Jurong Aromatics Complex completed to add nearly 4 million tpa of capacity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SK Engineering & Construction, one of South Korea top builders, has completed construction on Jurong Aromatics Corp.’s (JAC) Jurong Island, Singapore, aromatics complex, adding about 4-million t/y of new paraxylene, benzene, orthoxylene and fuels capacity, reported Apic-online with reference to Korean press reports.

In 2011, JAC established a joint venture with SK Petrochemical, SK Gas and SK Engineering & Contraction to build the USD2.4-billion project, which had been delayed twice to complete financing.

Earlier reports said the project was expected to produce 800,000 t/y of paraxylene, 450,000 t/y of benzene, 200,000 t/y of orthoxylene and 2.5-million t/y of fuels.

SK Petrochemical and SK Gas supplied materials for the project and agreed to purchase some of the output.

As MRC wrote earlier, in December 2013, SK Engineering and Construction Co. signed a multi-billion dollar deal to set up a large-scale petrochemical plant in Egypt. The builder secured the USD3.6 billion contract for the Tahrir Petrochemical Project as part of a consortium with its German partner Linde. Private Egyptian developer Carbon Holdings placed the order. The plant in Ain Sokhna region, lying on the western shore of the Gulf of Suez, aims to produce 1.35 million tons of ethylene and polyethylene per year.

South Korea's SK E&C is an engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance services organization. The company has executed a wide range of design and construction projects for the petroleum refining industry including taking a refinery plant project through all phases from design to purchasing, construction and test run. Some of its projects include implementation of full-scale refineries in Kuwait, Brazil and Ghana.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos Group Holdings Ltd. and Solvay SA (SOLB), Europe’s two biggest makers of polyvinyl chloride, won European Union approval for a 4.3 billion-euro (USD6 billion) joint venture of their PVC units after agreeing to sell plants, said Bloomberg.

Ineos will seek a buyer for sites producing suspension polyvinyl chloride and related assets, giving the purchaser a "self-standing S-PVC business capable of competing with the new joint venture," the European Commission said in an e-mailed statement today. Ineos and Solvay won’t close their deal until they have a binding agreement with a purchaser approved by EU regulators, the commission said.

The venture, announced last year, would allow the companies 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 industry to explore deals. Solvay has said it plans to exit the PVC venture at a later stage.

"PVC is an important raw material used in the construction sector and in many other industries," said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia in an e-mailed statement. "The proposed commitments will ensure that the transaction will not result in higher prices to the detriment of businesses and consumers in Europe."

Ineos and Solvay said they’d comment later on the EU decision.

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) -- Henan Shenma Chlorine Alkali is likely to shut a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant for maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is planned to be shut on May 6, 2014. It is likely to stay off-stream for around two weeks.

Located in Henan province of China, the plant has a production capacity of 450,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote earlier, Xinxiang Shenma Zhenghua Chemical shut down its PVC plant for maintenance turnaround on April 16, 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month. Located in Henan province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 50,000 mt/year.

Earlier, Erdos Chlor-Alkali Chemical took off-stream its PVC plant for a one-month turnaround on April 1, 2014. Located in Inner Mongolia, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Besides, Japanese petrochemical producer - Taiyo Vinyl Corp., a subsidiary of Tosoh Group, shut down its PVC plant for maintenance turnaround on March 13, 2014. The plant remained off-stream for around one month. Located in Yokkaichi, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 310,000 mt/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's production of polycarbonate (PC) was 24,730 tonnes in the first four months in 2014, up 4% compared with the same period a year earlier, according to MRC ScanPlast.

Kazanorgsintez, the only PC producer in Russia, produced only 6,400 tonnes of PC in the reported period. All volumes of PC, produced by the producer, were of extrusion grade.

Russia's production of extrusion PC over the reported period exceeded 19,000 tonnes, the share of it occurred for 77% from the total PC production in the country. Most of the PC volumes for sheets production were sold in the domestic market. Exports volumes of Russian PC delivered to the foreign markets were only 773 tonnes over the reported period.
Russia's consumption of extrusion PC over the reported period exceeded 18,000 tonnes. Peak of the demand in the extrusion sector traditionally occurs for May, driven by stronger demand in the agricultural sector (construction of hothouse plants in spring and summer).

Producers of PC sheets have actively buying feedstock since January and February and building up finished products in the warehouses, with intention to sell in March and April. Most converters have increased feedstock purchases to ensure uninterrupted supply of PC-sheets in May. Then, with the beginning of summer the demand for extrusion PC is expected to decline until September and October, when the demand in the construction sector will be stronger.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- European producers of polypropylene (PP) has announced a price increase of EUR20-30/tonne from April for May shipments to the CIS markets, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The May contract price of propylene in Europe was agreed up by EUR10/tonne from April on the back of a shortage of material. The deficit of monomer puts restricitions on PP production. As a consequence, amid tight supply, European producers announced a more substantial increase in PP prices for the CIS countries than the price rise of monomer.

Deals for European homopolymers of propylene (homopolymer PP) were negotiated this week in the range of EUR1,200-1,280/tonne FCA. Offer prices of block copolymers (PP-impact) start from EUR1,260/tonne FCA.

Some European producers have reported that they have already sold out all their export PP quotas for May.
MRC