Dow, Aramco JV achieves commercialization of entire plastics franchise

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company announced that its JV in the Middle East—Sadara Chemical Company—has achieved a milestone with the commercialization of Sadara’s entire plastics franchise, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The start-up of Sadara’s high-pressure low-density polyethylene plant adds to Sadara’s mixed feed cracker and the three additional polyethylene trains currently in operation.

"Sadara is a vital growth investment aligned to Dow’s long-term strategy to go narrower and deeper into our core growth markets," said Andrew Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer. "The completion of this milestone positions Dow to strengthen our global materials science franchise by capturing additional consumer demand and extending our competitive advantage through industry-leading integration and feedstock flexibility."

Sadara’s mixed feed cracker—the largest single unit at the facility—began operations in August 2016. The first three polyethylene production units came online in December 2015, April 2016 and September 2016, and each are reactor qualified and have met their license warranty runs. Thirty-two polyethylene products have been qualified to date, serving more than 350 customers in 58 countries. Construction of all of Sadara’s 26 production facilities was completed in December 2016.

"Sadara’s plastics units enable Dow to offer a technology-differentiated portfolio in expanding economies across Asia Pacific, India, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa," said Jim Fitterling, Dow’s president and chief operating officer. "Our customers have been eagerly anticipating this new volume and will benefit from Sadara’s broad product offering and close proximity to these fast-growing regions."

The remaining units at the complex are on schedule for a sequenced start-up throughout 2017, including ethylene oxide, propylene oxide and their derivatives (butyl glycol ethers, propylene glycol, amines, and polyols) and isocyanates.

Sadara is a JV developed by Dow and Saudi Aramco. The Sadara chemical complex is the largest of its kind ever built in a single phase. The more than three million metric tons of performance-focused products will add new value chains to the Kingdom’s vast petroleum reserves, resulting in the diversification of the economy and region.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The encouraging signs in the gases industry in 2017 continue with the news that The Linde Group saw positive business trends in the first quarter, achieving increases in both revenue and earnings compared to first quarter 2016, said Gasworld.

In the Q1 2017, group revenue from continuing operations rose by 6.6% to EUR4.39bn, when compared with the Q1 2016 figure of EUR4.115bn.

The main factors contributing to this increase were positive trends in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), and Asia-Pacific segments and higher revenue in the group’s Engineering Division.

Group operating profit from continuing operations rose by 5.7% to just over EUR1bn (2016: EUR985m). After adjusting for exchange rate effects, group revenue was 4.2% higher than in the prior-year period and group operating profit increased 3.1%.

At 23.7%, group operating margin was similar to the figure for Q1 2016 of 23.9%. "We have made a proper start to the new financial year, in line with our forecast,"reflected Professor Dr. Aldo Belloni, CEO of Linde AG.

"Our positive business performance is testament to our solid business model. At the same time, the efficiency improvement measures we introduced at the end of 2016 are starting to have an effect."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Titan, part of Lotte Group, has restarted a polypropylene (PP) plant following an unplanned outage, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that the company has recently resumed operations at the plant. The plant was taken off-line on April 10, 2017 due to water supply disruption.

Located in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, the plant comprising two units have a total production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group plans to list its Malaysian petrochemical unit in the third quarter, company filings show, in an initial public offering that sources say could raise as much as USD1.5 billion. The listing could be one of the biggest IPOs in years in Malaysia, which has not seen any listing of USD1 billion and above since the USD1.5 billion IPO of Astro Malaysia Holdings in 2012.

Lotte Chemical Titan produces Malaysia's most comprehensive portfolio of olefins and polyolefins which contribute to the enhancement of everyday life. Lotte Chemical Titan's production site in Malaysia consists of eleven process facilities, two co-generation plants and three tank farms. They are located on 2 sites in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat in the state of Johor. In 2006, Lotte Chemical Titan acquired PT Lotte Chemical Titan Nusantara, Indonesia’s first and largest polyethylene plant in the country. This acquisition boosted the polyolefins capacity by approximately 50%, thus making the company one of the largest producers in South East Asia. Lotte Chemical Titan was acquired by Lotte Chemical Corp., forming part of the Lotte conglomerate of Korea, in 2010. The company thus became one of Lotte Chemical Corp.’s largest overseas subsidiaries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi forces foiled an attempt from Yemen to blow up an Aramco fuel terminal in the southern Jazan province using a boat laden with high explosives, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA, said Reuters.

The agency said forces opened fire on the boat, which was operated by remote control, stopping it at sea before it reached its target. There were no immediate reports of any injuries in the incident.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries in the incident, which the statement said targeted an Aramco fuel terminal and distribution station in Jazan.

The statement accused the Iran-aligned Houthis of being behind the attempted attack, saying the group which controls much of northern Yemen was "threatening waterways and naval facilities using booby-trapped boats and naval mines".

Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab coalition that is fighting the Houthis, who have seized much of northern Yemen since 2014 and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.

In January, Saudi Arabia said one of its frigates was damaged in a suicide boat attack by the Houthis off the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. The Houthis said the frigate was hit by a missile fired by the group.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Uzbekistan started construction of a USD2.2 B refinery on Thursday, which will use oil imported from Russia and Kazakhstan, state news agency UzA reported, as per Reuters.

The state-run project in the Jizzakh region bordering oil-rich Kazakhstan will receive crude through a pipeline which has not yet been built, the report said.

The Jizzakh refinery will produce more than 3.7 MMt of gasoline, more than 700,000 t of jet fuel and about 300,000 t of other oil products annually, to be sold both domestically and abroad.

UzA said Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev had secured oil supplies from Russia and Kazakhstan during his visits to those countries in the last few weeks.

It did not say when construction would be completed.

The Central Asian nation operates three refineries but has faced shortages of both crude oil and fuel.
MRC