SP Chemicals operates SM plant at lower rates

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SP Chemicals is operating a styrene monomer (SM) plant at curtailed capacity levels, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is operating at 50% of production capacity. The lower rates have been attributed to technical issues.

Located in Jiangsu province of China, the plant has a production capacity of 320,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, SP Chemicals conducted almost a month-long turnaround at its vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant in September 2013. The plant was shut on September 3, 2013, and resumed operations in late September. Located in Jiangsu, China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

SP Chemicals, a Singapore-based company is one of the largest ion-membrane chlor-alkali producer and aniline producer in China. The company's products include: aniline, caustic soda, chlorine, chlorobenzene, nitrochlorobenzene, nitrobenzene, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). SP Chemicals plans to invest approximately RMB1.1 billion in facilities for the production of styrene monomer, an intermediate raw chemical used in making polystyrene plastics, protective coatings, polyesters and resins.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Platts Energy Information, supplier of global energy resources information, has revealed the 2013 Top 250 Global Energy Companies ratings with Sinopec ranking the 10th on the list, reported Sinopec on its site.

Last year the company occupied the 12th position, thus, this year, it moved 2 places higher than in 2012.

Overall, there are 27 Chinese companies on the list, which is 4 more than the previous year. In addition, CNPC ranks the 8th, CNOOC the 12th, and China Shenhua the 14th. Other Chinese companies are mostly from the power industry.

We remind that, as MRC informed earlier, top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp won initial approval last month from China's top economic planner for a plan to build a USD10-billion refinery and petrochemical complex in Shanghai. Sinopec has started formal planning for the 400,000 barrels-per-day refinery and a 1 million tonnes-per-year ethylene project in a plan to curb pollution by shifting an old plant to Shanghai's southern edge. The new Sinopec plant, designed to process mostly imported crude oil, will be built in the Caojing industrial park, some 50 km from the centre of Shanghai.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical companies with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its refining and ethylene capacity ranks No.2 and No.4 globally. The Company has 30,000 sales and distribution networks of oil products and chemical products, its service stations are now ranked third largest in the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The external supply of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to Russia decreased by 3% (15,900 tonnes) in October, compared with the September level (16,400 tonnes), reaching the bottom since March 2010, according to MRC DatatScope.

The main reason for such a serious drop in imports was the weakening demand. Russian companies actively increased the volume of PVC imports in the beginning of the year. Russia's SPVC imports hit the record in March with more than 58,000 tonnes, declining after which on the back of weakening demand from the major consuming sectors. Total Russia's SPVC imports in the first ten months of the year exceeded 334,000 tonnes, down by 4% year on year.
The structure of SPVC imports to Russian in october was as follows. October imports of US resin fell to 4,700 tonnes, compared to 8,000 tonnes in September. Russia's import of US resin hit the record in March with more than 25,000 tonnes. Total imports of US resin to Russia was about 162,800 tonnes in the first ten months of 2013, compared with 157,500 tonnes year on year.

Chinese producers, on the contrary, managed to increase the imports of resin last month to 6,900 tonnes, from 4,500 tonnes in September.
Total imports of Chinese resin to Russia grew to 125,900 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, from 79,500 tonnes year on year.
Such significant increase in imports from China resulted from the decline in the production of K 70 PVC by the Russian producers (SIBUR-Neftekhim shut production in April).

European producers also increased slightly their PVC delivery in October to 3,200 tonnes, from 2,700 tonnes in September. In general, total imports of European SPVC decreased to 33,200 tonnes in January - October 2013, from 35,800 tonnes in the same period a year earlier.

Imports of US PVC is expected to be increased in November on the back of significant decline of export prices.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of polystyrene (PS) and styrene plastics to the Russian market in January-September, 2013, fell by 9% year on year and totalled about 179,000 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope.

Decreased imports were caused by increased production of domestic PS grades of polymer, which was also affected by the expansion of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) production capacities at Nizhnekamskneftekhim.

GPPS imports slumped by 24% to 41,000 tonnes. At the same time, despite the expansion of ABS capacities in Russia, its imports grew by 8% in January-October up to 36,500 tonnes. Imports of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) rose by 11% and totalled 24,600 tonnes.

Expandable polystyrene (EPS) market remained the largest import market. EPS imports to Russia fell to 60,000 tonnes in January-October, 2013 (a decrease of 17% year on year).

Exports of Russian PS during the same period increased by 30% year on year to 58,500 tonnes. The EPS market became the leader in terms of exports in 2013, whereas back in 2012 exports of Russian HIPS occupied the leading position.

The overall sales of Russian EPS to foreign markets totalled 21,500 tonnes in January-October, 2013. All segments of styrene plastics produced in Russia (EPS, GPPS, HIPS, ABS) accounted for increased supplies to foreign markets. More information about the structure of consumption, production and imports of PS you can see in MRC Scan Plast.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron said it had filed a civil lawsuit against protesters in Poland who have prevented the US supermajor from reaching a site where it plans to explore for shale gas, said Upstreamonline.

Local people occupied the site near the village of Zurawlow, about 260 kilometres south-east of the Polish capital, when contractors started trying to erect a fence.

Chevron said it filed the action on the grounds that the protesters were violating its lawful right of access to the site, one of four shale gas exploration concessions the company has in Poland.

"While we respect the rights of individuals to express their opinions, it should be done within the law. We believe that the views expressed by a small group of people do not reflect views of the majority of residents" in the region around the site, Chevron said, according to a Reuters report.

The protesters say Chevron has not adequately consulted with local residents and that its drilling will damage the environment.

Chevron says it is committed to operating in a safe and responsible way and is bringing benefits to communities where it operates.

In neighbouring Romania, Chevron had to suspend work at another planned shale gas exploration well after local people blocked the site. As MRC wrote before, Chevron signed on the dotted line for its USD10 billion deal with Ukraine for the Olesska shale production sharing agreement. Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and Chevron regional president James Johnson were on hand for the signing at the presidential palace in Kiev.

Chevron Phillips is a chemical producer jointly owned by Chevron Corporation and Phillips 66. The company was formed July 1, 2000 by merging the chemicals operations of both Chevron Corporation and Phillips Petroleum Company. A 50/50 venture, the company continues to be governed by a board of directors composed of two members from each of the parent companies. Chevron Phillips is headquartered at The Woodlands, Texas (a northern suburb of Houston), and is a major producer of ethylene, propylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, K-Resin(r) SBC, ryton polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), alpha-olefins, polyalphaolefins, aromatic compounds and a range of specialty chemicals.
MRC