Iran petchem sector to focus on propylene

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran’s petrochemical industry is to focus on increasing propylene production over the coming eight years, said Farsnews.

Mohammad-Hassan Peyvandi, deputy head of National Petrochemical Company, said methanol produced in the Special Economic Petrochemical Zone is planned to be converted into propylene, the oil ministry's website reported.

"To that effect, we will use all potentials in the zone in order to have a developed and active zone," he said.
Peyvandi said Iran has to increase its propylene production to match its ethylene and polyethylene output. He said that downstream petrochemical industries need propylene.

Peyvandi also said that supplying feedstock to petrochemical plants is a priority of Iran’s petrochemical sector in the coming years.

Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company (IPCC) exported 838 million dollars worth of petrochemicals during the first four months of the current calendar year which started on March 21. The exported products, weighing 831,000 tons, mainly included propane and butane.

Iran produced 40 million tons of petrochemicals in the last calendar year, with 9 billion dollars worth of its products being exported.

The country plans to increase its petrochemical exports to 12 billion dollars this year.

As MRC reported previously, Iran's petrochemical industries earned approximately USD9.19bln from exporting petrochemical products to the international markets in the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2013-January 20, 2014).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrian engineering solutions provider Starlinger (Vienna) has recently announced that groundbreaking ceremonies were held at its North American sales and services arm, Starlinger-Sahm (ASSI, Greenville, South Carolina), said Plasteurope.

The company is expanding and building a new headquarters, which is scheduled to open in spring 2015.

Located in Fountain Inn, South Carolina, about 33 km south of Greenville, the 2,140 m facility is to include a new machine exhibition area, spare parts warehouse and office space for sales and technical support. Starlinger, a family-owned business, supplies machinery and complete lines for woven plastic bag production from its production sites in Weissenbach and St. Martin / Austria as well as Taicang / China.

"Machinery from Starlinger textile packaging, Starlinger recycling technology, Starlinger vicotec and from Sahm will be installed and available for demonstration runs and customer trials," noted Jimmy Cranford, president of the North American subsidiary.

As MRC wrote, Starlinger & Co. GmbH, Austrian manufacturer of machinery for woven plastic packaging production and plastics recycling, opened a representative office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

ASSI is owned by Starlinger Export GmbH and oversees sales and services activities as well as spare parts supply for some Starlinger divisions as well as for Germany-based Georg Sahm (Eschwege) which, in addition to supplying the woven plastics packaging industry, also provides technology for plastics recycling and textile industries.
No financial details of the project were released.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The price level of imported polycarbonate (PC) in Ukraine for September delivery will be increased on average by EUR100/tonne, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

PC market in Ukraine is entirely dependent on the supply of European material, so the trend of the PC market in Europe with a slight delay is reflected in the Ukrainian market. The main suppliers to Ukraine continued to be Sabic Innovative Plastics with a market share of 35% and Bayer (31%).

Injection moulding grades of PC are the most popular among Ukrainian converters. The share of them occurred for about 67% from the total PC imports in the country.

Sabic Innovative Plastics increased September PC prices for Ukraine by EUR100/tonne. The price rise applies to all grades of PC: injection moulding, blowmoulding and extrusion.

Bayer announce a price rise of EUR100/tonne in the beginning of the summer. This also affected the whole grades of PC from the producer.

European PC producers have tried to neutralise the rising cost of expenses, which did not reflect the cost of production. However, the uptrend of the PC feedstock has led to a critically low margins in the industry. Thus, the contract prices of Bisphenol A from the beginning of the year have risen on average by EUR80/tonne. Phenol prices grew by EUR120/tonne. Spot prices for acetone increased by EUR65/tonne. This forced the producers to increase PC prices, whcih were practically intact over the last six months.

Prices for injection moulding PC grades were heard in the range of EUR2,250-2,350/tonne FD NWE. Prices for extrusion PC were in the range of EUR2,200-2,300/tonne FD NWE. These price rise mainly affected spot prices and monthly contracts.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Top Thai energy firm PTT Pcl said it would make a proposal to the Vietnamese government to build a USD20 billion refinery and petrochemical complex, revised down from an earlier project discussed two years ago, reported Reuters.

State-controlled PTT will meet with Vietnam's prime minister this month to present its project proposal, PTT Chief Executive Pailin Chuchottaworn told reporters.

In May 2013, the Vietnamese government approved to an oil refinery and petrochemical complex by the energy giant PTT Plc, paving the way for a detailed feasibility study within a year.

The complex has been designed to help meet Vietnam's domestic demand for oil products and boost its exports.

PTT has studied the possibilities of investing in central Vietnam for over two years. The value of the project was reduced from a previous estimate of USD28.7 billion after the Vietnamese government issued a licence for a new refinery in northern Vietnam. The planned capacity of PTT's oil refinery has been cut by 40% from an initial 660,000 barrels per day.

The project, which requires investment of about 600 billion baht (USD18.8 billion), now includes a 400,000 bpd refinery and olefins and aromatic petrochemical plants, Atikom Terbsiri, PTT senior executive vice president, said.

The construction of the refinery is scheduled to be completed by 2021, and most of products will serve domestic demand in Vietnam, Atikom added.

The petrochemical complex will have an annual production capacity of 2.9 million tonnes of olefins and 2 million tonnes of aromatic products, and most of the petrochemical products will be exported.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Albemarle Corporation has announced the successful completion of the previously announced sale of its antioxidant, ibuprofen and propofol businesses and related assets to SI Group, Inc., reported the company on its site.

The transaction includes manufacturing sites in Orangeburg, South Carolina and Jinshan, China. Certain applications and technical support capabilities located in Shanghai, China and Baton Rouge, Louisiana were also included in the transaction.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

As MRC reported earlier, Albemarle and ICL have recently entered into an agreement to establish a manufacturing joint venture for the production of ICL's FR-122P polymeric flame retardant and Albemarle's GreenCrest polymeric flame retardant.

These flame retardants are designed to replace hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD). HBCD has been the leading flame retardant used in expanded (EPS) and extruded (XPS) polystyrene foam applications, but is being phased out in the European Union (EU), Japan and other countries. The joint venture and its partners will own and operate a 2,400-tpy Netherlands plant, which is currently operating, and a 10,000-tpy Israel plant, which is scheduled to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Albemarle Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a leading global developer, manufacturer, and marketer of highly-engineered specialty chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, automotive/transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food-safety and custom chemistry services.
MRC