Index of chemical production in Russia grew by 7.5% in January - May 2017

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of chemical products increased by 7.5% in the first five months of the year.
The largest increase in output accounted for the benzene and caustic soda, as per the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat).

According to the Federal Service of State Statistics, last month's production of basic chemicals grew by 9.7% from May 2016. Total production of key chemicals in the country grew by 7.5% in the stated period.

May production of ethylene was 260,000 tonnes compared with 234,000 tonnes in April on the back of scheduled maintenance works at Kazanorgsintez and Stavrolen. Overall, over 1.267 m tonnes of this olefin were manufactured in the first five month of 2017, up by 9.2% year on year.

Last month's production of benzene grew to 114,000 tonnes from 105,000 tonnes in April on the back of shutdown at two productions. Overall output of this product exceeded 597,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 12.5%year on year. The main increase in production was provided by Angarsk Polymers Plant.

May production of xylenes was 51,400 tonnes, compared to 43,600 tonnes a month earlier. January-May output of xylenes was 241,600 tonnes, down by 3.3% year on year.

May production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 108,000 tonnes (100% of the basic substance), up by 9.2% year on year. Overall output of caustic soda grew to 514,800 tonnes in January-May 2017, up by 11.9% year on year. In February 2016, due to force majeure for ethylene supply, SayanskKhimplast was forced to shut down its caustic soda production, the outage continued until July.

Last month's production of mineral fertilizers was 1.91 mln tonnes (in terms of 100% nutrients), up 5.5% from April.
Nevertheless, Russian plants produced over 9.0 mln tonnes of fertilizers in the first five months of 2017, up by 9.9% year on year.

Production of all types of fertilizers increased, with potash fertilizers, the output of which grew by 16%, accounted for the greatest increase.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SINOPEC, the biggest integrated refining and chemical company in China, and The Linde Group, a world-leading industrial gases and engineering company, today announced that they have established a EUR 145 million joint venture to supply vital industrial gases to local customers from key industries such as petrochemical, steel and electronics, within the Ningbo Chemical Industrial Zone in China's Zhejiang province, said Yourpetrochemicalnews.

SINOPEC Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company (ZRCC) and Linde will each hold a 50% stake in the newly formed Ningbo Linde-ZRCC Gases Company Ltd (Linde-ZRCC), the sixth consecutive joint venture between the companies. The agreement will see Linde-ZRCC acquire two existing air separation units (ASUs) from ZRCC and construct a third for a combined 150,000 m3/h of oxygen capacity. The new ASU, expected to be on stream in 2018, will incorporate Linde's intelligent solutions for remote operation, diagnostics and analytics, as well as a modular design to increase efficiency, reduce energy requirements and enhance flexibility of production.

These three additional ASUs will double Linde production capacity of air gases in the Ningbo cluster and will be connected to Linde's pipeline supply network across Ningbo.

Sanjiv Lamba, Member of the Executive Board, Linde AG and Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific, said, "Linde is excited about the growth opportunities in China and further strengthening of our partnership with SINOPEC. Today's Linde-ZRCC agreement underscores not only the trusted long-term partnership Linde has with SINOPEC, but also highlights the advantage of world-class technology and operating expertise that Linde brings to our customers. Linde remains fully committed to supporting our customers in China in their growth aspiration. This year alone, we have signed multiple projects for major investments across China, which represents a significant part of Linde's strategy for growth in Asia."

"Linde operations in Ningbo is an excellent example of our cluster strategy in action. Leveraging Linde's gas and engineering expertise and innovations, we are able to consolidate our plant operations which enables our cluster customers to benefit from economies of scale - improved energy efficiency, better quality management, and safer and even more reliable service," said Steven Fang, Regional Business Unit Head, Linde East Asia. He added, "Linde's approach is well aligned with the Chinese government's plans to develop Ningbo into a modern petrochemical hub."

Linde's Engineering Division will design and construct the new air separation unit. Linde's world-leading technology in air separation design offers high energy efficiency and operational reliability.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CB&I announced it has been awarded a contract by TOO Hill Resources (HILL) for the license and engineering design of a grassroots Lube Base Oil plant in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, said Yourpetrochemicalnews.

The plant will use Chevron Lummus Global's (CLG) proprietary ISOCRACKING, ISODEWAXING, ISOFINISHING and Solvent Deasphalting technologies for the production of high-quality base oils and clean fuels. CLG is a joint venture between Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and CB&I.

"This multi-technology contract is another example of CB&I's breadth of technology portfolio at work," said Daniel M. McCarthy, CB&I's Executive Vice President of Technology. "This award is CLG's first award in Kazakhstan and symbolizes additional growth for the Central Asia region."

CB&I is a leading provider of technology and infrastructure for the energy industry. With over 125 years of experience and the expertise of more than 40,000 employees, CB&I provides reliable solutions to our customers around the world while maintaining a relentless focus on safety and an uncompromising standard of quality.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC, a global leader in thermoplastic technology, has unveiled a new portfolio of high-performance filament grades for fused deposition modeling, as per the compnay's press release.

The new products address growing global demand for greater material choices in the industrial filament market and lay the groundwork for SABIC’s strategy to help drive the growth of additive manufacturing from a prototyping technology to full-scale production. In addition to a long history of materials innovation, SABIC offers the expertise and resources to support testing, design and development of new additive manufacturing technologies.

"The launch of our first six new filaments, backed by SABIC’s world-class portfolio of high-performance engineering thermoplastics, will help us establish a pathway to introduce future breakthrough material solutions for additive manufacturing," said Lori Louthan, director, Mass Transportation, SABIC. "We are applying our extensive materials and processing expertise to create new filaments with higher performance than current offerings with the goal of expanding their use into the development of production parts. Just as we’ve done for other plastics conversion processes in the past, SABIC aims to make an important contribution to the growth and success of our customers and the additive manufacturing industry through advanced materials and processes."

SABIC’s new filaments, designed for use with Stratasys Fortus printers, are based on the company’s industry-leading ULTEM polyetherimide (PEI) resin, CYCOLAC acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resin and LEXAN polycarbonate (PC) resin, and offer the same composition as the company’s injection molding grades. Manufacturers can use the filaments to produce a range of high-performance, durable end-use parts.

These new materials solutions directly address the need for greater options in the industrial filament market and target a broad range of customer requirements. Both ABS and PC are well-established materials for additive manufacturing of prototypes and end use parts, while SABIC’s ULTEM (PEI) filament is desirable for demanding applications that require high heat resistance, high strength, and low flame, smoke and toxicity (FST).

SABIC has also presented applications printed from its disruptive, developmental materials that have been designed for fused deposition modeling and can offer improved performance versus currently available products. These materials include:

- high impact strength polycarbonate filament for more robust performance during processing and secondary operations, as well as the ability to withstand high-impact end-use conditions;
- polycarbonate and ULTEM healthcare filaments made with SABIC healthcare grade resins, enabling printed parts with excellent mechanical performance, sterilizability and biocompatibility;
- high-impact strength ULTEM filament designed with the benefits of ULTEM 9085 resin but with greater toughness;
- flame, smoke and toxicity compliant polycarbonate filament for use in demanding aerospace applications;
- EXTEM thermoplastic polyamide filament with heat resistance exceeding that of ULTEM filament;
- breakaway support materials for SABIC’s ULTEM, PC, and ABS filaments, providing additional choice in filament material supply.

With a broad and growing portfolio of high-performance materials and state-of-the-art equipment at its global Centers of Excellence for Additive Manufacturing, SABIC is bringing together the resources and expertise required to create a highly supportive research environment to help advance fused deposition modeling and other additive manufacturing technologies.

As MRC reported earlier, in 2016, SABIC developed next generation LDPE foam grades to increase production efficiency. The first product of a new generation of low density polyethylene (LDPE) foam grades from SABIC was designed to increase production efficiency at the foam manufacturer. The new SABIC LDPE "fast converting" foam grades reduce the time that semi-finished products need to be kept in storage, thanks to faster degassing of the blowing agent. They can therefore reduce the working capital of foam manufacturers drastically. These new SABIC foam grades also help to create additional value by increasing production efficiency through higher material yield.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the worldпїЅs top petrochemical companies. The company is among the worldпїЅs market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The US government has added Independent Petroleum Co. (NNK) to its sanctions list, claiming the mid-sized Russian firm has been supplying North Korea with oil products from its refinery in Russia’s Far East, said Yourpetrochemicalnews.

In an announcement on its website, the US Treasury Department noted on June 1 that NNK had a contract to supply crude to North Korea and had shipped oil products worth over USD1 million to the reclusive state.

Primornefteproduct, which is NNK’s distribution arm for oil products manufactured at its Khabarovsk refinery, was also placed under US sanctions. The measures prohibit US nationals and companies from owning stakes in the sanctioned entities or doing business with them.

"The [US] will continue to target individuals and entities responsible for financing and supporting North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, and will continue to increase pressure on this hostile regime," said John Smith, the director of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The US government also accused NKK of being involved in a scheme designed to circumvent existing US sanctions against Pyongyang, which has recently conducted a number of missile tests deemed a threat to regional security.

NNK’s owner Eduard Khudainatov responded to the latest US sanctions by denying any commercial connection to North Korea. "I am absolutely shocked," he told Russian news agency TASS last week. “I was especially struck by the US administration linking my company to the North Korean nuclear programme – I would not have had the imagination to invent such a thing,” he said, adding: "I regard this as a political order, the purpose of which is to destroy a strong market competitor [and] break negotiations with investors."

In February, reports surfaced of Khudainatov’s intention to sell a stake in NNK, with interested parties including state-controlled Russian oil giant Rosneft, where he previously served as chairman. Russian daily Vedomosti quoted unnamed sources close to the negotiations as saying earlier this week that the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), was close to acquiring a 25% interest in NNK.

The fuel supplies cited by the US Treasury would have come from NNK’s Khabarovsk refinery, which is its only downstream facility. The plant lies in Russia’s Far East, operating with a total throughput capacity of 5 million tpy (100,000 bpd) of crude. Production is typically marketed to the surrounding Russian regions of Primorsk, Khabarovsk and Kamchatka as well as the Asia-Pacific region, including China.
MRC