin counties of 380 KT/day are not sufficient. Water-intensive industries such as the Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co project, which needs 400 KT/day of water, should not be introduced to the region. One problem that could arise from the Kuokuang project is that more groundwater would have to be pumped to maintain a stable water supply during shortages, which would compromise the effectiveness of measures to improve land subsidence problems. The report said the highest rate of subsidence in Chaunghua County had been observed in Dacheng Township, where the nation's second-largest wetland was proposed as the location for the Kuokuang project. The subsidence rate there was 6.9 cm per year in 2006 and 1.6 cm per year in 2009.

The USD 20.34 bln project was initiated by Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co., an affiliate of the state-run oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan, to expand oil refining capacity and the production of ethylene. Critics said the plan to build the complex in the Dacheng Wetlands in central Taiwan would create losses that outweigh the benefits. The disadvantages include damage to local oyster and eel- farming industries, and health hazards to local residents.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Over first two months of 2011 growth of profiles production in Russia made 11.3 KTa. The volume of investment made in equipment is estimated at USD 6.1 mln, according to MRC EquiPlast.

Over January-February Russian converters purchased 18 complete lines for production of PVC profiles. About one third fell at equipment for production of window profiles. Overall growth of conversion capacities in 2011 is twice lower than that in the same period in 2010.

A significant event for the market of window profiles became an appearance of a new player - Hisung Chemical Rus. Production site of the company is built on the extrusion equipment of Kumsan Precision and is situated in Moscow region in the territory of EDSK plant. Among the participants of the profiles market in 2011 such big companies as Profine Rus and Exprof enlarged their production capacities.

We forecast a gradual recovery of investment activity of PVC converters that is stipulated by revived consumption of finished goods. Imports supplies of PVC (in terms of PVC resin) in QI of the current year made almost 127 KT that is twice as more than resin supplies over the same period in 2010.

Detailed analysis of the growth of polymers conversion capacities in Russia is available in a monthly MRC report EquiPlast. Full analysis of PVC market in Russia is available in MRC Annual reports.

MRC