Axiall Old signs liquid caustic soda distribution agreement with World Industries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US-based Chemical company Axiall has entered into a distribution agreement with automotive and heavy-duty coolants provider Old World Industries, to market liquid caustic soda, said Chemicals-technology.

With the deal, Old World Industries expects to re-enter in the field of marketing liquid caustic soda, which is used in the production of pulp and paper, alumina, de-inking of waste paper, water treatment, and several chemicals.

Additionally, caustic soda is used as an intermediate and a reactant in processes that produce solvents, plastics, synthetic fibres, bleach, adhesives, coatings, herbicides, dyes, inks, and pharmaceuticals including aspirin.

It is also used in the soap and detergent, oil and gas, and textile industries, as well as to neutralise acidic waste streams and removing acidic elements from off-gases.

The latest deal between Old World Industries and Axiall aims to provide a distribution network for liquid caustic soda across the US by using Old World's supply chain networks and its customer service activities.

Old World Industries chemical division president Jim Bryan said: "This is yet another addition to Old World Industries' successful chemical business. "We have vast experience in the sales and marketing of Ethylene Oxide, Derivatives, and Glycols, as well as other industrial chemicals through our EPIC (Exclusive Partners In Chemistry) brand".

The company is involved in various brands such as PEAK Antifreeze, PEAK Motor Oil, BlueDEF diesel exhaust fluid, and EPIC Chemical brands.

Currently, Axiall has four plants in the US, one in Canada, and a network of terminals across North America. The company also has shares in a joint venture that owns and operates a facility making caustic soda in Taiwan.

As MRC informed earlier, Axiall Corp. and Lotte Chemical Corp. will make a combined USD3 billion capital investment in two new chemical manufacturing plants in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Axiall Corporation is a leading integrated chemicals and building products company. Headquartered in Atlanta, Axiall has manufacturing facilities located throughout North America and in Asia to provide industry-leading materials and services to customers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Negotiations over April prices of Russian polyvinyl chloride (PVC) began last week. Producers announced the anticipated price increases of up to Rb4,000/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations over April prices of Russian suspension PVC (SPVC) for the domestic market began on Friday. Producers announced their intention to achieve a further price rise of Rb2,000-4,000/tonne from March. Converters were forced to accept the next increase in prices due to the absence of the alternative.

Negotiations over April contract prices of PVC with K=64/67 have been held in the range of Rb68,000-74,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, up by Rb2,000-4,000/tonne from March. Discussions over deals for resin with K=70 have been held in the range of Rb72,000-75,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, up by Rb3,000-4,000/tonne from March.

A shortage of resin with K=70 remained. In particular, RusVinyl reduced its PVC output in March because of technical problems, and the company's customers said the plant do not plan to produce this resin in April at all. Thus, Kaustik (Volgograd) is the only producer that can offer the market this resin.

An unscheduled shutdown of PVC production at SayanskKhimplast and a dynamic price rise in the domestic market made Russian companies actively contract the resin in foreign markets. Contracts for polymer from China and the United States were actively concluded in March. However, first shipments will arrive only in the middle of April because of long delivery.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bashkir company Gazprom neftekhim Salavat, one of the largest Russian petrochemical producers, began the process of resuming its high density polyethylene (HDPE) production after maintenance, according to ICIS-MRC Price report with reference to the company's customers.

The plant's representatives said Gazprom neftekhim Salavat started resuming its HDPE production after the shutdown for a technological turnaround. The outage was not long and lasted about 7 days. The company's low density polyethylene (LDPE) production will be operating normally.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat produced 34,600 tonnes of LDPE and 93,900 tonnes of HDPE in 2015. These figures were 7,000 tonnes and 19,800 tonnes, respectively, over the first two months of 2016.

JSC "Gazprom neftekhim Salavat" (formerly JSC "Salavatnefteorgsintez") is one of Russia"s major petrochemical complexes. The company was integrated into JSC "Gazprom" system. The concentration of the full cycle of hydrocarbon processing, petrochemistry and mineral fertilizer production on the one site is the main advantage of GNS. The company comprises oil refinery, chemical plant, gas&chemical plant and monomer plant. The list of manufactured commodity products now includes more than 140 items, including 76 items of the main products: motor gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, fuel oil, toluene, solvent, liquefied gases, benzene, styrene, ethylbenzene, butyl alcohols, phthalic anhydride and plasticizers, polyethylene, polystyrene, silica gel and zeolite catalysts, corrosion inhibitors, elemental sulfur, ammonia and urea, glycols, and amines, a wide range of plastic consumer goods, surfactants and others.). The subsidiary company of Gazprom - Gazprom processing - owns 97.57% of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Meridian Energy has submitted its first round of permit applications relating to its proposed 55,000-bpd Davis refinery in North Dakota, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Davis site is located near Belfield in Billings County, North Dakota, in the heart of the Bakken shale play. Meridian says it filed applications for a zoning certificate and conditional use permit with Billings County. In the coming weeks, Meridian will file additional permit applications, including an application for the refinery's permit to construct with the State of North Dakota Health Department.

Also included will be an application for a conditional use permit for an equipment assembly and fabrication facility, which will serve the needs of the both the refinery as well as other local oil and gas businesses.

The proposed Davis refinery will be the first "greenfield" complex high-conversion refinery built in many years, the company says. As a brand new plant, the Davis refinery will not be burdened with outdated legacy operating units, will operate more cleanly and efficiently, will utilize state-of-the-art instrumentation and control technology, and will fully comply with modern environmental and safety requirements.

"The Davis refinery will be one of the most modern, efficient and environmentally-compliant refineries in the US in more than 50 years," said William Prentice, chairman & CEO of Meridian Energy Group. For the design, equipment and construction of the Davis refinery, Meridian has partnered with multinational engineering firm, Vepica, and Houston-based construction and logistics firm, BASIC Equipment.

The Davis refinery addresses two pressing needs, according to company officials, with the first being a demand for local refining capacity. To that end, the refinery will expand capacity near production areas with more than 1 MMbpd of crude oil currently being produced in the Bakken region — most of which is currently being transported out of North Dakota for refining at higher costs.

Additionally, the refinery will increase the supply of fuel for the regional and local markets: The processing plant will turn locally-produced crude into super-clean transportation and heating fuels, providing a supply to the oil service, agriculture and trucking industries, as well as consumer automobiles — which is currently being shipped into North Dakota also at higher costs, Meridian says.

Meridian Energy says the refinery will lead with innovation and clean fuels technology. The Davis plant aims to maximize the use of local natural gas as the fuel source to run the facility, reducing the incidence of flared gas, the company says. Additionally, providing cleaner diesel fuel locally will displace transportation fuels that are refined and delivered from remote areas, resulting in reduced transportation-related pollution, Meridian says.

As MRC informed earlier, Badlands NGL entered into an agreement with Continental Resources (CLR), one of the largest and most important oil and gas producers in the Williston Basin. The agreement dedicates a long-term ethane supply to Badlands' North Dakota based project: a world-scale, NGL-sourced ethane gas to polyethylene (PE) manufacturing facility.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shanghai Wujing is likely to shut its acetic acid plant for a brief maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is planned to be taken off-stream in the first half April 2016. It is likely to remain shut for around 5 days.

Located in Shanghai, China, the plant has a production capacity of 500,000 mt/year.

The primary use of acetic acid is the production of vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), which is the feedstock for ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA).

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical is in plans to start a new EVA/low density polyethylene (LDPE) swing plant in April 2016. Located at Lianyugang in Jiangsu province of China, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.
MRC