Chemical production in Russia grew by 4.3% in 2017

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall output of chemicals rose in 2017 by 4.3% year on year, with mineral fertilizers accounting for the greatest increase in production, according to Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal Service of State Statistics, last month's production of basic chemicals increased by 3.1% from November. Thus, output of basic chemicals grew by 4.3% year on year in 2017, with chemical fertilizers accounting for the greatest increase in production, whereas ethylene - for the least growth.

262,000 tonnes of ethylene were produced last December, compared to 250,000 tons a month earlier, all producers reached almost 100% capacity utilisation after the end of the period of shutdowns for maintenance in October-November. Overall, about 2,860,000 tonnes of this olefin were produced last year, up by 2.5% year on year.

Last month's production of benzene rose to 121,000 tonnes from 117,000 tonnes in November. Overall output of this product reached 1,360,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 4.2%year on year.

December production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 111,000 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) versus 106,000 tonnes a month earlier. Several plants accounted for higher output last month. Overall output of caustic soda grew to 1,240,000 tonnes in 2017, up by 6.1% year on year.

Last month's production of mineral fertilizers was 2,070,000 tonnes (in terms of 100% nutrients) versus 1,820,000 mln tonnes in November. Russian plants produced over 22,520,000 tonnes of fertilizers last year, up by 8.2% year on year. Production of all types of fertilizers increased, with potash fertilizers, the output of which grew by 11.6%, accounted for the greatest increase.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kraiburg TPE GmbH & Co. K.G. has launched a new extrusion line for the production of thermoplastic elastomers at its headquarters facility in Waldkraiburg, reported Rubber&Plastics News.

The move expands the company's total capacity to about 56,000 metric tons worldwide, and it comes in response to rising global demand for TPEs from the automotive, industrial, consumer and medical markets, Kraiburg said.

While the company has made investments at its facilities in Buford, Ga., and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Kraiburg said it is looking to invest in the Waldkraiburg location because it is the epicenter of its business operations.

"The Waldkraiburg site is and will remain the focus of all of our activities, where we have been investing particularly in expanding our development center and increasing our production capacities in recent years," Kraiburg CEO Franz Hinterecker said in a statement. "The new extrusion line underlines this strategy."

The firm has invested at its other sites, though. Kraiburg relocated to a new production plant in Buford in 2016, and more recently brought on stream a new production line at its facility in Kuala Lumpur.

"Our success in the market is based on strong customer orientation, global presence and influential innovations," Hinterecker said. "Continuously investing in the international network of our production plants and sales offices is a mainstay of this strategy."

As MRC wrote previously, in December 2017, Kraiburg TPE presented a new series of thermoplastic elastomers from its Thermolast K family that was specially developed for excellent adhesion and UV resistance in two-component applications with ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM). The new compounds are intended for automotive applications such as EPDM window trim and sealing profiles with moulded TPE corner joints and end elements.

Kraiburg Rubber (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. was established in 2005 and is part of the Waldkraiburg-based German company Kraiburg Holding GmbH & Co. KG. The company produces a wide range of standard rubber compounds (based on NR, EPDM, CR, AEM, SBR, FKM, etc.) for automotive, building and construction applications, and other industrial markets as well as highly customised products for all kinds of industries at its Suzhou site. The compounds are produced on highly automated and fully process-controlled mixing lines, based on state-of-the-art technology. The company has 130 employees.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - China's Sinochem Corp plans to open a trading office in the United States, drawn by the opportunity to trade growing production in the Americas, five sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The state-run oil and chemical trader's plan to open an office in Houston would seek to exploit rising U.S. crude production, which could prompt crude exports to rise by 45 percent in 2018 from last year, analysts said last week. Sinochem could also use the office to meet growing opportunities to supply China's independent refineries. The proposed office is expected to start operating later in the first half of this year with three to five staff initially, they said. Sinochem had a U.S. oil trading office that closed about 20 years ago.

Sinochem crude oil trader Zhu Yibing, currently trading North and South American crude from London, will move to the new office in Houston, the sources said. "U.S. is where everyone is setting up offices...with growing supplies from the U.S., there will be plenty of barrels available for trading," said a company source.

Bigger domestic rivals Sinopec and PetroChina both have trading operations in Houston. Unipec, the trading arm of Asia's biggest refiner Sinopec, is the region's largest buyer of U.S. crude oil. Sinochem did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Major oil companies and trading houses are bulking up U.S. operations to market rising crude oil production from onshore U.S. shale resources and offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil.

Sinochem's new office is expected to market its equity production from South America, previously handled from London. The grades include Ecuadorean Napo, Colombian Vasconia and Brazilian Peregrino that are considered so-called heavy crudes.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea’s SK Global Chemical had restarted its naphtha cracker on Wednesday after a brief but unplanned shutdown earlier in the day, says spokesman of parent company SK Innovation, reported Reuters.

The 660,000 tonnes-per-year (tpy) naphtha cracker was expected to be operating normally on Thursday, he adds.

Located in Ulsan, South Korea, the No. 2 cracker has a production capacity of 690,000 mt/year.

SK Global Chemical also operates a smaller 200,000 tpy cracker.

As MRC informed before, in October 2017, SK Global Chemical, a subsidiary of SK Innovation, entered into an agreement with Dow Chemical to purchase Dow's polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) business for an undisclosed amount. Through the agreement, SK Global will acquire all of Dow's PVDC business, including its production facility in Michigan, related manufacturing technology and intellectual property, as well as the Saran trademark. According to local sources, the PVDC acquisition is expected to cost under USD86-million.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) shared the breakdown of development progress of its USD27 billion Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) here yesterday, which was 84% completed as at end-December 2017, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Petronas’ 300,000 bpd refinery complex, which forms part of the USD16 billion RAPID project within the 6,242-acre PIC, was at 94% development completion, said Datin Anita Azrina Abdul Aziz, Petronas Refinery and Petrochemical Corp Sdn Bhd’s head of stakeholder, communication and risk management.

She was speaking to the press today during a media familiarization visit to PIC. “The refinery will cater to more mid-sour crude from the Middle East,” she said. However, she said Petronas is “still ironing out the details” on the percentage of crude supply to be sourced from Saudi Aramco under a share purchase agreement inked in April 2017 between the two parties, as well as the pricing mechanism of the supply.

The associated steam cracker plant and petrochemical complex under RAPID — with respective annual production capacity of 3 million tonnes of feedstock and 2,640 kilotonnes of petrochemicals — were at 91% and 69% completion as at end last year.

The PIC sits in the larger, 22,000-acre Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC) endorsed by the state government of Johor and the federal government. Alongside RAPID, PIC is also home to six other associated facilities, including the centralised and shared utilities and facilities for the project and its employees.

Its raw water supply project (PAMER), which channels 30 million liters per day to the Johor state water reservoir at Sungai Lebam and another 230 MLD to the PIC — started operations in July 2016. The project included the construction of an intake station, a dam and a booster pumping station, and 88km of raw water pipelines, Anita said.
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