Bashkir Soda Company starts production of new non-flammable plastic compounds

Bashkir Soda Company JSC (BSC, Sterlitamak) has started producing six grades of reduced-fire hazard PVC plastics, said Interfax.

"In accordance with the new Eurasian Economic Union technical regulation "On limiting the use of hazardous substances in electrical and radio electronics products," these newly-developed brands of plastic compounds have been created using safe components. They are distinguished not only by their reduced fire hazard, but also by environmental friendliness. When working with the products, less smoke and hydrogen chloride are emitted," the report says.

The company's own developments are also used in the production of new mass-produced brands. Thus, the product formulation includes metal-containing lubricants.

Currently, the company mass-produces more than 20 types of PVC plastic compounds used in the production of protective shells, insulation and internal filling of cables and wires for operation in temperatures ranging from -40 to +70 degrees Celsius.

The Bashkir Soda Company is the largest producer of soda ash and baking soda in Russia, and one of the country's leaders in the production of PVC, caustic soda and hydrochloric acid. It is part of the JSC Ruschem group of companies (formerly Russian Hydrogen).

Ruschem also combines Berezniki Soda Plant JSC and Donbiotech JSC, as well as a number of enterprises in the South of Russia. Among the industries which use Ruschem products are glass, oil refining, metallurgy, pulp and paper, paint and varnish, tires, agriculture, aviation and others.

We remind, Russian energy company Novatek resumed gas condensate processing at its Ust-Luga complex on Feb. 11, two industry sources said on Wednesday, after the site was damaged last month by a suspected Ukrainian drone attack. The complex processed about 18,000 metric tons of gas condensate over Feb. 11-12, the sources said. Novatek did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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Novatek-LNG Fuel Kashira LLC has almost completed construction of a mini liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the Kashira special economic zone in Moscow Region, as per Interfax.

Inspectors have found that the facility is "99%" completed, with experts "finalizing commissioning work on process equipment and engineering systems," Glavgosstroynadzor said.

Construction of the 3,000-square-meter facility began in January 2023 and was scheduled for completion at the end of 2023.

The CEO of Russian LNG producer Novatek , Leonid Mikhelson and Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov signed an investment agreement on the project at the 2022 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. It calls for building a plant with capacity to produce 14,000 tonnes of fuel per year at a cost of about 2.6 billion rubles.

We remind, Russian energy company Novatek resumed gas condensate processing at its Ust-Luga complex on Feb. 11, two industry sources said on Wednesday, after the site was damaged last month by a suspected Ukrainian drone attack. The complex processed about 18,000 metric tons of gas condensate over Feb. 11-12, the sources said. Novatek did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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Russian energy company Novatek resumed gas condensate processing at its Ust-Luga complex on Feb. 11, two industry sources said on Wednesday, after the site was damaged last month by a suspected Ukrainian drone attack, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The complex processed about 18,000 metric tons of gas condensate over Feb. 11-12, the sources said. Novatek did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Novatek was forced to suspend some operations at Ust-Luga, a huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal and processing complex, due to a fire on Jan. 21 started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack.

On Jan. 24, the company resumed fuel loadings at the Ust-Luga terminal, but exported fuel produced before the fire and held in storage tanks as well as gas condensate.

The Ust-Luga complex, launched in 2013, processes gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, jet fuel, ship fuel component (fuel oil) and gasoil, and enables the company to ship oil products as well as gas condensate to international markets.

Novatek produces mostly naphtha for Asia, including China, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia, as well as jet fuel with delivery to Istanbul for Turkish Airlines THYAO.IS. In 2023, the Ust-Luga complex processed 7 million metric tons of gas condensate, according to Novatek data.

We remind, the tanker Luggati is being loaded at Novatek's NVTK.MM terminal at the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, where the company's fuel-producing complex was damaged by fire in January, according to industry sources and LSEG data. The tanker is designed for loading dirty oil products and, presumably, can take on fuel oil from the complex’s storage tanks, the sources added.

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North American chemical rail traffic rose 3.9% year on year to 47,576 railcar loadings for the week ended 10 February, as increases in the US and Mexico more than offset a decline in Canada, according to Association of American Railroads.

Chemical railcar loadings are a coincident volume indicator for the industry, which had a rough start to the new year, with weak demand in a number of sectors.

For the first six weeks of 2024 ended 10 February, North American chemical railcar loadings rose 2.8% to 269,296, with US loadings up 3.4% to 185,247.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, chemical producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

We remind, North American chemical rail traffic fell by 0.2% year on year to 44,201 railcar loadings for the week ended 27 January – marking a second consecutive decline. The US and Canada recorded declines while loadings in Mexico rose.

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Prices of naphtha, a key petrochemical feedstock, have jumped in Asia as drone attacks on Russian refineries and the Red Sea shipping crisis have disrupted European shipments, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Asian spot naphtha price rose to $701 per metric ton on Friday after hitting a 10-month high of $747 in late January, well above last June's low around $500, as traders grapple with fallout from the dual conflicts.

Damage in recent weeks to Russian refineries and a key export terminal at Ust-Luga, as well as attacks on Red Sea shipping that have led a growing number of vessels to divert around Africa, follows last year's rejig of global energy shipping in the wake of Western sanctions on Russia.

That is driving up costs for Asian importers such as South Korean petrochemical producers, which were already running plants at lower rates to cope with weak margins caused by oversupply and slower plastics demand growth, trade sources said, a squeeze expected to last through March.

"There will be a lot of prompt tightness if outage at the Russian plants is prolonged, it adds fuel to the (Red Sea) freight diversions, with already longer voyages," said Armaan Ashraf, global head of natural gas liquids at consultancy FGE.

Russia exports about 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of naphtha, said Kpler analyst Viktor Katona, with significant volumes from Ust-Luga destined for China, Singapore and Taiwan.

"Should Ust-Luga repairs take longer than expected, a third of those flows might not be available in the immediate future," Katona said. Russia's Tuapse refinery, meanwhile, could be offline for all of February, depriving the market of 40,000-50,000 bpd of naphtha, FGE analysts wrote on Feb. 5.

Asia, a net importer of naphtha, relies on western suppliers including Russia for about 2 million tons monthly, equivalent to 600,000 barrels per day.

We remind, Russian energy company Novatek resumed gas condensate processing at its Ust-Luga complex on Feb. 11, two industry sources said on Wednesday, after the site was damaged last month by a suspected Ukrainian drone attack. The complex processed about 18,000 metric tons of gas condensate over Feb. 11-12, the sources said.

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