SAMAPCO starts commercial ops at Saudi Arabia chlor-alkali plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia Mining Co. (Ma’aden) said it will launch tomorrow, July 1, the commercial operation of its subsidiary Sahara and Ma’aden Petrochemical Co. (SAMAPCO), said Mubasher.

The plant is designed to produce 250,000 tons per year of concentrated caustic soda and 300,000 tons of ethylene dichloride (EDC), the company said.

SAMAPCO is a limited liability company, jointly owned 50:50 by Ma’aden and Sahara. In late 2012, Sahara Petrochemicals Company announced that its affiliate Samapco had signed financing agreements for a total amount of SAR 1980.75 million (USD 528.2 million). The agreements were signed with three Saudi banks: Banque Saudi Fransi, Riyad Bank and The Saudi British Bank, to provide Islamic commercial financing for the development of Samapco's ethylene dichloride and caustic soda petrochemical project located in Jubail Industrial City. The financing is for a period of 15 years with unequal semi-annual installments commencing after the completion of the project.

Sahara Petrochemical is involved in building and operating petrochemical projects, especially propylene, polypropylene, ethylene and mixed polyethylene industries.
mrcplasr.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell Process Solutions announced Wednesday that it will supply a new integrated control and safety system for Qatar Fuel Additives Company’s (QAFAC) plant in Mesaieed Industrial City, located 50 kilometers south of Doha, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The upgrade will help the plant reduce operating costs and improve efficiencies as it increases production of methanol and MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), a key gasoline additive that reduces tailpipe emissions.

Honeywell’s integrated control and safety solution, including a new fire and gas system, will improve automation at the plant, increase cyber security, and enhance operator effectiveness. QAFAC will also benefit from ongoing long-term services through Honeywell’s lifecycle support, according to company officials.

QAFAC, a joint venture between state-backed Industries Qatar, OPIC Middle East, LCY and IOL, plans to become one of the top five international producers of methanol and butane derivatives by 2020. It is also planning to commission an USD80 million carbon dioxide recovery project this year to capture 500 tpd of CO2 for re-injection into the production cycle.

When added to gasoline, MTBE enhances octane levels to reduce engine knocking. It also helps the gasoline burn more completely, which reduces tailpipe emissions and helps to meet Euro 5 standards. QAFAC produces MTBE using process technology licensed from Honeywell's UOP segment.

The solution includes Honeywell’s Experion PKS distributed control system, Honeywell’s Safety Manager, and its XLS fire detection systems. Work under the multi-million dollar contract has already begun and is due for completion in 2014.

As MRC wrote before, UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced that its licensee, China's Wison (Nanjing) Clean Energy Co. Ltd., has produced more than 360 mln lbs of light olefins at a plant in Nanjing, China, using UOP's breakthrough methanol-to-olefins (MTO) process technology.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- UGI Corp agreed to buy Total’s LPG distribution business in France for as much as USD615 million, adding to the U.S. company’s operations in the European country, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The acquisition of the LPG unit from Europe’s second-largest oil company is seen closing in the first half of 2015, subject to regulatory approvals and consultation regulations, Pennsylvania-based UGI said in a statement. The cost will be about USD546 million to USD615 million, raised using cash and debt, and the unit will contribute to earnings in the first year, it said.

Total’s CEO Christophe De Margerie has been selling assets to help pay for development of so-called mega-projects. The company targeted USD15 billion to USD20 billion of asset sales from 2012 to 2014 and de Margerie in February said they could reach USD25 billion, without giving a timeframe.

Total sold its 10% stake in Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas project to Turkey’s state oil company for USD1.5 billion in May, bringing total disposals since 2012 to USD16 billion.

The company’s LPG unit distributed 265 million gallons of the fuel to residential, commercial and industrial customers last year, according to the statement. That compares with about 250 million gallons distributed by UGI’s Antargaz in France.

"The acquisition of Totalgaz would extend the footprint of Antargaz, UGI’s French LPG distribution affiliate, expanding its residential and commercial customer base across all regions of the country and creating a national leader in LPG marketing," it said in the statement. "The new organization would be better equipped to hold its own and seize growth opportunities in today’s aggressively competitive market."

UGI is an LPG distributor with operations in the U.S. and 16 European countries, including the U.K. and Poland.

As MRC wrote before, Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, intends to invest EUR160m before 2016 to adapt its petrochemical platform in Carling, in the Lorraine region of eastern France, and to restore its competitiveness. Total plans indeed to develop new activities on the platform in the growing markets for hydrocarbon resins (Cray Valley) and for polymers, while shutting down the acutely loss-making steam cracker in the second half of 2015.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polycarbonate (PC) in Ukraine increased to 1,600 tonnes in January-May, up 13% year on year, according to MRC DataScope.

Demand in extrusion sector traditionally increased in May. Only Ukrainian producer of cellular and solid PC sheets company Tagol, based in Dnipropetrovsk, processed more than 200 tonnes of PC in the first five months of the year.

Ukraine's market of extrusion PC grew by 41% in the first five months of the year. Main industries, where used finished products from extrusion PC, are construction and agriculture. Construction sector widely uses cellular PC sheets of 6, 8, 10 mm, as well as monolithic and painted sheets. Agriculture sector uses cell PC sheets of 4 mm.

Imports of blowmoulding PC increased to 280 tonnes in January-May, up by 17% year on year. The sectors of blowmoulding and extrusion PC are influenced by seasonality.

Buying activity increase in April and May ahead of the summer season and the stronger demand for PC bottles for water transportation.
The lowest increase in imports in the reporting period was seen in injection moulding segment -800 tonnes over the reported period, up 9%. This sector is the most stable and least affected by seasonality.

In general, we can say that the PC market in Ukraine was practically not affected by tense economic and political situation in the country, business activity remained at the same level, some sectors of the market even improved.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of polypropylene (PP) into Belarus decreased over the first four months of 2014 by 2% year on year. Demand for copolymers of propylene continued to grow, while demand for homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) subsided, reported MRC analysts.

April PP imports declined to 6,600 tonnes from 7,200 tonnes in March. The overall PP imports to the local market totalled 24,600 tonnes from January to April 2014 versus 25,000 tonnes a year earlier. Homopolymer PP accounted for the reduction in supplies.

April imports of homopolymer PP into Belarus fell to 4,000 tonnes from 4,900 tonnes in March. The overall imports of homopolymer PP were 16,500 tonnes over the first four months of the year versus 18,800 tonnes a year earlier. Russian producers with the share of over 60% are the key suppliers of homopolymer PP to the local market.

Imports of copolymers of propylene to Belarus rose to 2,600 tonnes in April from 2,300 tonnes in March. The overall imports of copolymers of propylene to the local market reached 8,000 tonnes from January to April 2014, up by 30% year on year. Producers from Germany and Poland are the key suppliers of copolymers of propylene.
MRC