Indorama starts commercial production at US isophthalic acid plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited has started commercial production of purified isophthalic acid (PIA) plant at Indorama Ventures Xylenes & PTA, LLC (IVXP), located at Decatur, Alabama, according to WorldOfChemicals.

The Decatur PIA plant would complement the existing PIA plant of IVL at IVL Quimica, Spain. The two PIA plants have a combined name plate capacity of 440,000 MT/Annum and IVL is the only PIA producer with dual facilities in the two large consumption continents of EMEA and America’s serving the needs of PET and Speciality chemicals.

Significant part of aromatic feedstock used in PIA production is secured on long-term basis from suppliers in USA and Europe. Decatur, Alabama is IVL’s largest PET Value Chain location with paraxylene, PTA, NDC and PET polymers production and now is complemented with PIA production. The combined site capacity is over 2 million tons of integrated production with MEG coming from IVL’s Olefins plant in Clear Lake, Texas by barges.

Recently approved JV investment by IVL in Corpus Christi, Texas integrated PTA & PET project together with IVL Decatur plant and Clear Lake Olefin plant is expected to be the most supply chain efficient PET Value Chain nexus in America’s. The PIA technology is proprietary and owned by Indorama Ventures Quimica, Spain, the company said.

As MRC reported previously, in Q1 2016, BP PLC sold its petrochemical complex in Decatur, Alabama, to Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd., for an undisclosed sum, as part BP's plan to restructure its global petrochemicals business. The divestment was in line with BP’s global petrochemicals strategy of pursuing a competitively advantaged portfolio through world-scale, low-cost facilities that utilize BP proprietary technology, including the production of purified terephthalic acid, or PTA, a key raw material in the production of polyester.

Indorama Ventures is a leading producer in the polyester value chain in Thailand with strong global network and manufacturing across Asia, Europe and North America. Its products serve major players in diversified end use markets, including food, beverages, personal and home care, health care, automotives, textile, and industrial. The company’s main products are PTA, PET and polyester fibre, which are distributed across the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Royal Dutch Shell will begin “major maintenance work” on a number of units at its Pernis oil refinery in Rotterdam beginning on 25 January, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The maintenance is expected to last two months and at its peak will require 3,000 extra workers at the site, Shell said.

Shell did not specify the units involved in the turnaround.

The refinery is Europe’s largest and has the capacity to process 404,000 barrels per day of crude.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire a 365 kilo tons per annum synthesis gas production unit from Linde PLC, as per the company's press release.

The production unit is located at the Celanese Clear Lake acetyl intermediates manufacturing facility located in Pasadena, Texas.

"By acquiring this syngas production unit, Celanese will have the capability of producing a critical raw material for the world's largest acetyl intermediates production facility," said Todd Elliott, Celanese Senior Vice President, Acetyls. "Linde is currently the primary carbon monoxide supplier to the Clear Lake facility, and the acquisition of this synthesis gas production unit will provide Celanese with future productivity and growth configuration options."

Synthesis gas, or syngas, is a mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Syngas can be produced from many sources, including natural gas, coal, biomass, or virtually any hydrocarbon feedstock, by reaction with steam or oxygen. Syngas is a crucial intermediate resource for the production of acetic acid, hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, and synthetic hydrocarbon fuels.

Celanese Corporation and Linde PLC expect to complete the transaction pending customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Financial details of the deal are not being disclosed at this time.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese Corporation announced price increases for its GUR and GHR grades (UHMW-PE) to be shipped starting from January to Europe, the Americas and Asia. The price increases below are effective for orders shipped on or after 1 January, 2019, or as contracts otherwise allow, as follows:

- in Europe - by EUR150/tonne;
- in Asia - by USD150/tonne;
- in North and South America - by 10%.

Linde plc is a leading industrial gas and engineering company with market capitalization of approximately USD90 billion (EUR 78 billion) and 2017 pro forma sales of USD 27 billion (EUR 24 billion). The company employs approximately 80,000 people globally and serves customers in more than 100 countries worldwide. Linde plc delivers innovative and sustainable solutions to its customers and creates long-term value for all stakeholders.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2017 net sales of USD6.1 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said a military-assisted crackdown had dramatically reduced fuel theft and uncovered a secret pipe that was used to siphon gasoline out of one of the country's refineries, reported Reuters.

Such fuel theft has dropped from 787 truck loads per day to 177 since thousands of soldiers were sent to state-oil company Pemex's installations last month, Lopez Obrador said at a daily news conference.

The crackdown on years of mounting fuel theft is the leftist government's first major move against corruption and violence after taking office on Dec. 1, but risks angering consumers and hurting the economy.

By closing off pipelines and refineries while it traced leakages, the government has triggered shortfalls and long lines at gas stations in at least six states, including Guanajuato, a major car-manufacturing hub in central Mexico.

Criminal groups and others who have tapped pipelines have long been blamed for billions of dollars of losses to public coffers over the past few years, but Lopez Obrador said last month that far more fuel was being stolen directly from Pemex installations by an internal network of corrupt officials.

Lopez Obrador said the military had discovered a 3-kilometer (1.9 mile)-long "hose" that was funneling fuel out of storage tanks at the Salamanca refinery in the central state of Guanajuato into a secret storage area.

He admitted there were complaints about the shortages, but said they were not widespread, and urged an end to "panic" buying and said shortages were an issue of distribution, not supply.

"This is not in vain," Lopez Obrador said. "We are going to end corruption."

Local media showed images of tanker trucks, escorted by federal police, heading from oil-rich costal states to the country's interior.

It was not immediately clear what impact the crackdown will have on imports of fuel. Mexico is the top export destination for US energy products, importing about 1.4 million barrels every day, or nearly a quarter of all US overseas sales.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) has implemented Axens’ Connect’InTM services for real-time process monitoring and optimization of multiple Continuous Catalytic Regenerative (CCR) Reformers and multiple Prime-G+ FCC gasoline post-treatment units across their refining network, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

MPC was an early-adopter of the Connect’InTM platform, and the two organizations have since collaborated to improve unit performance and utilized the tool’s cloud-based, simple web interface to improve decision making and technical service support. Connect’InTM has improved the MPC and Axens teams’ ability to proactively monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) by automatically exchanging operating data via a secure channel and utilizing Axens’ high-fidelity models - all in real-time.

The engineers from both the Marathon and Axens’ teams can dedicate their efforts to unit improvements and spend less time managing and manipulating data. The tool has been especially useful for network subject matter experts to compare unit performance across their refineries.

Marathon Petroleum is the largest refiner in the United States with 16 refineries totaling 3.1 Million BPSD of crude capacity.

Connect‘InTM is a natural evolution of Axens’ Technical Services to enhance collaboration between Axens’ experts and client process specialists. The platform builds on Axens’ Digital Suite of Technical Services, APC, dynamic operator training simulators, linear programming, and management support.

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2018, Fluor Corporation announced that it had achieved substantial engineering completion for Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s Tier 3 gasoline sulfur standard reconfiguration project at the Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City, Texas.
MRC