Azerbaijani oil shipments via Russia jump to 818,664 tonnes in Jan–July

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Azerbaijan's oil shipments via Russia jumped to 818,664 t in January-July this year from 559,065 t in the same period last year, reported Reuters with reference to state oil company SOCAR.

The increase was partly because SOCAR shipped no oil via the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline in January and February last year, before resuming exports the following month after signing an agreement with Russian pipeline monopoly AK Transneft.

SOCAR aims to increase its shipments via Russia to 1.5 MMt this year. Last year it shipped 1.2 MMt, down 4.8% from 2015.

Azerbaijan sends only a small portion of its oil exports via Russia, using routes through Georgia and Turkey for the bulk of its crude shipments.

SOCAR's crude has a lower sulfur content than Russia's Urals blend. The company receives crude from Transneft to fill its loading slots at the Novorossiisk oil terminal.

As MRC wrote earlier, in October 2015, State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) subsidiary Azerikimya Production Union (PU) entered two units into operation at its ethylene and polyethylene (PE) plant in Sumgait, north of Baku. The company commissioned a 87,600-tonne/year (tpy) unit for the desulfurization of liquefied gas and a 120,000-tpy installation for the hydrogenation of butylene-butadiene fractions. Azerikimya also recently commissioned an isopropyl alcohol unit at the petrochemical plant, which produces 260,000 tpy of ethylene and PE.

SOCAR, which is keen on expanding operations in the retail oil products market abroad, is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan. SOCAR Polymer is a subsidiary of SOCAR. The entity was formed at the end of 2013 to run investments at the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park, a production park which intends to become a chemical hub in central Asia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Haifa Chemicals said on Wednesday it was closing shop and letting go of its 800 employees after failing to find a reasonable alternative to a large ammonia tank it needs to function which was ordered to be shut down earlier this year, reported Reuters.

An Israeli court in February ordered the company to shut down the country's largest ammonia tank, which has been a point of contention for years, with residents and environmental groups warning it is a major health hazard.

"Haifa Chemicals management decided to close the company and is forced to fire all its employees," it said in a statement.

The colossal, circular vat is located in the northern port of Haifa, Israel's third largest city, and can hold 12,000 t of ammonia, which is used in products such as fertilizer and explosives.

The government, looking to remove hazardous materials from the heavily populated area, has for more than a decade been looking for alternatives to the Haifa plant, including building a new one in the middle of the desert. It has made little progress.

Haifa Chemicals is owned by a US holding company Trance Resource Inc (TRI), which is controlled by Florida-based Trump Group. This has no connection to US President Donald Trump.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, another major Israeli petrochemical and fertiliser producer - Israel Chemicals (ICL) - reported a smaller than expected drop in fourth-quarter 2016 profit and revenue, helped by its speciality products and record potash sales. ICL, which produces about a third of the world's bromine and is the sixth-largest potash producer, has sought to counter low commodities prices by diversifying into products such as advanced additives and speciality fertilisers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Perstorp has obtained independent expert opinion advising that its Pevalen non-phthalate PVC plasticizer can be used in important food contact applications in the USA, as per the company's press release.

The advice, from an international law firm that has expert knowledge in food contact legislation, says that Pevalen is suitable for use at levels up to 32% in PVC intended to produce conveyor belts and gloves used in meat and poultry processing facilities, as well as in tablecloths.

In a letter to Perstorp, the law firm wrote: "Based on the information you have provided, as well as other publicly available information and data, it is our opinion that sufficient scientific evidence supports the conclusion that the intended uses of the Pevalen are GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) and that Pevalen may be lawfully used as intended without obtaining prior approval from, or notifying, FDA."

"This is an important development, especially as true non-phthalate plasticizers are increasingly in demand for food contact applications," says Dr. David Bray, Vice President - BU Plasticizers at Perstorp. "We shall soon be applying for FDA approval for the use of Pevalen in a wider range of uses. This GRAS notification will enable us to enter the US market for food contact applications in PVC ahead of FDA approval."

Pevalen (chemical name pentaerythritol tetravalerate, PETV) is already used in numerous close-to-consumer applications that do not involve food contact. Pevalen is the property of the Perstorp Group.

As MRC informed before, Perstorp has recently acquired food contact use approval for its Capa for Bioplastics product grades 6500D and the new 6800D. By adding Capa 6800D to its product portfolio, Perstorp can now offer a higher molecular weight product to give customers more choices and flexibility in finding the right formulation.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co has won a contract worth up to USD600 MM from Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader, for as many as eight gas tankers, reported Reuters.

The world’s largest shipbuilder signed the contract on Sunday to construct two liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers with a capacity of 84,000 m3 each. The ships are expected to be delivered in the first half of 2019.

Vitol has the option to order six more tankers.

As MRC informed before, in March 2017, South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering Co signed a deal worth USUSD3.2 billion with Iran’s Ahdaf Investment Company for the construction of the second phase of a petrochemical complex in Iran. Hyundai Engineering will act as lead manager of the Kangan Petro Refining Complex in southwestern Iran. The petrochemical complex is planned to have an annual production of around 1 million tons of ethylene, 500,000 tons of monoethylene glycol, and 350,000 tons of heavy and light polyethylene. The financing of the deal – which was signed as an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Finance (EPCF) contract - will be finalized within nine months by Korean banks, the Iranian oil ministry’s news service Shana said on Sunday. Construction will take 48 months, according to the Iranian news service.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- President Donald Trump signed a Russia sanctions bill Congress forced on him, adding a statement saying the administration will carry out the law but with reservations about its impact and the constitutionality of some provisions, as per Bloomberg.

In a statement Wednesday accompanying the notice that he signed into law the legislation, which also targets Iran and North Korea, Trump laid out a list of concerns. He said it encroaches on presidential authority, may hurt U.S. ability to work with allies and could have unintended consequences for American companies.

“While I favor tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilizing behavior by Iran, North Korea, and Russia, this legislation is significantly flawed,” the statement released by the White House said.

Trump’s statement doesn’t signal any intent to bypass or circumvent aspects of the law. Instead, the president indicates he intends for his administration to carry it out in a way consistent with his constitutional authority, language that leaves open some room for interpretation of how the law is executed.

The legislation, passed by overwhelming, veto-proof margins in the U.S. House and Senate, strengthens sanctions on Russia and gives Congress the power to block the president from lifting them.
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