Hyundai Cosmo opens new Korea paraxylene plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- With the plant's annual output of 800,000 metric tons of paraxylene and 120,000 tonnes of benzene, the two companies aim to grab a sizeable chunk of Asia's growing petrochemical market. Hyundai Cosmo Petrochemical (HCP) is a 50-50 venture between Japan’s Cosmo Oil and South Korea’s Hyundai Oilbank, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A paraxylene plant jointly built by Cosmo Oil and Hyundai Oilbank in South Korea began commercial operations Friday, five months earlier than planned.

With the plant's annual output of 800,000 metric tons of paraxylene and 120,000 tons of benzene, the two companies aim to grab a sizeable chunk of Asia's growing petrochemical market.

Paraxylene is used in producing polyester, a raw material for plastic bottles and textiles.

Cosmo also aims to reduce local light distillate supply by exporting to the paraxylene plant, as demand for gasoline is on the decline in Japan.

Cosmo and Hyundai are partly owned by the Abu Dhabi government's investment arm, International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), and the two companies had been considering areas of cooperation after they signed a broad agreement last April.

The venture is expected to post annual revenues of around 200-300 billion yen and earn 10 billion to 30 billion yen in profit after the paraxylene unit begins operations, Kimura said.

Many global energy firms have cancelled or delayed projects since last year and several Japanese firms have halted domestic production of paraxylene.

But Cosmo Oil officials said the margins for paraxylene are expected to improve between now and 2013. China and other Asian nations are expected to be the main export market.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC Innovative Plastics strengthens its position in the market of auto components. The company's new post-industrial recycled (PIR) grade of NORYL GTX™ resin has been successfully adopted by Renault S.A., the French autoproducer, according to SABIC's press release.

This new SABIC's material for the fenders of Renault's 2013 Clio IV makes it a new milestone in the partners' 25-year collaboration in developing thermoplastic fenders.

The new NORYL GTX grade is a step forward to comply with the European Union’s end-of-life vehicle (ELV) requirements. The OEM adopted the new SABIC material for the fenders and will expand the usage of the new material to the upcoming ZOE electric vehicle. Thus, SABIC demonstrates its ongoing commitment to improve its materials technologies in response to changing regulations and advanced customer's requirements.

NORYL GTX resins are conductive blends of polyamide (PA) and modified polyphenylene ether (PPE).

As MRC informed earlier, in the second half of 2012, after a two-year development project with Styron, Renault launched the New Renault Clio with a thermoplastic lift-gate made with Styron's material solutions.

Sabic is ranked among the world's largest petrochemicals manufacturers. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia. The comany manufactures chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is currently the second largest global ethylene glycol producer. Among its products are propylene, paraxylene, styrene, vinyl chloride monomer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canada-based NOVA Chemicals has resumed commercial production of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) at its facility in Moore, Ontario , reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company's plant is operating at its full capacity.

The plant was shut down for months after an incident involving the reactor in late December 2011, a MRC informed ealier. It reportedly ran at very reduced rates in the second half of 2012. The damage, caused by the shutdown of the production in the first half of this year, amounted to USD40-50 million (EUR32-36 million).

"During the period between the incident in late 2011 and now, we committed resources and capital to not only rebuild the reactor, but also enhance our ability to operate more safely and reliably, with a streamlined product slate to better serve our customers," said Chris Bezaire, senior vice president of NOVA's polyethylene business.

Growth in the LDPE market is part of NOVA 2020, the company's long-term asset strategy to capitalize on emerging feedstock opportunities and growing North American demand. Restoring the Moore facility is the first step in NOVA Chemicals’ plan to strengthen its commitment to the LDPE market to better meet the needs of customers. According MRC DataScope, in 2006, NOVA Chemicals was not represented in the Russian PE market. From 2000 to 2005, the company imported to Russia on average 1,000-2,000 tonnes of the material.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Malaysia's state energy company Petronas and German chemical company BASF said Monday they have scrapped a proposed joint venture to develop a specialty chemicals production facility in Malaysia, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The proposed partnership was terminated because both parties couldn't agree on the "terms and conditions" for the project in the southern state of Johor, the companies said in a joint statement.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF and Petronas were considering jointly investing around EUR1bn (USD1.34bn) to produce specialty chemicals in Malaysia.

However, Petronas and BASF "are committed to continuing their existing long-term partnership" at BASF Petronas Chemicals in the eastern state of Pahang, they said.

The companies have an existing joint venture in Malaysia - BASF Petronas Chemicals - which currently owns and operates an integrated complex in Gebeng, Pahang, Kuantan that produces acrylic monomers, oxo products and butanediol.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poland's top refiner PKN Orlen SA expects to swing to an operating loss of 700 million zlotys (USD228 million) in the fourth quarter from a PLN128 million profit a year earlier due to asset impairments and falling oil prices, the company said Foxbusiness.

As MRC wrote earlier, PKN Orlen wrote off PLN700 million in the fourth quarter, mainly for assets at its Czech Republic based unit Unipetrol and booked a PLN500 million loss on its oil inventories, which lost value due to lower oil prices.

Unipetrol, in which PKN has a 63 % share,said on Friday its 4.5-billion-crown (USD236 million) impairment
charge reflected a drop in asset values due to a tough refining environment as well as its intention to sell some assets.

Accordinig to MRC data, in 2012, Czech Unipetrol increased supplies of PP and PE to Ukraine by 34% and 23% respectively. In total Ukrainian converter delivered more than 21 tons of polyolefins by Unipetrol production.

PKN Orlen (Polish: Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen) is a major European oil refiner, and petrol retailer. The company is Poland's and Central Europe's largest publicly traded firm with major operations in Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, and the Baltic States.


MRC