AkzoNobel completes expansion at US LeMoyne plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel’s Specialty Chemicals business has completed a USD10 million investment at its LeMoyne sulfur derivatives plant in the US, which supplies essential ingredients used in several major industries, said the producer on its site.

Located in Alabama, the investment includes a 20,000 dry metric ton expansion for the production of sodium hydrosulfide (NaSH), which the company supplies to customers in the paper, leather tanning, mining and specialty polymers segments.

"This is a key expansion which will help to support growing customer demand," explains Sulfur Derivatives General Manager, Ignacio Garin. "The LeMoyne facility employs unique AkzoNobel technology which provides NaSH at lower impurity levels and higher concentrations than competing processes, providing a significant sustainability benefit for customers."

AkzoNobel is the only company to produce a high strength, high purity NaSH at 60% concentration, which means the product qualifies as an eco-premium solution, offering advantages in terms of energy efficiency, emissions and waste water.

Commenting on the expansion, Werner Fuhrmann, AkzoNobel’s Executive Committee member responsible for Specialty Chemicals, adds: "This project is just the latest in a series of capital investments we have made to support the growth of our customers across a range of end-use markets. It also underlines our ongoing commitment to sustainability."

As MRC wrote previously, in December 2016, AkzoNobel finalized the acquisition of BASF’s global Industrial Coatings business, which supplies a range of products for industries including construction, domestic appliances, wind energy and commercial transport, strengthening its position as the global number one supplier in coil coatings.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) into Russia increased by 4% in the first ten months of the year to 40,300 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Higher HIPS imports boosted the overall shipments, whereas GPPS imports have slightly decreased. October imports of GPPS into Russia grew by 10% to 1,870 tonnes, compared with 1,700 tonnes in September. The imports of Styrolution production material decreased to 320 tonnes against 420 tonnes a month earlier. Imports from China were 230 tonnes, compared to 540 tonnes in September.

Imports of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) to the Russian domestic market decreased in the first ten months of 2017 by 3% year on year to 21,200 tonnes from 21,900 tonnes in a year earlier. Supplies from Styrolution reached 10,400 tonnes or 49% from the total imports of GPPS from the beginning of the year against 14,200 tonnes and a share of 65% in January-October of last year.

October imports of HIPS into Russia decreased by 33% to 1,360 tonnes, compared with 2,040 tonnes in September. In terms of producers last month, it is worth noting the reduction in shipments of Styrolution's material to 460 tonnes from 620 tonnes a month earlier. Overall HIPS imports rose by 12% year on year in the first ten months of 2017 to 19,100 tonnes from 17,000 tonnes a year earlier. As a result of ten months, the volume of imports from all major suppliers of HIPS increased to Russia.

Styrolution's shipments grew by 16% to 7,300 tonnes, compared to 6,300 tonnes a year earlier. Shipments of Italian Polimeri Europa grew by 17% to 5,400 tonnes, compared to 4,600 tonnes a year earlier. Converters directly purchased 15,900 tonnes or 84% of the total GPPS imports in January-October 2017.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Stavrolen, Russia's major polyolefins producer, has resumed production of high density polyethylene (HDPE) after a long scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report with reference to the plant's customers.

Stavrolen had partially resumed HDPE production capacities by 16 November, after conducting the long planned scheduled maintenance. A full resumption of operations at three units are scheduled for January 2018, whereas it is planned to load two-thirds of the plant's capacities at present.

The plant's customers said the first shipments of commodity polyethylene (PE) to the market are planned to be done already on 17 November. The scheduled shutdown started on 16 September and was initially planned to last for two months.

It is also worth noting that Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's HDPE production was shut for a one-week scheduled turnaround on 7 November. The start-up of the production took place as scheduled on 14 November.

Stavrolen, part of Lukoil, is Russia's second largest HDPE producer after Kazanorgsintez and the fifth largest polypropylene (PP) manufacturer. Stavrolen's production capacities for HDPE and PP are 300,000 and 120,000 tonnes/year, respectively.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- JG Summit Olefins Corp. has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract to Posco Engineering & Construction to expand an existing naphtha cracker and build a hydrogenation unit in Simlong, Batangas, Philippines, according to Korean news sources, as per Apic-online.

Under the contract, Posco will expand the naphtha cracker's capacity to 474,000 t/y from 320,000 t/y currently, as well as build a new hydrogen process plant for pyrolysis gasoline. Completion is expected by 2020.

Once complete, the cracker, will be the "largest" in the Philippines, the press reports said.

Last month, Fluor was awarded an engineering, pro-curement and construction management contract from JG Summit for a project at the Batangas complex that involves increasing ethylene production by 160,000 t/y, propylene production by 50,000 t/y and new and expanded downstream units.

As MRC reported earlier, JG Summit Holdings, Inc., the flagship of the Gokongwei family, is investing an additional USD700 mln for the expansion of its petrochemicals business through subsidiary JG Petrochemical Corporation.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — A Turkish energy delegation has met with Iraqi top oil officials in Baghdad to discuss issues including the resumption of Kirkuk oil exports via the Turkish port of Ceyhan, Iraq's oil ministry said in a statement on Thursday, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Exports from oilfields in Kirkuk have been on hold since Iraqi government forces took control of them from the Kurds last month in retaliation for a Kurdish referendum on independence which was widely opposed by Turkey, Iran and Western powers. "A high level Turkish energy delegation met with senior oil officials, including officials from state-run SOMO, to discuss ways to restart Kirkuk oil exports," the statement said.

Baghdad's meeting was attended by senior officials from the Turkish energy ministry, state-owned energy company TPAO and Turkish pipeline operator Botas, according to the oil ministry.

"The two parties discussed financial and technical issues which delay Kirkuk oil exports resumption. The talks are to be completed in Ankara," the statement said. Iraqi oil officials accuse Kurdish authorities of not responding to requests made by the oil ministry to use the Kurdish pipeline to resume exports from Kirkuk.

Iraq needs at least three months to repair an old pipeline which was shipping Kirkuk crude to Ceyhan port in Turkey, SOMO has said. The main 600,000 bpd Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline had been offline since March 2014 following insurgent attacks.
MRC