Celanese focused on Clear Lake plant restart

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, experienced an emergency incident at approximately 12:00 noon Central time on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Celanese Clear Lake facility in Pasadena, Texas, said the producer on its site.

On-site emergency personnel extinguished the fire quickly, and appropriate regulatory and first responder agencies were notified and mobilized at the scene to support the incident. All Celanese, site partner and contractor employees are accounted for and no injuries were reported. No shelter in place was issued, and the emergency was cleared at 4:30 p.m. local time. The cause of the incident is being investigated.

At this time, Celanese unit operations including acetic acid and monomer vinyl acetate (VAM) with a capacity of 450,000 per year are down. The Fairway methanol unit is also idle.

Shipping operations at Clear Lake and associated terminals are expected to continue without interruption. Celanese will leverage its global network capabilities to service contract customers. Site restart efforts are underway.

According to MRC's DataScope report, July EVA imports to Russia increased by 4% year on year to 3,490 tonnes from 3,350 tonnes in July 2018, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation decreased in January-July 2019 by 14, 3% year on year to 22,440 tonnes (26,170 tonnes in the first seven months of 2018).

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2018 net sales of USD7.2 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indonesia's state oil and gas company PT Pertamina said it had stopped an underwater leak from an oil well off West Java over the weekend after more than two months of spillages, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company aims to permanently plug the leak next week, but the clean-up effort for beaches nearby is expected to last until at least March next year.

The spill, from the YYA-1 well in Pertamina's Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) block, started on July 12 and was declared an emergency three days later. An environmental group said the spill has affected at least 13 villages, threatening the livelihoods and health of thousands of people.

On Monday, Dharmawan Samsu, Pertamina's upstream director, told reporters that Pertamina had connected a relief well, which should contain the leak, and aimed to permanently plug the leaking well by Oct. 1.

"With this completion, we can soon focus on recovery efforts for the affected area," he said. "We will renovate public infrastructure and clean the environment to restore the ecosystem."

More than 42,000 barrels of oil have been recovered offshore since the spill, Taufik Adityawarman, a Pertamina official said, as well as 5.7 million bags of mixed sand and oil from beaches.

Pertamina has promised to compensate residents affected by the spill, mostly fishermen from villages near the well. Adityawarman said so far only 30% of the compensation money has been distributed.

The company has estimated output from the ONWJ block this year of 29,000-30,000 barrels of oil per day and 110 million standard cubic feet of natural gasper day.

As it was said earlier, PT Pertamina will sign an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to upgrade Balikpapan refinery in December.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gasoline exports from Europe to the Middle East and Asia are set to surge this week after recent attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities crippled output at the kingdom's refineries, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Over 400,000 tonnes of gasoline and gasoline blending components have been booked in the past week for loading between Sept. 21 and Sept 26 out of northwest Europe with Mideast Gulf delivery options, shipping data shows. The flow is the equivalent of around 500,000 barrels per day.

It is unclear where the cargoes will end up, but traders said that Saudi Arabia's state-run oil company Aramco is seeking to buy large volumes of refined oil products.

Europe's exports of gasoline and blending components to Saudi Arabia averaged 60,000 bpd in the first five months of the year, according to data analytics firm Vortexa.

"A flurry of gasoline bookings that emerged this week for Europe to Middle East voyages could see more European gasoline make its way to Saudi Arabia," Vortexa said in a note.

Traders said the rise in shipping bookings was related to a sharp increase in demand following attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure on Sept. 14, which knocked out around 1 million bpd of Saudi Arabia's refining capacity.

As it was written earlier, gasoline exports from Europe to the U.S. East Coast rose sharply in early July after a fire at a major refinery in Philadelphia left a supply shortage in the densely populated region/
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian Oil Corp is likely to restart operation at its naphtha cracker, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India, informed that, the company has planned to complete turnaround in early-October, 2019. The cracker was shut in early-September, 2019 for a maintenance turnaround.

Located in Panipat, in the northern Indian state of Haryana, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 857,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 425,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported before, Indian Oil witnessed a massive blast in its refinery at Panipat, Haryana. A domestic source informed then that the blast took place in the naphtha cracker of the refinery in the afternoon, on 22 January 2018. One contractual employee of IOCL was reportedly killed in the accident while 5 others were injured.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, has introduced new members of its NAS family of SMMA (styrene methyl methacrylate) materials, as per the company's press release.

NAS transparent copolymers are a premium choice for applications demanding a strong, stiff, water-clear plastic.

NAS XC and NAS XC® UV are the latest additions to INEOS Styrolution’s NAS portfolio, "XC" standing for "Xtra Clear" and "XC UV" standing for "Xtra Clear with enhanced UV stability". The material is designed for applications in need of ultra clarity and very low haze.

Electronics is considered to be the focus industry for NAS XC. Applications like light guide panels (used in TVs, computers, phones, tablets, laptops and other mobile devices) will benefit tremendously from the product properties.

NAS XC UV provides enhanced UV and high UV colour stability making it an ideal material for exterior and interior applications in the Automotive industry. It may also be used as a co-extruded layer on a different material making it a suitable material for a broad range of household and construction applications, including e.g. shower trays.
James Wang, Regional Industry Lead APAC - Electronics & Household, welcomes the new material: "With the Electronics industry having a production stronghold in Asia, I expect the new NAS XC to play an important role in this region."

The INEOS Styrolution family of NAS materials includes NAS 21 (general purpose blending with SBCs), NAS 30 (best colour, clarity, luster and chemical resistance) and NAS 90 (tougher, blending with SBCs).

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in February 2019, INEOS Styrolution made its first production move into China with the acquisition of two 200,000-tonne polystyrene (PS) facilities from Total S.A.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 39,130 tonnes in July 2019, down by 1% year on year (39,600 tonnes in 2018). Consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 287,370 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 2% year on year.

INEOS Styrolution is the leading, global styrenics supplier with a focus on styrene monomer, polystyrene, ABS Standard and styrenic specialties. With world-class production facilities and more than 85 years of experience, INEOS Styrolution helps its customers succeed by offering the best possible solution, designed to give them a competitive edge in their markets. The company provides styrenic applications for many everyday products across a broad range of industries, including Automotive, Electronics, Household, Construction, Healthcare, Packaging and Toys/Sports/ Leisure. In 2018, sales were at EUR5.4 billion. INEOS Styrolution employs approximately 3,500 people and operates 20 production sites in ten countries.
MRC