Trinseo raises February prices for PS, PC and copolymers in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe have announced price increases for all polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and acrylonitrile styrene copolymer (SAN) grades, as per the company's press release.

Effective February 1, 2018, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products listed below will increase as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) - by EUR135 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by EUR135 per metric ton;
- CALIBRE PC resins - by EUR150 per metric ton;
- MAGNUM ABS resins - by EUR100 per metric ton;
- TYRIL SAN resins - by EUR120 per metric ton.

As MRC informed before, Trinseo last raised its prices for all PS, ABS, SAN and PC grades on 1 January 2018, as stated below:

- STYRON GPPS, STYRON and STYRON A-TECH HIPS - by EUR110 per metric ton;
- MAGNUM ABS resins - by EUR105 per metric ton;
- TYRIL SAN resins - by EUR90 per metric ton;
- CALIBRE PC resins - by EUR220 per metric ton.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD4.0 billion in revenue in 2015, with 18 manufacturing sites around the world, and more than 2,200 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Kuwait Petroleum Corp expects to spend over USD500 billion as it boosts its crude oil production capacity to 4.75 MMbpd in 2040, the national oil firm said on Wednesday, outlining ambitious growth plans for the next two decades, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"KPC is expected to spend USD114 billion in capex over the next five years and an additional USD394 billion beyond that to 2040," Chief Executive Nizar al-Adsani told an oil industry conference.

Kuwait's current oil production capacity is around 3.15 MM bpd. It revealed the plan to lift capacity to 4.75 MMbpd early last year. The figure would exceed the current output of Iraq and Iran, OPEC's second and third biggest oil nations, whose production was 4.4 million and 3.8 million bpd respectively in December.

Iraq and Iran plan to raise output steeply in the coming years to compete with OPEC leader Saudi Arabia, which produces around 10 MMbpd and has capacity of over 12 MMbpd. However, Iraq and Iraq are running far behind their targets to expand output because of infrastructure constraints, red tape and in the case of Iran, the threat of Western sanctions.

The move by Kuwait to expand capacity signals a willingness among OPEC producers to fight for market share in the long term as global oil demand rises and as the organisation faces competition from Russia and two fast-emerging oil superpowers, the United States and Brazil.

Adsani also told the conference that KPC intended to lift domestic oil refining capacity to 2.0 MMbpd by 2035, while ensuring maximum offtake of domestic heavy oil production and taking into consideration the need to meet local energy demand.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF catalysts announced the commercial launch of Boroflex, the latest evolution of its residuum (resid) oil Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) catalysts for the refining market. Boroflex is based on BASF’s unique Boron-Based Technology (BBT), and is designed to optimize refiners’ bottoms upgrading and distillate yields by providing maximum nickel contamination passivation, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Boroflex commercial trials have confirmed its ability to deliver better bottoms upgrading and high distillate yields that increase refiners’ profitability to meet market demand for refined products. It is proven to deliver other BBT-related benefits, such as nickel passivation, and lower coke and hydrogen.

“It is unique to introduce real step-change technologies into the FCC market. Thanks to our BBT platform, we are able to expand the portfolio for our customers with such innovative products,” said Detlef Ruff, BASF Senior Vice President, Process Catalysts. “Boroflex, the latest evolution of this technology, demonstrates our ongoing commitment to delivering innovative catalyst solutions for improved FCC unit performance, which results in more value for our customers."

"Boroflex is an example of BASF’s ability to accelerate our speed to market with new product innovation,” said Jim Chirumbole, BASF Vice President, Refining Catalysts. “In our refinery trials, Boroflex showed the capability to increase yields and to exceed the bottoms upgrading performance of other products in the resid cracking market. We are really glad to offer now another innovative FCC catalyst that can make refiners all over the world more successful."

Boroflex for superior bottoms upgrading is the third BBT product successfully introduced to optimize global refinery operations since the introduction of the innovative platform. BoroCat™, presented in 2016, enables maximum conversion for gasoline in FCC Units with high resid feed metals via improved metals passivation and operational flexibility. The product was awarded the 2017 Hydrocarbon Processing Award for best catalyst technology and the 2017 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award for outstanding environmental contributions. In 2017, BASF introduced Borotec™ to provide refiners maximum conversion and high operating flexibility for use in FCC units with moderate resid feed metals or changing feed quality.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-run Sinopec Group said it expects China's refined fuel exports to keep rising in the medium to long term as domestic demand growth slows and new refining capacity comes on-stream in 2020, while its shale gas operations struggle with high costs, reported Reuters.

China's shipments abroad of refined fuel products will rise by 4 percent this year to 41 million tonnes, it said in its annual oil and gas sector outlook released on Thursday.

The country exported record volumes of fuel in 2017 as refineries churned out more product to take advantage of decent profit margins at home and abroad, with the government issuing generous export quotas.

Domestic oil product demand in the world's second-largest oil consumer will rise by around 3 percent this year, Sinopec said in the report. China's gasoline consumption will hit a peak between 2025 and 2030, it said.

While forecasting gasoline demand to rise 7.3 percent this year, the top Asian refiner expects China's diesel demand to fall 1 percent in 2018, as Beijing's fight against pollution leads to a greater shift to natural gas as industrial fuel.

On the domestic supply of gasoline and diesel, the refining giant said the government's tightening tax rules will squeeze the margins of small blenders and independent refiners, leading to a cut in imports of blending stocks this year. China imports roughly 20 million tonnes annually of mixed aromatics and light cycle oil, two refinery products widely used as blending components for gasoline and diesel.

The report also said China's 2018 crude oil imports from the United States would top 10 million tonnes (200,000 barrels per day). That would be up from 7.7 million tonnes that China brought in from the United States last year.

Sinopec, which leads China's shale gas sector developing the country's largest commercial discovery, is however struggling to break even in the nascent business, said Ma Yongsheng, a vice president of the state group. "If without government subsidy, our shale gas business is on the verge of being loss-making," Ma told Reuters on the sidelines of the industry outlook briefing. The full cost of producing each cubic metre of gas at its flagship shale project Fuling, in the southwestern mountainous region of Chongqing, was around 1.1 yuan, Ma added.

Sinopec has said it pumped a record 6 billion cubic metres of gas from Fuling last year, out of the country's total shale output of around 9 bcm. China's natural gas output last year was nearly 150 bcm.

As MRC informed before, China's Sinopec group, parent of Sinopec Corp, will invest USD29.05 billion to upgrade four refining bases between 2016 and 2020 to produce higher-quality fuels. Sinopec's upgrades come as China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer, is embracing more stringent fuel standards in its battle against pollution and suffering an overall glut in refining capacity. After the upgrades, the total refining capacity of the four refining sites will reach 130 MMtpy, or 2.6 MMbpd, while ethylene capacity will reach 9 MMtpy, Sinopec said in March 2017.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group's key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Indian Oil Corp Ltd plans to increase the capacity of its Panipat refinery by two thirds to 500,000 bpd at a cost of USD3.64 billion, the country's largest refiner said on Wednesday, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

India is increasing refining capacity to keep pace with the expected growth in fuel demand as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to boost the manufacturing sector.

The energy-hungry nation's refinery capacity has more-than-doubled since the start of the millennium to about 5 MMbpd.

"Another step towards meeting our rapidly growing energy demand," Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in a tweet, referring to the planned increase in capacity at Panipat.

Indian Oil didn't give a timeline for the expansion. The company, along with its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd , has a total installed refining capacity of 1.6 MMbpd, according to government data.
MRC