Repsol completes turnaround of POSM plant in Tarragona

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Repsol has allocated more than 25 million euros to the turnaround at its Tarragona’s petrochemical complex that began at the end of January, as pe Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The turnaround activities have allowed to perform inspection, maintenance and technological innovation and environmental tasks, as well as to carry out cleaning and repair equipment activities.

During this scheduled turnaround, all outlined objectives have been met. The zero safety accidents goal has been achieved. Regarding environmental objectives, the shutdown has been carried out without environmental incidents and the correct waste management has been accomplished. 47,000 hours of safety and environmental training were provided for this turnaround, and more than 2,600 people attended the courses including both Repsol employees and contractors. Scheduled time, cost and quality goals have also been met, to ensure the energy efficiency and operation of the plants for the next cycle.

The maintenance work carried out in the different units during the turnaround involved circa 400,000 man-hours. A daily average of 1,100 people passed through the Complex’s facilities, counting Repsol’s staff and contractors, in addition to the habitual 2,700.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraq is studying the possibility of building crude oil storage facilities in South Korea and Japan as part of a plan to increase sales to Asian clients, the head of the Iraqi state-oil marketer SOMO, Alaa al-Yasiri said, reported Reuters.

"SOMO's new strategy is to form trade arms in Asian markets to maximize profits and boost crude shipments to Asian markets," he told reporters in Baghdad.

SOMO received offers from Exxon Mobil, Total, Japan's Sumitomo and China's Unipec, to take part in marketing Iraqi crude, he said.

"We are studying building crude storages in South Korea and also Japan and we're also studying options to have a partnership between SOMO and companies which are ready to help with building the storages," Yasiri said.

Iraq plans to stop loading crude from its southern port of Basra for three to four days in early April due to maintenance, he said.

During the halt of loading operations at Basra port, Iraq will divert production to storage depots in south. Once the maintenance work is done, it will pump at maximum capacity to make up the shortfall.

OPEC’s second-largest producer, after Saudi Arabia, Iraq exports most of its crude from the Basra region, on the Gulf. The Basra port loading capacity is estimated at around 1.8 MMbpd.

Iraq has 10 million barrels in oil storage capacity in the southern region, Yasiri said.

Iraq's crude output should not exceed 4.360 million barrels per day in compliance with a deal between oil exporting nations to curb supply in order to lift prices, he also said. March oil exports won't exceed 3.426 MMbpd, he said.

Oil exports from the northern Kirkuk fields through Turkey, halted since October, could resume "at any moment" as talks with the Kurdistan Regional Government which controls the pipeline are ongoing, he said.

The main issue hindering the resumption of exports to Turkey is the Kurdistan region's demand that the central government in Baghdad pays debt related to the development of the Kurdish oil industry infrastructure, he said.

In parallel, the Iraqi government plans to build within six months a pipeline to Turkey that runs in territory under its control, he said, adding that 96 offers to construct the facility had been received.

Iraq could start "in one to two weeks" sending crude by truck from Kirkuk to Iran's Kermanshah refinery, starting at a daily average rate of 3 Mbpd, he said.

The swap deal agreed at the end of 2017 between Tehran and Baghdad provides for Iran to export from its Kharg terminal, on the Gulf, on SOMO's behalf, the same amount of crude it receives from Kirkuk.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical has restarted its low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit in Shanghai, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the unit on March 26, 2018 following a turnaround. The unit was shut for maintenance on February 26, 2018.

Located at Shanghai in China, the LDPE unit has a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, on 2 January, 2018, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical took off-stream a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant owing to technical issues. Further details of duration of shutdown could not be ascertained. Located at Shanghai in China, the plant has a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York . Sinopec is the worlds fifth biggest company by revenue.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Ukraine decreased by 3% in the first two months of this year, compared to the same period in 2017 and reached about 13,700 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope.

February imports of SPVC in Ukraine exceeded 8,000 tonnes despite low season, compared with 5,700 tonnes in January. Local companies significantly increased imports of North American PVC. Total SPVC imports into the country were about 13,700 tonnes in January - February 2018, compared with 14,100 tonnes in the same time a year earlier.

Structure of PVC imports into Ukraine over the reported period was as follows.

Last month's SPVC imports from the USA exceeded 6,000 tonnes, compared to 1,300 tonnes in January. Export prices of US PVC were at a minimum level in November and early December, and Ukrainian companies actively contracted North American PVC.

Imports of North American resin totalled 8,700 tonnes in the first two months of 2018 versus 2,700 tonnes a year earlier. February imports of European PVC into Ukraine decreased to 1,200 tonnes, compared with 2,600 tonnes in January. Such a low level of imports was a result of the high level of export prices in Europe. Total imports of European PVC into Ukraine were about 3,800 tonnes in the first two months of the year, compared with 8,600 tonnes year on year.

Imports of Russian PVC increased in February to 745 tonnes from 383 tonnes in January. Ukrainian government has banned the import of PVC from Russia since 1 March, which will be in effect until the end of the year. Shipments of Russian resin were about 1,100 tonnes in the first two months of 2018, compared to 2,800 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Production of polyethylene (PE) in Russia increased to 308,600 tonne in first two months of this year, up 4% year on year, compared to the same period of 2017. The largest increase in PP production was recorded in linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) sector, according to MRC ScanPlast.

February PE production in Russia decreased to 146,700 tonnes, whereas this figure was about 161,800 tonnes a month earlier. The low production figures was a result of solely to the calendar factor. Overall PE output reached 308,600 tonnes in January-February 2018, compared to 295,300 tonnes a year earlier. Output of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and LLDPE increased increased, whereas HDPE production remained at the level of 2017.

Structure of PE production over the reported period looked as follows.
Russia's February HDPE production decreased to 73,500 tonnes from 81,100 tonnes a month earlier. In general, total volume of HDPE output by Russian plants reached 154,600 tonnes in January-February, which almost the same as last year.

February imports of LDPE was 56,400 tonnes, compared with 62,100 tonnes in January. Overall LDPE production exceeded 118,500 tonnes over the stated period, up by 1% year on year.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim has kept a quite high level of capacity utilisation since the beginning of the year, in February the production of linear polyethylene at Nizhnekamskneftekhim reached 16,800 tonnes against 18,600 tonnes. Production of LLDPE in Russia exceeded 35,400 tonnes in the first two months of this year, while a year earlier this figure did not exceed 23,300 tonnes.

MRC