INEOS announces location for its new cracker and PDH units

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS has announced Antwerp as the location for its new petrochemical investment, as per the company's press release.

The EUR3 billion investment will be the biggest ever made by INEOS and is first cracker to be built in Europe in 20 years.

The investment is a game changer for the chemical sectors and will bring huge benefits to the Belgium and wider European economies.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Founder and Chairman of INEOS says: "Our investment in a gas cracker and world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit is the largest of its kind in Europe for more than a generation and is an important development for the European petrochemical industry. We believe this investment will reverse years of decline in the sector."

INEOS has announced that Antwerp, Belgium will be the location for its multi-billion Euro project for an ethane gas cracker and world-scale PDH unit in Europe. The EUR3 billion investment is the largest investment in the European chemicals sector in 20 years and could be a game changer for the Belgium economy.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, CEO and Chairman of INEOS said: "Our investment in a gas cracker and world-scale PDH unit is the largest of its kind in Europe for more than a generation and is an important development for the European petrochemical industry. We believe this investment will reverse years of decline in the European chemicals sector."

The new petrochemical complex will be co-located with INEOS’ existing sites in Europe making polymers and will be connected by pipeline to a number of INEOS ethylene and propylene derivative units in the region.

INEOS already has a major presence in Belgium, employing 2500 people across 9 manufacturing sites, with 6 of these located in Antwerp and 3 Research and Technology centres.

John McNally, CEO of the Project said: "The selection of Antwerp as a location for these new assets is a significant step-forward for the development of this project. This decision builds upon our long-standing relationship with the Port of Antwerp, the City of Antwerp, and the governments of Flanders and Belgium."

Rob Ingram, CEO INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe. North said: "The addition of these world-scale assets, using cutting edge technologies that are also highly energy efficient, will give us a competitive and sustainable cost base. We believe this will significantly strengthen the whole of the ethylene and propylene derivative chains within INEOS and allows us to continue to support the growth and development of our customers for years to come."

As MRC reported before, in July 2018, petrochemicals company INEOS announced that it will invest EUR2.7 billion (USD3.15 billion) to build a new chemical cracker and PHD unit in northwest Europe. This is the first cracker to be built in Europe in 20 years and both facilities will benefit from US shale gas economics, adding that the location of the site will be announced soon and the project will be completed in four years.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF co-founded a global alliance of nearly 30 companies to advance solutions that reduce and eliminate plastic waste in the environment, especially in the ocean, as per company's press-release.

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) has committed over USD1.0 billion with the goal of investing USD1.5 billion over the next five years to help end plastic waste in the environment. New solutions will be developed and brought to scale that will minimize and manage plastic waste. This also includes the promotion of solutions for used plastics by helping to enable a circular economy.

"We strongly support the aim to reduce plastic waste in the environment," said Dr. Martin Brudermuller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer of BASF SE, who supported setting up the Alliance from the beginning. "We are co-founding the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, because we want to drive and promote solutions that will effectively help solve the world's plastic waste problem," explained Brudermuller. "Plastics are efficient materials that can save resources and enable health, safety as well as convenience benefits for society. These benefits could be contradicted, if plastics and their waste are neither used nor disposed nor recycled in a responsible manner."

Understanding where the plastic waste originates from is key. Research by the Ocean Conservancy shows that plastics in the ocean predominantly originate from litter on land. Most of the plastic waste is spread through rivers and can be traced back to ten major rivers around the world, mainly in Asia and Africa. Many of these rivers flow through densely populated areas which have a lack of adequate waste collection and recycling infrastructure, leading to significant waste leakage. The AEPW will initiate actions where they are most needed.

The following companies are the founding members of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste: BASF, Berry Global, Braskem, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, Clariant, Covestro, CP Group, Dow, DSM, ExxonMobil, Formosa Plastics Corporation USA, Henkel, LyondellBasell, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, NOVA Chemicals, OxyChem, PolyOne, Procter & Gamble, Reliance Industries, SABIC, Sasol, Shell, Suez, SCG Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemical, Total, Veolia, and Versalis (Eni).

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 18,200 employees in North America and had sales of USD17.9 billion in 2017.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Crude oil output from the United States is expected to rise to a new record of more than 12 million barrels per day (bpd) this year and to climb to nearly 13 million bpd next year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its first 2020 forecast, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

U.S. crude production is forecast to climb 1.14 million bpd to 12.07 million bpd in 2019 and an additional 790,000 bpd in 2020 to 12.86 million bpd, the statistics arm of the U.S. Energy Department said in a monthly report.

The United States has become the world's largest crude producer, boosted by output from shale formations, with production of nearly 11 million barrels in 2018, which broke the country's annual record set in 1970.

"Steady growth from non-OPEC countries, including the United States, headlines the forecast for global crude oil production through 2020," Linda Capuano, EIA administrator said in comments issued following the forecast. "We expect the United States to remain the world’s largest producer."

The forecast indicates that the U.S. will become a net crude exporter in late 2020. U.S. demand for diesel and other distillate fuels is expected to rise 20,000 bpd to 4.15 million bpd in 2019 and to rise to 4.19 million in 2020, the agency said.

U.S. gasoline demand in 2018 was seen at 9.29 million bpd, down from 9.31 million bpd previously. Gasoline demand is expected to rise to 9.35 million bpd in 2019 and to hold that level in 2020, the EIA said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Munich-based chemical group Wacker is increasing its global production capacities for silicone rubber, as per the company's press release.

With expansion measures at several sites, Wacker plans to gradually raise its capacities by a total of 40,000 metric tons per year by 2021. Approximately EUR100 million has been earmarked for this capacity expansion. With these measures, WACKER is responding to the high demand for silicone rubber in key sectors such as the automotive, electronics and medical industries. These investments are part of the Wacker Silicones division’s strategy of further expanding its portfolio of specialties.

Silicone rubber is among the most sought-after elastomers in the industry. "Silicones are high-performance materials. They are essential for novel product solutions and belong to the innovation drivers in key industry sectors such as automotive, medical, and electronics," says Robert Gnann, head of the Wacker Silicones business division. "Above-average growth is being driven by the trends toward hybrid cars, electromobility and digitalization, as well as decentralized alternative electricity generation using wind and solar power. So, we are making a major contribution to increased sustainability while pursuing our strategy of clearly focusing on boosting specialties in our portfolio.

With capacity expansions in the midstream production steps and downstream production, Wacker will significantly improve the silicone-rubber availability and related service for its customers in the near future. All solid silicone rubber product groups will benefit from these expansion measures. In April of this year, Wacker already brought a new production site for silicone sealants and thermally conductive silicone compounds on stream in Jincheon, South Korea. The production of room-temperature-vulcanizing silicone elastomers and liquid silicone rubbers has also started in Amtala, India, where Wacker manufactures silicones in a joint venture with Metroark.

For 2019, the chemical group is planning further capacity enhance-ments for liquid silicone rubber, high- and room-temperature-vulcanizing silicones and thermally conductive silicone compounds at its production sites in Burghausen (Germany), Adrian (Michigan, USA) and Zhangjiagang (China). Wacker is currently also evaluating the option of building a plant for solid silicone rubber at its US-based site in Charleston, Tennessee. Wacker has been producing polysilicon there since 2016. A plant for manufacturing pyrogenic silica, an important filler for high consistency silicone rubber (HCR), will come on stream at this site next year.

As MRC informed before, Wacker Chemie AG is expanding its existing production plants for dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in South Korea. The company is building a new spray dryer for dispersible polymer powders at its Ulsan site, which will have a total capacity of 80,000 metric tons per year. The Munich-based chemicals company is also constructing an additional reactor for dispersions based on vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer (EVA), which are needed as the raw material for the spray dryer to produce dispersible polymer powders. Ulsan’s plant complex, which covers the entire production chain from EVA dispersions to dispersible polymer powders, will be one of the largest of its kind in the world. Investments will total around EUR60 million and production is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2019.

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Mexico’s freight transport association expects a contingency plan aimed at speeding up gasoline distribution that began over the weekend to help ease bottlenecks at terminals, where fuel inventories have been accumulating in recent weeks, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s crackdown on rampant fuel theft has caused long lines of angry motorists waiting to fill up their tanks since a handful of Mexico’s most important fuel pipelines were closed to avoid further losses.

The switch to more road distribution has slowed down deliveries to gas stations as crowded fuel terminals owned by state-run Pemex’s create bottlenecks with tanker ships waiting to discharge imports at several ports.

The National Chamber of Freight Transport expects faster truck loading, direct deliveries and better security can increase fuel distribution by road to 50 percent of the 1.27 million barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel Mexico consumes, compared with a current average of about 30 percent.

“This is a contingency plan for using existing assets to achieve a larger capacity of (fuel) distribution,” said chamber President Enrique Gonzalez.

Transporters have asked Pemex to speed up loading at terminals to a maximum of four hours from 8-18 hours currently. Before Lopez Obrador’s anti-theft push, each truck would spend up to 72 hours at Pemex’s distribution centers, Gonzalez said.

The chamber represents companies with a combined fleet of 3,500 double-tank fuel trucks capable of loading up to 62,000 liters each. The contingency plan also contemplates direct delivery from terminals to gas stations, without passing through Pemex distribution centers.

Large convoys of gasoline trucks are now a common sight along Mexican highways. The vehicles are given a military escort since Lopez Obrador moved thousands of soldiers and police to supervise and protect refining and distribution.
Mexico’s central region, including the capital, has been most affected by the shortages since a key pipeline from Pemex’s Salamanca refinery was shut in late December.
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