Qatar Petrochemical to officially launch production at its new LDPE plant

(plastemart) -- Qatar Petrochemical (Qapco) has officially started operations of the third company's new LDPE plant. The state-of-the-art facility will increase Qapco’s output to 700,000 mt tpa of low-density polyethylene, with the new plant production making up nearly half that number, as MRC reported earlier.

Testing and commissioning of the plant were completed in the middle of August this year, with the inauguration of the plant coming just short of three years after the foundation stone was first laid by the Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in December 2009.

'The LDPE 3 facility represents the culmination of our efforts to meet our mission: to become a regional leader in the production and distribution of ethylene and polyethylene,' said Dr Mohammed Yousef Al Mulla, Qapco’s Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "In addition, the plant represents our commitment to the virtues and pillars of the Qatar National Vision 2030. With economic diversification at the centre of the country’s development and growth for generations to come, all of us at Qapco are proud in the role we play in meeting the goals."

We remind, that Qatar is expected to invest about USD25 billion in its petrochemical sector until 2020 as part of economic diversification.
MRC

Nova Chemicals and PFB terminated their deal for styrenics business

(reuters) -- Nova Chemicals Corporation announced that it and PFB Corporation (PFB) mutually agreed to terminate their letter of intent for PFB to acquire Nova Chemicals' Performance Styrenics business.

Nova Chemicals will retain and continue to operate its Performance Styrenics business, which includes its expandable polystyrene and ARCEL resin products.

It had become apparent to both Nova Chemicals and PFB that PFB would be unable to complete certain steps necessary to consummate its planned expansion of PFB's vertically integrated, construction materials focused products offering in the United States. As a result, both parties decided to terminate the letter of intent.

"We are disappointed that this transaction with PFB was not successful, but will move forward, focusing on performance and continuous improvement for the Performance Styrenics business," stated Randy Woelfel, CEO, Nova Chemicals.

Nova Chemicals develops and manufactures chemicals, plastic resins and end-products. Nova Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
MRC

West European third quarter olefins volumes down on year: APPE

(petrochemistry) -- Western European production of ethylene, propylene and butadiene in the third quarter of this year was down from the same period of 2011, data from the Association of Petrochemical Producers in Europe showed Monday.

Ethylene, propylene and butadiene production in the quarter was 4.840 million mt, 3.634 million mt and 512,000 mt, respectively. This represents year-on-year falls of 4.9%, 2.8% and 4.8%.

European steam crackers were dialed down in a low demand environment, sources said. EU chemicals production fell by 2.2% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2012, the latest Cefic Chemicals Trends Report released last week showed.

Stock depletion in Q2 prompted some replenishment in Q3, sources said.
MRC

Williams Canada to apply in early 2013 to build NGL, olefin facilities

(apic-online) -- Williams Energy will apply in early 2013 to Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board to build a natural gas liquids and olefins processing facilities in the province, even as it aims to add a new petrochemical value chain, the company's head of its Canadian operations said.

Three facilities are planned to tap the offgas produced from oil sands upgraders in Alberta. These are an extraction plant at the Horizon oil sands upgrader operated by Canadian Natural Resources near Fort McMurray, a 70-km (45 mile) expansion of the Boreal NGL pipeline and a debottlenecking of Williams' fractionation plant at Redwater, Williams Energy Canada president David Chappell said in an interview.

The additional volumes of ethane and ethylene to be produced from the company's Redwater fractionation facility will be supplied to Calgary-based Nova Chemicals under a 17,000-b/d deal it signed in March, 2011. The propane will be sold in the North American market, while propylene will be shipped by rail to the US Gulf Coast, Chappell said.

"At present, petrochemical producers in Alberta face uncertainty over long-term supplies of feedstock ethane. Our deal with CNR will bring about a stability as there are no reserve risks associated with processing offgas from upgraders that remain in production for nearly 30 years," he said.

Williams is one of North America’s largest natural gas gatherers and processors. Williams also has a growing midstream business in Canada focused on processing oil sands off-gas into NGLs and olefins. It also has a domestic olefins business that provides customers in the petrochemical industry with a full suite of products and services.
MRC

Five Japanese polymer majors to reoganize Kashima Chlorine & Alkali and Kashima Vinyl Chloride Monomer Co.

(4traders) -- Asahi Glass, ADEKA Corporation, Kaneka Corporation, Shin-Etsu Chemical and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation decided to reoganized its basic agreement reached on December 16, 2011 regarding the operation of both Kashima Chlorine & Alkali Co and Kashima Vinyl Chloride Monomer Co.

Both of the latter two companies are joint ventures of the above five companies. The reorganization will include the following actions:

- Asahi Glass, ADEKA and Kaneka will withdraw their capital investment from both Kashima Denkai and Kashima PVC Monomer. Shin-Etsu Chemical and Mitsubishi Chemical will continue their capital investment in both joint-venture companies, and from now on both of these companies will be operated as subsidiary companies of Shin-Etsu Chemical.

- A new company, Berth Company, will be set up. And and all the operation will be transferred to Berth Company from Kashima Denkai.
MRC