Poliom shut down its PP production for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poliom (part of Titan Group), one of the largest Russian polypropylene (PP) producer, has shut down its production for a scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Poliom, Russia's third largest PP producer, stopped its production for a scheduled maintenance yesterday, 11 August. The outage will last at least two weeks. The plant's production capacity is 210,000 tons of PP per year.

As reported earlier, Ufaorgsintez also plans to shut down its PP production on 15 August, as part of the overhaul at the plant.

LLC "Poliom" was founded on 14 May, 2005 for the construction of the polypropylene (PP) plant within the petrochemical cluster project "PARK: regional agro-industrial clusters." The plant was built on Basell technology, the supplier of technological equipment was Tecnimont. The opening ceremony was held on 25 April 2013. The product range consists of 100 PP grades (homopolymer PP, statistical and block copolymers). In April 2014, the production capacity of Omsk PP Plant reached 210,000 tonnes of polypropylene per year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BOC has signed a ten year multi-million dollar ethylene sourcing agreement with Qenos, Australia’s only manufacturer of polyethylene, reported Plastemart.

The agreement is for the supply of up to 1,800 tpa of ethylene, with first supply expected in Q3-2015. The agreement includes terms for the installation of an ethylene tanker filling bay at Qenos’ Altona site and infrastructure at BOC’s Dandenong site, both in Victoria. BOC tankers will be filled with refrigerant-grade ethylene at Qenos for filling at BOC into ISO containers to service the growing LNG export industry.

Ethylene is an essential refrigerant for the new LNG mega projects under construction in Queensland and Western Australia. Treated natural gas is chilled, cooled and condensed in successively colder heat exchangers, with the LNG then pumped into insulated storage tanks where it remains until shipment.

As MRC wrote before, in early 2014, Vitol Group, the world’s largest independent oil trader, said it is considering a bid for some of Royal Dutch Shell's Australian downstream operations. Shell, Europe’s biggest oil company, is stepping up asset sales after spending a record USD45 billion on projects and acquisitions last year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A burst of flame at the Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) refinery in Ciudad Madero has killed four workers and injured several more, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the state-owned oil company report on its official Twitter account.

The company initially said that one worker was killed and 11 injured. On Monday, Pemex said the death toll had risen to four, and seven workers remained in the hospital with injuries.

The fire occurred at one of the refinery’s coking plants which wasn’t operating at the time of the accident because of maintenance, according to Pemex. There was no damage to the refinery, which is located in the northern Tamaulipas state, according to Pemex.

At least four accidents have occurred at the Ciudad Madero refinery this year, including a fire at a storage tank on July 22 that injured nine Pemex workers. The Ciudad Madero refinery, the smallest of Pemex’s six national refineries, processed 129,763 bpd last year, below the daily production capacity of 190,000 bbl.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in February 2013, the blast that tore through the headquarters of Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos killed 37 people.

Later last year, in early October 2013, Pemex also said one person was killed while five others suffered injuries after an explosion rocked its crude oil refinery in the state of Hidalgo. The incident took place at the Miguel Hidalgo refinery which is situated in the town of Tula.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's imports of polycarbonate (PC) were 27,000 tonnes in In January-July 2014, down 6% in the same time year on year, according to MRC DataScope report.

The main reason for the reduction in PC imports was the depreciation of the rouble and, as a consequence, an increase in domestic product prices. Many market players also reported a decline in purchasing capacity of consumers because of the deterioration of economic situation in the country.

This has particularly affected small and medium-sized companies, which faced a shortage of working capital. In addition, the procedure of short and medium term bank lending has complicated. In connection with the current aggravation of the political situation, some converters are expected disruptions in the of European PC.

At the moment, there is now shortage of the material in the market. However, in September, when seasonal demand will peak, the situation may change.

The only national producer of PC, Kazanorgsintez has opted for a strategy of gradual import substitution. In particular, it concerns the extrusion sector, which occupies about 80% of the market. However, having a production capacity of 65,000 tonnes/year, the plant will be unable to meet the demand fully. Consumption of PC for sheet extrusion in the year stands at 80,000 tonnes/year in the country.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Boyd Corp., a manufacturer of specialty material and sealing agents, has purchased Evonik Industries’ Solimide low-density polyimide foams business, said Rubbernews.

"Acquiring Evonik’s Solimide foam business represents a unique opportunity for our company to obtain a high-performing technology that positions us to realize significant growth within key commercial aerospace, defense and building infrastructure segments," said Mitch Aiello, Boyd’s president and chief executive in a news release.

"By applying Boyd’s specialty material and energy management application expertise, leveraging our sales and distribution channels and our world-class supply chain, Solimide foams will help us better serve our rapidly expanding customer base."

Originally designed by NASA, Solimide is the dominant foam for the defense industry as well as for mission-critical insulation applications in both the wide-body and regional aircraft markets.

As MRC wrote before, German-based Evonik Corp. said today Birmingham will be home to its first global "Innovation Center" in the U.S., creating 25 high-skilled jobs. The new Innovation Center will focus on medical devices and will be housed in Evonik's current corporate campus off Lakeshore Parkway in Birmingham's Oxmoor Valley.
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