Sadara Joint Venture now 94% сomplete

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara) is progressing on-budget and on-schedule in alignment with Dow’s strategy to enable cost-advantaged growth in fast-growing regions such as Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern and Central Europe, said the company in its press release.

Significant progress has been made in starting up key infrastructure and utility systems. Overall construction of the manufacturing facility is now approximately 94% complete with 47,000 personnel on site in Jubail Industrial City II, Saudi Arabia. The commissioning and startup of key utilities infrastructure is underway and the process for first production units will begin in the second half of the year with initial polyethylene production beginning near the end of 2015. Full site operations remains on track for the end of 2016.

Sadara’s 26 manufacturing assets are scheduled for a sequenced start-up process, beginning with the polyolefins envelope to maximize timing in the ethylene cycle, followed by ethylene oxide/propylene oxide and their derivatives, with the polyurethanes portfolio in the final phase.

Customer excitement is increasing as Dow businesses actively prepare to market and sell the majority of products produced by Sadara Chemical Company via agreements with the joint venture, to support growth in key markets such as packaging, construction, electronics, furniture and bedding, automotive and transportation.

Progress also continues as Dow works with its customers to attract downstream investments to the advanced manufacturing value park adjacent to Sadara, PlasChem Park, in support of a diversified Saudi economy and job growth in the region.

As MRC informed earlier, Sadara Basic Services Company had a fire in one of the cooling towers under construction at the Sadara Chemical Company (the Parent) project site in Jubail Industrial City II at 9 pm on Saturday, 28 March, 2015.

Sadara is a joint venture developed by The Dow Chemical Company and Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco).

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 (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and synthetic rubber. EBITDA was up 15% in 4Q at USD2.4 bn. Net profits were down 24% at USD734. Dow's sales in 4Q were unchanged on a year earlier at USD14.38 bn.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petronas Chemical Group (PCG) has taken off-stream its low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant unexpectedly, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that the plant was shut on June 23 owing to a fire. The impact of the fire on production levels could not be ascertained.

A restart date for the plant has not been decided.

Located in Kertih, Malaysia, the plant has a production capacity of 255,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, in February 2015, Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd ( Financial Dashboard) clinched a USD32 million (RM116 million) construction subcontract for the Petroliam Nasional Bhd's (Petronas) Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (Rapid) project in Pengerang, Johor.

As a result of the revised date for a final investment decision, the Rapid refinery is now scheduled to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2017 and the remaining plants in the complex are scheduled to be commissioned in 2018. Rapid, part of Petronas’ larger Pengerang Integrated Complex project, will include a 300,000-b/d refinery, which is due to start up by early 2019 and will supply naphtha and liquid petroleum gas feedstock for the petrochemical portion of the complex. The complex will have the capacity to produce 7.7-million t/y of various petrochemicals.

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) -- PolyOne Corp., a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, today celebrated the grand opening of its new Asia Innovation Center in Shanghai, China, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new facility enables collaborative innovation, accelerates application development and increases speed-to-market for customers in the Asia-Pacific region, according to company officials.

In today's opening ceremony event, customers and local officials participated in tours and demonstrations that showcased how PolyOne differentiates its products and services in the specialty marketplace.

"We are proud and excited to be expanding in Asia in support of our customers and our dedicated PolyOne associates who serve them," said Robert M. Patterson, CEO of PolyOne. "We continue to invest in Asia so that our customers can innovate and grow, and that's exactly what will take place through improved collaboration at our advanced, new innovation center."

The facility is strategically located in a hi-tech industrial park in the JinQiao Development Zone in Shanghai. The center houses cutting-edge laboratory facilities, an interactive product display and a modern training facility, where customers can collaborate with PolyOne's technical and marketing experts to accelerate development.

Activities will include regional and global R&D projects, focusing on high-growth end markets, such as healthcare, packaging, transportation, electronics, and consumer goods. The facility also now serves as the company's regional headquarters.

"Our commitment to customers in Asia has never been stronger," said Rob Bindner, vice president of the Asia region at PolyOne. "This is clearly evident in our continued investment and success with regional and multi-national customers who rely on PolyOne for specialty solutions and services."

As MRC reported earlier, in 2014, PolyOne Corporation announced the addition of new capabilities to its OnColor HC Plus portfolio. These expanded offerings add medical-grade LDPE, nylon, PEBA, PS and PVC to the globally available palette of specialty healthcare colorants, and are pre-certified to meet or exceed biocompatibility requirements for ISO 10993 and/or USP Class VI protocols.

PolyOne Corporation is a global provider of specialized polymer materials, services, and solutions. PolyOne is a provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, polymer distribution and specialty vinyl resins.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The French energy firm Total says it has pulled out of the Shtokman natural gas project in the Barents Sea --a project which has been frozen for two years -- ceding its stake to Russian gas giant Gazprom, said Vedomosti.

"Total has passed to Gazprom its 25 percent share in Shtokman Development AG and expressed its interest to further cooperate on the project should it enter an active phase," Total said in a statement, confirming a report in the Russian business daily Vedomosti.

Total has for a number of years worked with Gazprom to find a cost-effective way of exploiting the giant gas field in the Barents Sea.

Gazprom suspended the project in 2013 until new technology made it viable. At 3.8 trillion cubic meters of gas, the Shtokman field is one of the world's largest untouched gas fields.

Bu developing it would require technology breakthroughs and huge investment, since it is buried underneath the Barents Sea above the Arctic Circle.

Vedomosti said the transfer of the stake was agreed at Russia's annual economic forum last week in Saint Petersburg, where Gazprom chief Alexei Miller met with Total's Patrick Pouyanne.

Late in April 2015, after the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia over its alleged interference in Ukraine's internal affairs, Total said it had received permission from the French government to work only on three projects in Russia: Yamal LNG, Kharyaginsky and Thermokarst deposits.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.

Gazprom is the largest extractor of natural gas and one of the largest companies in the world. In 2011, the company produced 513.2 billion cubic metres (18.12 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas, amounting to 17% of worldwide gas production. In addition, Gazprom produced 32.3 million tons of crude oil and 12.1 million tons of gas condensate. Gazprom's activities accounted for 8% of Russia's gross domestic product in 2011.
The company possesses subsidiaries in many various industry sectors, including finance, media and aviation. In addition, it controls a majority of stakes in various companies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japanese Idemitsu Kosan has restarted a crude distillation unit (CDU) at its refinery in Chiba, Japan, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the unit restarted on June 22, 2015. It was shut on account of a fire which started on the midnight of June 17, 2015.

The refinery of Idemitsu Kosan in Chiba has a crude processing capacity of 200,000 bpd.

As MRC reported earlier, Idemitsu Kosan Co delayed the restart of a styrene monomer (SM) plant in Japan until May 14, 2015. It was earlier scheduled for an early-May restart. The plant was taken off-stream on April 6, 2015 for a maintenance turnaround. Located in Chiba, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/year.

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products. The company runs two petrochemical plants in Chiba and Tokuyama. The two naphtha crackers can produce up to 997,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.
MRC