Powerful explosion cccurs at chemical plant in Zhuhai

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A massive explosion took place on Tuesday at a chemical plant in the city of Zhuhai in China's southern Guangdong province, said UrduPoint with reference to local media reports.

The Guangdong Radio and Television, a local broadcasting company, posted on its verified Weibo account a video showing a huge fire and black smoke rising from the plant.

The China Central Television (CCTV) also reported the explosion at the Zhuhai plant, citing videos posted by local residents on social media.

According to the CCTV, the fire was still not put out by 3 p.m. local time (07:00 GMT).

Thus, the blaze erupted at Zhuhai Changlian Petrochemical's plant, which can produce 40,000 tonnes/year of benzene; 280,000 tonnes/year of mixed xylene; and 150,000 tonnes/year of toluene at the site.

Benzene is the main feedstock for the production of styrene monomer (SM), which, in its turn, is used in the production of polystyrene (PS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics totalled 458,770 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, which corresponds to the level of 2018. November estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics rose by 2% year on year, totalling 49,210 tonnes. PS production remained in January-November 2019 the same as a year earlier. Russian producers manufactured 471,390 tonnes of material in the first eleven months of 2019.

Zhuhai Changlian Petrochemical Equipment Co., Ltd. is an enterprise in China, with the main office in Zhuhai. It operates in the Basic Chemical Manufacturing sector. The company was established on August 20, 2003. There are currently 240 (2018) people employed by Zhuhai Changlian Petrochemical Equipment Co., Ltd.. In its most recent financial highlights, the company reported a net sales revenue increase of 15.41% in 2018. There was a total negative growth of 1.57% in Zhuhai Changlian Petrochemical Equipment Co., Ltd.’s total assets over the same period. In, 2018, the company’s net profit margin decreased by 0.67%.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's overall production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) reached 975,000 tonnes in 2019, up by 2% year on year.
At the same time, not all Russian producers raised their output of PVC, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

December total production of unmixed PVC was about 81,400 tonnes versus 84,600 tonnes a month earlier, RusVinyl decreased their capacity utilisation in November. Overall PVC production reached 975,000 tonnes in January-December 2019, compared to 958,600 tonnes a year earlier. All plants raised their output, except for Kaustik Volgograd.

The structure of PVC production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

RusVinyl (JV of SIBUR and SolVin) produced about 23,100 tonnes of PVC in December, with emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) accounting for 3,100 tonnes, compared to 30,200 tonnes a month earlier. Overall PVC production at RusVinyl was 339,800 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 2% year on year. Such a significant increase in production indicators was primarily due to the absence of long scheduled maintenance works in the current year, which was traditionally carried out in April - May.

SayanskKhimPlast produced 27,900 tonnes of suspension PVC (SPVC) in December, whereas this figure was 25,600 tonnes in November.
The Sayansk plant managed to produce about 294,500 tonnes of resin in January-December, compared to 278,800 tonnes a year earlier.

Baskhir Soda Company produced about 24,100 tonnes of SPVC in November versus 23,000 tonnes a month earlier. Total SPVC production at Baskhir Soda Company increased to 263,200 tonnes in the first twelve months of this year, compared to 253,400 tonnes in the same period in 2018.

Kaustik (Volgograd) produced about 6,400 tonnes of SPVC in December, compared with 5,800 tonnes in November. The decline in production in November was due to work to modernise production. The plant's overall production of resin exceeded 77,500 tonnes over the stated period versus 92,200 tonnes a year earlier. The Volgograd's lower production was caused by a shutdown for maintenance in May-June.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises completed restarting the gasoline-producing unit at its 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Motiva plans to begin shutting the 81,000 bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) as early as Thursday for a planned 50-day overhaul, the sources said.

The start of the overhaul may be pushed back about two weeks to Jan. 27, the sources said.

Motiva declined to comment on operations at the refinery.

The FCCU overhaul was originally scheduled to begin at the end of January, but had been brought forward as the unit begin struggling to maintain production, the sources said. A crew of maintenance workers have been performing repairs since mid-November to keep the unit in operation until the overhaul starts.

While the FCCU is shut, the 18,000 bpd alkylation unit and the 50,000 bpd cat feed hydrotreater will be shut for 30-day overhauls, the source said.

The FCCU uses a catalyst under high heat and pressure to convert gas oil into unfinished gasoline.

The alkylation unit converts refining by-products into octane-boosting components that are blended into gasoline.

The hydrotreater removes sulfur from feedstock going into the FCCU. Federal environmental rules require the sulfur be removed.

As MRC informed earlier, Motiva is evaluating opportunities to build a new polyethylene (PE) line within its proposed steam cracker and aromatics project in Jefferson County, Texas. The new PE capacity will be located at the company’s Port Arthur Refinery Complex in Jefferson County, Texas. The planned capacity of the unit was not specified, while the value of the project is reportedly estimated at around USD3.1 billion.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.

Motiva Enterprises, LLC, is a fully owned affiliate of Saudi Refining Inc. and headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States with revenue of USD24 billion. Previously, it was a 50–50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company (the wholly owned American subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell) and Saudi Refining Inc. (controlled by Saudi Aramco).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MEGlobal announced that its Asian Contract Price (ACP) for monoethylene glycol (MEG) will be USD740/MT CFR Asian main ports for arrival February 2020, said the company.

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

As it was written earlier, MEGlobal's Asian Contract Price (ACP) for monoethylene glycol (MEG) was settled at USD720/MT CFR Asian main ports for arrival in January 2020.

As per MRC ScanPlast, imports of PET chips into Russia increased by 13% in eleven months of this year compared to the same time a year ago and reached 130,800 tonnes compared to 116,100 tonnes (excluding supplies from Belarus over the past two months). Russia's PET imports almost doubled to 12,300 tonnes in November against 6,300 tonnes in October; last November, material imports amounted to 8,200 tonnes. The share of Chinese material was 78% (9,600 tonnes) in November versus 92% (5,800 tonnes) a month earlier.

MEGlobal is a fully integrated supplier of monoethylene glycol (MEG) and diethylene glycol (DEG), collectively known as ethylene glycol (EG).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA’s contract to operate Curacao’s 335,000-barrel-per-day Isla refinery ended on Dec. 31, despite an earlier agreement to extend the contract by the end of 2019, reported Reuters with reference to the Caribbean island’s authorities.

Earlier last month, the two parties reached a deal for PDVSA to remain for up to a year as state refining company Refineria de Koursou (RdK) continued to search for a new operator. But in the last week of December RdK and industrial commodities conglomerate Klesch Group finalized a deal to take over the refinery.

Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath said PDVSA had not agreed to Curacao’s proposals that it continue to operate the refinery for three to six months, rather than one year.

"There will be no transition with PDVSA," Rhuggenaath told reporters late on Sunday night. "We have not received a reasonable proposal from PDVSA."

PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Isla’s managing director Marcelino de Lannoy said RdK would take over operations at the refinery for at least six months until Klesch can take charge.

As MRC informed before, in May 2019, Curacao’s state-owned Isla oil refinery received an exemption from US sanctions on PDVSA, the Caribbean island’s government said in a statement. The US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on PDVSA in late January in a bid to force out socialist President Nicolas Maduro, who has overseen a collapse in the OPEC member nation’s economy. The license for the refinery, along with two other related companies, will allow the facility to continue to do business with US companies through Jan. 15, 2020.
MRC