Luxi Chemical uses Honeywell for new MTO plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s Luxi Chemical has selected Honeywell Technology to provide process technology and automation controls for its new methanol-to-olefins (MTO) plant, as per TPS with reference to the company's official release.

Luxi will use Honeywell’s UOP’s Advanced Methanol-to-Olefins (MTO) process to convert methanol from gasified coal at its MTO plant.

The plant, located in Liaocheng, Shandong, will be able to produce 293, 000 mt/year of ethylene and propylene.

Luxi is currently operating two downstream n-butanol plants at the same site. The combined capacity is 500,000 mt/year.

"The startup of the MTO plant has been delayed indefinitely," a company source told TPS.

Another Chinese petrochemical company, Shandong Luqing Petrochemical Co has also used Honeywell’s technology for the startup of a iso-butylene unit in November, Honeywell said. Located in Shandong, the new 170,000 mt/year isobutylene unit is the first to utilize Honeywell’s UOP’S C4 Oleflex process. Isobutylene is used to make high-octane fuel and synthetic rubber in tires.

As MRC wrote previously, the largest refiner in Kazakhstan has selected technology from Honeywell's UOP for the modernization of its facility. The Pavlodar Oil Chemical Refinery (POCR) of KazMunaiGas will use a range of UOP processes and services to upgrade its facility in Northeast Kazakhstan Province, allowing it to meet Euro-5 standards aimed at reducing motor vehicle pollution.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's Petro Rabigh will be restarting its monoethylene glycol (MEG) production unit in Saudi Arabia after it was shut for a turnaround in October, an industry source told TPS.

According to the source, the unit will be restarted sometime in H2 Dec.

This translates to about 73 standard-sized parcels. Rabigh 1 on Saudi Arabia's western coast comprises a 400,000 b/d refinery and a 1.3 million mt/year ethane cracker.

It also contains a 300,000 mt/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant, a 600,000 mt/year of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant, a 600,000 mt/year of polypropylene (PP) plant and the 600,000 mt/year MEG plant.

As MRC reported previously, in early October 2015, PetroRabigh took off-stream its LLDPE plant for maintenance turnaround. It remained off-stream for around 45 days. Located in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia, the plant has a production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

Petro Rabigh Corp, also known as Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co., is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical. Each company holds a 37.5% stake, with the rest of the company’s shares floated on the Saudi Stock Exchange. The company has an annual output capacity of 18 million tonnes of refined products and 2.4 million tonnes of petrochemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea's Lotte Chemical has shut its No. 3 monoethylene glycol (MEG) production unit in Yeosu, an industry source told TPS Monday.

The unit, which produces 160,000 mt of MEG a year, was shut due to its low production volume and weak margins, the source told TPS. The unit is expected to remain offline for a month.

"They have to buy C2 to make MEG, but the margin of MEG has been very bad," the source said.

Lotte Chemicals, South Korea's largest MEG producer, operates five MEG production facilities in the country; three in Yeosu and two in Daesan. Daesan No. 1 has an annual operating capacity of 250,000 mt/year, while Daesan No. 2, which was originally scheduled to restart on Nov 6, produces 400,000 mt of MEG a year.

As MRC informed previously, Lotte Chemical, a subsidiary of the South Korean Lotte Group, shut its low density polyethylene/ethyl vinyl acetate (LDPE/EVA) swing plant for a maintenance turnaround on October 12, 2015. It remained off-stream for around one month. Located at Daesan in South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 135,000 mt/year.

Lotte Chemical Corporation manufactures a wide range of petrochemical products such as high density polyethylene, polypropylene, and ethylene glycol. The company's products are used in manufacturing general housewares, pipes, films, fabrics, bottles, containers, and automotive parts.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s crude processing climbed to a record after some refineries resumed operations following maintenance, said Bloomberg.

Refineries in the world’s second-largest oil consumer processed 43.92 million metric tons of crude last month, 3.3% higher than a year earlier, according to data released Saturday by the Beijing-based National Bureau of Statistics. That’s about 10.73 million bpd and up 2.6%, on a daily basis, from October. Last record was June’s 10.59 million barrels a day.

Higher oil processing in China coincided with record oil-product exports in November as refiners tapped overseas markets to reduce fuel stockpiles. Net fuel exports rose for a fifth month to 2.22 million tons last month, 77% higher than the previous month.

"For refineries, processing more oil is good for their margins, but in the meantime, they need to be able to sell," Jean Zou, an analyst with ICIS China, said before the data were released. "They may keep their runs high as long as they can find export markets for their products."

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. restarted Yangzi refinery’s crude-distillation unit at the end of October, while Sinochem Group’s Quanzhou plant boosted runs to more than 80% of capacity last month following maintenance, industry website Oilchem.net said.

China’s power production last month rose 0.1% from a year earlier to 466 billion kilowatt hours, Saturday’s data showed. China’s crude output fell 0.5% from a year earlier to 17.66 million tons, while natural gas production climbed 0.2% to 11.1 billion cubic meters. Coal output declined 2.7% to about 320 million tons.

As MRC informed earlier, Shell Nanhai B.V. (Shell) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) to expand their existing 50:50 joint venture (JV) in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kuwait's Equate has recently lowered the operating rate for its Kuwait-based monoethylene glycol (MEG) production units to between 70-80%, industry sources told TPS.

A company source from MEGlobal, EQUATE's trading arm, confirmed with TPS that its operating rates had been lowered, but could not comment further.

Industry sources told TPS that the plants were shut over the weekend due to supply tightness for upstream feedstock. Unconfirmed reports of the shutdown first surfaced last Friday afternoon, and triggered a rebound on MEG spot prices.

Equate runs two MEG plants in Shuaiba, Kuwait, with a combined operating capacity of 1.45 million mt/year. Its No. 1 MEG plant has an annual production capacity of 530,000 mt/year, while its No. 2 MEG unit produces 615,000 mt of MEG a year.

As MRC informed previously, Equate Petrochemical Company President and CEO Mohammad Hussain said a project aimed at increasing polyethylene (PE) production would be completed in the first half of next year. The first phase of this project regarding production of ethylene would end this year, while the second phase, the PE plant, would be completed next year, he said. Hussain, answering a KUNA question in a news conference on fringes of the 10th session of the forum of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA), said this project would contribute to boosting polyethylene production from 825,000 tons to a million tons.

Established in 1995, Equate Petrochemical Company is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). Commencing production in 1997, Equate is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.
MRC