PET imports to Kazakhstan decreased by 13% in Q1 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into Kazakhstan dropped in the first quarter of 2014 by 13% year on year and totalled 12,700 tonnes, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.
Supplies of Korean material increased in the first quarter of 2014. The share of Korean PET rose to 65%, and its imports were 8,300 tonnes. Earlier, Kazakh converters traditionally preferred Chinese grades. Thus, Chinese PET accounted for 71.3% in 2013.
At the same time, imports of PET surged in March. Thus, March PET imports more than tripled from February to 6,300 tonnes. The increased imports were caused by companies' preparation to a spring season and growing sales in the PET preforms market in spring. However, importers said the tenge devaluation, conducted by the Central Bank of Kazakhstan in February, hit hard buying activity. Market sources said April imports would drop from March, companies would operate, using existing stocks.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Corp has held up a USD3.1 bln ethylene plant in east China's Qingdao, after a fatal pipeline blast that occured in November 2013 raised doubts on the environmental viability of the petrochemical complex, as per Plastemart.

The explosion killed 62 persons. The delay on the project also comes amid concern about demand growth in China's petrochemical sector and new competition from U.S. shale gas crackers. The ethylene plant was to be its first designed to use natural gas and LPG as a feedstock.

The delay also comes amid concern about demand growth in China's petrochemical sector and new competition from US shale gas crackers. Sinopec spokesman Lu Dapeng, when asked about the status of the Qingdao project, said there has been no official verdict yet on that matter.

The city's Huangdao district already has a 200,000-barrel-per-day Sinopec refinery and a 700,000-ton-per-year paraxylene plant built by Korean and Omani companies.

Huangdao is also the site of one of China's first strategic petroleum reserves. Sinopec's Qingdao ethylene plant was to be its first designed to use natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas as a feedstock. The company posted a 15.3 percent fall in first-quarter profit in 2014, as a sharp improvement at its refining business was offset by declines at its upstream and chemicals businesses.

The company posted a net profit of 14.1 billion yuan (USD2.25 billion) versus 16.7 billion yuan a year earlier, it said in a filing with the Shanghai bourse. Sinopec said in March that it would cut capital expenditure to 162 billion yuan this year from 169 billion yuan in 2013.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC) is a large scale integrated energy and chemical company with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Sinopec is the worlds seventh biggest company by revenue.
Sinopec is China's largest manufacturer and supplier of major petrochemical products. It is the second largest producer of crude oil in China. Its refining capacity and ethylene capacity rank No.2 and No.4 globally.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazakhstan plans to build a major petrochemical complex by 2016 to produce higher-value products from associated petroleum gas that is currently mainly flared, according to an official at state-run KazMunaiGaz, as reported by Plastemart.

The government aims to go ahead with the USD6.3 bln project in order to increase utilization of associated petroleum gas as it believes the situation with gas flaring in the country is "unacceptable," as per Raushan Sarmurzina, executive secretary of the Council on Science and Technology at KazMunaiGaz.

The complex will be built in the Atyrau region, where one of Kazakhstan's major oil fields, Tengiz, is located and which will become the key source for feedstock to the complex, she added, speaking at the CIS Oil and Gas summit in Paris. There is already an agreement in place with Tengiz's operator on the issue, she said, providing no further details on the deal.

The first two stages of the complex, to be completed in 2016, will require 7 billion cubic meters/year of gas as feedstock and will see propylene and polypropylene output capacity of 500,000 tpa and 800,000 tpa, respectively. The third stage will envisage butadiene output at 250,000 tpa, with gas from other major fields in Kazakhstan, Karachaganak and Kashagan as feedstock, she said. This stage is currently expected to be built in 2016 as well but it is most likely to be delayed to at least 2018 because of delays in startup of Kashagan.

As MRC wrote previously, South Korean petrochemical company LG Chem is planning to build an ethylene production plant in Atyrau, Kazakhstan. The project is going to be constacted in collaboration with two other Kazakh firms. The production is expected to begin in late 2016.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A global shortfall in the supply of a key raw material for the manufacture of water-based adhesives is putting pressure on Europe’s adhesives manufacturers according to FEICA, the Brussels-based Association of the European Adhesive and Sealant Industry, reported GV.

Experts estimate that the demand for the raw material vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) currently exceeds supply by around one million tonnes, with international chemical companies raising their prices for VAM significantly as a result, says Feica.

The shortage of VAM has been caused by the closure of several production facilities in Europe, the USA and Asia due to failures and accidents or just the need for maintenance work. In Europe alone there is a shortfall of around 500,000 tonnes of VAM.

In recent weeks, several VAM producers have reported plant malfunctions or announced sales controls because demand for VAM is so much higher than the product’s availability. Because of the critical supply situation, the price for VAM has jumped several times since the end of 2013, substantially increasing the input costs for Europe’s adhesives industry.

As MRC informed previously, in November 2013, Celanese informed employee delegates in Roussillon, France, and work council in Tarragona, Spain, of contemplated closures of the Roussillon acetic anhydride facility and the vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) production unit in Tarragona. The company said it placed great effort in identifying credible buyers that could ensure sustainable operations, retain employees and meet the financial criteria defined by the company to ensure successful future operations of the VAM production unit in Tarragona and the acetic anhydride plant in Roussillon. However, no credible buyers were identified and no offers for acquiring these facilities were made.

VAM is the most important ingredient in dispersion adhesives, which are used for example in the automobile industry, the building sector, the woodworking and furniture industry, the manufacture of paper and packaging materials, and by DIY, hobby and craft enthusiasts. VAM is also an important raw material in the paints and coatings, construction, and textile manufacturing sectors.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess Keltan Elastomers business unit, an affiliate of Lanxess - one of the world’s leading manufacturers of synthetic rubber, has presented an innovative curing technology for EPDM rubber, as per the company's press release.

The basic finding of Lanxess’ rubber experts is that zeolite can be used as a new co-activator for resol curing, enabling both high cure speed and high curing efficiency. Resol curing opens up an alternative approach of EPDM rubber processing besides established sulphur vulcanisation and peroxide curing which are the main crosslinking technologies for EPDM rubber.

So far, resol curing could be designated as the “work horse” for the dynamic vulcanisation of EPDM/PP-based thermoplastic vulcanisates (TPVs). However, for thermoset vulcanisation of EPDM it is hardly used, because it is considered to be too slow and suffers from marching cure.

Dr. Niels van der Aar, Head of Technical Service & Application Development at Keltan Elastomers, explains: "Although emphasis of our studies is on the activation of various resol curing systems for EPDM rubber, it is also shown that this novel way of activation is applicable for resol cure of other types of rubber, including (X)IIR, CR, (H)NBR, BR, SBR and NR."

Depending on the particular resol curing system and rubber under investigation, the cure rate is strongly increased. This means a reduction of scorch and vulcanisation times up to 75%. Furthermore, the final degree of crosslinking is clearly enhanced - almost up to the double value.

As MRC informed previously, in early April, Lanxess successfully concluded the pilot phase for a highly efficient production process for butyl rubber. In the past seven years, Lanxess worked on a fundamentally new technology for a more sustainable production. An important step in this process was the testing of the new technology in two pilot plants at its production site in Zwijndrecht/Belgium since spring 2012. The production process of butyl rubber is highly complex and requires process steps at very low temperatures and significant usage of steam. The new process technology is significantly more energy and cost efficient.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.3 billion in 2013 and roughly 17,300 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC