Zeon to establish new acrylic rubber subsidiary in Thailand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zeon Corporation said that it will establish a new subsidiary in Thailand for acrylic rubber manufacture and sale. Zeon Chemicals Asia Co Ltd (tentative)will be located in the Rayong Province, Thailand, as per Worldofchemicals.

Acrylic rubber (ACM) is a speciality synthetic rubber combining high heat resistance and excellent oil resistance. ACM is broadly utilized in under-hood automotive applications such as transmission seals, gaskets as well as inter-cooler hoses.

The demand for acrylic rubber is expected to expand steadily in the Asian region, led by production growth of internal combustion and turbocharged engine powered automobiles.

The Thailand operation joins Zeon’s existing acrylic rubber manufacturing capabilities in Japan and USA.

As MRC wrote before, in 2013, Zeon started a new solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) plant on Singapore's Jurong Island. The plant is expected to have an initial capacity of 35,000 mt/year. The company was tentatively planning to double capacity in 2015-2016 but will watch the market demand for SBR first before deciding on this. The SBR produced at the plant will be used for tires, with SBR's key feedstocks being butadiene (60%) and styrene monomer (35%).

Zeon has three synthetic rubber plants with a total production capacity of 270,000 mt/year, which can produce SBR, butadiene rubber, as well as isoprene rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Waves began to batter parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday as the region felt the first effects of Tropical Storm Gordon, which is expected to become a hurricane before it comes ashore with high winds and heavy rain, forecasters said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The storm also caused a jump in global oil prices after the evacuation of two oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Gordon was due to come ashore late on Tuesday near the border between Louisiana and Mississippi, and drop as much as 12 inches (30 cm) of rain in areas still recovering from last year’s hurricanes, the National Hurricane Center said.

Currently carrying winds of around 65 miles per hour (105 km per hour), the storm was expected to pack hurricane-force winds - of at least 74 mph (119 kph) - when it reached the Gulf Coast, the center said. Beaches around Mobile, Alabama, were seeing storm-driven waves on Tuesday morning, said Stephen Miller, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

“We’re expecting an increase in winds,” Miller said in a phone interview. "We could see flooding." Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency, as did New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

Storm surge - sea levels driven higher - of as much as 5 feet (1.5 m) could hit a stretch of coast from Shell Beach, Louisiana, to Dauphin Island, Alabama, forecasters said. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency told South Mississippi residents to be prepared to evacuate.

As of Tuesday morning, Gordon was located about 190 miles (305 km) east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and was heading west-northwest, the Miami-based hurricane center said.

U.S. oil producer Anadarko Petroleum Corp evacuated workers and shut production at two offshore oil platforms on Monday, and other companies with production and refining operations along the Gulf Coast said they were securing facilities.

The Gulf of Mexico is home to 17 percent of U.S. crude oil and 5 percent of natural gas output daily, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the ports of New Orleans as well as Gulfport and Pascagoula, Mississippi, may have to close within 48 hours.

Last year, powerful hurricanes hit Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, causing thousands of deaths, hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damage and massive power outages. Gordon, which was not forecast to be a major hurricane, was expected to weaken rapidly after moving ashore, the hurricane center said.

The Inn at Ocean Springs and The Roost Hotel in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, had guests planning to ride out the storm, said Kristin Smith, the general manager of both hotels.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ADNOC Refining, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), has announced it has successfully completed the commissioning of a specialized coker unit, as part of its Carbon Black and Coker Project, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

With this, ADNOC will extract the maximum value from ‘bottom-of-the-barrel’ heavy oils and slurry, as it delivers on its aggressive Downstream strategy.

ADNOC’s Carbon Black & Coker Project incorporates a coker, known in the oil and gas industry as a ‘delayed coker’, that will allow ADNOC Refining to recover highly specialized and valuable grades of carbon black and calcined coke. Not only will it create higher value from what would otherwise be used for low value fuel oil, but both products are essential to industrial processes within ADNOC subsidiaries and other UAE industries, potentially removing the need to import costly raw materials.

Increasing the flexibility of ADNOC’s refining assets to stretch the value of every barrel of oil – and produce additional feedstocks and additives for the petrochemical industry - is a key pillar of ADNOC’s Downstream expansion strategy, announced at its Downstream Investment Forum earlier this year. The strategy will see ADNOC become a world-class producer, supplier and trader of refined and petrochemical products, as it focuses on growth markets in Asia, including China.

ADNOC’s multi-billion-dirham Downstream investment program will see the company’s refining capacity increase by more than 65%, or 600,000 bpd, by 2025, through the addition of a third refinery, creating a total capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day (mbpd). The new refinery will significantly increase the capability, flexibility and output of Abu Dhabi’s refining operations by adding to the range of crudes that can be processed. ADNOC also plans to build one of the world’s largest mixed feed crackers, which will enable it to produce additional feedstocks and additives for the petrochemicals industry.

Abdulaziz AlHajri, Director of ADNOC’s Downstream Directorate, said: "At the heart of our Downstream strategy is an AED 165 billion (US USD45 billion) investment, over the next five years, that will create the world’s largest integrated refining and petrochemicals hub in Ruwais, where ADNOC will convert 20% of its crude to chemicals, tripling petrochemical production capacity to 14.4 million tons per year, by 2025. In parallel, ADNOC intends to build an international, integrated Downstream presence, including securing additional crude refining capacity in growth markets."

Jasem Ali Al Sayegh, CEO of ADNOC Refining, said: "We are delighted to introduce technology that extracts more value from our downstream operations. The successful commissioning of the coker project, along with the production of the first Green coke created in the UAE, will improve ADNOC Refining’s margins by maximizing value from every barrel of crude oil that we refine. By working with local petrochemicals and aluminum industries, and engaging new local and international customers for these high value products, we will deliver greater value to ADNOC and more broadly to the UAE economy."

Through the Carbon Black & Coker Project, ADNOC Refining can produce 40,600 tons of two different grades of Carbon black per year, and 430,000 tons of high value anode grade calcined coke. Borouge, a joint venture between ADNOC and Borealis, makes extensive use of special carbon black grades across a range of products, including high-pressure water and gas pipes, steel pipe coatings and linings, and standalone piping. Calcined coke is a key ingredient in the anodes used in the electrolysis process that separates pure aluminum from bauxite ore. The UAE is the world’s sixth-largest aluminum producer, accounting for over 50 percent of the Gulf’s aluminum production, with annual production of 2.6 million metric tons in 2017.

As MRC wrote previously, in July 2017, ADNOC and Borealis signed a framework agreement, under which the companies will advance two key projects that will expand both ADNOC and Borealis downstream petrochemicals business and support the delivery of ADNOC’s integrated smart growth and partnership strategy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast states of Louisiana and Mississippi made preparations on Monday for Tropical Storm Gordon to come ashore late Tuesday, reported Reuters.

No refinery production has been shut due to the storm, but the plants were securing loose items to prevent damage from the expected 50-60 mile per hour (80-96 kph) winds and determining necessary staffing.

In offshore production areas, there have been no reports of platforms or rigs being shut or workers being evacuated as Gordon crossed the tip of Florida’s peninsula on Monday, heading northwest over the Gulf of Mexico.

Production levels at offshore facilities operated by Chevron Corp in the Gulf of Mexico remained at normal levels on Monday, said company spokeswoman Veronica Flores-Paniagua.

Chevron also said on Monday staff at its 352,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery at Pascagoula, Mississippi, were monitoring the storm carefully and preparing the plant for wind and rain. The Pascagoula refinery is closest to the landfall location currently forecast for Gordon.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to increase staffing at its 218,200 bpd Norco, Louisiana, refinery west of New Orleans, as it prepares the refinery for high winds, said sources familiar with plant operations.

Valero Energy Corp was also readying its 125,000 bpd Meraux, Louisiana, refinery on the east side of New Orleans for the storm’s winds, said sources familiar with plant operations.

The Gulf of Mexico is home to 17 percent of US crude oil and 5 percent of natural gas output daily, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

More than 45 percent of the nation’s refining capacity is located along the US Gulf Coast, which also is home to 51 percent of total US natural gas processing capability.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) has announced that Mitsubishi Corporation Plastics Ltd has joined the IRSG Panel of Associates, as per GV.

Formerly part of the Plastics Department of Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation Plastics branched off and became a company in its own right in 1989. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi, specialising in plastics and rubber. As the backbone of Mitsubishi Corporation's plastics and rubber business, the company achieves sustainable growth by responding flexibly to the various issues created by changes in the environment, while fulfilling its social responsibilities, said Mitsubishi Corporation Plastics.

The IRSG is an inter-governmental organisation composed of rubber producing and consuming stakeholders. Located in Singapore, IRSG was established in 1944. In order to facilitate the interaction between the industry and the group, a Panel of Associates with members of organisations involved in the rubber industry has been established. As of 1 July 2012, IRSG had 36 member countries and 120 industry members.

As MRC wrote before, in December 2017, Ube Industries, JSR Corp. and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC) received European Commission (EC) approval for the planned integration of their acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) subsidiaries.

Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.
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