Orpic to invest USD3.6 bln in Sohar plastics project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Orpic — the Sultanate’s refining and petrochemicals flagship — will invest around USD3.6 bln in the development of a massive petrochemicals scheme that will form the cornerstone of an ambitious downstream plastics-based industry in Oman, said Plastemart.

When completed by 2018, the Sohar Plastics Project together with the refinery improvement venture, will produce one of the most efficient integrated refinery and petrochemical complexes in the world.

At the heart of the project is a steam cracker to be built adjacent to Orpic’s refinery at the Port of Sohar. An extraction plant to be built at Fahud, close to Oman’s gas production fields, will extract natural gas liquids (NGLs) from natural gas. These NGLs, together with the C2+ component, will be transported to steam cracker via a new 300-km pipeline that will run from Fahud to Sohar. Also as part of the plastics complex, Orpic will construct HDPE and LLDPE plants at Sohar, as well as undertake an expansion of its existing polypropylene plant.

When operational in 2018, the Sohar Plastics Project will produce 420,000 tpa of high density polyethylene (HDPE), 420,000 tpa of low density polyethylene (LDPE), 215,000 tpa of polypropylene, 168,000 tpd of additional gasoline, and 46,000 tpa of additional benzene. These petrochemicals, together with those produced by existing Orpic plants, will account for six of the seven principal building blocks necessary to sustain the growth of a strong downstream petrochemicals industry in Oman, Al Mahrouqi said.

Oman Oil Refineries and Petrochemical Companies (ORPIC) is in talks with two local banks to raise USD2.5 bln to expand its Sohar refinery and refinance a previous loan.

We remind that in late 2012 Orpic announced that its production of world class high quality polypropylene homopolymer at Sohar plant has crossed 1 million tonnes. This was a significant milestone for the polypropylene (PP) plant in Sohar, which began production in October 2006.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian energy powerhouse Rosneft is beefing up its presence in the home market by taking full control of a compatriot gas company, according to Upstreamonline.

The Igor Sechin-led player is snapping up the 49% stake in Itera which it does not already own. Rosneft completed the purchase of a 51% share in Itera in the second half of last year after tagging on a 6% share to its 45% holding for USD188 million.

The smaller share purchase meant it received title for the remaining 45% stake in Itera by transferring its licence for the Kynsko-Chaselsky block in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous region to the gas independent.

Rosneft said in August that it also passed its 100% share in the block’s operator Kynsko-Chaselskoye Neftegaz to Itera. There has been no confirmation from either company that Rosneft is taking its holding in Itera to 100%.

Itera, which was the first private company to put gas fields into operation in the Far North of Russia, says on its website that its current joint venture with Rosneft has proven and probable reserves of gas of 372.4 billion cubic metres.

Rosneft and Mitsui have signed an agreement to jointly develop the massive Far East Petrochemical Company (FEPCO) project. The deal was signed by Rosneft president Igor Sechin and by Shintaro Ambe, representative director of Mitsui & Co., in the presence of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican state oil company Pemex's trade deficit in petrochemical products widened to USD10.7mn in the first four months this year from USD2.1mn a year earlier, according to the latest monthly statistics on the company's website, said Bnamericas.

Exports in the period totaled USD50.0mn and imports USD60.7mn compared to USD87.4mn and USD89.5mn respectively in January-April 2012.

In April, Pemex reported a deficit of USD3.3mn (exports USD18.3mn, imports USD21.6mn) compared to a surplus of USD15.6mn (exports USD31.4mn, imports USD15.8mn) year-on-year.

In volume terms, January-April exports and imports fell from 191,600t to 166,100t and from 69,100t to 46,200t, respectively. In April exports decreased to 40,900t from 46,300t and imports rose to 15,700t from 10,000t.

Meanwhile, domestic petrochemicals sales fell 9.76% in the first four months to 12.1bn pesos (USD970mn) from 13.4bn pesos a year ago. Last month revenues dropped 1.55% year-on-year to 2.94bn pesos from 2.99bn pesos.
In January-April this year domestic sales volumes fell 11.8% to 1.33Mt while in April volumes slipped to 342,500t from 354,000t.

The company did not give reasons for the changes. Pemex's petrochemicals arm is called PPQ.

We remind, Pemex has signed a noncommercial agreement with Exxon Mobil to share technical and scientific information of mutual interest. Pemex said in a press release that the five-year agreement renews the two oil companies' relations in matters of cooperation.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In April calculated consumption of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Russia increased by 13% from March on the back of increase in imports of granulate, according to MRC ScanPlast.

Thus, the calculated consumption of PET in Russia has been growing for the fourth consecutive month and follows the seasonal trend.
April was no exception, and the upward trend continued. In April, the consumption of PET in Russia totalled 59,100 tonnes, up 6,600 from March, when in April 2012, the consumption of PET in Russia amounted to 58,100 tonnes.


The reason for the increase in the market capacity in April was a good demand in the domestic market. Russian producers and converters reported a deficit of PET in the market.

Seasonally strong demand was partly met by imports. In April, imports grew by almost 10,000 tonnes compared to March and totalled 24,600 tonnes. The shortage of Russian material resulted in the growth of imports.

In April, the Russian production of PET was reduced by 2,800 tonnes to 38,600 tonnes. The production of PET is expected to be cut in May also because of maintenance of Sibur-PETF's capacities.


In April, the export of Russian PET also showed upward trends. The exports of PET from Russia grows a fourth consecutive month.
In April Russia exported more than 4,000 tonnes of PET granulate. In March, this figure does not exceed 3,500 tonnes, when in January it was 1,300 tonnes.

Total capacity of Russian PET market over the four months in 2013 amounted to 205,000 tonnes.
During the same period of 2012, the rate of calculated consumption of PET in Russia totalled 197,500 tonnes.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Xingxing New Energy Technology is likely to start operations at a new methanol-to-olefins (MTO) plant, said Apic-online.

A source in China informed that the plant is likely to start commercial operations in end-2014 or early 2015. To be located in Zhejiang province, the plant will have production capacity of 1.8 million mt/year.

The MTO is planned to be a core unit at the company’s Jiaxing complex (northern Zhejiang province, East China), which will also include polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) lines.

Methanol will either be imported or sourced from the domestic market, depending on prevailing prices at the time of procurement, the source added.

A derivative 300,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) line and a 300,000 tonne/year polyethylene (PE) unit will also be built at the site.

Zhejiang Xingxing New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. produces ethylene and propylene by processing methanol. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Huzhou, China.

MRC