Dow introduces technology for effectively combining PE and PP

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Elastomers, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company unveils a breakthrough compatibilization technology that offers a tuneable range of new-to-the-world, highly effective solutions for combining both non-polar and polar polymers with polypropylene, said Dow in its press release.

INTUNE PP-based Olefin Block Copolymers from Dow offer highly effective solutions for combining polyethylene (PE), polyolefin elastomers (POE) and polar materials such as ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) and polyamide (PA) with polypropylene (PP) to provide the best benefits of each material, while minimizing individual trade-off properties.

"Truly breakthrough and game-changing innovations like INTUNE PP-based OBCs underscore Dow’s industry-leading material and formulation science capabilities and reinforce our position as the go-to innovator in the plastics industry," said Kim Ann Mink, Business President, Dow Elastomers, Electrical & Telecommunications. "INTUNE will enable us to offer enhanced performance at lower systems cost for customers across a multitude of end-markets, including packaging, consumer durables, transportation, construction, hygiene, and wire and cable, among others."

The diverse material and formulation options enabled by INTUNE PP-based OBCs create opportunities for unique blends and multi-layer structures that offer tuneable combinations of attributes and enable processors to achieve enhanced performance targets and lower overall systems cost.

"INTUNE PP-based OBCs enable the creation of unique solutions that display the most desired mechanical, chemical and optical properties of PP with PE, POEs and polar materials, fundamentally changing the way the industry thinks about combining polar and non-polar polymers," said Karen Fennessy-Ketola, Global Director, New Business Development, Dow Elastomers, Electrical and Telecommunications. "As the latest development in Dow’s rich innovation pipeline and the second generation of solutions derived from our proprietary olefin block copolymer technology, INTUNE PP-based OBCs also underscore our ability to continue to deliver groundbreaking solutions for a myriad of applications."

As MRC wrote before, Dow Elastomers, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, will begin the production of AFFINITY GA Polyolefin Elastomers (POEs) for hot melt adhesives in Tarragona, Spain. This is a milestone for Dow, as it is the first time the production of AFFINITY GA POEs will take place in Europe.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and synthetic rubber. In 2012, Dow had annual sales of approximately USD57 billion. The сompany's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 36 countries across the globe.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In Q3 Czech downstream oil group Unipetrol posted EBITDA f CZK 235m (-80% y/y), including positive contribution of petrochemical and retail segments, according to the company's press release.

Revenues reached CZK 24.859bn in Q3 (-12% y/y). Results were negatively influenced by worse refining macro, problems in petrochemical production resulting in lower sales, lower refining margins and higher renewable surcharges (POZE). Stable good level of petrochemical margins and better sales in retail segment mitigated these negative factors.

"The overall macro situation is weaker than everyone on the market expected, it was probably 7th quarter in a row of Czech economy recession in 3Q13. We also hoped that tax fraud legislation could be implemented faster and also expected some relief on OZE (renewable power charges), which did not happen this year. Last but not least we had some unexpected production problems this year. Having said that, our financial targets for 2013 will be tough to achieve," said the Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Unipetrol, Marek Switajewski. "On the other hand, we see positive development within retail segment sales and petrochemical segment. Both recorded good profitability within the last quarters, which is promising for our future results."

In the refinery segment, the volume of crude processed in Q3 reached 902 kt (-14 % y/y), due to scheduled complete turnaround of Kralupy refinery in September (and October) within 4-year cycle and two steam cracker shutdowns.

EBITDA LIFO in the petrochemical segment amounted to CZK +361m in 3Q13. The results of the segment were negatively affected by unplanned shut-downs of production, which resulted in lower sales y/y. On the other hand positive impact was visible from very solid level of petrochemical margins, higher positive inventory revaluation y/y and development of FX – stronger EUR vis-a-vis USD. Company recorded sales decrease of petrochemical products to 366kt in Q3, mainly due to June floods in the Czech Republic, negatively impacting supplies of ammonia to Lovochemie and ammonia and ethylene to Spolana, and two steam cracker shutdowns, first starting in the middle of July and second in the middle of September.

As MRC reported previously, in early October Unipetrol signed a license agreement with INEOS, based on which it acquired the right to use a production process and technology for the new polyethylene unit (PE3). Purchase of the license is the first achieved milestone and represents the official start of the project's execution. Now Unipetrol is ready to take further steps and create a detailed schedule of this project. The first task is to choose a general contractor, which should be done in the first half of 2014.

Unipetrol , a.s. is a group of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 Unipetrol became a part of the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is oriented mostly towards oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas the Unipetrol Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading firms in the Czech Republic in terms of its revenues, and employs almost 4,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil Mustafa Al-Shimali and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung agreed to smoothly execute a joint refinery and petrochemical project and confirmed the two governments' strong commitments to strengthening bilateral ties, as per Plastemart.

While thanking the Vietnamese government for creating favourable conditions for the project by supporting essential requirement to facilitate the Nghi Son Refinery and petrochemical project between Kuwait, Vietnam and Japan, Al-Shimali renewed Kuwait's commitment to supplying 100% crude oil in the long term for the vital joint venture.

The petrochem project involves Kuwait, Vietnam and Japan, with state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) set to supply all of its feedstock requirements.

As MRC informed earlier, this summer, Mitsui Chemicals, Idemitsu Kosan, Kuwait Petroleum International, and Petro Vietnam announced the final decision to invest a total USD9 billion in their refinery and petrochemical complex construction project at Nghi Son economic zone, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. This final decision on project investment and financing agreements will allow construction to start in July. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2016. The plant, to be located in 180 km south of Hanoi, is expected to start commercial operations in 2017 with a refining capacity of 200,000 bpd, equivalent to 10 mln tpa.

This project, which has at its base the stable supply of crude oil from Kuwait, will capture rapidly growing demand for petroleum products in Vietnam while also responding to forecasted expanding aromatic (paraxylene and benezene) markets and export sales of polypropylene products. The large-scaled project is expected to yield high returns.

Idemitsu Kosan and Kuwait Petroleum International each hold a 35.1% stake in the planned refinery, while PetroVietnam and Mitsui Chemicals own 25.1% and 4.7%, respectively. KPI is a unit of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The launch of new plants allowed Russia to achieve a major increase in production of polypropylene (PP). PP output rose by 22% in the first nine months of 2013, according to MRC ScanPlast.

The overall PP output in Russia grew to 583,000 tonnes in January-September from 487,000 tonnes for the same period in 2012. The start-up of the new plants in Omsk (180,000 tonnes per year) and Tobolsk (500,000 tonnes per year) has significantly ramped up production of PP.

The structure of the output in terms of plants' production share over the reporting period is as follows.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim (part of TAIF group) produced about 153,600 tonnes in the first nine months of 2013, while during the same period in 2012, the plant produced 159,000 tonnes. The drop in PP production was caused by a scheduled outage for maintenance in September (maintenance workd were not carried out in 2012).

Tomskneftekhim (part of SIBUR) reduced its PP production for the said period to 92,000 tonnes from 100,000 tonnes a year earlier. The plant's decline in production was also caused by a long shutdown for maintenance in July-August 2013.

Conversely, Moscow "Neftekhimia" (part of SIBUR) increased its PP output up to 91,700 tonnes this year because of optimization of maintenance works from 82,000 tonnes a year earlier.

Stavrolen produced about 95,000 tonnes of PP in January - September 2013, while during the same perion in 2012, the plant produced 55,000 tonnes. This significant increase in the output was caused by the outage in January-February 2012 and a long incomplete capacity utilisation in 2012.

Ufaogrsintez produced about 87,000 tonnes of PP in January-September 2013, down 4% year on year. The drop in production was caused by limited feedstock supplies (propane-propylene fraction) in the last few months.

Poliom (part of Titan group) launched its PP production on February 11 2013, and in September the plant was shut down for a turnaround. Its output totalled 73,600 tonnes in January-September.

Tobolsk-Polymer (part of SIBUR) launched PP production in a test mode in May 2013. The President of the Russian Federation officially opened the plant on October 10. The information on the plant's output has not been disclosed yet, about 9,400 tonnes of Tobolsk PP were exported from the start-up until September.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarusian companies reduced imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in August by 20% from July. European material accounted for the main decrease in supplies, reported MRC analysts.

Imports of unmixed PVC (SPVC and EPVC) to Belarus fell to 3,800 tonnes in August from 4,700 tonnes in July. Local converters are more focused on exports of finished products made of PVC (the Russian market accounted for more than 70% of exports), but higher August prices in Europe forced them to reduce purchases. Limited export quotas from many European producers also contributed to reductions in shipments.

German and Polish producers are the key suppliers of PVC to Belarus. August imports from these countries dropped to 1,600 tonnes and 1,400 tonnes, respectively. PVC imports from these countries totalled 15,000 tonnes and 10,500 tonnes, respectively, in January-August 2013.

The overall PVC imports to Belarus exceeded 30,500 tonnes in the first eight months of the year, up by 15.7% year on year.
MRC