LG Chemical to shut EVA plant for maintenance turnaround

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korean petrochemical company LG Chemical is likely to shut its ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) plant for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant is likely to be shut in end March 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around three weeks.

Located at Daesan in South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 140,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, LG Chem is in plans to shut its phenol-acetone plant in South Korea for maintenance turnaround in May 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month. Located at Daesan in South Korea, the plant has a phenol capacity of 300,000 mt/year and acetone capacity of 180,000 mt/year.

Besides, LG Chem restarted its bisphenol-A (BPA) plant in South Korea in late November 2014 after a maintenance turnaround. The plant was shut on October 26, 2014. Located in Yeosu, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 150,000 mt/year.

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. According to ICIS report, it is 15th biggest chemical company in the world in 2011. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical is likely to shut its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant for maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is likely to be shut this week. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located in Zhejiang province, China, the plant has a propylene production capacity of 450,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2014, Honeywell's UOP announced that China had commissioned the first of 14 planned propylene production units, using technology from UOP to help close the global propylene supply and demand gap.

China’s Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co. became the first Chinese producer to start production of propylene using UOP C3 Oleflex process technology, which efficiently produces propylene from propane.

Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical is currently producing high-quality, on-spec product for acrylic acid and derivative production, according to UOP officials.

Traditionally, propylene is a byproduct of making ethylene. However, a shift in how ethylene is produced globally has meant less propylene byproduct is being produced, sparking investment in technology to create propylene from propane.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Malaysia named Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin as president and CEO of state oil company Petronas from April, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Wan Zulkiflee succeeds Shamsul Azhar Abbas, whose contract ends today and will serve through March 31, Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement via state news service Bernama today.

Wan Zulkiflee, currently Petronas’ chief operating officer and head of its downstream business, will take over the top post in a three-year term.

Petronas is facing the challenge of maintaining dividends to the government while sustaining its investment needs as oil prices slump.

Oil-related contributions make up almost 30% of Malaysia’s annual state revenue, and Shamsul had flagged sinking revenue means less ability to contribute to government coffers this year.

Shamsul joined Petronas in 1975 and held several senior management positions, including chief of shipping unit MISC Bhd.

As MRC wrote before, Petronas has pushed back the completion date for its Johor refinery-petrochemical project to 2017 as a final investment decision has been delayed. The company was expected to give the project the green light this year but had to push it back due to political uncertainty during the national elections early this year, industry sources said.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's No. 2 oil producer Lukoil said on Monday it had commenced arbitration proceedings in London against China's Sinopec over an uncompleted USD1.2 billion deal, said Reuters.

Lukoil had signed a sale and purchase agreement for the sale to Sinopec of a 50 percent stake in Caspian Investment Resources Ltd, a company with various stakes in four hydrocarbon-production projects in Kazakhstan. The deal was announced in April 2014 when the price of oil stood at above USD100 per barrel.

Since then it has halved. Lukoil said in a statement that it considered Sinopec in breach of contract over the uncompleted deal. Sinopec was unavailable for comment on the matter. Caspian Investment Resources' fields are located mainly in the western part of Kazakhstan which supplies oil to Europe via Russia.

Lukoil's share of production through the venture was around 30,000 barrels per day in 2013. Output from various small fields that the venture controls will soon peak or has done so already.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Production of plastics around the world continues to increase, but recycling is lagging, according to new research from the Worldwatch Institute, as per Plasticsnews.

An article from Washington D.C.-based Worldwatch said 299 million tons of plastics were produced in 2013, a 3.9-percent jump from 2012, the environmental group said.

The plastics industry is worth about USD600 billion in annual sales each year. And the post-consumer recycling rate for Europe 2012, Worldwatch said, was 26 percent in Europe. The group also reports that 9 percent of the total plastic waste generated in the United States in 2012 was recycled.

As MRC wrote before, Europe recycled the equivalent of more than 60 billion PET bottles in 2012, according to trade industry association Petcore Europe.

Asia accounted for 45.6 percent of global plastics production in 2013 and China, alone, had 24.8 percent, the group said. North America held a 19.4-percent share and Europe and “the states emerging from the former Soviet Union” had 22.9 percent. The Middle East and Africa checked in with 7.3 percent and South America had 4.8 percent.
China, Worldwatch said, receives 56 percent of the recycled plastic imports worldwide, by weight. The article also indicates 10 million to 20 million tons of plastics end up in oceans each year.
MRC