CB&I awarded ethylene technology contract in India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CB&I has announced it has been selected by HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd. (HMEL) for the license and basic engineering of a 1,200 KTA mixed feeds ethylene plant for the Guru Gobind Singh refinery in Bathinda, India, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The plant has the capability of being expanded to 1,500 KTA. The scope of work includes recovering refinery offgas and integration with the ethylene plant, pyrolosis gasoline hydrogenation and detailed engineering for CB&I's proprietary highly selective Short Residence Time (SRT) VII cracking heaters.

"During the last 30 years, CB&I has licensed 44% of the world's ethylene production," said Daniel M. McCarthy, CB&I's Executive Vice President of Technology. "This award demonstrates HMEL's confidence in our technology, engineering solutions and commercial experience."

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2017, CB&I announced it had been awarded a substantial contract for the license, engineering design and catalyst supply for five proprietary technologies to be used in an integrated refining and petrochemical project in China. The complex will use BP Paraxylene OPEX advantaged crystallization technology exclusively licensed by CB&I, as well as technology for a vacuum gasoil hydrocracker, diesel hydrocracker, kerosene hydrotreater and delayed coker offered through Chevron Lummus Global (CLG). CLG is a JV between Chevron and CB&I.
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US oil exports boom, putting infrastructure to the test

MOSCOW (MRC) — Tankers carrying record levels of crude are leaving in droves from Texas and Louisiana ports, and more growth in the fledgling US oil export market may before long test the limits of infrastructure like pipelines, dock space and ship traffic, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

US crude exports have boomed since the decades-old ban was lifted less than 2 yr ago, with shipments recently hitting a record of 2 MMbbl a day. But shippers and traders fear the rising trend is not sustainable, and if limits are hit, it could pressure the price of US oil.

How much crude the United States can export is a mystery. Most terminal operators and companies will not disclose capacity, and federal agencies like the US Energy Department do not track it. Still, oil export infrastructure will probably need further investment in coming years. Bottlenecks would hit not only storage and loading capacity, but also factors such as pipeline connectivity and shipping traffic.

Analysts believe operators will start to run into bottlenecks if exports rise to 3.5 MMbpd to 4 MMbpd. RBC Capital analysts put the figure lower, around 3.2 MMbpd. The United States has not come close to that yet. A total of the highest loading days across Houston, Port Arthur, Corpus Christi and St. James/New Orleans—the primary places where crude can be exported—comes to about 3.2 MMbpd, according to Kpler, a cargo tracking service.

But with total US crude production currently at 9.5 MMbpd and expected to add 800,000 bpd to 1 MMbpd annually, export capacity could be tested before long. Over the past four weeks, exports averaged 1.7 MMbpd, more than triple a year earlier. "Right now, there seems to be a little more wiggle room for export levels," said Michael Cohen, head of energy markets research at Barclays.

"Two to three years down the road, if US production continues to grow like current levels, the market will eventually signal that more infrastructure is needed. But I don't think a lot of those plans are in place right now." If exports do hit a bottleneck, it would put a ceiling on how much oil shippers get out of the country. Growing domestic oil production and limited export avenues could sink US crude prices.

Shippers have booked vessels to go overseas in recent weeks because the premium for global benchmark Brent crude widened to as much as USD7 a barrel over US crude, making exports more profitable for domestic producers.
MRC

Shandong Shenda to restart PP plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shandong Shenda Chemical is likely to brought on-stream its polypropylene (PP) plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has planned to complete maintenance at the plant in mid-November 2017. The plant was taken off-line for trunraround on October 5, 2017.

Located in Shandong, China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC informed earlier, in mid-May 2017, another major petrochemcial producer in China - Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical - took off-stream its PP plant. The duration of the planned shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in Jiangsu province, China, the plant comprising three units, which have a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year, 100,000 mt/year and 100,000 mt/year.

Shandong Shenda Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. is part of Levima Group Co. It started production in February 2014. The company incorporated another subsidiary of Levima Group - Shandong Haoda Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. - on 25 January 2016.
MRC

Italian Mossi Ghisolfi draws interest for troubled US assets

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italian plastics multinational Mossi Ghisolfi has attracted interest from a series of buyers, including plastics maker Indorama, for its US assets placed under Chapter 11 restructuring, reported Reuters with reference to sources close to the situation.

The assets, which include one of the world's largest plastic bottle production plant projects, could fetch up to USD1 B, though a sale could take some time, one of the sources said.

Rothschild is running the proceedings, the sources said.

Mossi Ghisolfi, founded by the Ghisolfi family in 1953, is famous for introducing PET, a plastic used for soft drink bottles, in Italy and across Europe.

In 2013, it considered listing its M&G Chemicals business in Hong Kong but then pulled plans as market conditions worsened.

The unexpected death of former managing director Guido Ghisolfi in 2015 and big cost overruns at its Corpus Christi PET plant in the United States have hit business.

Last year, M&G Finanziaria, the holding company owned by the Ghisolfi family, had a 90% fall in operating profits to 6.9 MM euros (USD8 MM) on revenues of 1.7 B euros. Debt stood at around EUR2.5 B.

"Indorama, Reliance Industries and Alpek are interested," one of the sources said. The source said no Chinese names had expressed interest since they preferred to build their own plants at home.

Another source said the replacement value of the company's US assets, or what it would cost to build them from scratch, was in the range of USD2 B–USD3 B.

"It's going to be a drawn-out process with some debt being cut off," the source said.

Mossi Ghisolfi (M&G) declined to comment. Indorama, Reliance Industries and Alpek were not immediately available for comment.

M&G - which in Italy owns Beta Renewables, the first plant in the world to produce second-generation ethanol -recently said it had filed for creditor protection for units in Italy.

"The companies are studying a proposal for an arrangement that will allow their overall activities to continue as a going concern, although they cannot exclude alternative solutions at the end of the ongoing technical assessments," the company said on its website.

Italian investment bank Mediobanca is leading the process in Italy, a different source said, adding a series of private equity and industrial players had expressed early interest.

The source declined to say how much the Italian operations could be worth but said it could be "several hundred millions."

The Mossi Ghisolfi Group is controlled by M&G Finanziaria, which is owned by the Ghisolfi family. The group's activities are sub-divided into the following businesses: PET, its raw materials; biofuels, chemical products derived from non-food biomass; polyester fibre and biodegradable polymers.
MRC

ELIX Polymers publishes 2016 Sustainability Report

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ELIX Polymers, a leading manufacturer of ABS resins and derivatives in Europe, has published its first Sustainability Report, as per the company's press release.

It provides stakeholders with an in-depth understanding of the company’s commitment to transparency and information related to the sustainability impacts of their activity during the 2016 tax year.

The report covers issues related to sustainable management in environmental, social and economic areas, as well as ELIX Polymers’ relationships with stakeholders. It shows how ELIX Polymers management strives to create added value according to the interests of customers, shareholders, the community, the company’s own employees, and others. Management guidelines relating to sustainability are based on the circular economy, waste-minimisation strategies, and the responsible consumption of energy and natural resources.

Introducing the 2016 sustainability report, Wolfgang Doering, CEO of ELIX Polymers, said: "As a company in the chemicals industry, we have a particular responsibility towards our stakeholders and society as a whole. With this report, we want all parties to gain a better understanding of how ELIX Polymers is living up to its responsibility towards the environment."

"Since ELIX Polymers became an independent company in 2012, it has driven various initiatives to strengthen its commitment to environmental sustainability, basing its management on the values of integrity, transparency and ethics. One example among many is our investments in research to develop products that are more sustainable, whether during the manufacturing process or in their use phase."

ELIX Polymers has recently renewed its Responsible Care certificate. This is the chemicals industry’s first worldwide voluntary initiative for promoting corporate social responsibility and commitment to the principles of sustainable development. It also holds ISO 14001, ISO 50001 and ISO 9001 certificates for environmental management, energy management and quality management respectively. ELIX was one of the first chemicals companies in Spain to obtain the ISO 50001 certificate for energy efficiency.

Judith Banus, head of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Programme, says: "Sustainability is an essential part of our company, and the circular economy is an important opportunity to explore the integration of environmental management, such as recycling plastic or managing waste created during the production process. But we also see safety as a fundamental part of sustainability. Our people are the cornerstone of our company’s mission, which is why we support the implementation of healthy company strategies. We are going beyond basic health protection: we now promote health fully, in a way that is not limited to the working day."

"We are introducing a new safety culture into our operations. Last year, we initiated our Company-based Safety project, which has the ambitious aim of creating a risk-free workplace, encouraging the participation of all employees, led by their line managers, to create an environment where they can perform optimally and safely."

As MRC reported earlier, in February 2016, ELIX Polymers unveiled an upgraded version of P2MC as well as new ABS grades to complete the plating portfolio. Target applications for these electroplating grades include radiator grilles, logos, profiles, tailgate handles, and decorative interior parts.

ELIX Polymers is one of the most important manufacturers of ABS resins and derivatives in Europe, with 40 years of experience in engineering plastics and an installed capacity of 180,000/year from their plant in Tarragona (Spain) to the world. The operation starts in 1975, when the Tarragona ABS and SAN production plant was inaugurated.
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