Oriental Petrochemical to shut PTA plant in Taiwan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oriental Petrochemical is in plans to shut a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant is likely to be shut on November 6, 2013. The shutdown has been attributed to weak market conditions.

Located in Taoyuan, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, Formosa Chemicals & Fibres Corp (FCFC), a Taiwanese producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins and other intermediate plastic products, restarted its No.2 styrene monomer (SM) unit in early October 2013. It was shut in August 2013 for maintenance turnaround. Located in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the unit has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Group and Solvay, Europe’s two biggest makers of polyvinyl chloride, face an in-depth European Union (EU) probe into their 4.3 billion-euro (USD5.8 billion) PVC merger, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The European Commission said the deal would remove a key competitor for bleach and for suspension PVC resin used to make pipes and window frames, according to an e-mailed statement today.

Concessions offered by the companies "failed to provide a sufficiently clear-cut solution" to eliminate antitrust concerns, it said. The EU set a new deadline of March 21 to rule on the transaction.

The proposed combination, announced in May, would allow the enlarged business to cut costs in areas from transport to marketing and raise profitability amid a European industry suffering from inflated raw material and energy costs.

The PVC market is facing overcapacity and weak demand in Europe, prompting companies in the labor-intensive and power-hungry industry to explore mergers. Solvay has said it plans to exit the PVC venture at a later stage.

Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. The company has diversified into two major sectors of activity: chemicals and plastics. Solvay supplies over 1500 products across 35 brands of high-performance polymers – fluoropolymers, fluoroelastomers, fluorinated fluids, semi-aromatic polyamides, sulfone polymers, aromatic ultra polymers, high-barrier polymers and cross-linked high-performance compounds.

INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BIAXPLEN, part of SIBUR Holding, has launched a new production facility of biaxially oriented polypropylene films (BOPP-films) in Tomsk, said SIBUR in its press release.

The new production facility is located on the site of SIBUR’s Tomskneftekhim plant, which is the Company’s main polypropylene supplier. The new production line has an annual nameplate capacity of 38,000 tonnes per year and investment in the project has exceeded RUB 2.4 billion (excl. VAT).

Products will be sold in the Siberian and Ural federal districts, with volumes also exported to CIS countries – Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and to Europe – Poland, Italy, France, as well as the Baltic states and Turkey.

"SIBUR is investing in the development of new polymer production plants and is focussed on expansion of its processing facilities. Implementation of these projects is aimed at improvement of our polymers sales, and SIBUR should benefit from sales of high value added products. We would like to thank the Tomsk region authorities for their support on this project that we are confident will benefit the regional economy by creating new jobs and tax revenues." - said Chairman of SIBUR Holding’s Board of Directors Leonid Mihelson.

BIAXPLEN is a subsidiary of SIBUR Holding, one of the largest Russian manufacturers of biaxially oriented polypropylene films (BOPP), with production facilities in Balakhna (Nizhny Novgorod Region), Kursk (Kursk Region), Novokuibyshevsk (Samara Region) and Zheleznodorozhny (Moscow Region). Another project aimed at expansion of BOPP-films production is currently underway at the Novokuibyshevsk site. With the launch of the new BIAXPLEN production facility in Tomsk, SIBUR’s total BOPP -film production capacity will reach 149,250 tonnes per annum.

SIBUR is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry.

BOPP-film is used in the manufacturing of flexible packaging for food and non-food products, labels and adhesive tape. BOPP-film manufacturing technology provides for high strength and elasticity properties, high barrier properties, resistance to various corrosive environments, and inertness, and therefore the product is not harmful to humans and the environment.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Italian government said it has never considered producing its own shale gas, said Upstreamonline, citing economic minister Flavio Zanonato.

Reports quoted Zanonato as saying that the Italian government plans to reverse the country’s policy on shale and allow shale gas extraction. The ministry said in a statement that Zanonato said Italy could merely consider the importing of shale gas, not producing it.

Italy's previous technocrat government, led by Mario Monti, last year barred near-shore drilling and shale gas exploration.

The near-shore ban has already been enacted, with Zanonato signing a decree in September reducing the offshore acreage open to exploration and production from 255,000 square kilometres to 139,000 square kilometres.

The policy principally excludes areas within 20 kilometres of the coastline, in a measure first brought forward by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in the immediate aftermath of the Macondo disaster in the US Gulf in 2010.

Italy is dependent on imports for 84% of its overall energy needs and for 90% of its natural gas.

Separately on Tuesday, Italian state-owned company Eni signed a joint venture with US shale player Quicksilver Resources to develop unconventional oil prospects in the Delaware sub-basin in West Texas, part of the prolific Permian basin.

As MRC wrote before, Shell is considering the sale of its retail, aviation, and supply and distribution downstream businesses in Italy, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the company's announcement. Shell’s non-service station lubricants and marine businesses are not part of this announcement.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Seika has inaugurated a new superabsorbent plant on Arkema's Carling site (Moselle, France) in the presence of the local and regional authorities, reported Arkema in its press release.

This major investment, made in partnership with Arkema, will enable Sumitomo Seika to meet increasing demand for superabsorbents in Europe.

Announced jointly by Sumitomo Seika and Arkema in the spring of 2011, the investment will raise the overall superabsorbent production capacity of the Carling facility to 47,000 ton/year.

The construction of this new plant boasts the latest technological advances of Sumitomo Seika in the field of superabsorbents. Production effectively came on stream in the summer, and the inaugurated plant is now fully operational.

The operational launch of this new production plant on the Carling platform further consolidates Arkema’s position on the site, which now ranks among the world’s leading production facilities for acrylic monomers.

Since 2008, when it took over Arkema’s superabsorbent business, Sumitomo Seika has been marketing, from the Carling site, an extensive range of superabsorbents under the tradename AQUAKEEP.

As MRC informed previously, in mid-summer, Arkema declared a project to divest its tin stabilizer business to PMC Group, a New Jersey-based performance plastics and chemicals manufacturer. This planned divestment of organometallic products includes Fascat catalysts, Thermolite tin stabilizers and fine chemicals. Therefore, Arkema strives to refocus its activities on expanding core specialty businesses. On the basis of tin chemistry, Thermolite heat stabilizers are specifically utilized in the manufacturing of PVC, which is mainly used in the construction sector, whereas Fascat catalysts are utilized in automotive specialties as well as in other applications.

SAPs, or superabsorbents, are manufactured from acrylic acid and are mostly used in high-growth market segments such as babies diapers, adult incontinence articles, and female sanitary products.

Arkema is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc.
MRC