Hanbang Petrochemical starts up new PTA plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's Hanbang Petrochemical has successfully started up its second purified terephthalic acid (PTA) unit and production operations are ongoing, an industry source told TPS.

However, the plant has yet to achieve on-spec production. According to the source, the plant is currently running one of its two production lines, each with an annual capacity of 1.1 million mt/year.

A market source says the company has intentions to run the plant at full tilt once they are able to achieve on-spec production.

As MRC wrote before, the company had planned to have the plant up and running after the Lunar New Year holidays in mid-February after pushing the start-up back several times from the original schedule of October 2015.

This Hanbang's new PTA line has the capacity to produce 2.2 million mt/year, and when fully operational, will increase its total nominal PTA production capacity to 2.8 million mt/year.

Hanbang Petrochemical, also known as China Prosperity Jiangyin Petrochemical, is situated in Jiangyin city within China's Jiangsu province.
MRC

US slaps anti-dumping duties on PET from Canada, China, India, Oman

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has imposed anti-dumping duties (ADD) on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins imported from Canada, China, India and Oman, according to TPS with reference to the official statement.

The DOC find has determined that there is dumping of imports of certain PET resins from Canada, China, India, and Oman. It also found countervailable subsidization of imports of certain PET from China and India, but no subsidization of imports from Oman.

According to the DOC, for the purpose of ADD investigations, dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than its fair value.

For the purpose of the countervailing duty (CVD) investigations, countervailable subsidies are financial assistance from foreign governments that benefit the production of goods from foreign companies and are limited to specific enterprises or industries, or are contingent either upon export performance or upon the use of domestic goods over imported goods.

We remind that, as MRC reported previously, in August 2015, The Ministry of Commerce, Government of China, announced it would review anti-dumping duties on purified terephthalic acid (PTA) imported from South Korea and Thailand. Anti-dumping duties ranging between 2 and 20.1% were imposed on PTA imports from these two countries in August 2010, for a period of five years. The ministry's decision to review these duties follows an application made by domestic producers in June last year requesting the ministry to reinvestigate the case and extend the duties which were due to expire.

Since August 2010, South Korean PTA exporters like Hyosung Corp is levied duty at 2.6%, Samsung Petrochemicals 2%, SK Petrochemicals 11.2%, Samnam Petrochemicals 3.7%, KP Chemical 2%, Taekwang Industrial 2.4%, while other Korean PTA exporters pay 11.2% anti-dumping duties.
MRC

Ineos expects first US shale gas shipment to arrive Norway on 23 March

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Anglo-Swiss company Ineos is expected to deliver its first US shale gas shipment into Rafnes, Norway on March 23, according to TPS with reference to shipping sources.

The INEOS Intrepid, the world’s largest LNG multi gas carrier, left the Marcus Hook terminal near Philadelphia on March 9, bound for Rafnes carrying 27,500 cubic meters of US ethane gas.

Ineos said this is the first US shale gas to be shipped to Europe and represents the culmination of a long-term investment by Ineos.

The INEOS Intrepid is one of four specially designed Dragon class ships that will form part of Ineos' fleet of eight of the world’s largest ethane capable carriers. The long-term chartering of these eight Dragon class ships is part of Ineos' investments to bring US shale gas to complement the reducing gas feed from the North Sea.

This fleet of eight ships create a virtual pipeline across the Atlantic by connecting the new 300 mile Mariner East pipeline from the Marcellus shale in Western Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook deep water terminal near Philadelphia.

To receive the gas, Ineos has built the largest two ethane gas storage tanks in Europe at Rafnes in Norway and Grangemouth in Scotland. Ineos will use the ethane from US shale gas in its two gas crackers at Rafnes and Grangemouth, both as a fuel and as a feedstock. It is expected that shipments to Grangemouth will start later this year, Ineos said previously.

At Rafnes, Ineos operates the Noretyl cracker with a capacity to produce 570,000 mt/year ethylene and around 80,000 mt/year of propylene, which are used as feedstock for the company’s polypropylene (PP), low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) plants at Bamble.

At Grangemouth, Ineos operates a 1 million mt/year Kinneil Gas (KG) gas cracker using mainly ethane and propane to feed its 330,000 mt/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant and 235,000 mt/year PP plant.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2015, Chinese shipbuilder JHW Engineering & Contracting secured a contract to build four INEOS MAX liquefied ethane/ethylene carriers for Evergas, a Denmark-based owner and operator of gas carriers. Under the terms of the contract, JHW will build four 32,000m INEOS MAX vessels at a selected shipyard in China. The new carriers will feature dual fuel propulsion flexibility that includes liquefied natural gas (LNG) and ethane, besides ballast water treatment system. The carriers will have increased cargo capacity of about 10% when compared to the Dragon series 27,500m class gas carriers currently owned by the operator.

INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC

Nan Ya Plastics schedules turnaround for No. 4 MEG unit in H2 April

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiwan's Nan Ya Plastics (part of Formosa Group) has scheduled its No. 4 monoethylene glycol (MEG) production unit in Mailiao for a turnaround starting April 17, a company source confirmed with TPS.

"No. 4 will be down for a month as we need to replace some parts," the source said.

Nan Ya's remaining three units will be running at 80% during that period.

The No. 4 unit, with an annual capacity of 720,000 mt/year, was recently restarted in Feb 2016 after it was shut in Dec 2015.

Besides, as MRC informed previously, in the first half of September 2015, Nan Ya Plastics restarted its No.4 MEG plant following a maintenance turnaround. It was taken off-stream in end-July 2015.

Nan Ya's MEG production units, No. 1, 2 and 3, each with an annual capacity of 360,000 mt/year, will also remain operational for the rest of 2016.
MRC

Sinopec SK to take off-stream LLDPE/HDPE swing line in China for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec SK (Wuhan) Petrochemical plans to shut its linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE)/high density polyethylene (HDPE) swing line, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the line is likely to be taken off-line in early April 2016 for a maintenance turnaround. It is slated to remain shut till the last week of May 2016.

Located in Hubei province, China, the line has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in summer 2013, Wuhan Petrochemical started up a new cracker. Located in Hubei province, China, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 800,000 mt/year. Before that, Wuhan Petrochemical had an ethylene production capacity of 200,000 tonnes/year and could process 8.5m tonnes/year of crude.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group is a state-owned company solely invested by the State, functioning as a state-authorized investment organization in which the state holds the controlling share. Headquartered in Beijing, Sinopec Group has a registered capital of RMB 182 billion.
MRC