Flaring at ExxonMobil refinery

(nasdaq) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) reported flaring at its refinery in Joliet, Ill., Friday, according to a filing with the National Response Center.

The 238,600 barrel-a-day refinery released nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxide and hydrogen sulfide into the air after an "over pressuring" incident in an undisclosed unit. The release lasted about 30 minutes, and the unit was shut down and the valves were reset, according to the filing.

Also, the public are being warned about possible flaring from Mossmorran throughout this week, as Fife Ethylene Plant starts up again. Flaring, an essential part of the plant's safety systems, was seen on Monday evening and is expected to continue this week.

Following its annual closure for routine maintenance, ExxonMobil Chemical plant's start-up had to be delayed when a leak was discovered. The leakage caused no risk to the workforce, the community or environment, but a large part of the plant had to be shut down to carry out repairs.

As MRC wrote earlier, on 5, Oct, ExxonMobil Corp. confined a fire that broke out at its Baytown, Texas refinery to a process unit. The complex has a 584,000 bbl/day refinery and two chemical plants that make butyl rubber and polypropylene (PP), making it the largest operating refinery in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.

MRC

(cleveland) -- Dow Chemical, the chemical producer eliminating 2,400 jobs to cope with a slowing economy, reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings as volumes rose and plastics output benefited from low-cost natural gas.

Net income fell 35% to USD582 million, or 42 cents a share, from USD900 million, or 69 cents, a year earlier, Midland-based Dow said Wednesday. Revenue dropped 9.7% to USD13.6 billion.

Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris said Tuesday that he's cutting jobs and closing plants at the biggest U.S. chemical maker because global economic growth is slowing. The belt-tightening won't affect planned expansion on the U.S. Gulf Coast, where low-cost natural gas from shale helped boost third-quarter demand for ethylene-derived plastics by 5%, Dow said.

Liveris is eliminating 2,400 jobs -- with half of those in North America -- and closing 20 plants to cope with slow global economic growth. About 3,000 employees will receive severance notices, with the difference because of growth in other strategic programs.

MRC

(Petkim) --Turkish petrochemicals group Petkim has reduced polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride prices by USD20-25/mt this week on the back of weakening demand.

List prices for polypropylene were lowered by USD25/mt to USD1,650-1,660/mt FCA Aliaga, and for PVC by USD20/mt to USD1,140-1,170/mt. Polyethylene prices were unchanged.

Petkim Petrokimya Holding AS is a Turkey-based petrochemical company. The main product groups are Low-density polyethylene (LDPE); High-density polyethylene (HDPE); Polyvinyl chloride (PVC); Polypropylene (PP); Masterbatches; Olefins; Fibers, and Aromatics.

As MRC wrote earlier, Petkim Petrokimya Holding AS, Turkey"s biggest petrochemicals maker, plans to invest as much as USD8 billion by 2016 on projects including a refinery, a new port and power plants.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In September, production of PET granulate by Russian plants grew by 4% and made about 38,000 tonnes. In January-September, the total output of bottle PET in Russia made about 341,000 tonnes, according to MRC ScanPlast.

The increase in the final performance of the domestic plants in September was due to the normalization of PET granulate production at Polief plant.

We remind that due to a long-term maintenance in July, the plant produced about 5,500 tonnes of PET, the production volumes of the material in August made 9,300 tonnes. After reaching the stable capacity utilization in September, the plant produced about 11,800 tonnes of PET granulate, which also resulted in the growth of the total indices of production in Russia.

The total capacity utilization of the domestic plants increased by 3% last month and made about 87% in September. It should be noted that Kaliningrad plant capacity remains significantly underutilized.

In the first three quarters of 2012, the increase in PET production in Russia made 11%. The total production volume increased by 33,800 tonnes and amounted to 341,000 tonnes.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The year-to-date HDPE output in Russia dropped by 22% to 502,300 tonnes. In September, the production volume of HDPE by Russian makers slashed to 36,300 tonnes, according to MRC ScanPlast.

In September, Russian makers reduced the production volumes of HDPE to 36,300 tonnes, down 39% from August. The reduction of HDPE output last month was due to a scheduled monthly shutdown for maintenance at Kazanorgsintez from 11 September and the reduction of production capacity at Nizhnekamskneftekhim due to a scheduled outage for maintenance at the production of ethylene.

Production cutbacks affected all grades of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with the exception of film material. As a result, September turned out to be a difficult month for the Russian market. Expectedly, prices in the domestic market and HDPE import rose to record levels.

Over the past nine months, the total HDPE output by Russian makers made about 502,300 tonnes, down 22% year-on-year, due to a long-term outage at Stavrolen. At the same time, it is worth noting that Kazanorgsintez and Nizhnekamskneftekhim partially made up for the shortage of Budenovsk material. The plants increased production this year by 29% and 33%, respectively.

MRC