JG Summit commences turnaround at its PE plant in Philippines

MOSCOW (MRC) -- JG Summit Petrochemical, a major petrochemical producer in the Philippines, has started maintenance at its polyethylene (PE) unit at Batangas, reported NCT with reference to the sources.

The company produces 325,000 tons/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE)/linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) at its facility.

The plant is expected to be offline for two months from October to the end of November.

As MRC wrote previously, in November 2017, JG Summit Olefins Corp. awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract to Posco Engineering & Construction to expand an existing naphtha cracker and build a hydrogenation unit in Simlong, Batangas, Philippines.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spain’s Repsol will shut down its cracker in Tarragona (Spain) for maintenance in the fourth quarter of 2019, reported Hellenic Shipping News.

The turnaround at this steam cracker, which produces 702,000 mt/year of ethylene and 372,000 mt/year of propylene, was pushed back from Q3 2019. The exact dates of maintenance works are not disclosed.

Besides, Repsol 2019 maintenance plans include partial works at Puertollano in October and November, as the company is carrying out an extensive digitalization upgrade at the plant this year and will carry out turnarounds at the cracker and chemical derivative plants at the end of 2020.

As MRC wrote previously, in Q1 2016, Repsol completed the construction work of its new metallocene polyethelene plant at its Tarragona site. Repsol started up the plant and began production and marketing of this new product during Q2 2016.

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.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- JG Summit Petrochemical, a major petrochemical producer in the Philippines, has started maintenance at its polypropylene PP unit at Batangas, reported NCT with reference to the sources.

The plant is expected to be offline for two months from October to the end of November.

Located in Batangas City, the Philippines, the plant has a production capacity of 190,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, this year, the company already conducted an unscheduled maintenance turnaround at its PP unit in Batangas from early June to 1 July.

Besides, we remind that in November 2017, JG Summit Olefins Corp. awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract to Posco Engineering & Construction to expand an existing naphtha cracker and build a hydrogenation unit in Simlong, Batangas, Philippines.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's CNPC has pulled out from Iran's USD4.8 billion South Pars gas project, Iran's oil minister said on Sunday, after France's Total abandoned the deal last year amid looming US sanctions on Tehran, reported S&P Global.

Iran's Petropars will now develop the Phase 11 of the gas project, which was signed in 2017. CNPC was supposed to take Total's 50.1% stake in the project on top of its initial 30% share.

"The phase 11 of South Pars gas field has been decided. Petropars alone will continue development of this phase," Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying by the ministry's Shana news service.

"Yes, it has stepped aside," Zanganeh said when asked if the Chinese company had pulled out of the project.

Total left the project last year as the US re-imposed sanctions on Iran after Washington pulled out from a nuclear deal with Tehran.

The project is aimed initially at meeting domestic gas demand, with potential for exports in later years. Production capacity is forecast at around 2 Bcf/d of gas, coming on stream in 2021. When fully operating, the scheme is also expected to deliver around 70,000 b/d of condensate.

Zanganeh said that the Iranian contractor will install the first jacket in phase 11 by March in addition to a platform with gas extraction capacity of 500 MMcf/d.

When asked why Iran had not abandoned the CNPC deal after Total's pull-out, Zanganeh said: "We wanted to attract foreign investment for this phase. In addition, the pressure boosting platform was important for us and Petropars was due to learn the job alongside these companies."

Iran shares the giant offshore South Pars gas field with Qatar, where it is called the North Field.

As MRC wrote previously, in October 2018, CNPC started operating an expanded refinery in northern China with an annual processing capacity of 10 million tonnes (200,000 barrels per day). CNPC also added a refined fuel pipeline connecting Fushun and Jinzhou, both in northeast Liaoning province, and a separate pipeline linking Jinzhou with central Chinese city of Zhengzhou. The state firm operates two refineries in Jinzhou.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eng Abdulaziz Al-Zamil, chairman and non-executive member of Sahara International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) and chairman of Zamil Group Holding Company, passed away on 6 October 2019, ConstructionWeek reported.

Sipchem is listed on the Saudi exchange, Tadawul. In a filing to Tadawul, Sipchem said that "updates on the appointment of a new chairman will be announced later."

Zamil Group was founded almost 95 years ago by Abdulaziz Al-Zamil's father, Abdullah Al-Hamad Al Zamil. The company's board comprises 12 Al-Zamil brothers, according to the company website. Zamil Group operates in the construction, chemicals, marine & offshore, and real estate sectors, among others.

Sipchem, originally named the Saudi International Petrochemical Company, was founded in 1999 by Zamil Group. In 2006, Zamil Group founded Sahara Petrochemical Company, which merged with Sipchem in May 2019.

As MRC wrote before, in early April 2019, Sahara Petrochemicals announced that its current CEO, Salah Mohammed Bahmdan, will head up the new group that will be formed from its merger with Saudi International Petrochemical (Sipchem). The companies disclosed last December that they had agreed to a merger of equals in a move they estimate to yield synergies of up to 225 million Saudi riyal, or USD60 million, by the end of the third year after completion.

We also remind that on July 26, 2014, Sipchem commenced trial runs at a new ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA)/low density polyethylene (LDPE) swing plant in Saudi Arabia. Located in Jubail, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

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).

Established in 1999, Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) manufactures and markets methanol, butanediol, tetrahydrofuran, acetic acid, acetic anhydride, vinyl acetate monomer. Besides, it launched several down-stream projects to manufacture ethylene vinyl acetate, low density polyethylene, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, cross linkable polyethylene, and semi conductive compound in 2013.
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