Orpic launches polymer marketing outfit

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Orpic, the Sultanate’s refining and petrochemicals flagship, plans to establish a worldwide network of offices to support the marketing of the huge quantities of polymers that will be produced when its Liwa Plastics mega venture comes on stream in 2020, according to GV.

As a first step, the wholly government-owned entity has set up a new outfit to secure markets for the company’s output of polymers - notably polyethylene and polypropylene - an estimated 1.5 million tons of which will be produced annually when the USD 6.4 billion Liwa Plastics Industrial Complex (LPIC) is operational, a senior company executive said.

"We have created a new legal entity, namely Orpic Polymer Plastics, which will be fully owned by Orpic and tasked with selling the company’s polymer output in international markets," said Gilles Rochas, General Manager - Polymer Marketing. "Offices will be opened in key export markets, such as China, Singapore, Turkey and so on. Our goal is to have a global marketing footprint by 2020," Rochas added.

Speaking to the Observer, Rochas said Orpic’s decision to directly oversee the marketing of its polymer output - as opposed to the conventional practice of securing long-term offtake arrangements - is designed to ensure optimum returns for the company.

By cutting out the middlemen from the marketing and supply chain, Orpic is not only assured better margins on its products, but crucially it can also work towards building longer-term, mutually beneficial relationships with key buyers, he noted.

As MRC wrote before, in May 2014, Orpic said it had awarded two contracts for construction of a USD3.6 billion plastics production complex, the Liwa Plastics Project. The plant will be built in Oman's northern industrial city of Sohar, next to Orpic's oil refinery and petrochemical plants. The Liwa Plastics Project is due to be completed in 2018, doubling Orpic's profitability by allowing it to extract more value from Omani crude oil and natural gas, the company said.

In 2014, Orpic selected LyondellBasell's Spheripol polypropylene process technology for a new 300,000 tpy PP plant to be built in Sohar, Sultanate of Oman. Start-up of the Liwa plastics project is planned for 2018.

ORPIC (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) is one of the leading companies in Oman and has two refineries in that country, in Sohar and Muscat. ORPIC is owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and Oman Oil Company SAOC, the trading company created by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman for managing investments in the energy sector.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indonesia's Chandra Asri Petrochemical plans to boost the ethylene production capacity of its sole naphtha-fed steam cracker at Cilegon by 4.6% in Q1 2020, the company said Wednesday, as per Apic-online.

The cracker's ethylene production capacity will rise to 900,000 mt/year from 860,000 mt/year, while its propylene output will increase to 490,000 mt/year from 470,000 mt/year.

Chandra Asri said it has signed an agreement with US contractor CB&I to revamp the existing furnaces for the cracker. The revamp is expected to begin in Q3 2018 and completed over Q1 2020.

As a result of the revamp, pygas production capacity will also rise to 420,000 mt/year from 400,000 mt/year, while mixed C4 output will reach 330,000 mt/year from 315,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported before, in September 2016, PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP) signed an agreement with Univation Technologies, LLC, located in the United States, to use the UNIPOL PE Progress for a new world scale 400KTA polyethylene (PE) plant at its integrated naphtha cracker complex in Cilegon, Banten. The agreement covers process design package, including licence, to produce linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE) and metallocene LLDPE (mLLDPE).

Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP) is the largest vertically integrated petrochemical company in Indonesia with facilities located in Ciwandan, Cilegon and Puloampel, Serang in Banten Province. CAP is Indonesia's premier petrochemical plant incorporating world-class, state-of-the-art technology and supporting facilities. At the heart of CAP lies the Lummus Naphtha Cracker producing high quality Ethylene, Propylene, Mixed C4, and Pyrolysis Gasoline (Py-Gas) for the Indonesian as well as regional export markets.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, has increased list and off-list selling prices for Plasticizer WVC 3800 (3G8) in Europe and Asia, said the producer in its press release.

The price increases is effective as of 26 June 2017, or as contracts otherwise allow.

Thus, prices of Plasticizer WVC 3800 (3G8) rose by EUR100/tonne in Europe and by USD150/tonne in Asia.

As MRC informed before, effective July 1, 2017, Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, raised prices for emulsions sold in Europe, as follows:

- EVA - EUR75/tonne;
- VAM Homopolymers (PVAC) - EUR75/tonne;
- VAM Copolymers - EUR75/tonne;
- Pure Acrylics - EUR180/tonne.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,300 employees worldwide and had 2016 net sales of USD5.4 billion.
MRC

May 2017 PP shipments to Kazakhstan grew to 3,900 tonnes from 2,200 tonnes a month earlier, local converters increased their purchasing of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) in Russia and China. Overall PP imports exceeded 11,600 tonnes in January-May 2017, compared to 10,000 tonnes a year earlier. Pressure pipes producers accounted for the greatest increase in demand.

The structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

May imports of homopolymer PP rose to 2,900 tonnes from 800 tonnes a month earlier, local companies increased their purchasing of homopolymer PP raffia from Chinese and Russian producers. Overall PP imports of this PP grade exceeded 7,800 tonnes in the first five months of 2017, compared to 7,100 tonnes a year earlier.

Shipments of propylene copolymers decreased to 1,000 tonnes in May from 1,400 tonnes, local pipes producers reduced their purchasing. Thus, imports of propylene copolymers reached 3,800 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 2,900 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Alfa Laval—a heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling company—has won an order to supply compact heat exchangers to a refinery in China, said Hydrocabonprocessing.

The order has a value of approximately USD10.6 MM. It was booked late June in the Gasketed Plate Heat Exchangers unit of the Energy Division, with deliveries scheduled for 2018.

The Alfa Laval plate heat exchangers will be installed in so called SECOOL applications, where seawater is used as a cooling media for different duties in the refinery.

"I am very pleased to announce this order for our gasketed plate heat exchangers," said Susanne Pahlen Aklundh, President of the Energy Division. "They are compact and very energy efficient and hence perfect for applications in the refinery and petrochemical industries."
MRC