Iranian petrochemical production capacity to reach 57mt in 2013

(refiningandpetrochemicals) -- Petrochemical production capacity in Iran is expected to reach 57 million tons (mt) by the end of 20 March 2013, as per Iranian calendar.

National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Planning and Development director Ramezan Owladi claimed that the country can achieve the target once it commissions petrochemical projects located at Kavian, Kermansheh and Bandar Imam Khomeini petrochemical plants.

Addressing an event at the 8th Iran Plast Exhibition the NPC director further added that last year's production capacity of the country was 42.7mt.

The petrochemical industry of Iran has finalized its 6th development plan and is focused on complementary industries and competing of chain in petrochemical industry, according to Owladi.

The four day international exhibition was attended by plastic companies in five groups, including raw materials, polymer machinery and equipments, complete and half-made products, engineering and technical services and polymer composites.

Bandar Imam Khomeini complex has a 60,000 tonne/year high density PE (HDPE) plant, two 50,000 tonne/year low density PE (LDPE) lines and a 100,000 tonne/year PP facility.

According to the MRC, the ten months' delivery of PE to Russia from Iran have doubled year on year and exceeded 6,000 tonnes. The largest volume of PE supplies were provided by Amir Kabir Petrochemical and Marun Petrochemical.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - In October, Russian companies increased their imports of linear polyethylene to 16,900 tonnes, up 39% from September. The ten months’ imports of LLDPE to Russia amounted to 137,400 tonnes, as per MRC DataScope.

In October, Russian companies increased imports of linear polyethylene to 16,900 tonnes (excluding the re-imports of Middle Eastern LLDPE from Belarus to Russia), up 39% from September. The main increase in imports of linear polyethylene last month provided by the producers of the films.
Imports of film LLDPE to Russia in October amounted to about 14,500 tonnes, while in September it hardly reached 9,300 tonnes. The low imports in September resulted from the limited quotas for exports from Middle Eastern producers of LLDPE. In October the quotas were increased, and as a result, imports of Middle Eastern polyethylene grew almost twofold.

Imports of LLDPE for rotor forming expectedly were cut twofold in October reaching 614 tonnes, from 1,200 tonnes in September. In other sectors, imports remained unchanged.

In general, over the ten months of this year, the total import of LLDPE to Russia amounted to 137,400 tonnes, up 19% year on year. Linear polyethylene film imports rose to 116,700 tonnes, the supply of PE for the products made from rotor forming increased to 9,000 tonnes.


MRC

(plastemart) -- Qatar Petrochemical (Qapco) has officially started operations of the third company's new LDPE plant. The state-of-the-art facility will increase Qapco’s output to 700,000 mt tpa of low-density polyethylene, with the new plant production making up nearly half that number, as MRC reported earlier.

Testing and commissioning of the plant were completed in the middle of August this year, with the inauguration of the plant coming just short of three years after the foundation stone was first laid by the Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in December 2009.

'The LDPE 3 facility represents the culmination of our efforts to meet our mission: to become a regional leader in the production and distribution of ethylene and polyethylene,' said Dr Mohammed Yousef Al Mulla, Qapco’s Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "In addition, the plant represents our commitment to the virtues and pillars of the Qatar National Vision 2030. With economic diversification at the centre of the country’s development and growth for generations to come, all of us at Qapco are proud in the role we play in meeting the goals."

We remind, that Qatar is expected to invest about USD25 billion in its petrochemical sector until 2020 as part of economic diversification.
MRC

(reuters) -- Nova Chemicals Corporation announced that it and PFB Corporation (PFB) mutually agreed to terminate their letter of intent for PFB to acquire Nova Chemicals' Performance Styrenics business.

Nova Chemicals will retain and continue to operate its Performance Styrenics business, which includes its expandable polystyrene and ARCEL resin products.

It had become apparent to both Nova Chemicals and PFB that PFB would be unable to complete certain steps necessary to consummate its planned expansion of PFB's vertically integrated, construction materials focused products offering in the United States. As a result, both parties decided to terminate the letter of intent.

"We are disappointed that this transaction with PFB was not successful, but will move forward, focusing on performance and continuous improvement for the Performance Styrenics business," stated Randy Woelfel, CEO, Nova Chemicals.

Nova Chemicals develops and manufactures chemicals, plastic resins and end-products. Nova Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
MRC

(petrochemistry) -- Western European production of ethylene, propylene and butadiene in the third quarter of this year was down from the same period of 2011, data from the Association of Petrochemical Producers in Europe showed Monday.

Ethylene, propylene and butadiene production in the quarter was 4.840 million mt, 3.634 million mt and 512,000 mt, respectively. This represents year-on-year falls of 4.9%, 2.8% and 4.8%.

European steam crackers were dialed down in a low demand environment, sources said. EU chemicals production fell by 2.2% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2012, the latest Cefic Chemicals Trends Report released last week showed.

Stock depletion in Q2 prompted some replenishment in Q3, sources said.
MRC