Chandra Asri Petrochemical to revamp its naphtha cracker in January to production capacity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chandra Asri Petrochemical (TPIA), Indonesia’s largest petrochemical company, plans to start revamp of its naphtha cracker plant in Cilegon, Banten, in January 2014, to help boost its production capacity, as per Plastemart with reference to Jakarta Post.

The overhaul, which will include the purchase of new machinery, will cost approximately USD380 mln. Funds will be raised by issue of shares and borrowing from several foreign banks.

On the cards is a plan to modify the plant’s machines and add more furnaces to boost our overall production capacity of its ethylene, propylene, Mixed C4 and Pyrolysis gasoline or pygas compounds.

The company would increase its ethylene production to 860,000 tpa from the current 600,000 tons, and increase propylene production to 470,000 tpa from 320,000 tpa. Production of Mixed C4 is expected to increase from 220,000 tons to 315,000 tpa, while Pygas will increase to 400,000 tpa from 280,000 tpa.

Japan’s Toyo Engineering Corp. was finalizing the engineering design for the plant’s modification, which is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2015 with operations beginning in early 2016.

As MRC wrote previously, this September, PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk signed cooperation contract of Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) for the construction of production facility of the company's naphtha cracker with Toyo Engineering Corporation. The expansion will increase its naphtha cracker production capacity up to 43%.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yanshan Petrochemical has restarted a polypropylene (PP) line, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the line was restarted on November 7, 2013. It was shut for a maintenance turnaround.

Located in Beijing, China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

Another Chinese petrochemical producer Luoyang Petrochemical restarted its PP plant on September 20, 2013. It was shut on August 19, 2013. Located in Henan province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 140,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group shut its polypropylene (PP) plant for a maintainence turnaround on 27 October 2013. Located at Yinchuan city, Ningxia in China, the PP plant has a production capacity of 500,000 mt/year. The palnt is expected to remain shut for around 10 days.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eni SpA chemical subsidiary Versalis has established a 50-50 joint venture with South Korean petrochemical company Lotte Chemical to target the Asian elastomers market, said Plastemart.

The joint venture is called Lotte Versalis Elastomers Co., and will be headquartered in Yeosu, South Korea. Production capaciy for the elastomers unit includes butadiene and ethylene propylene-derived products for a total capacity of about 200,000 metric tpa.

The JV will manage the production of streams for premium application segments within the elastomers business, mainly the tire and automotive industries, and technical goods.

The establishment of the joint venture follows the primary terms and conditions agreement for the development of an elastomers production plant in Yeosu signed on Oct. 5, 2012.

As MRC wrote before, Petronas has signed an agreement with Eni-controlled Versalis to jointly own, develop, construct and operate elastomer plants within Petronas' proposed refinery and petrochemical integrated development (RAPID) complex in Pengerang, Johor.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican PVC and specialty chemicals maker Mexichem SAB de CV and Occidental Chemical Corp. have formed a USD1.5 billion, 50-50 joint venture to build an ethylene cracker with an annual capacity of 1.2 billion pounds at an OxyChem complex in Ingleside, Texas, as well as pipelines and storage in Markham, Texas, said Plasticsnews.

The companies announced Oct. 31 that construction will start in mid 2014 and commercial operations in the first quarter of 2017. "Essentially all" the ethylene produced by the cracker will be used to make vinyl chloride monomer, using existing VCM capacity at the Ingleside site, they said. "VCM will be delivered to Mexichem to produce (PVC resin) and PVC piping systems."

The cracker will strengthen Mexichem by enabling it to take advantage of competitive energy and feedstock costs in the United States, a result of shale gas development, said Mexichem Chairmn Juan Pablo del Valle Perochena.

The "high degree of integration" between the two companies will create "highly competitive assets on a global basis," Chuck Anderson, OxyChem's president, added.

According to the news release, Los Angeles-based OxyChem, a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp., will build and operate the cracker. OxyChem claims to be the world's largest VCM producer.

The cracker joint venture is the second involving a Mexican company to be announced in the past three years. In March 2010 Brazilian petrochemicals giant Braskem SA and Mexico's Grupo Idesa SA de CV formalized an agreement with Pemex Gas y Petroquimica Basica to build a USD2.5 billion petrochemical complex, called Ethylene XXI, in Coatzacoalcos, which will include an ethylene cracker and three polymerization plants. Production at that site is scheduled to start in late 2015.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a bid to reduce imports of oil products and chemicals, Indonesia's state energy firm Pertamina has restarted a refining and petrochemical complex in East Java province owned by TPPI, as per Plastemart.

The restart could help reduce the current account deficit in Indonesia, where import costs have been rising due to a weak rupiah. During the six-month agreement, the plant will process 55,000 to 80,000 barrels of condensate per day (bpd) and will produce about 1.5 mln barrels of gasoil and fuel oil, 36,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and 2.8 mln barrels of light naphtha.

A total of 530,000 tons of petrochemicals will also be produced. The designed capacity of the condensate splitter is 100,000 bpd. Pertamina has signed an agreement with plant operator TPPI to use the facility for six months. The plant had been idled for nearly two years due to heavy debts at TPPI. "The restart of TPPI Tuban refinery is intended to provide an opportunity for TPPI to get an income again through the tolling fee derived from the joint-processing agreement," Pertamina said. The restart has also tightened condensate supply in the region.

As MRC wrote before, Pertamina has signed an agreement to purchase petrochemical products from Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical. The agreement serves as a pre-marketing strategy for Pertamina and PTT’s joint Indonesian petrochemical business. Under the agreement, PTT will deliver at least 5,000 tonnes of polyethylene and polypropylene products each month to Pertamina for sale in Indonesia.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
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