Oman says new refinery capacity to cut crude oil exports

MMOSCOW (MRC) -- Oman's crude oil exports will drop by about 50 Mbpd when new refining capacity comes onstream in the northern city of Sohar by early 2017, said Minister of Oil and Gas Mohammad bin Hamad al-Rumhy, reported Reuters.

Rumhy said the refinery project had been due to be commissioned by the end of 2016, but there had been a delay so the commissioning date would be in Q1 of next year. The project would increase the Sohar refinery's capacity by between 65% and 70%.

"It will take an additional 70 Mbpd to 90 Mbpd. And with the increase in Oman's average oil production to exceed 1 MMbpd, we expect the drop in our oil exports to be 50 Mbpd compared to last year," Rumhy said in an interview.

He added that state-owned Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Co. (ORPIC) would seek to refine different crude mixes.

"In the future I can see ORPIC go shopping for crude oil, which is not the case currently," Rumhy said. "Refineries tend to do better when they have the option to refine different mixes of crude.

"So we will be importing different crudes to have a better yield, and to look at the needs of the local market in petroleum products."

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in May 2014, Orpic said it had awarded two contracts for construction of a USD3.6 billion plastics production complex, the Liwa Plastics Project. The plant will be built in Oman's northern industrial city of Sohar, next to Orpic's oil refinery and petrochemical plants. The Liwa Plastics Project is due to be completed in 2018, doubling Orpic's profitability by allowing it to extract more value from Omani crude oil and natural gas.

The project will boost Orpic's annual production of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) to 1.4 million tonnes, increasing Oman's exports, while additional production of 1 million tonnes of plastics will help to develop downstream industries within the country, ORPIC added.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Tianjin Lianhe, a subsidiary of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), has shut a linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has halted operations at the plant on August 10, 2016. It is slated to remain off-line for period of around 4 weeks.

Located in Tianjin city, China, the plant has a production capacity of 120,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, on 30 May 2016, Sinopec SK (Wuhan) Petrochemical, another subsidiary of Sinopec, brought on-stream its LLDPE/high density polyethylene (HDPE) swing plant in China. It was taken off-line on 07 April, 2016 for a maintenance turnaround. Located in Hubei province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical companies with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its refining and ethylene capacity ranks No.2 and No.4 globally. The Company has 30,000 sales and distribution networks of oil products and chemical products, its service stations are now ranked third largest in the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries, one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies, returned its 260 Mbpd Houston refinery to normal operations this week, one day after a power interruption on a unit cut production in half, sources familiar with plant operations said, reported Reuters.

The sources said the refinery's output had been at full capacity when the sulfur recovery unit lost power Tuesday afternoon, but production was cut, amid worker evacuations and orders to shelter in place, to about half capacity following the power interruption.

Due to the quick restart of the SRU, the refinery's production is expected to return to full capacity within a few days, the sources added.

Last month, the company said the refinery's production averaged 73% of capacity during Q2 as Lyondell performed extensive repairs to a coking unit damaged in an April 8 fire. It also said the refinery was not able to run at full production until the coker restarted July 15.

Flaring from the refinery lasted for about eight hours beginning at 2 p.m. CDT Tuesday, the sources familiar with the plant's operation said.

In a notice filed by the refinery on Wednesday with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Lyondell said an estimated 592,500 pounds of sulfur dioxide and 6,400 pounds of hydrogen sulfide were released into the atmosphere during flaring from the refinery.

The Houston Ship Channel was shut for about 20 minutes Tuesday afternoon so the crew of a ship on the waterway north of the Lyondell refinery would not be exposed to the facility's hydrogen sulfide release, the US Coast Guard said.

A sulfur recovery unit extracts sulfur from hydrogen sulfide removed from motor fuel feed stocks in compliance with US environmental rules.

As MRC informed earlier, in August 2016, LyondellBasell made the final investment decision to build a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant on the US Gulf Coast. The plant will have an annual capacity of 1.1 billion pounds (500,000 metric tons) and will be the first commercial plant to employ LyondellBasell's new proprietary Hyperzone PE technology. The start-up of the new plant is scheduled for 2019.

LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies. The company manufactures products at 57 sites in 18 countries. LyondellBasell products and technologies are used to make items that improve the quality of life for people around the world including packaging, electronics, automotive parts, home furnishings, construction materials and biofuels.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont and The Dow Chemical Company have confirmed that the European Commission (EC) has initiated a Phase II review for the proposed merger of equals transaction of the two companies, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As stated previously, the companies expected a thorough review and are working closely with relevant regulators, including the EC. The companies continue to believe the merger is procompetitive and good for customers and consumers.

The Phase II review is a common next step in the review process for a transaction of this size and scope under EU Merger Regulation. Under this regulation, Phase II generally provides the commission with 90 working days to review the pending transaction. Dow and DuPont will continue to work constructively with the commission to address their concerns and to obtain clearance for the merger.

On June 22, DuPont and Dow began the formal process to obtain merger approval from the European Commission by submitting the required filing to obtain regulatory clearance in connection with the proposed merger of equals. Dow and DuPont continue to expect the transaction to close by year-end 2016, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals.

As MRC informed before, the deal, the largest ever in the chemicals industry, will create a USD130 billion company that combines products from both Dow and DuPont in the areas of agriculture, commodities chemicals and specialty chemicals to create the new businesses. The agreement, percolating since at least February, comes after two years of pressure from activist investors who argued that shareholders of both companies would realize greater value if they were broken up. The new company, DowDuPont, will be owned 50-50 by the current shareholders of both companies.

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in July, 1802. The company manufactures a wide range of chemical products, leading extensive innovative research in this field. The company is the inventor of many unique plastics and other materials, including neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, Mylar, Tyvek, etc. DuPont was the developer and main producer of Freon used in the production of refrigeration equipment.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber. In 2014, Dow had annual sales of more than USD58 billion and employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polypropylene (PP) into Russia rpse in the first seven months of 2016 by 9% year on year, totalling 96,600 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and propylene block copolymers (PP block copolymer) accounted for the main increase in supply, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Last month, Russian companies increased their PP purchasing in foreign markets, July imports reached 16,700 tonnes, compared to 15,500 tonnes in June. Homopolymer PP of raffia grade from Turkmenistan accounted for the main increase in shipments. Overall, Russia imported 96,600 tonnes of PP in January-July versus 88,600 tonnes in the same period of last year. There was only a zero increase in supply in the segment of statistical propylene copolymer (PP-random) because of a major growth of domestic production by the two producers.

In general, the structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

July imports of homopolymer PP rose to 8,400 tonnes from 5,900 tonnes a month earlier. Local companies continued to increase their shipments of homopolymer PP of raffia grade from Turkmenistan. Overall imports of this PP grade grew to 45,300 tonnes in January-July 2016 from 39,400 tonnes a year earlier.

Last month's imports of PP block copolymer fell to 2,200 tonnes from 3,100 tonnes in June. Pipes producers reduced by almost half their purchases in foreign markets. Imports of PP block copolymer to Russia rose to 17,900 tonnes in the first seven months of the year, up by 14% year on year.

July imports of PP-random were 3,900 tonnes, compared to 3,700 tonnes a month earlier. Due to lower export prices of European producers, some Russian pipes producers significantly increased their purchasing in foreign markets. Overall imports of this grade of propylene copolymers totalled 18,200 tonnes in the first seven months of 2016, which virtually equalled the last year's figure.

Imports of other propylene polymers totalled 15,200 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 15,300 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC