Saudian Al-Waha restarts Jubail PP plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sahara Petrochemicals Co. announces the completion of the maintenance works of the cooling water system of the plant of its affiliate, Al Waha Petrochemicals Co, said Sahara in its Statement.

Reference to Saharas previous announcement dated Saturday 06 Rabi II, 1434 H, corresponding 16 February 2013, regarding the technical failure of the plant of Al Waha Petrochemicals Co, an affiliate of Sahara, which affected the cooling water system and resulted in the shutdown of the production units, Sahara Petrochemicals Co. announces that all the necessary maintenance works of Al Wahas plant have been completed and it has also initiated the necessary steps to restart the operation and production units (see MRC news).

The world-scale petrochemical complex in Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia has a capacity of 467 KTa of propylene utilising Oleflex technology, which serves as a feedstock for the 450 KTa Polypropylene Unit. The plant is considered to be largest, producing high-quality polypropylene using LBI's technology, sphereizone.

Al Waha Petrochemicals Company is owned by Sahara Petrochemicals Company, which holds 75% of its share capital with LyondelBasell owning 25%.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Petrochemical International Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Sinopec, has selected LP Oxo technology licensed by Davy Process Technology (DPT) and Dow Chemical for a new 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH) and butanol project in Anqing City, Anhui Province, China, said Apic-online.

The new LP Oxo unit, being built by Sinopec Corp. Anqing Co., will be designed to produce 100,000 t/y of 2-EH, 115,000 t/y of normal butanol and 23,000 t/y of iso-butanol. The plant will use the LP Oxo Selector 10 technology with liquid phase hydrogenation, which offers a high conversion of propylene to alcohols, low capital investment and easy operation.

"We're confident that Sinopec has made the correct choice, as an LP Oxo alcohols plant enjoys low feedstock and energy requirements," said Faye Miller, oxygenated solvents licensing leader for Dow.

DPT Managing Director Antoine Bordet noted that this "milestone project" is the fifth LP Oxo facility with Sinopec. "We have started the process design and look forward to working closely with Sinopec through subse-quent stages of the project to a successful start-up." A project schedule was not given.

As MRC wrote earlier, Sinopec Qilu is likely to shut operations at its polypropylene (PP) plant. Located at Zibo, Shandong province in China, the PP plant has a production capacity of 120,000 mt/year. The plant will be taken off-stream for a maintenance turnaround in April 2013 and will remain shut for around 40 days

China Petrochemical Corporation or Sinopec Group is Asia's largest oil refining and petrochemical enterprise, administered by SASAC for the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It is headquartered at Chaoyangmenwai in Beijing, across the road from the headquarters of competitor CNOOC Group.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC)-- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) expects a final decision by the middle of this year on proceeding with joint venture projects in China, Indonesia and Malaysia, said Apic-online.

PTTGC has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sinochem International Corp. to establish a Chinese joint venture petrochemical product that would supply the construction and auto parts sectors.

In Indonesia, PTTGC has been shortlisted as a partner in a USD5-billion integrated refinery and petrochemical complex planned by Pertamina on Java Island.

PTTGC has also announced plans for a partnership with Malaysia's Petronas in Petronas' proposed Refinery & Petrochemical Integrated Development project in Pandering, Malaysia.

These projects are among those for which PTTGC has allocated USD4.5-billion between 2013 and 2017 to expand its operations.

Separately, Chief Executive Anon Sirisaengtaksin said PTTGC expects earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to increase between 5% and 6% a year over the next five years based on planned expansion and improved production efficiency. He believes the company’s 2017 EBITDA will be 15% to 30% higher than the 55-billion baht reported for 2012.

As MRC reported earlier, PTT is also in talks with Indonesia's state-run Pertamina Oil Co on investment in a petrochemical-refinery project, which the Thai energy giant expects to conclude in April or May. PTTGC has agreed to conduct a feasibility study on expanding a fully integrated petrochemical complex with Pertamina.

Incorporated in late 2011 through a merger of PTT Chemical PCL and PTT Aromatics and Refining PCL, PTT Global Chemical has petrochemical capacity of 8.2 million tpy of olefins and aromatics and refining capacity of 280,000 bpd.
The Polymer product business produce a wide range of plastic products for use in various industries. Among the main products are HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PS.

MRC

VOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), the world’s leading vertically integrated Polyester Value Chain producer, saw revenues rise by USD678 m to USD6.78 billion in 2012, said IVL in its statement.

The general sentiments for commodity polyester value chain was weak, however, operational excellence improvements, a Brownfield PET capacity addition at Rotterdam, the acquisition of FiberVisions’ global hygiene business as well as the addition of the Indorama Ventures (Oxide and Glycols) business in North America, have potentially offset the weak Polyester chain margins in Asia.

The 2012 consolidated reported EBITDA is USD453 million, consolidated net profit after tax and minority of USD148 million, consolidated operating cash flow of USD 471 million and consolidated return on average net operating capital employed of 7%. Consolidated EBITDA declined by 19% from continuing oversupply of PTA in Asia that has weakened spreads across the value chain.

The Company believes it has seen the worst of the Asian-led weakness and expects to see a gradual rebound over the 2013-2014 period. Therefore, the Company has recommended a final dividend of THB 0.18 for 2012, amounting to THB 0.36 for the full year 2012, an increase from 31% payout for 2011 to 38% payout for 2012.

As MRC wrote earlier, Indorama Ventures is going to expand the PET polymers production capacity in the USA by setting up a new plant with a capacity of 540,000 tonnes per year. This expansion, which is expected to be completed in Q4 2015 will take IVL's total capacity in North America of PET polymers up to 2,100,000 tonnes per annum.

Indorama Ventures a.k.a. Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited is a polyester and yarn manufacturer. Indorama Ventures is headquartered in Bangkok and started its operations in 1994. It has offices in 16 countries and total of 32 manufacturing sites.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - In January 2013, the Russia's production of bottle PET made more than 35,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to 81% of all countries's capacitiy utilisation of PET production, according to MRC ScanPlast.

The January demand for granulate in Russia was steady. Though the capacities of Russian plants do not operate at full capacity. The last months' PET production in Russia was slightly lower than in January 2011.

The largest volumes of PET have been produced by Polief (Bashkir), with about 12,000 tonnes of material. Alco-Nafta, the largest producer of PET in Russia, last month was loaded only by 49%, though a monthly capacity of the plant can produce more than 18,000 tonnes of material. According to the sources, company is going to increase production of granulate this spring.

As per MRC, in 2012 the Russian production of PET granulate increased by 55,700 tonnes, up 14% from 2011 on the back of imports displacement. In general in 2012, Russia produced about 450,000 tonnes of bottle PET. The average annual capacity utilization of Russian producers was 86.5%.

MRC