Chinese parliament proposes new environmental tax benefits

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's parliament has proposed increasing tax benefits for companies that cut pollution by more than the national standard, state media reported, the first details of a much-anticipated new code aimed at curbing the country's emissions, reported Reuters.

If the plan is passed by the National People's Congress, China's top legislator, companies that reduce emissions to half of the national requirement would only pay half the taxes levied for air, water and soil pollution, Xinhua said.

Companies in the agricultural and transport sectors would be excluded from the new tax law, state radio said. Those industries are much smaller polluters than sectors like steel, coal and oil.

The government won't tax companies for their carbon emissions, as that is already done by China's carbon market, which gives companies an incentive to limit their emissions by issuing emissions permits.

The government has been discussing the new tax law for years, which is aimed at cutting pollution, particularly from heavy industry.

We remind that, as MRC informed previously, earlier this month, 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 this year requesting the ministry to reinvestigate the case and extend the duties which are due to expire.
MRC

Formosa Chemicals likely to shut No.3 SM plant in Taiwan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (FCFC), part of Formosa Petrochemical, is in plans to take its No. 3 styrene monomer (SM) plant off-stream this week, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant is planned to be shut on September 1, 2016 for a maintenance turnaround. It is likely to remain off-stream for around 30 days.

Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the No. 3 SM plant has a production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp.'s 320,000 mt/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit will shut for a few days at the end of August due to ethylene shortage while its No. 2 steam cracker goes through maintenance from July 29 to September 22. Other polyethylene units, including a 235,000 mt/year low density polyethylene (LDPE)/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) swing plant and a 260,000 mt/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant, will not be affected and running.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company's plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

PVC imports to Kazakhstan grew by 3% in the first seven months of 2016

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into Kazakhstan increased in the first seven months of 2016 by 3% year on year, totalling 28,400 tonnes, reported MRC analysts.

There was a slight decrease in shipments of unmixed PVC to Kazakhstan last month, imports dropped to 6,000 tonnes from 6,300 tonnes in June. In January-July 2016, overall imports of the resin reached 28,400 tonnes, compared to 27,700 tonnes in the same period of 2015.

Due to the geographical component, Chinese producers are the main PVC suppliers to Kazakhstan, their share was approximately 99% in the local market during the stated period.

MRC

Phillips 66 delays planned SRU maintenance at Borger, Texas refinery

МОSCOW (MRC) -- Phillips 66 has decided to delay a planned maintenance on a sulfur recovery unit (SRU) that was scheduled for Friday at its 146,000 barrel-per-day Borger, Texas, refinery, a filing with the Texas Commision on Environmental Quality said, as per Reuters.

"Phillips 66 will submit a new planned maintenance emission event in conjunction for the Sneed Booster SRU shutdown and startup," the filing said.

A sulfur recovery unit extracts sulfur from hydrogen sulfide that has been removed from motor fuel feedstocks in compliance with U.S. environmental rules. An SRU outage can force a cut in production to prevent excess amounts of hydrogen sulfide in motor fuels.

As MRC reported earlier, Phillips 66 shut a gasoline-making reformer unit at its 260 Mbpd Westlake, Louisiana refinery earlier this month, and advanced planned work on the unit. The unit is slated to return to return to service in mid-September, the sources said. The reformer has the ability to process 34 Mbpd of crude.

Phillips 66 is an American multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Texas. It debuted as an independent energy company when ConocoPhillips spun off its downstream assets and midstream assets. Phillips 66 began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on May 1, 2012, under the ticker PSX. The company is engaged in producing natural gas liquids (NGL) and petrochemicals.
MRC

KPIC to shut down HDPE plant in Ulsan for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Korea Petrochemical Industry Co (KPIC) is in plans to take a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant off-stream for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company is likely to shut its plant in October 2016 for a period of around 8-10 days. The exact date of the shutdown could not be ascertained.

Located in Ulsan, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 530,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, KPIC aims to expand its ethylene production capacity by the first half of 2017, company's CEO Jeong Young Tae said in April 2016. Jeong said that KPIC’s ethylene capacity expansion for its Ulsan-based Naphtha Cracking Center (NCC) is ongoing and is expected to start commercial operation from Jun 1, 2017.

Currently, KPIC produces about 470,000 mt/year of ethylene from its Ulsan-based NCC. With the ongoing capacity expansion, the company will be adding 330,000 mt/year of ethylene, and its combined ethylene capacity will reach 800,000 mt/year.

KPIC is one of the key producers of ethylene in South Korea. The company’s ethylene capacity accounts for about 6% of total ethylene production in South Korea. When the capacity expansion is completed, however, the company’s market share will be increased to nearly 10%.
MRC