Motiva to run reduced rates at Port Arthur refinery after fire in sulfur unit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, is running four hydrotreaters and three lube units at reduced rates during the repair of a sulfur recovery unit, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with operations, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

According to the report, there was a fire at the unit's reactor on August 12, 2013. The sulfur unit may be shut as long as two more weeks.

Kim Windon, a Houston based spokeswoman for Motiva, confirmed that there was a small fire in a unit that was quickly extinguished. She declined to comment on repairs to the unit.

This is the latest in a series of setbacks at the refinery where the newest crude unit is expected to run up to 75,000 bpd below capacity due to a piping problem.

The 325,000 bpd crude unit called VPS-5 was beset by vibration problems when Motiva attempted to run it at or near its full capacity, as Reuters exclusively reported on Friday.

The first attempt to start the unit, at the end of a 5-year, USD10 billion expansion of the plant, was hampered by a chemical leak in June 2012.

The unit has been running at reduced rates ranging between 250,000 bpd and 285,000 bpd since it began production early this year.

Motiva’s Port Arthur refinery is the largest in the nation, with capacity to process 600,000 bpd of crude oil. Motiva is a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cash-strapped Egypt has frozen talks to import liquefied natural gas from wealthy Qatar due to the political instability and violence that erupted after the army swept the streets of the supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi last week, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"The talks are frozen with Qatar and we are not in a position to initiate talks with any other country," he said without specifying when the discussion with the Persian Gulf emirate will be resumed.

Gas-rich Qatar already promised Egypt in June five free shipments of LNG, equivalent to 16 billion cubic feet, to compensate the foreign partners that have already supplied extra domestically produced gas to the North African country to avoid wider power cuts during the summer months.

The first cargo from the April gas-swap deal was scheduled to be shipped in May, but a disagreement over the price Egypt would pay for the gas held up the agreement.

Oil and gas producers in Egypt have curbed local production due to political unrest, but demand for energy has continued to grow, resulting in rolling blackouts throughout the country that have deepened public discontent.

In response the Egyptian government last year started looking for deals to buy LNG and issued a tender to build an import terminal that would start to operate in May this year. However, those plans were cancelled, due to political and technical issues.

An Egyptian official familiar with the matter who asked not to be named said that the Egyptian government decided to give up on the Qatari LNG deal because the Gulf state supported the Morsi administration.

Qatari officials were not immediately available for comment. The Gulf state's foreign minister told reporters in Paris Sunday that his country had never given aid to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and that all support went to Egypt as a whole and "still continues till date."

Egypt has faced a natural gas and diesel shortage since last year, which has pushed up food costs, seen long lines at filling stations and electricity blackouts. The energy-supply problems have deepened popular discontent with Egypt's former ruling Islamist government and exacerbated broader economic difficulties there.

The country is also struggling to complete oil-supply agreements with Iraq and Libya aimed at easing diesel shortages. It has been unable to provide acceptable bank guarantees that would facilitate the flow of oil, people familiar with the talks have previously said.

As MRC wrote before, in a move to preserve its public interest, Egypt has lifted anti-dumping fees on polypropylene (PP) imports from Saudi Arabia after a prior investigation of the matter. The investigation on protective measures and anti-dumping fees imposed on Saudi imports due to claims that they are damaging its industry has been conducting by Egyptl. The results of the investigation showed that the damage was caused by other factors and that the measures against Saudi imports were not in interest of the Egyptian public.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eastman Chemical Company is increasing prices on the following products starting from 1 September, or as contracts allow, reported the company on its site.

These increases are due to elevated operating costs, particularly in raw materials, as follows:

- Eastman 168 non-phthalate; all packaging and grades : Off-list price increase of USD 0.05/lb (USD 0.11/kg) in North America;
- Eastman DOP; all packaging and grades : Off-list price increase of USD 0.05/lb (USD 0.11/kg) in North America;
- Eastman DOA; all packaging and grades : Off-list price increase of USD 0.03/lb (USD 0.07/kg) in North America;
- Eastman TOTM; all packaging and grades : Off-list price increase of USD 0.05/lb (USD 0.11/kg) in North America;
- Eastman TOTM-CA; all packaging and grades : Off-list price increase of USD 0.05/lb (USD 0.11/kg) in North America;
- Eastman TEG-EH; all packaging and grades : Off-list price increase of USD 0.05/lb (USD 0.11/kg) in North America;
- Eastman DOM; all packaging and grades : Off-list price increase of USD 0.05/lb (USD 0.11/kg) in North America.

As MRC informed previously, Eastman Chemical Co.'s first-quarter earnings rose 56% as the chemical and materials manufacturer was helped by a last year's acquisition of its peer specialty-chemicals firm Solutia Inc.

Eastman (headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA) is a global specialty chemical company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With a portfolio of specialty businesses, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. Its market-driven approaches take advantage of world-class technology platforms and leading positions in attractive end-markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thai refineries have been asked to boost production in order to offset a supply shortage caused by temporary shutdown of PTT’s Map Ta Phut unit at Rayong, as per Plastemart.

The Ministry has requested cooperation of the refineries in reducing their LPG supply to the petrochemical sector, which will also be asked to use naptha as a raw material, instead of LPG. The meeting was held to seek ways to deal with the impact of the shutdown following a lightning strike on the facility.

Last week, lightning struck the waste-heat recovery unit at the Map Ta Phut facility, which supplies natural gas to PTTGC's I4-2 plant. The PTTGC plant has an olefins production capacity of 450,000 tpa.

Unit 5 of PTT's gas-separation plant is expected to take between three and five months to resume operation. The shutdown will result in the loss of LPG supply of between 70,000 and 75,000 tons per month, which represents up to 25% of the country's overall production capacity of 300,000 tons.

Around 220,000 tons of the normal production is from PTT's gas-separation plant units, and the rest from the refineries. PTT will also boost its LPG imports by 40,000 tons per month, from the present 140,000 tons, and cut the LPG supply to the petrochemical sector by 30,000 tons per month.

As MRC wrote previously, in June 2013, Indonesian state-owned energy company Pertamina signed an agreement to purchase petrochemical products from Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical. The agreement serves as a pre-marketing strategy for Pertamina and PTT’s joint Indonesian petrochemical business. Under the agreement, PTT will deliver at least 5,000 tonnes of polyethylene and polypropylene products each month to Pertamina for sale in Indonesia.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company has announced the reshuffle of its leaders in the Asia-Pacific region, which represents a major growth area for the company, said Nationmultimedia.

Pat Dawson, president of Dow Asia Pacific, has been named senior vice president for Dow's global epoxy business and corporate project development; Peter Sykes, president of Dow Greater China, will assume the role of president of Dow Asia Pacific; and Peter Wong, Asia-Pacific commercial vice president for packaging and speciality plastics, will now serve as president of Dow Greater China.

The transition will be completed in the coming one or two months.

Since 2008, Dow Asia Pacific has doubled its number of plants and employees, with the revenue from the region increasing from USD6.2 billion (Bt180 billion) to USD10.2 billion (Bt320 billion) in 2012, and now making up 18% of Dow's global sales.

Dow says its strategy in this region is to cultivate key partnerships with customers, local governments, and valuable external stakeholders, recruit and develop local talent, penetrate key markets, and broaden the impact of its leading innovation capabilities.

In the past year, Dow has continued to expand its regional coverage, including office openings in Chengdu and Harbin in China, and new manufacturing facilities in Vietnam, Thailand, China and South Korea.

The Shanghai Dow Centre, a state-of-the-art research-and-development facility, is now home to more than 80 laboratories and employs more than 500 scientists, who through world-class expertise and collaboration with key partners, including customers and universities, focus primarily on delivering applications for solutions for Asia-Pacific and global markets.

In his new role as president of Dow Asia Pacific, Sykes will assume responsibility for identifying new business opportunities, ensuring organisational vitality, and supporting the implementation of Dow's business strategies across the entire region. He will be located in Shanghai, with a second office in Hong Kong.

As president for Dow Greater China, Peter Wong will lead all geographic activities in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He will assume responsibility for developing business opportunities, engaging and cultivating critical stakeholder relationships key to business success, attracting and retaining talent, and implementing Dow's business strategies in Greater China. Wong will report to Sykes.

"Greater China is Dow's second-largest international market in terms of sales, and is an incredibly dynamic and strategically significant region. I am looking forward to working together with our energised teams, and our key stakeholders, to find even more ways to be a preferred partner and solutions provider in Greater China," Wong said.

As MRC wrote before, Dow Chemical has signed a long-term ethylene off-take agreement with a new Japanese joint venture that will allow the chemical producer to enhance its performance plastics franchise. The joint venture is being formed between Japanese companies Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsui & Co. to construct and operate a Linear Alpha Olefins unit on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and synthetic rubber. In 2012, Dow had annual sales of approximately USD57 billion. The Company"s more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 36 countries across the globe.
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