Borealis plans first production this month from expansion

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis AG, an Austrian petrochemical company controlled by Abu Dhabi, plans to get the first drops of ethylene flowing by the end of May from a plant expansion in the emirate costing more than USD4 billion, as per Bloomberg.

The mechanical works for the Borouge 3 ethane cracker were signed off eight weeks ago, and since then engineers have been setting systems for cooling, testing and safety, and getting the ethane-fed furnaces to an operating temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 Fahrenheit), Chief Executive Officer Mark Garrett said in a phone interview.

The expansion project began in 2009. Annual capacity at Borouge, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) from the city of Abu Dhabi, will more than double to 4.5 million tons from 2 million tons of ethylene and the derivative polyethylene and polypropylene plastics used in car parts and packaging.

The company's first-quarter net income surged 67% from a year earlier to EUR102 million (USD140 million) as higher demand for polyethylene offset a "soft market" for the fertilizer business, Vienna-based Borealis said in a statement. Sales jumped 14% to EUR2.26 billion.

In addition to lower fertilizer demand, unreliable plants meant Borealis missed out on selling some supplies on the spot market at higher prices, Garrett said. The company is also combating weakness in the European infrastructure market, where governments have cut spending on such products as plastic water pipes, Garrett said.

Borealis has also upgraded plants in Kallo, Belgium, and Grand-Quevilly, France. An abundance of U.S. shale gas makes it increasingly likely that supplies will flow into Europe by ship, Garrett said. Borealis is still studying whether it should import U.S. ethane as an alternative to obtaining the feedstock from the North Sea, and such a move would be potentially “very interesting,” given the coastal location of its crackers, the CEO said.

As MRC informed previously, in February, 2014, Borouge and Borealis, leading providers of chemical and innovative plastics solutions, achieved another breakthrough by having their high stress crack resistant (HSCR) polyethylene PE100 polymer, BorSafe HE3490-LS-H, listed under the PE100+ Association's quality list.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. Borealis is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, and operates in over 120 countries with around 5,300 employees worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Following a successful test phase and promising market analysis, Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) plans to invest EUR 15 million in the construction of a production line at its Dormagen site, which will use CO2 to produce a precursor for premium polyurethane foam, as per the company's press release.

The line will have an annual production capacity of 5,000 metric tons. The permit application will be submitted to the Cologne district authority in the next few weeks.

The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide can be used as a basic building block for plastics. The objective of the “Dream Production” project is to launch the first CO2-based polyols on the market starting in 2016. Processors of polyols and polyurethanes have already expressed considerable interest.

High-quality polyols based on CO2 are not currently available on a commercial scale. The new polyols from Bayer MaterialScience have at least the same high level of quality as conventionally manufactured materials and a more sustainable impact. Using a certain amount of CO2 as a building block enables a reduction in the amount of the petroleum-based raw material propylene oxide, which polyols are normally made entirely from. The CO2 balance of the new process is far better than that of the conventional production method.

"Improving the sustainability of everything we do is an integral part of our business strategy and this principle is implemented in our Dream Production project. We have succeeded in turning a waste gas that is potentially harmful to the climate into a useful raw material. That helps the environment and mankind, and we all benefit," said Bayer MaterialScience CEO Patrick Thomas.

The new polyol is used for the production of polyurethane foam, which is found in many everyday items, including upholstered furniture, shoes and automotive parts, and is also used to insulate buildings and refrigeration equipment.

As MRC reported earlier, Bayer MaterialScience expands technology and production by investing in a new ultra-modern technical centre for polyurethane foams and new production plant for coating raw materials. The total investment in both is more than EUR 45 million.

With 2013 sales of EUR 11.2 billion, Bayer MaterialScience is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction and the sports and leisure industries. At the end of 2013, Bayer MaterialScience had 30 production sites and employed approximately 14,300 people around the globe. Bayer MaterialScience is a Bayer Group company.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahi Kasei’s (Tokyo, Japan) Fibers division will expand production capacity for polypropylene spunbond nonwovens in Thailand at its subsidiary Asahi Kasei Spunbond (Thailand) Co., said the producer in its press-release.

AKST will add a new production line of 20,000 metric tons per year capacity which, combined with its existing production line, will double its capacity for spunbond nonwovens to 40,000 m.t/yr. The investment for the capacity expansion is approximately USD5 billion, with a scheduled startup of November 2015.

AKST began operation in 2012 as a base for local production in Thailand to meet growing demand for spunbond for diaper applications in Asia. The market in Asia not only continues to grow in volume, but also is increasingly marked by more sophisticated demand for higher product performance and quality, even as price competition intensifies. The expanded production capacity based on technology of Asahi Kasei Fibers for competitive production of high-quality spunbond will enable AKST to meet these needs.

As MRC wrote before, Asahi Kasei Chemicals and DuPont China Holdings Co., Ltd. (DuPont) have agreed to a share transfer under which the Asahi Kasei Group will obtain full ownership in Asahi-DuPont POM (Zhangjiagang) Co., Ltd. (ADZ), a joint venture between Asahi Kasei Chemicals and DuPont for the production and sale of polyacetal copolymer in China.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A probe into safety practices at pipeline operator Williams Cos. is being expanded after a natural gas plant fire led to the evacuation of a town in Wyoming last month, the company’s third accident in a year, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

While it’s unclear if there are any broader issues, the string of incidents is "unusual", said Dan Tillema, a lead investigator at the US Chemical Safety Board, in an interview yesterday. "With a strong corporate oversight of process safety, it would be very unlikely to have three incidents like this in a 12-month period.'

Williams, operator of more than 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers) of oil and gas pipelines, announced its own safety review this month, after an April 23 fire at a natural gas plant forced the evacuation of nearby Opal, Wyoming. That followed a March 31 explosion at a liquefied gas storage site in Plymouth, Washington, and a June 2013 blast at a Louisiana chemical plant that killed two workers and left 80 injured.

The safety board was already investigating the explosion in Geismar, Louisiana. The Washington, DC-based board has no power to impose penalties and instead makes recommendations to companies and industries to avoid future problems.

Williams is one of North America"s largest natural gas gatherers and processors. Williams also has a growing midstream business in Canada focused on processing oil sands off-gas into NGLs and olefins. It also has a domestic olefins business that provides customers in the petrochemical industry with a full suite of products and services.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russian market for clear polycarbonate (PC granules) decreased to 33,220 tonnes in the first four months of 2014, down 8% compared with the same period last year, according to MRC ScanPlast.

Market participants said buying activity in the feedstock purchase has weaken over the last nine months. This was mostly resulted from poorer converters' solvency because of their reduced working capital. If earlier trade credit could be given for twenty days, but now its minimum period is of about forty or forty-five days. In their turn, traders have to take outside financing to buy feedstock and ensure uninterrupted shipments.
First of all, this factor affected the Russian PC granules production, said market players. As for the imported products on the market, the main pressure on the demand had the devaluation of the rouble against the euro and the dollar, which has been seen since February. Despite the fact that export companies kept their prices for Russia steady from 2013, domestic prices have risen sharply as a result of currency fluctuations.

In addition demand for PC granules seasonally improved in March-April, in particular in the extrusion sector. Market participants said prices for PC granules were unreasonably high in early May.

Exports of PC granules from Russia were 4,100 tonnes in the first four months of 2014, down 3% year on year. Russia's imports of PC granules fell almost by 15% over the reported period to 12,600 tonnes. Russia's production of PC granules in January-April was 24,700 tonnes, up 4% compared with the same period in 2013.

MRC