Borealis finishes up UAE petrochemical expansion at Borouge complex

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis, an Austrian petrochemical company controlled by Abu Dhabi, plans to get the first drops of ethylene flowing by the end of May from a plant expansion in the emirate costing more than USD4 billion, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The mechanical works for the Borouge 3 ethane cracker were signed off eight weeks ago, and since then engineers have been setting systems for cooling, testing and safety, and getting the ethane-fed furnaces to an operating temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 Fahrenheit), CEO Mark Garrett said in a phone interview.

The expansion project began in 2009 with a handshake between Garrett and his counterpart at Borouge partner Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. in a hotel in Fuschl, Austria.

Annual capacity at Borouge, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) from the city of Abu Dhabi, will more than double to 4.5 million tons from 2 million tons of ethylene and the derivative polyethylene and polypropylene plastics used in car parts and packaging.

First-quarter net income surged 67% from a year earlier to 102 million euros (USD140 million) as higher demand for polyethylene offset a “soft market” for the fertilizer business, Vienna-based Borealis said in a statement. Sales jumped 14% to 2.26 billion euros.

In addition to lower fertilizer demand, unreliable plants meant Borealis missed out on selling some supplies on the spot market at higher prices, Garrett said. The company is also combating weakness in the European infrastructure market, where governments have cut spending on such products as plastic water pipes, Garrett said.

Borealis has also upgraded plants in Kallo, Belgium, and Grand-Quevilly, France. An abundance of US shale gas makes it increasingly likely that supplies will flow into Europe by ship, Garrett said.

Borealis is still studying whether it should import US ethane as an alternative to obtaining the feedstock from the North Sea, and such a move would be potentially "very interesting", given the coastal location of its crackers, the CEO said.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. The only polyethylene (PE) producer in Sweden, Borealis’ Stenungsund facilities include a PE plant, a cracker for ethylene and propylene production, and an innovation center focused on research and development for infrastructure markets.MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Despite the significant increase in the external supplies of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) into Russia over the last two months, total LLDPE imports in the first four months of 2014 decreased by 2%, according to MRC DataScope report.

Rouble devaluation and a poor seasonal demand in January and February led to a serious drop in the imports of linear polyethylene in Russia.
Domestic market adapted to new prices in March, and the demand from key customers (producers of stretch films) strengthened. As a result, LLDPE imports in March and April exceeded the level of the same period a year earlier.

In general, total LLDPE imports to Russia were about 63,400 tonnes in the first four months of the year, down 2% than in the same time a year earlier. The structure of LLDPE imports looked as follows.

Russia's LLDPE imports for films production were about 16,500 tonnes in March, compared with 18,300 tonnes in March 2013. Total imports of film LLDPE to Russia dropped to 56,900 tonnes in the first four months of the year, from 58,700 tonnes in the same time a year earlier. The reduction in demand was seen in all types of films (from simple to multi-layer).

April imports of LLDPE for rotational moulding products rose to 1,400 tonnes, compared with about 1,000 tonnes in March. Russia's imports of LLDPE for rotational moulding products grew by 39% to about 3,300 tonnes in the first four months of the year.

April LLDPE imports in other sectors of consumption (injection moulding, lamination, cable extrusion, etc.) were about 830 tonnes, from about 1,000 tonnes in March. Russia's LLDPE imports of this type were about 3,300 tonnes in the first four months of this year, compared with 3,700 tonnes year on year.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INVISTA and LanzaTech signed a research and development agreement focused on the development of gas-fermentation process technology for the production of industrial chemicals from carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas (CO2 and H2) feedstocks, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

According to the agreement, INVISTA and LanzaTech will collaborate on projects to develop gas-fermentation technologies to convert CO2/H2 feedstocks into a range of industrial chemicals using proprietary INVISTA host organisms and metabolic pathways.

If successful, the first commercialization of this technology is expected as early as 2018. "This new agreement builds on INVISTA’s existing collaborations with LanzaTech," said Warren Primeaux, president of INVISTA's intermediates business. "It will provide INVISTA increased access to LanzaTech’s world-class gas-fermentation process technology and help accelerate the commercialization of a number of exciting bio-derived processes currently under development at INVISTA’s bioscience laboratory in Wilton, United Kingdom."

INVISTA says it believes biotechnology has the potential to significantly improve the cost and availability of several chemicals and raw materials that are used to produce its current products. It views gas fermentation as a key enabling technology that will allow the use of potentially advantaged gas feedstocks - such as waste industrial gases, including carbon dioxide.

As MRC wrote before, INVISTA and Solvay have signed a settlement agreement that resolves disputes related to adiponitrile (ADN) intellectual property and technology in use at their nylon 6,6 intermediates Butachimie joint venture in Chalampe, France. The settlement confirms INVISTA’s exclusive ownership of the ADN technology at Butachimie and includes a plan to upgrade the facility with INVISTA’s latest and most advanced ADN technology.

INVISTA is one of the world’s largest integrated producers of chemical intermediates, polymers and fibers. The company’s advantaged technologies for nylon, spandex and polyester are used to produce clothing, carpet, car parts and countless other everyday products. Headquartered in the United States, INVISTA operates in more than 20 countries and has about 10,000 employees.

LanzaTech is a leader in gas fermentation technology that provides novel and economic routes to fuels and high value chemicals from waste gas streams. LanzaTech’s unique process, certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, creates sustainable fuels and platform chemicals that serve as building blocks for everyday products such as rubber and plastics.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- As the largest global market for ethylene derivatives and a rapidly industrialising economy, the standard expectations are for China to move towards greater self sufficiency, However, China’s self sufficiency is projected to peak in 2018 and then decline, said Energyglobal.

This is a reflection of the growing pre-eminence of gas based feedstocks for ethylene production in locations such as the US, which will see them become leading sources of new ethylene supply through to 2030. Consistently dominant Middle East supply plus a new wave forecast to come from Russia and the Caspian will add to US exports to create tougher competition for Asian producers. Hudian Research estimates that China’s ethylene production capacity will grow rapidly in the future few years and will reach 30 million tons per year by 2017.

A steady increase in export oriented supply from the US has occurred due to the shale gas discovery in North America. Also, other advantaged feedstock locations including the Middle East and Russia will act to further discourage NOCs from making investment decision in expensive cracker projects.

Developments in China’s coal chemistry sector will counter some of the impacts of additional ethylene derivative imports into China from other regions, beginning with the success of China’s first coal to olefins plant by the Shenhua Group, Boatou, Inner Mongolia. The local coal and petrochemical industries have been actively seeking similar investment opportunities due to the abundance of cheap domestic coal resources in China. Although there has been a lot of excitement around coal based ethylene projects in China, limitations on water resources and the threat of environmental pollution has dampened the rate of capacity build up well below what has been announced. As much as 11 million t of coal/methanol based capacity has been announced from 2013 – 2020 but only a few projects totalling 3.7 million t of ethylene received National Development and Reform Commission approval as of the end of last year.

Current and future developments in advantaged feedstock in other parts of the world will have an impact not just on how export availability will develop until 2020, it will go beyond to impact global trade and the competitiveness of the Chinese market through to 2030. Ultimately, the pace of investments in new naphtha based Chinese steam crackers will be adversely impacted; thus reducing the country’s ability to satisfy its own demand growth. With China remaining central to the global demand picture, highly advantaged supplier such as the US and Middle East will see increased opportunities within China. This translates to stiffer competition for other Asian producers targeting the Chinese market.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The National Tariff Commission (NTC) investigates dumping of PVC Resin by Korean and Taiwanese companies in Pakistan at prices lower than their domestic markets that can potentially hurt the local PVC industry of the country, said Thenews.

Huge capacities of PVC production exist in the Far-East Asian countries such as Taiwan, Korea, Thailand and China and an investigation is being carried out to check the trend of dumping their products in Pakistan at a price, which is even lower than the domestic price in their respective countries, the sources said.

NTC is investigating this matter on the request of Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd, the largest producer of PVC in the country, they said.

NTC is investigating if significant dumping margins are the underlying reason of a surge in imports of the investigated product, which have taken a substantial share in the domestic market of Pakistan and can potentially cause injury to the domestic industry engaged in the production of PVC Resin, the sources said.

The commission will also review if the performance of the domestic industry engaged in the production of the same products is suffering material injury as a consequence of the imports of the investigated product from the exporting countries, the sources said.

Industry sources demanded the government to take appropriate action against dumped imports of the investigated product from the exporting countries through imposition of antidumping duties, otherwise, the sources said, the domestic industry will continue to suffer material injury on account of the unfair imports of the investigated product and their viability and competitive position will be unfavourably affected in the future, further increasing the dominance of such dumped imports.

Pakistan has a domestic PVC Resin market of around 145,000 metric tons per annum against the domestic production capacity of around 156,000 metric tons per annum. Imports are around five percent of the total market size. The sources said that due to unnecessary imports of the PVC Resin in the country, Pakistan is forced to export surplus quantity, which is an economically inefficient situation.

The authorities in India, which is a net importer of over one million tons of PVC every year, have recently recommended imposing dumping duty on PVC Resin from Taiwan, China, Korea and other countries because these countries were dumping their products in India at the price lower than their domestic price, the sources said, adding that this step was taken primarily to protect the local PVC industry.

MRC