Kazanorgsintez increased pipe grade HDPE production capacity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazanorgsintez (part of TAIF group), Russia's largest polyethylene (PE) producer, has completed the modernization of its two production sites. The modernization will also allow to increase the plant's production of pipe grade PE, reported MRC analysts.

Last Friday, 11 December, Kazanorgsintez fully completed upgrading of its two production sites. The modernization of the first production unit will increase the proportion of ethane feedstock in the PE production. The second revamp process was held at the production line of carbon-black-extended pipe grade HDPE of PE 100 grade.

The company said a new two-chamber cracking furnace Technip E-100 was launched instead of the old-fashioned and worn-out furnaces. The start-up of a new furnace with the capacity of 36 tonnes per hour (or 138,000 tonnes of ethylene per year) that uses ethane-propane feedstock will increase the proportion of the ethane feedstock in the PE production and will ensure a stable and uninterrupted operations at Complex E-500 (a complex of cracking furnaces) and the plant as a whole.

The launch of a new compounding line of Coperion company at the plant's high density polyethylene (HDPE) production, at Reactor A, will increase the production capacity of popular and light-stabilized carbon-black-extended PE 100 grade for pipes production by 30-50%. Before the start-up of the new compounding line, Kazanorgsintez's total production capacity of carbon-black-extended PE 100 grade was about 160,000 tonnes per year. With the launch of new capacities, the plant will be able to reach the level of 240,000 tonnes per year.

PJSC "Kazanorgsintez" (part of TAIF group) is one of the largest plants of the Russian Federation. It produces over 38% of all Russian polyethylene (PE) and is its largest exporter. To date, Kazanorgsintez produces polyethylene, PE pipes, phenol, acetone, bisphenol A, polycarbonates. Overall, the plant manufactures 170 different products. The plant's annual output is 1.6 million tonnes.
MRC

Socar Polymer to sign EPC contract for HDPE plant by end of 2015

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (Socar) is to sign an EPC (engineering, procurement & construction) contract with the "turnkey" guarantee on the project of the high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant in Sumgait, as per GV.

Socar Polymer LLC managing director Farid Jafarov says that the construction of the plant will start in 2016, and start-up work is scheduled for late 2017 or early 2018. Full commissioning of the enterprise is expected at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2018. The plant will produce 120,000 tons of high density polyethylene a year.

"In January 2018 a polypropylene production plant (contract executor: Italy’s Maire Tecnimont) will be put into operation within the framework of the Socar Polymer project. Start-up work at this plant will begin in mid-2017. The plant will produce 180,000 tons of polypropylene a year," Jafarov emphasized.

Socar raised a USD489 million loan from Russia’s Gazprombank for financing the construction of the Socar Polymer plants for production of polypropylene and high density polyethylene. The money are given for 10 years and will cover 60% of the total project cost; the remaining 40% will be funded by the Socar Polymer shareholders.

"Gazprombank has already allocated USD60 million of the total loan amount in accordance with the project schedule," Jafarov noted.

The total cost of building the two Socar Polymer enterprises is USD700-750 million, given contingent expenditures and schemes of VAT refund.

Out of the plants’ total output, 30-40% will be directed for the domestic market (full coverage of needs) and the rest will be exported, in particular to Turkey.

As MRC informed previously, as a major licensor for clean fuel production, Axens has been selected for the modernization project of the Heydar Aliyev oil refinery. The project will enable the refinery, located at Baku, to increase its annual processing capacity, from 6.0 MMtpy to 7.5 MMtpy and produce high-quality Euro 5 fuels. This project is currently one of the most important projects of The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) at a downstream stage.

SOCAR, which is keen on expanding operations in the retail oil products market abroad, is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan
mcplast.com

Arkema opens new Bostik production facility and training center in Texas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bostik (part of Arkema), a leading global adhesive specialist for construction, consumer and industrial manufacturing markets, has announced the opening of its new Dallas plant, one of many strategic plants being built around the globe, said Arkema in its press release.

This site will produce ceramic tile adhesives (CTA) and floor preparation products.

"We are pleased to expand our manufacturing presence in the United States," stated Bob Marquette, Senior Vice President - Americas. “Dallas is a key market for new construction, and having production located near demand centers is a critical component of our business development strategy for the construction market. Our new Dallas plant will enable us to provide our customers with superior on-site technical service, reduced freight costs, timely and convenient delivery and a centrally located fulfillment warehouse."

The opening of the new facility follows recent plant inaugurations in India, Malaysia and Brazil and will complement Bostik’s existing manufacturing presence in the United States. The tiling and floor preparation products being manufactured at the facility are based on Bostik’s world-class Polymer Modified Binder (PMB) technology platform which remains a focus of its ongoing innovation, research and development activities.

The highly automated design of the facility will offer a positive impact on safety, quality and productivity. In addition to production, the Dallas location also offers a state-of-the-art onsite training and demonstration facility.

As MRC wrote earlier, on 2 February 2015, Arkema finalized the acquisition of Bostik, the world's No. 3 in adhesives.
With this acquisition, the group reaches a new milestone in its development, and confirms its ambition to become a world leader in specialty chemicals and advanced materials.

Bostik develops high-performance and high-value-added bonding and sealing products for the nonwoven, industrial, construction, and consumer markets. Bostik employs about 4,900 people across 48 production facilities - 18 in Europe, 10 - in North America, 8 - in Asia, 6 - in Australia and New Zealand, 2 - in Africa, and 4 - in South America.

Arkema is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc.
MRC

Petroleo Brasileiro SA to ink naphtha supply contract with Braskem

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil's energy minister Eduardo Braga said on Friday that he expects Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA to sign a naphtha supply contract with Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem SA by Dec. 15, as per Plastemart.

Earlier on Friday, Braskem Chief Executive Officer Carlos Fadigas said months of talks with Petrobras, as the state-run oil company is known, are nearly complete and will result in Braskem paying a price "slightly above" the European reference price for naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock.

Braskem depends on naphtha from Petrobras to operate its Brazilian plants, the dominant supplier of polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to Brazil, the world's seventh-largest economy.

As MRC wrote before, Braskem SA will soon decide whether to build a plant in Texas or Pennsylvania to convert low-cost natural gas into polypropylene. The factory would produce at least 1 billion pounds (450,000 metric tons) of resin a year and would be the U.S. polypropylene industry’s first world-scale project in about 12 years, said Mark Nikolich, a vice president at Braskem in June 2015. Preliminary engineering is under way for construction at existing Braskem sites in either La Porte, Texas, or Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

MRC

Singapore Prime Evolue halts mLLDPE trial production amid ethylene shortage

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Singapore Prime Evolue has halted trial production at its new 300,000 tpa metallocene hexene-based linear low density polyethylene (mLLDPE) plant on Jurong Island due to the lack of feedstock ethylene following the force majeure on ethylene supply by Shell, reported Plastemart with reference to a company source.

Prime Evolue is a joint venture between Mitsui Chemicals and Prime Polymer. "We can expect C2 (ethylene) to be very tight from December to June," the source said, declining to comment on the restart date saying it was "too sensitive for the time being".

Shell Chemicals declared a force majeure on ethylene supply on December 1 following mechanical problems at its steam cracker in Pulau Bukom, which produces 960,000 m tpa of ethylene. Shell has also declared a force majeure on other petrochemicals including propylene oxide, monopropylene glycol, polyols, propylene, monoethylene glycol, butadiene.

Prime Evolue was established in 2012 for the sales and production of Mitsui Chemical’s Evolue LLDPE in Singapore. The venture, owned 80% by Prime Polymer and 20% by Mitsui, and with a capital of USD115-million, built a 300,000-t/y Evolue production unit, as MRC wrote previously. Initially, construction was scheduled for completion in December 2014, with commercial operations to start during the second quarter of 2015.
MRC