Mitsui resumes ethylene production in Osaka following June fire

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals has announced it has resumed ethylene production following a 21 June 2018 fire at its Osaka, Japan, site, as per Apic-online.

The fire occurred in a utility plant during a scheduled maintenance, which was expected to be completed in late July, reported Reuters. The 500,000-t/y naphtha cracker was not directly affected."Other production will also be restarted in order," Mitsui noted.

The Osaka site also produces olefins, aromatics, ammonia, urea, phenol, ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, ethanolamine, unsaturated polyesters, isopropyl alcohol, melamine and others.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2016, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Hankuk Carbon Co., a company listed on the Korea Exchange, entered into a strategic alliance agreement to engage in collaborative business activities relating to the processing of composite materials.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
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Iran oil exports set to drop in August ahead of U.S. sanctions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran’s crude oil and condensate exports in August are set to drop below 70 million barrels for the first time since April 2017, well ahead of the Nov. 4 start date for a second round of U.S. economic sanctions, as per Reuters.

The United States has asked buyers of Iranian oil to cut imports to zero starting in November to force Tehran to negotiate a new nuclear agreement and to curb its influence in the Middle East.

The total volume of crude and condensate, an ultra-light oil produced from natural gas fields, to load in Iran this month is estimated at 64 million barrels, or 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd), versus a peak of 92.8 million barrels, or 3.09 million bpd, in April, preliminary trade flows data on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed.

The National Iranian Oil Co has slashed its crude prices to keep buyer interest amid the August export drop. It has set the official selling price (OSP) for Iranian Heavy crude for September loading at the biggest discount since 2004, according to Reuters and trade data.

Iran is currently the third-largest producer among the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and benchmark oil futures traded in London have surged to their highest since June in anticipation of the loss of Iranian supply.

As MRC informed earlier, South Korea’s Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co Ltd has increased imports of condensate from the United States and Australia and is seeking more European cargoes to replace Iranian supplies.
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Wood awarded large strategic modifications contracts by Equinor for Norwegian refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wood has secured two new strategic modifications contracts with Equinor for the Mongstad refinery near Bergen, growing its downstream capability in Norway, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

These contracts continue Wood’s support of the Mongstad refinery which aligns with the company’s focus on expanding its existing footprint in the onshore market in Norway.

The scope of the contracts includes front-end engineering design (FEED) for a gas residue debottleneck project, and engineering and procurement services to reduce sulphur content in gasoline produced at the refinery.

Effective immediately, the contracts will be delivered by Wood’s engineering teams based in Sandefjord and Bergen, Norway, with support drawn from the company’s global expertise.

Dave Stewart, CEO of Wood’s Asset Solutions business in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, comments: “Wood has worked with Equinor for more than twenty years and is committed to supporting the Mongstad production facility and the key role it plays in processing oil and gas from the Norwegian continental shelf.

“Our local engineering teams will provide their in-depth knowledge of Equinor’s processes and systems, as well as decades of experience in the Norwegian energy sector to safely and successfully deliver these contracts.”

Earlier this year, the company successfully completed front-end engineering design and analysis for modifications at the refinery’s naphtha hydrotreating and storage systems.

Wood has a maintenance, modification and operations (MMO) framework agreement with Equinor worth approximately USD400 million, secured in 2015, to deliver maintenance and modification services to four installations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
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BASF strengthens collaboration with Grolman in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF and Gustav Grolman GmbH & Co. KG strengthen their exclusive collaboration in Europe in the marketing of amine-based curing agents for the professional processing of epoxy resins, said BASF on its site.

Grolman expands the marketing of the BASF specialty chemicals under the Baxxodur brand to Italy, Spain and Portugal, specifically for use in epoxy resin based applications. Examples are thermosetting laminates, highly resistant floor coatings, corrosion protection varnish and composite materials. The products are used in the construction industry as well as in the automotive, marine, aerospace and industrial applications manufacturing.

With the extended regional partnership with BASF, Grolman, one of Europe's largest distributors of specialty chemicals, further strengthens its strong position. Grolman has a diversified know-how in application technology. The high-quality curing agent components made by BASF supplement Grolman’s product portfolio of resins, accelerators, additives, flame retardants, pigments and special fillers for the thermosetting industry.

Under the brand name Baxxodur, BASF markets a diversified spectrum of amine-based curing components for the professional processing of epoxy resins. Since 2015, BASF and Grolman collaborate exclusively in the marketing of Baxxodur in Europe. Since then, Grolman has been marketing the BASF specialty chemicals in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, Great Britain, France, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark specifically for use in epoxy resin based applications.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2017, BASF’s Coatings division inaugurated a new automotive coatings plant at its Bangpoo manufacturing site, Samutprakarn province, Thailand. The new plant is the first BASF automotive coatings manufacturing facility in ASEAN, and will produce solventborne and waterborne automotive coatings to meet growing market demand in the region.

The Grolman Group operates an international specialty ingredients distribution business. It is composed of individual sales offices based in all European countries, each supported by technically trained sales staff, customer service teams and local warehousing. The Grolman Group, run by the fifth generation of the Grolman family, has been privately owned since it was established in 1855.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.BASF generated sales of EUR64.5 billion in 2017.
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Neste keeps faith with renewable jet fuel business despite setback

MOSCOW (MRC) - Biofuel producer and oil refiner Neste sees good opportunities for its renewable jet fuel despite a canceled pilot project in Switzerland, a company executive said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Finnish company is hoping to get a boost for its biofuels business in the coming years from proposed reductions of CO2 emissions in aviation.

The pilot project was due to replace at least 1 percent of jet fuel used at Geneva airport with Neste’s biofuel, until Swiss authorities earlier this week told Neste they had decided not to back the scheme.

Neste had considered the Geneva project as an important step in ramping up its aviation business, but the head of its renewable products Kaisa Hietala told Reuters the cancellation would not affect Neste’s plans.

“It was surprising, a disappointment ... but we have other partners to proceed with, and there are more coming in the pipeline,” she said. Neste has recently announced similar projects with Dallas airport in the United States as well as American Airlines, and the product has already been tested by Boeing and Lufthansa.

“At the moment, what holds back this market is high price and availability. But when the market is created, there will be more interest,” Hietala said. She added Neste’s plan to expand its biofuel production in Singapore would enable it to provide sufficient volumes for the aviation market. Production at the new line is due to begin in 2022.

The International Civil Aviation Organization is targeting carbon-neutral growth in aviation from 2020, Hietala noted. “Aviation is a global business that grows at a fast pace. Reliability of delivery for the fuel will be an important question."

Alongside Neste, at least one other company, U.S. AltAir Fuels, has tested biofuel for aircraft with pilot projects. Neste has stepped up usage of low-quality feedstock in its biofuels: waste and residue inputs, such as animal fats, make up more than 80 percent of its raw materials.

In the first half of 2018, biofuels for road traffic made 70 percent of Neste’s core profit of 679 million euros (USD777 million). “Aviation might become a significant source of income for us in the future,” Hietala said.
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