Dow Chemical set to begin construction on new Texas ethane cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Chemical will begin construction on June 30 of its previously-announced world-scale ethylene production facility in Freeport, Texas, said Hydrocarbomprocessing.

This represents a prominent milestone in the company delivering on its strategy to invest in a performance-based portfolio of technology-enabled businesses, according to Dow officials.

The significant investment in Dow’s Texas operations remains on track and on-plan for start-up in the first half of 2017, and will employ up to 2,000 workers during construction.

"This world-scale ethylene facility is a foundational element in Dow’s strategy to utilize low-cost and advantaged shale gas feedstocks to enable growth in key value-add market-driven businesses," said Andrew N. Liveris, CEO of Dow. "Collectively, Dow’s US Gulf Coast investments serve as an integral component of our global growth strategy, where we are leveraging our first-mover advantage to deliver significant shareholder value, enabling the company to achieve our near-term USD10 billion EBITDA goal and beyond."

With a nameplate capacity of approximately 1.5 million tpy, Dow’s new ethylene production facility is part of a multi-billion dollar investment. Alongside previously announced plastics and elastomers facilities, this will support market growth and expansions of Dow’s industry leading-leading performance plastics franchise.

"When combined with our on-purpose propylene PDH project, which is more than 30% complete, this ethylene production facility takes Dow yet another step closer to realizing the full financial benefit of our Gulf Coast investment effort," said Jim Fitterling, Dow's executive vice president of feedstocks, energy and performance plastics.

"This investment will connect cost-advantaged raw materials to many of the company’s highest-margin downstream businesses – including performance plastics – businesses that also consistently deliver a high return on invested capital. Once fully operational, our Gulf Coast investments are projected to deliver an estimated USD2.5 billion in EBITDA and will serve as a solid base for long-term growth while further strengthening Dow’s market competitiveness."

In total, Dow’s comprehensive US Gulf Coast investments in Texas and Louisiana will employ 5,000 workers during peak construction. The projects announced for the Freeport site represent the majority of those workers, with 4,000 required for construction of multiple feedstocks, derivatives and supporting infrastructure projects.

Dow Texas Operations in Freeport is Dow’s largest integrated manufacturing site worldwide and the largest chemical complex in North America with more than 4,200 employees and 3,800 contractors on site daily.

As MRC informed previously, in February 2014, CB&I was awarded a contract to provide pipe fabrication for Dow Chemical's US Gulf Coast investment program. Dow's investment plan includes construction of a new propylene and ethylene production unit in Texas and four new polyethylene plants in Texas and Louisiana.

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, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene (PP), and synthetic rubber. The company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 36 countries across the globe.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced that its licensee, China's Wison (Nanjing) Clean Energy Co. Ltd., has produced more than 360 mln lbs of light olefins at a plant in Nanjing, China, using UOP's breakthrough methanol-to-olefins (MTO) process technology, said Plastemart.

The plant, the first commercial-scale facility to use the UOP/Hydro MTO process technology, has been operating since September 2013 and is successfully meeting expectations for the quality and quantity of light olefins, as well as other performance criteria. The Wison facility is using UOP's Advanced MTO process that combines the UOP/Hydro MTO process and the Total/UOP Olefin Cracking process.

The combination significantly increases yields and feedstock efficiency. The process converts methanol, which can be derived from low-cost raw materials such as coal or natural gas, into ethylene and propylene. Based on proprietary UOP catalysts, the Advanced MTO process provides high yields with low operating costs. MTO also offers flexibility in the ratio of propylene to ethylene produced, so operators can adjust plant operations to most effectively address market demands. The Wison plant, designed by Wison Engineering, the largest private sector chemical engineering, procurement and construction management (EPC) service provider in China, has an annual production capacity of 300,000 metric tons per year of ethylene and propylene. UOP provided technology licenses, basic engineering, catalysts, adsorbents, specialty equipment, and technical services for the plant.

The UOP/Hydro MTO process technology was successfully demonstrated in a semi-commercial-scale unit built and operated by Ineos (then Norsk-Hydro). The Total-UOP OCP process technology was developed jointly by UOP and Total Petrochemicals and demonstrated in an integrated MTO-OCP semi-commercial-scale unit built and operated by Total in Feluy, Belgium. Since 2011, UOP has announced four licenses for MTO technology in China. Shandong Yangmei Hengtong Chemicals Co. Ltd., expected to start up later this year, will use the technology to produce 295,000 metric tons per year of ethylene and propylene, and Jiutai Energy (Zhungeer) Co., expected to start up in 2015, will use it to produce 600,000 metric tons per year of ethylene and propylene. Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical Chemicals is also building what is expected to be the largest single-train MTO unit in the world, producing 833,000 metric tons of ethylene and propylene per year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, is increasing production capacity for its Licocene Performance Polymers by 50% at its facility on the Frankfurt-Hochst Industrial Park in Germany, as per the company's press release.

The debottlenecking of Clariant’s existing production line represents a low double-digit million Swiss Franc investment, with the additional capacity scheduled to come on stream in Q1 2016.

Christian Kohlpaintner, Member of Clariant’s Executive Committee, comments: "The decision to increase capacity reflects the steady double-digit growth experienced for Licocene Performance Polymers since their launch in 2006. It presents an efficient opportunity to support the current strong rise in demand particularly from China, India, Indonesia and Turkey, in line with Clariant’s general strategy to invest in growing businesses."

Licocene Performance Polymers are unique metallocene polyolefins with low molecular weight yet high mechanical strength. Their low melt points and low viscosities allow optimum processing at lower temperatures and with lower dosage than alternative products. Without compromising mechanical and other properties, even improvements in end-product performance such as weight reduction can be achieved.

Licocene’s ability to support more sustainable processing is particularly valued by customers in energy-intensive sectors, such as technical textiles for mattresses, furniture and carpets for automotive and aerospace interiors. They are also used in the manufacture of masterbatches and engineering plastics, as well as in industrial coatings, and in printing inks and adhesives for packaging applications.

As MRC wrote previously, Clariant has recently announced that its Business Unit Catalysts will establish a state-of-the-art research center in Shanghai, China. The R&D center is expected to begin operation by 2015 with the goal of developing catalytic solutions tailored to Chinese market requirements and enhancing technical service support to Chinese customers. The new catalyst R&D center in Shanghai will further strengthen Clariant's technology portfolio and service offerings for coal-to-chemicals applications and provide a complete range of solutions for the market.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Total imports of high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) and general purpose polystyrene (GPSS) in Russia decreased by 37% in January-May 2014, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to MRC ScanPlast.

Russia's imports of GPPS were 11,200 tonnes in January-May 2014, down 47% in the same period a year earlier. Total imports of HIPS to Russia decreased to 9,700 tonnes in January-May 2014, down 17% year on year.
Buying interest to import material has reduced because of an increase in production volumes at Russian plants. The material from Nizhnekamskneftekhim played an important role the reduction of Russia's dependency from imports. The company produced more than 120,000 tonnes of HIPS and GPPS in January-May, compared with 97,100 year on year.

The biggest buying interest converters showed for PS by Styrolution production. The producer imported 1,400 tonnes of GPPS in May to Russia.

HIPS buyers preferred to by material from Polimeri Europa, Styrolution and LG Chem. Russia's imports of Polimeri Europa's HIPS in Russia were 665 tonnes in May.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- OAO Lukoil will cut spending to reduce its dependence on international debt markets, billionaire shareholder Leonid Fedun said in an interview. It also plans to build a cash reserve of USD30 billion over the next five years to guard against the risk of further disruption to capital markets and to finance future acquisitions, Fedun said before the company’s annual meeting, reported Bloomberg.

"Entering capital markets right now is tough - for bonds or credit,” Fedun said in Moscow. “ Banks are scared, compliance is very strict, there is the threat from sanctions. There was a specific pressure put on banks by Washington."

To boost cash, the company will offer at least USD1 billion in shares in Hong Kong as early as next year and reduce capital spending by a quarter, he said.

Lukoil’s new tack shows the impact the collapse in relations with the US and EU is having on Russia’s largest companies after President Vladimir Putin’s decision to annex Crimea from Ukraine. The Moscow-based oil producer, which pumps about 20% of the country’s crude, postponed plans to sell USD1.5 billion of Eurobonds this month.

As MRC informed before, Lukoil is set to drill deep for unconventional gas in Saudi Arabia's challenging "Empty Quarter" desert region early next year after a decade-long hunt for conventional deposits that has proved futile. Lukoil Overseas official said the joint venture will drill the first well in the first quarter of 2015 and the second during the last six months.

Lukoil is one of the world's biggest vertically integrated companies for production of crude oil & gas, and their refining into petroleum products and petrochemicals. The company is a leader on Russian and international markets in its core business, which accounts for over 20% of Russian oil production and 18% of the total Russian oil refining. Lukoil also controls two of the largest petrochemical plants in Russia and Ukraine: Stavrolen and Karpatneftekhim.
MRC