Thai PTTGC and Japanese partners in $900 MM chemical venture

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical Pcl , Thailand's largest petrochemical producer, is investing in a USD900 MM polyols facility with two Japanese partners, the company said on Friday, reported Reuters.

PTTGC CEO Supattanapong Punmeechaow announced in a statement a joint venture in Thailand between PTTGC, Sanyo Chemical Industries and Toyota Tshusho Corporation, Toyota's trading arm, called GC Polyols.

The plant, to be located in the eastern province of Rayong, will have the capacity to produce 130 Mtpy of polyether polyols and PU (polyurethane) system of 20 Mtpy. It will be operational in 2020, the statement said.

Polyols is a key material for polyurethane, which is used in the automotive, electrical and electronics and construction sectors.

The project has received 23.1 billion baht (USD693.7 MM)of financing from Krung Thai Bank, Land and Houses Bank, Thanachart Bank and Kiatnakin Bank, the statement said.

PTTGC, the petrochemical arm of state-owned energy giant PTT , will hold 82.1 percent of the venture, while Sanyo Chemical and Toyota Tsusho will take 14.9% and 3%, respectively.

PTTGC said on Tuesday it would invest USD5 B from 2017-2022, at a rate of USD1 B each year.

As MRC wrote before, PTT is on track to start commercial operations at its new 400,000 mt/year metallocene C6 linear low density polyethylene plant at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, in the first quarter of 2018. PTT will start up the plant by the end of this year.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - US gasoline prices surged to a three-week high on Thursday as Hurricane Harvey moved across the Gulf of Mexico and threatened to slam oil refineries in Texas when it comes ashore this weekend, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded Harvey to a hurricane from a tropical storm on Thursday afternoon, and said it would strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane before hitting the Texas coast late on Friday or early on Saturday.

The storm is now expected hit the central Texas coast with a combination of winds of 115 miles (185 km) per hour and heavy rains, said John Tharp, a forecaster with Weather Decision Technologies in Norman, Oklahoma.

"With this system's intensity and slow motion, it is the worst of both worlds," he said referring to the expected winds and rains. "There will be major impacts along the coast and inland with periods of prolonged rain."

Harvey will cause a storm surge that will flood parts of the Texas coast as it makes landfall and linger for days over the state, dumping up to 30 inches (76.2 cm) of rain on some areas, the NHC said in an advisory on Thursday.

The mayor of Texas coastal city Corpus Christi warned on Wednesday that flooding was his biggest concern. "I hope people will listen to forecasters when they say 'beware of flash floods,'" Joe McComb said. "Flash floods can come quickly, and they can be deadly."

The city, a major oil refining center, has not issued any evacuation orders, he told reporters at a news conference, but its emergency operations center has been activated. Harvey has already disrupted U.S. oil supplies.

Energy companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Anadarko Petroleum and Exxon Mobil have evacuated staff from offshore oil and gas platforms in the storm's path.

Two oil refineries Corpus Christi were shutting down ahead of the storm, and concern that Harvey could cause shortages in fuel supply drove benchmark gasoline prices to a three-week high.

Prices for gasoline in spot physical markets on the Gulf Coast rose even more, hitting a one-year high. Profit margins for refineries producing gasoline rose by over 12 percent on Thursday, putting margins on course for their biggest daily percentage gain in six months, according to Reuters data.

The two refineries that have shut have combined capacity to refine more than 450,000 barrels per day of crude. The NHC expects the storm to come ashore along the central Texas coast, an area that includes Corpus Christi and Houston, home to some of the biggest refineries in the country.

More than 45 percent of the country's refining capacity is along the U.S. Gulf Coast, and nearly a fifth of the nation's crude oil is produced offshore in the region. The storm could also bring flooding to inland shale oil fields in Texas that pump millions of barrels per day of crude.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster on Wednesday for 30 counties, authorizing the use of state resources to prepare for the storm.

Coastal cities and counties distributed sandbags to residents as some businesses boarded up windows, and residents flocked to grocery stores to stock up on supplies, local media reported.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polypropylene (PP) into the Ukrainian market decreased in the first seven months of 2017 by 1% year on year to 67,700 tonne, as per MRC's DataScope report.

Ukraine's PP imports in July stood at about 10,600 tonnes – almost the June level. Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 67,700 tonnes in January-July 2017, compared to 68,600 tonnes a year earlier. Propylene block copolymers (PP block copolymers) accounted for an increase in imports, whereas demand for statistical propylene copolymers (PP random copolymers) decreased.

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

Last month's imports of homopolymer PP to the Ukrainian market decreased to 7,800 tonnes from 8,400 tonnes in June. PP from Saudi Arabia accounted for the main reduction in shipments. Overall shipments of homopolymer PP reached 61,600 tonnes in the first seven months of 2017 versus 53,400 tonnes a year earlier.

July imports of PP block copolymers were 1,400 tonnes, compared to 1,100 tonnes a month earlier, demand for injection moulding propylene copolymers subsided. Imports of PP block copolymers into the country were about 7,500 tonnes in January-July, compared with 6,400 tonnes year on year. Local pipes producers accounted for the greatest increase in demand.

July imports of PP random copolymers also grew to 1,300 tonnes compared with 942 tonnes in June; demand for pipe PP random copolymers improved. Overall imports of PP random copolymers exceeded 7,300 tonnes in January-July 2017, whereas this figure was 7,500 tonnes a year earlier.

Overall imports of other propylene copolymers totalled about 1,300 tonnes over the stated period.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US crude oil stocks last week fell for an eighth consecutive week to their lowest since January 2016, while gasoline stocks declined more than anticipated, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Crude inventories fell 3.3 MMbbl in the week ending Aug. 18, largely in line with expectations for a decrease of 3.5 MMbbl. Overall US crude stocks fell to 463.2 MMbbl, a 14-percent drop from the peak of 535.5 MMbbl at the end of March.

Oil prices have recovered from June lows as world supplies have started to tighten, in part due to efforts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with non-OPEC members, to pull back on production. The group agreed to cut supply by a combined 1.8 MMbpd in a deal that extends to March of next year.

Oil prices have not been able to sustain much of a rally, though, and gains were meager after the government's report. US crude futures, which were rallying in the hours leading to the data, were up 21 cents to $48.06 a barrel as of 10:49 a.m. EDT (1449 GMT), while Brent futures gained 35 cents to USD52.22 a barrel.

"Crude draws were inline with expectations and the market initial reaction is mixed," said David Thompson, executive vice president at Powerhouse, an energy-specialized commodities broker in Washington. "Increased crude oil imports and a drop in the refinery utilization rate open up the possibility of weakness in WTI." US crude imports rose last week by 605,000 bpd.

Refinery crude runs fell by 104,000 bpd, as utilization rates fell by 0.7 percentage point to 95.4% of total refining capacity, EIA data showed, as the summer driving season nears its end.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for US crude futures fell by 503,000 barrels, EIA said. US crude production, which has been growing steadily, rose 26,000 bpd to 9.53 MMbpd. US exports, which fluctuate on a weekly basis, rose to 936,000 bpd from 877,00 bpd the previous week. Gasoline stocks fell by 1.2 MMbbl, compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a 643,000-bbl drop.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 28,000 bbl, versus expectations for a 93,000-bbl increase, the EIA data showed.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ludwigshafen and Leipzig, Germany, August 24, 2017 – BASF and bse Engineering today signed an exclusive joint development agreement for BASF to provide custom made catalysts for a new chemical energy storage process, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This process will enable economically viable transformation of excess current and off-gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into the chemical energy storage methanol in small-scale, delocalized production units.

When generating current from renewable energy sources such as in wind or solar power plants, excess current is generated at times when consumers do not need it. This excess current can often not be reasonably used at the moment. The effective usage of this excess current is a decisive factor in making power production from renewable energy sources economically viable.

CO2 is generated in some industrial production plants such as in steel production, incineration plants or coal power plants. The reduction of this greenhouse gas is one of the most important targets set in the context of the 2015 Paris Climate Protection Agreement.

The new process developed by bse Engineering enables the sustainable use of current and CO2 with small-scale, delocalized production units built where the two components are generated, i.e. near power plants using renewable sources of energy as well as large-scale industrial plants producing CO2. The excess current will be used to produce hydrogen through discontinuous electrolysis. In a second step, methanol is produced from CO2 and hydrogen, thus leading to a valorizing of excess current and CO2 off-stream gas.

In the second process step, BASF’s catalysts will be used for the methanol synthesis step. Those catalysts have been further tuned and adapted for this specific process to enable the most efficient production of methanol. Methanol is one of the most important basic chemicals used in numerous industrial applications. For example, it is blended into diesel or gasoline in some countries.

"We are pleased to participate in this exciting endeavor and to contribute significantly to a concrete solution for the use of excess current and CO2 as a raw material," said Adrian Steinmetz, Vice President Chemical Catalysts at BASF. "We will leverage our know-how and expertise in catalysis in the service of advancing a sustainable answer for the transition to new energy sources and the material use of CO2."

"The cooperation between BASF and bse Engineering is another example of our successful approach to collaborating with engineering companies and plant manufacturers. In doing so we contribute our unique know-how as the world leader in the production of catalysts to facilitate new processes and innovative technologies of tomorrow," said Detlef Ruff, Senior Vice President Process Catalysts at BASF.
MRC