Petrochemical plant blast due to fundamental failure - US safety board

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A Nov. 27 explosion at the TPC Group TPCL.UL petrochemical plant in Port Neches, Texas, was due to a "fundamental failure in the system," reported Reuters with reference to US Chemical Safety Board member Manuel Ehrlich's statement.

The specific event that triggered the early morning blast has yet to be determined, Ehrlich said.

The latest update from the Port Neches Response website sayd the fire on November 27 impacted 12 tanks on site. Plans are underway to safely transfer all remaining materials from the site, based on mechanical integrity inspections of tanks.

All tanks containing materials are being evaluated and prioritized for transfer. To further secure and safely transfer remaining materials from the site, technical experts with TPC Group will introduce inhibitors to stabilize materials being transferred. Options to safely transport materials from the site are being assessed.

Air Monitoring update: Air monitoring around the site and in the community continues to show no actionable butadiene levels. Unified Command, comprised of federal, state, local agencies and TPC Group, remains diligent in efforts to monitor air quality. Monitoring coverage, by various state, federal, and local agencies, extends throughout the county and is providing real-time air quality data to Unified Command.

Occasional elevated air measurements may continue to register as response teams secure the site. In the last 24-hours, experts have collected 4,364 air monitoring readings in the community. All of these readings were below actionable levels.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a federal public health agency, is still onsite as a third-party resource dedicated to reviewing the environmental data provided by Unified Command and will communicate findings once they are available.

Located adjacent to the Sabine Neches River, which is part of the Sabine Neches Waterway, TPC's Port Neches plant can produce more than 900 million lb (426,000 mt) of butadiene and raffinate a year, according to the company's website. The source familiar with company operations said the site has two butadiene lines with capacities of 166,000 mt/year and 260,000 mt/year. The MTBE unit at this site produces up to 400,000 mt/year.

Butadiene is one of the feedstocks for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Asia, the falling prices of feedstocks for ABS production have been pushing prices of material down in the Russian market. LG Chem's import prices for November quantities were as follows for Russian buyers: natural ABS - at USD1,400-1,420/tonne FOB Korea, black ABS - at USD1,610-1,630/tonne FOB Korea, white ABS - at USD1,640-1,660/tonne FOB Korea. December prices may drop by another USD30-50/tonn.
Natural grades of Korean ABS went down to Rb138,000-143,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in the domestic market in mid-November, whereas black ABS was offered at Rb156,000-160,000/tonne and white ABS - at Rb158,000-163,000/tonne CPT Moscow , including VAT.

Headquartered in Houston, TPC was acquired in 2012 by private equity groups First Reserve and SK Capital.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR-Khimprom has sharply reduced its December expandable polystyrene (EPS) prices for contract buyers in the Russian market, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Thus, the decrease was Rb6,000/tonne.

Overall, December prices for material of Russia's main EPS producer were at Rb97,000-103,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, this month.

Thus, domestic prices have gone down to a minimum for the past five years. Prices were at this level in late 2014-early 2015.

At the same time, demand was either moderate or weak in the Russian EPS market. Some market participants reported a noticeable decrease in activity in the EPS market in the previous weeks.

SIBUR-Khimprom (part of SIBUR Holding) specializes in the processing of liquid hydrocarbons and is one of the leading Russian producers of a number of the most important petrochemical products. The company has three main production capacities: production of butyl alcohols and 2-ethylhexanol with a capacity of 160,000 tonnes per year, production of ethylbenzene (220,000 tonnes per year), styrene monomer (SM) production (135,000 tonnes per year) and polystyrene (PS) production (100,000 tonnes per year), ethylene and propylene unit, production of eco-friendly plasticizer DOTF (100,000 tonnes per year).
mrcplast.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Guangzhou Petrochemical, part of China's petrochemical giant - Sinopec, has resumed operations at its cracker following a turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China, informed that, the company has restarted the cracker on December 5, 2019. The cracker was shut for maintenance on October 12, 2019.

Located in the Guangzhou province of China, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 260,000 mt/year and propylene production capacity of 150,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. Sinopec's business includes oil and gas exploration, refining, and marketing; production and sales of petrochemicals, chemical fibers, chemical fertilizers, and other chemical products; storage and pipeline transportation of crude oil and natural gas; import, export and import/export agency business of crude oil, natural gas, refined oil products, petrochemicals, and other chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MEGlobal announced that its Asian Contract Price (ACP) for monoethylene glycol (MEG) will be USD720/MT CFR Asian main ports for arrival January 2020, said the company.

The January 2020 ACP reflects the short term supply/demand situation in the Asian market.

As it was written earlier, MEGlobal announced that its Asian Contract Price (ACP) for monoethylene glycol (MEG) will be USD710/MT CFR Asian main ports for arrival December 2019. The December 2019 ACP reflects the short term supply/demand situation in the Asian market.

MEG is one of the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, Ecopet, the largest producer of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Russia and Eastern Europe, last week reduced the spot price of PET chips by Rb2,000/tonnes. Producer's average spot prices fell to Rb80,000-83,000/tonne CPT Kiev, including VAT. The interest of buyers has grown in the spot market in the last decade of November.

MEGlobal is a world leader in the manufacture and marketing of merchant monoethylene glycol and diethylene glycol (EG). Established in July 2004, the company is a joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company and Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait and is headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With approximately 200 employees worldwide, MEGlobal serves customers around the world, and has production facilities in Fort Saskatchewan and Prentiss, Alberta, Canada.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petrochemical producer Sasol's ethane cracker in Lake Charles, Louisiana, will restart from planned maintenance work in the latter part of December, a spokeswoman for the company said in an email to S&P Global.

"On November 30, we shut down the LCCP ethane cracker to begin replacing its acetylene reactor catalysts, as we announced in October," the spokeswoman said.

The unit is expected to have a nameplate capacity of 1.5 million mt/year in 2020, according to the company's website.

The maintenance began November 30.

As MRC wrote before, Sasol announced that its world-scale US ethane cracker reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol’s new cracker, the heart of its Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide feedstock to our six new derivative units at the company's Lake Charles multi-asset site.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.

Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
MRC