Trinseo raises October PS prices in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe have announced a price increase for all polystyrene (PS) grades in Europe, said the company on its site.

Effective October 1, 2019, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products listed below rose as follows:

-- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) -- by EUR20 per metric ton;
-- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech and STYRON X- Tech high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by EUR20 per metric ton.

As MRC informed before, Trinseo last raised its prices for all PS grades on 1 September 2019, as stated below:

- STYRON GPPS grades - by EUR100 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech HIPS grades - by EUR100 per metric ton.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, last week, participants of the Russian market were waiting for settlement of October prices of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's PS. Their opinions ranged from a roll-over of September prices to an increase of Rb3,000/tonne. Several major market participants said last Friday Nizhnekamskneftekhim's selling prices would rise by Rb2,000/tonne in October. The continuing shortage of PS in the Russian market was the main reason for the increase.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD4.6 billion in net sales in 2018, with 16 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,500 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp purchased naphtha at a more than 1-year high premium this week, as buyers mopped up excess cargoes after attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities on Sept. 14 raised supply worries, reported Plastemart with reference to industry sources' statement on Thursday.

Asia’s top naphtha buyer paid a premium of around USD12/ton to its own price formula on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis, making it the highest amount it has paid since May 2018, Reuters data showed. The premium for about 100,000 tons of open-specification naphtha scheduled for first-half November delivery to Mailiao was in sharp contrast to a discount of about USD2 Formosa paid on Sept. 12.

Saudi Aramco has been on a buying spree for oil products since the attacks and has turned to Europe for naphtha and gasoline. Last week it snapped up spot cargoes offered by India’s Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd at a premium above USD20 a tonne on an FOB basis.

Saudi Arabia is restoring its lost oil production capacity faster than expected but the kingdom’s refinery run rates were unclear.

As MRC informed before, on 19 March, 2018, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC) undertook an emergency shutdown at its No. 1 cracker in Mailiao owing to technical issues. The plant remained off-line for around one day. Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the No. 1 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 700,000 mt/year, propylene production capacity of 350,000 mt/year and butadiene production capacity of 109,000 mt/year.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. Meanwhile, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's private-sector Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) has declared force majeure on all cracker products, following a fire at its petrochemical complex on 20 September, as per Plastemart.

HPL has shut down its naphtha cracker and related derivative units with capacity to produce 700,000 tpa of ethylene and 340,000 tpa of propylene.

Customers have received notification of the force majeure and are assessing the impact of the shutdown. HPL has declined to provide further details, including when operations will resume.

As MRC informed before, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) resumed production at its cracker and downstream plants following a maintenance turnaround on 9-10 June, 2018. The complex was shut on May 10, 2018 for a period of about 20-25 days. Located at Haldia in the eastern Indian state of west Bengal, the complex can produce 700,000 mt/year of ethylene and 350,000 mt/year of propylene and provides feedstock to a 330,000 mt/year high density PE plant, a 370,000 mt/year HDPE/linear low PE swing plant and a 350,000 mt/year polypropylene unit.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are PE and PP.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises LLC, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of the Saudi Aramco, is evaluating opportunities to build a new polyethylene (PE) line within its proposed steam cracker and aromatics project in Jefferson County, Texas, reported NCT with reference to a filing submitted to Texas Comptroller’s Office.

The new PE capacity will be located at the company’s Port Arthur Refinery Complex in Jefferson County, Texas. The planned capacity of the unit was not specified, while the value of the project is reportedly estimated at around USD3.1 billion.

The construction is expected to commence by the four quarter of 2020, with completion is estimated in the last quarter of 2024.

As MRC informed earlier, Motiva Enterprises has signed an agreement to buy the Flint Hills Resources' cracker and chemical plant adjacent to its Port Arthur, Texas, oil refinery, kicking off a push into petrochemicals.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased.

Motiva Enterprises, LLC, is a fully owned affiliate of Saudi Refining Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States with revenue of USD24 billion. Previously, it was a 50–50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company (the wholly owned American subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell) and Saudi Refining Inc. (controlled by Saudi Aramco).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- More than 5,250 tons of chemicals, oil and fuel additives have burned in a massive fire at U.S. specialty chemical firm Lubrizol in Rouen, France, last week, the local prefecture said in a statement, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Following days of protests in Rouen and calls in parliament by opposition politicians to release the list of products burned, the Seine-Maritime prefecture published a list of the chemicals that burned on Sept. 26 in one of the most major industrial accidents in France in recent years.

The prefecture said that more than 3,300 tons of “multi-purpose additives” have burned, and 711 tons of “viscosity booster”, as well as tens of tons of other chemical products such as dispersants, anti-freeze and anti-friction additives.

Under the European Union "Seveso Directive" - named after the 1976 chemical plant accident in Italy - high-risk chemical plants need to inform authorities about the products on site, but following a failed attack on a French chemical plant in 2015, authorities no longer release that information to the public.

Some 1,300 sites in France report their stocks under this directive. Local authorities in Rouen, a city of more than 100,000 in the northwestern region of Normandy, said on Monday that no asbestos had been released during the fire.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has said that the smell of burning fuel that still hangs over large parts of Rouen and surroundings is “annoying but not harmful”.

People have been told not to eat produce from their gardens and farmers are not allowed to sell milk, vegetables and other products harvested in the area. Some teachers have also refused to resume classes, citing health risks, and some local residents and businesses have initiated lawsuits to seek damages.

Headquartered in Wickliffe, Ohio, lubricant maker Lubrizol Corp was bought by billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc in 2011 for USD9 billion. Lubrizol makes lubricants and petroleum additives for engines, especially large trucks, buses and boats.

As MRC informed earlier, Lubrizol has launched two thermoplastic polyurethane resins for hot melt adhesives (HMAs). The products belong to the plasticiser-free Pearlbond 300 TPU series that stands out for its low activation temperatures and good bonding properties to various substrates.

The Lubrizol Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is an innovative specialty chemical company that apart from its production develops and supplies technologies to customers in the global transportation, industrial and consumer markets. Lubrizol is providing innovative solutions for its customers high-performance application needs and remains committed to ongoing investment in its CPVC capabilities that support future growth. With headquarters in Wickliffe, Ohio, Lubrizol owns and operates manufacturing facilities in 17 countries, as well as sales and technical offices around the world. Founded in 1928, Lubrizol has approximately 8,000 employees worldwide.
MRC