SIBUR and Sinopec establish a joint venture to produce synthetic rubbers in Krasnoyarsk

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp.), a major global petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group, and SIBUR, a leading Russian gas processing and petrochemicals company, entered into a joint venture developed on the site of the Krasnoyarsk Synthetic Rubber Plant (KZSK), siad Sibur in its press-release.

Sinopec purchased 25% + 1 share of KZSK. The deal was approved by Russian and Chinese regulators.
The joint venture was signed by Dai Houliang, Senior Vice President at Sinopec, and Vladimir Razumov, Executive Director at SIBUR, during Sinopec’s visit to Russia.

Its newly acquired stake in KZSK, will give Sinopec the opportunity to nominate one of its own representatives as a director to the joint venture’s board. Earlier the parties signed a joint venture to produce nitrile butadiene rubbers on the KZSK site. The shareholders will also consider expanding the Krasnoyarsk Synthetic Rubber Plant’s capacity from 42,500 to 56,000 tonnes per year.

In addition, SIBUR and Sinopec are discussing establishing a joint venture to manufacture nitrile butadiene rubber and isoprene rubber in Shanghai. The production lines are expected to have an annual capacity of 50,000 tonnes each, subject to finalisation based on the feasibility study.

Krasnoyarsk Synthetic Rubber Plant JSC is a leading Russian producer of high-quality nitrile butadiene rubbers.
Its production facilities include nitrile butadiene rubber plants with a total annual production capacity of 42,500 tonnes. Major consumers of the synthetic rubbers produced by KZSK are manufacturers of rubber products for the mechanical engineering, automotive, aerospace, and tractor industries.

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. We own and operate Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and are a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. As of 31 March 2013, SIBUR operated 27 production sites across Russia and employed over 30,000 personnel. We serve over 1,500 large customers operating in the energy, automotive, construction, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), chemical and other industries in pproximately 60 countries.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical company with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its principal business includes: exploring, developing, producing and trading crude oil and natural gas; producing, storing, transporting and distributing and marketing petroleum products, petrochemical products, synthetic fiber, fertilizer and other chemical products. Its refining capacity and ethylene capacity rank No.2 and No.4 globally. Sinopec listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai in August 2001. Sinopec Group, the parent company of Sinopec Corp., is ranked the 5th in Fortune Global 500 in 2012.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- After the price hike in summer, Russian producers have reduced the prices of dioctyl phthalate (DOP) in September on average by Rb4,000/tonne, according to MRC.

Excess supply of plasticizer DOP in the Russian market resulted in price cuts. Local producers have been forced to reduce prices, despite rising feedstock costs.

Deals for September delivery of Russian plasticizer have started from Rb71,000/tonne FCA, including VAT.

Peak price of Russian DOP occurred in June and August, when the price surge of feedstock and scheduled and unscheduled shutdowns of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat led to an increase in prices to Rb75,000/tonne FCA, including VAT.

As MRC wrote, the import duty on the plasticizer DOP was reduced from 10% to 8.8% from 2 Sep 2013.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiwan's Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co has abandoned plans to set up an integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Pengerang in the Malaysian state of Johor due to poor project economics, an official from Kuokang shareholder state-owned CPC Corp. as per Plastemart.

"It was meant to be using naphtha as a feedstock to produce ethylene, but because of the rise of shale gas as an alternative, the costs will be too high [to compete with other projects] and we won't be able to export the products," said the official, who declined to be named.

Kuokuang had submitted an environmental impact assessment report for the project to the Malaysian government in May, but the company's shareholders had already completed their feasibility study by then, deciding not to proceed with the project, she added.

This has nothing to do with Malaysia but is based solely on the fact that the project would not be economically feasible," she said. "Right now we are waiting for the results of the report and the EIA process to be concluded. We had not proceeded beyond that so our costs were limited to just the feasibility study. We did not secure any land." The results of the EIA report are expected in the coming days.

CPC is Kuokuang's largest stakeholder with 43%, with the rest held by other private Taiwanese companies. Titled KPTC Malaysia Integrated Refinery and Petrochemical Development, or KPTC-MIRPD, the project was to have included a 150,000 bpd refinery, with development slated to begin by next year and startup scheduled for early 2018, the EIA report said. It was also expected to have the capacity to produce 800,000 m tpa of ethylene and 425,480 m tpa of propylene.

Kuokuang had originally announced a new petrochemical project in Changhua, Taiwan, but that plan was scrapped last year due to environmental concerns. Then, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced in May 2012 that Malaysia would work with Kuokuang to launch a project in the country.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraq has shortlisted 12 international companies and consortiums to build the country's first oil export pipeline in decades, and will ask them to submit their bids by the end of this year for an USD18 billion project that will make the country less dependent on Persian Gulf export terminals, Hydrocarbonprocessing said.

Iraq's oil ministry has chosen these companies out of more than 80 international companies which submitted their credentials to build a section of the 1,680 km pipeline stretching from the oil hub of Basra in southern Iraq to Jordanian port of Aqaba in the Red Sea.

The short listed companies and consortiums are: LUKOIL, China National Petroleum Corporation, Marubeni Corporation, Mitsui & Co., Toyota Tsusho, Punj Lloyd (India) and Mass Global International (Iraq), Saipem, Daewoo International Corporation, Consolidated Contractors Company (Greece), Go Gas, L&T and Fuis Capital, Petrofac and Stroygazconsulting, or SGC, and Orascom and Petrojet (Egypt).

As MRC wrote before, LUKOIL Mid-East Ltd (West Qurna-2 project operator) has signed several major contracts for the West Qurna-2 field infrastructure development in Iraq based on the tender results. The contract with Samsung Engineering (Korea) sets out 29 months to construct 5 well pads with 67 development wells, 5 gathering lines, a central processing facility (CPF), a water intake on the Euphrates River and a water pipeline to the CPF, a power supply system and a field camp.

SCOP will invite the short listed companies to receive the tender package, the second person said. SCOP will also propose that companies need to submit their offers by November or December.

Iraq and Jordan signed a preliminary agreement in April to build the section of the pipeline that would stretch from an Iraqi oil pumping station in Haditha, west of Iraq, to Aqaba. The rest of the pipeline, which is 680 km long, linking a Basra pumping station with the one in Haditha would be built and financed by the Iraqi oil ministry.

Iraq hopes the pipeline will make it less dependent on Persian Gulf export terminals, providing the country with an alternative route if Iran closes the Strait of Hormus. Tehran has threatened on several occasions to close the strategic waterway through which 35% of the world's shipborne oil is exported, most recently in response to international sanctions over its suspect nuclear program.

Iraq sits on some of the world's largest oil reserves and was once a major exporter of crude. It's now trying to rebuild an industry that was devastated by years of war and sanctions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LG Yongxing Chemical has raised run rates at its acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plant, as per Apic-Online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that run rates at the plant were rasied early this week. The plant was earlier operating at lower rates owing to production issues.

Located in Ningbo, China, the plant has a production capacity of 700,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported, another Chinese polymer producer Keyuan Petrochemicals has previously announced plans for a new 400,000-t/y acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plant in China’s Guangxi Province. The company said it is currently going through the government approval process and design phase. Keyuan now expects the first phase of the project to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2014.
MRC