Japanese petrochem majors eye overseas countries to set up petrochemical plants

(plastemart) -- Japanese petrochemical majors are scouting overseas countries to set up petrochemical plants either on the own or in joint ventures.

Big petrochemical companies like Sumitomo, Asahi Kasei, Mitsui & Co, Mitsubishi Chemicals and Ube Industries have already set up overseas plants or are in the process of doing so.

According to Sumitomo Chemical, "Expansion of overseas operations is necessary for the survival and the development of the petrochemical business. Japan’s petrochemical industry faces various challenges, such as the transfer of user industries’ production bases abroad, the yen’s appreciation and a decline in cost competitiveness due to higher electricity bills in Japan".

Recently, Sumitomo Chemical confirmed that it is moving ahead in its joint venture with Saudi Aramco on the Rabigh Phase II Project at a total investment which is projected to reach around USD7 bln. The Rabigh II Project will produce ethylene propylene rubber (EPDM), thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO), methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), low density polyethylene/ethylene vinyl acetate (LDPE/EVA), paraxylene/benzene, cumene and phenol/acetone, as MRC informed earlier. Incidentally, Sumitomo is the only Japanese petrochemical company to operate naphtha crackers outside Japan.

Japanese trading giant - Mitsui & Co along with a consortium of other Japanese companies - has sketched a joint venture with Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) to set up a plant to produce methanol with an annual capacity of 1.1 mln tons in Jubail - Saudi Arabia. A spokesperson at Mitsubishi Chemicals revealed that they operate a PTA plant in China. It set up the 600,000 tpa PTA plant in 2007 in Ningbo province.

Mitsubishi Chemicals also started commercial production of a new Bisphenol A (BPA) plant in China with a capacity of 150,000 tpa in the current year.

Asahi Kasei Chemicals wants to become the top producer of acrylonitrile (ACN) in the world. A spokesman of Asahi Kasei informs, "In South Korea, we are planning to ramp up ACN capacity by 200,000 tpa, which will take ACN production capacity to 500,000 tpa and in end-2011". Asahi Kasei began commercial production of an ACN plant in Thailand with a capacity of 230,000 tpa.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Five international companies have submitted bids for design and construction work for a new Ibn Sina's plant to produce plastics with the capacity of 50 000 tpa, according to The Economics Times. Ibn Sina is a subsidiary of SABIC.

Investments into a new polyacetal facility, the products of which to be mainly used in the automotive industry, will make approximately USD400 million. Potential investors into the new project, which placed their bids, are Spanish's Dragados, China's National Chemical Engineering Co (CNCEC), Taiwan' CTCI, South Korean's Hanwha Engineering and SK Engineering and Construction.

Initially, the plant was planned to be launched by 2013, and construction and engineering works should have begun by 2011.

National Methanol Co, widely known as Ibn Sina, is one of the world's largest chemical companies, 50% of shares of which is owned by SABIC, while Celanese Corp and its affiliate - Duke Energy Corp - each have a 25 percent-stake.
MRC

(apic-on-line) -- For the past few weeks, players in Turkey have been talking about diminishing stocks in the local market for homo PP, PVC, HDPE film and LLDPE film. These availability constraints appear to have enticed higher prices and more purchasing activities in the local market while the domestic producer Petkim’s consecutive price hikes on its list prices have also played a role in the reinforcement of this firming sentiment.

The reason behind the limited availability is the fact that many distributors and buyers refrained from replenishing stocks owing to poor demand and their earlier expectations about further decreases.

In mid-November, Petkim pioneered price hikes with PVC, arguing that they don’t feel any stock pressure any more. The slight gains in the import prices for European and US origins have also helped the sentiment revive in the local market. Petkim hiked its list prices twice in the following weeks, pushing PVC higher by USD45/ton in total since November 12.

In the PE market, the news that Petkim would shut one of its LDPE plants for a month starting from November 19 had been initially met with skepticism in the market as players mostly assumed that this was a move to boost the market sentiment at a time when there were widespread expectations about a new downward revision.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The December contract price of ethylene in Europe remained unchanged from November. European makers are going to keep their export PE prices intact in December for the CIS markets, though some European producers have already announced a price increase, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

European producers have agreed on the December contract price of ethylene at November level - EUR1,275/tonne, FD NWE, on high oil and naphtha quotations. Negotiations on export prices of European polyethylene for the CIS countries started on Thursday.

Some market players report that European producers have increased their prices for shipment in December. In particular, some makers raised the price of hexene LLDPE by EUR10-20/tonne. Price offers for pipe PE100 remain at November level so far. However, the final agreement on European PE prices is expected to take place only next week.

We remind that in November, the contract price of ethylene dropped by EUR15/tonne. Meantime, European producers had to reduce export prices by EUR40-50/tonne from October on low demand. Some market participants hope that the similar situation will be repeated in December.
MRC