Indian petrochemical industry to see bright perspectives

(plastemart) -- India's petrochemical industry has been one of the fastest growing industries in the Indian economy. It provides the foundation for manufacturing industries such as pharmaceuticals, construction, agriculture, packaging, textiles, automotive, etc.

The major accelerator for the growth of the petrochemical industry in India is its ongoing economic development. As per Taiyou Research, the Indian petrochemical industry faces a number of challenges for sustained growth, putting India at a competitive disadvantage in the competition with China. India's ethylene capacity is far smaller than China's and is unlikely to rise above its Asian rival's levels in the next 5-7 years. This will make it impossible for India to develop applications further downstream.

Other major issues faced by the Indian petrochemical industry are lack of low cost feedstock and dependence on western countries for technology. New crackers and derivatives projects announced are making slow progress and their coming onstream might be further delayed.

The petrochemical industry in India is oligopolistic with four main players dominating the market, namely Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) along with Indian Petrochemical Ltd. (IPCL), Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), and Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. (HPL). One of the major advantages that this industry has to itself is a competitive range of labor cost and a huge trained talent pool. Meanwhile, insufficient basic infrastructure, prevalence and use of old technology and high feedstock cost in comparison to Middle East countries are some setbacks it continues to face.

However, it is anticipated that the output growth of almost USD200 bln from the current USD83 billion will be made within the coming decade. The future of the Indian petrochemicals industry is bright with domestic demand driving the market for products. With Government support slowly falling into place, the future could see more investments from multinationals as well as domestic companies. Thus, as MRC informed earlier, the UAE-based company, Uniplas Petrochemicals, is planning to set up a 150ktpa capacity petrochemical complex in India, worth nearly Rs 55bn (USD1m), by using foreign direct investment to produce caustic soda, ethylene, chlorine, PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and PVC compounds. Besides, SIBUR, Russia's largest petrochemical company, and Reliance Industries will bulild a butyl rubber plant with the capacity of 100,000 tpa, which is expected to kick off in next six months in Jamnagar.
MRC

(4-traders) -- Poland's state-controlled refiner Grupa Lotos along with chemical producer Zaklady Azotowe Tarnow will construct a petrochemical plant in the country, according to the Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski.

The project will cost 5-6 billion zlotys (USD1.6-1.9 billion) and its construction is scheduled to begin in 2014 or 2015. The plant should be ready by 2018.

The new plant would be adjacent to the Gdansk-based Lotos refinery and would use its products.

The project shows the government's push to encourage joint ventures by Poland's many state-controlled companies, a legacy of the communist era, is bearing fruit.

Grupa LOTOS is one of the largest companies in Poland. It is an oil company operating both in Poland and abroad, whose business consists in the extraction and processing of crude oil, as well as wholesale and retail sale of high-quality petroleum products. Apart from Grupa LOTOS, which manages the refinery in Gdansk, the LOTOS Group currently comprises 15 other companies operating under the LOTOS name. One of them is based in Lithuania and another one in Norway.
MRC

(plastermart) -- Mexichem SAB has decided to seek international expansion after a proposed petrochemical joint venture with the state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos has faced delays. Mexichem has been on a expansion drive, with acquisition of over 15 companies since 2007.

Repeated delays by Petroleos Mexicanos to approve a joint venture to produce vinyl chloride monomer, has pushed the company to decided to give priority to it’s vertical integration outside Mexico.

We remind that Mexichem together with Occidental Chemical Corp (Oxychem) is going to build a cracker that would be fully operational in 2016. The cost of the venture is a USD1 bln. It will comprise an ethane-based cracker to produce about 500,000 tons of ethylene to feed a Texas facility of Oxychem. Oxychem would use the ethylene to produce about 1 mln tons of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and sell it back to Mexichem under a long-term supply agreement, as MRC informed earlier. Besides, Mexichem is planning to invest nearly USD109 million to expand its chemical plant in Altamira, Mexico.

Mexichem is the Latin American leader in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A significant reduction of buying activity in the market of pipe HDPE in the second half of November made Russian makers decrease their prices, according to MRC Price report.

The second half of November turned out to be quite difficult for the Russian market of pipe PE. Demand for polyethylene has declined considerably over the past two weeks and, despite the absence of pipe HDPE output from some Russian producers, the prices keep falling.

Last week, Kazanorgsintez, Nizhnekamskneftekhim and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat announced price reduction for pipe HDPE on the back of sluggish demand from Russian PE pipes makers. The prices dropped by Rb1,000-4,000/tonne depending of the PE grade and the maker.

The situation in the market repeats that of the beginning of the year: when pipe PE was offered at lower prices than blow moulding and film HDPE despite higher production costs. Last week, the price dispersion of pipe HDPE was quite large. Price offers for natural PE100 were voiced in the range of Rb70,000-73,000/tonne, FCA, including VAT, and those for black PE100 were voiced in the range of Rb70,500-75,000/tonne, FCA, including VAT.

In the foreign markets the situation is controversial. Asian producers kept the November level of export prices for shipments in December: on average USD1,650-1,700/tonne, FOB, while European makers reduced their export prices in November on average by EUR40/tonne from October to the level of EUR1,310-1,350/tonne, FCA.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian Sibur subsidiary Biaksplen NK Ltd reported in its press release that the production line of the company produced an experimental industrial adhesive (adhesion-promoting agent) composition based on polyethylene. The composition is used in insulation of oil and gas pipelines. Insulation meets the latest requirements of external coating of pipes, which service life last tens of years.

A new product is designed by corporate R & D center of NIOST Sibur for durable fixation of triple insulation of the surface of steel main gas and oil pipelines.

"This is the first experience with the adhesive composition for us. We discovered new principles, the effect of various parameters on the product, find out a number of modifications - said Irina Ryzhikov, Head of the Laboratory of polymer composites NIOST. - All the results we plan to use in our future work".

"According to its characteristics, the composition, developed jointly by scientists of NIOST and Biaksplen NK specialists is on par with the best foreign analogues, - said the director of the Biaksplen NK division Leonid Gindin - Such materials are introduced in the domestic market only in the form of pilot lots of individual designers. In Russia, all major pipe plants use a three-layer polymer protection, where adhesive base is an important component".

MRC