Mitsubishi Gas Chem to build hydrogen peroxide plant in Taiwan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company (MGC) is set to construct a new production facility for industrial hydrogen peroxide (IHP) in Taiwan with an investment of TWD4.7bn (USD156.6m), said Chemicals-technology.

The latest move comes as the company aims to further develop its business for super-pure hydrogen peroxide (SPHP), which is used in semiconductor production processes.

Production at the facility will commence in January 2023. It is expected to have an annual production capacity of 40,000t of hydrogen peroxide.

According to the company, many semiconductor foundries in Taiwan are constructing fabrication plants using advanced technologies, and are also planning high investments going forward.

Following these developments, Mitsubishi’s new plant is expected to meet the increase in demand for high-quality SPHP.

MGC aims to produce and distribute SPHP characterised by stable supply and promote business expansion.

The company plans to develop integrated local production ranging from IHP raw material (RHP) to SPHP. The future IHP facility will supply RHP to the SPHP facility, which is currently operational.

As MRC informed earlier, Mitsubishi Chemical plans to announce details in the first quarter of 2020 of a methyl methacrylate (MMA) project on the US Gulf Coast.

Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.

MMA is used to produce homopolymers and copolymers, the most widely used are casting, molding or extrusion of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or modified polymers.

Acrylonitrile is one of the main raw materials for the production of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).

According to the ICIS-MRC Price Report, in November, ABS imports to Russia amounted to 3,300 tonnes against 3,500 tonnes a month earlier and 4,100 tonnes in November last year. Following the results of eleven months, ABS import into the country slightly decreased compared to the same period last year and amounted to 31,300 tonnes. .

Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Uganda said it would borrow up to 108.5 million euros (USD118.42 million) from a Chinese lender to fund construction of three roads that are key to plans to begin oil production in the east African country, reported Reuters.

Along with others in Africa, Uganda has received large credit lines from China in recent years as part of the Asian giant’s so-called Belt and Road Initiative, aimed at rebuilding the old Silk Road connection with Asia, Europe and beyond.

However US officials have been critical of Belt and Road lending, which they say can leave countries with excessive debt.

Construction of the so-called oil roads would accelerate efforts to commence crude oil production in Uganda, which has failed to take off 14 years after crude reserves were discovered in the country’s west.

The money will be borrowed from China’s Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, according to a statement issued by the government that listed decisions taken at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

The statement said the roads are needed to “facilitate the efficient development and production of the strategic national oil resources”. It did not give details on the total length of roads to be built.

Uganda’s oil fields are in the Albertine rift basin near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Reserves are estimated at 6 billion barrels.

France’s Total co-owns the fields in equal stakes with China’s CNOOC and UK’s Tullow Oil.

Crude production has been repeatedly delayed over the years by spats over taxes and a lack of requisite infrastructure like tarmac roads in the fields, a crude export pipeline and a refinery.

A new impasse over taxes on Tullow’s planned divestment of part of its stake in the fields is seen as potentially pushing the production target of 2022 to a later date.

Last week the IMF cut its economic growth projection for Uganda for the July 2019 to June 2020 financial year, citing tardy progress with oil production.

The Washington, DC-based institution also warned Ugandan authorities to exercise fiscal discipline and maintain debt sustainability.

Uganda’s public debt, the IMF calculates, is expected to hit the key benchmark of 50% of GDP as early as the 2021/22 financial year.

As MRC informed earlier, in November 2019, Total disclosed that it is evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Olefins & Polymers has today announced a partnership with Forever Plast SpA, a leading polymer recycling technologies operator in Italy, said the company.

Together they have developed a range of new Polyethylene grades that mirror INEOS virgin grades and perfectly fit injection moulding and compression moulding machines.

The new Recycl-IN products take Post Consumer Recyclate (PCR) from used bottle caps and carefully blend them with highly engineered virgin polymer to create new high-quality caps.

Over the next five years an incredible 6.5 billion bottle caps will be diverted from the waste stream to be recycled. As part of its ongoing drive to support a more circular economy and significantly increase plastics recycling, INEOS is expanding its range of Recycl-IN polymers into the Polyethylene non-food caps market.

Iain Hogan, CEO INEOS Olefins and Polymers said “For a while PET bottles have been increasingly recycled but this is one of the first circular developments to tackle the caps. This is a major step forward. We are creating a truly circular approach to ensure used bottle caps are recycled and returned to the market as new highly engineered high-quality caps, rather than being thrown away or wasted."

This development is part of INEOS’s ongoing research and development program to move to a more circular approach to plastic production to support customers globally.

Iain Hogan CEO INEOS Olefins & Polymers South said: “We are not just waiting for things to happen we are making things happen. Recycling 6.5 billion caps from bottles is an incredible achievement. We are providing real commercial solutions today for our customers, moving to a more circular approach to plastics, giving waste plastic a value and preventing it from ending up in the environment. Our people are passionate about tackling this issue."

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Russia decreased by 16% year on year in December 2019. Russia's overall estimated PET consumption totalled 696,810 tonnes in 2019, up by 1% year on year (690,130 tonnes in 2018).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- American companies have a strong interest in expanding Portugal's deepwater port of Sines due to its strategic position for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe, reported Reuters with reference to US Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette's statement Wednesday.

Portugal launched an international tender in October for a contract to build and operate a new container terminal in Sines, continental Europe's closest port to the Panama Canal. It expects to pick the winner in the last quarter of this year.

Simultaneously, Singapore's PSA, which operates the only existing container terminal in the port, is also in the process of increasing its capacity.

The planned overall expansion will be crucial to also increase the port's capacity to receive larger ships and more LNG cargoes from abroad for further shipments to Europe.

"It is a very unique and strategic point for us and a very good part of the economics of natural gas," Brouillette said during a visit to Sines. "We are excited to see the development here ... and we look forward to working with Portugal and the industry here for this upcoming tender offer.

"I think you'll see much US interest in this port. We’ll wait and see, as the tender closes, to see which companies may be on this. The fact they are here today looking at this, I think it indicates a very strong American interest in this port."

Portuguese Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos said the U.S. interest and potential investment was "an opportunity we must seize".

In the tender, US companies may still face competition from Chinese rivals such as state-owned Cosco or Shanghai International Port Group, which have expressed interest in expanding the port, according to Portuguese newspaper Publico.

Brouillette made no reference to Chinese plans in Portugal, but in the past Washington has expressed concerns about heavy Chinese investment in Portugal's energy sector including large stakes in grid operator REN and power utility EDP-Energias de Portugal.

EDP has a significant wind power operation in the United States. REN, in its turn, owns the Sines LNG terminal.

Chinese firms have invested around 10 billion euros in Portugal, particularly during its economic and debt crisis in 2010-14.

In late 2018, Beijing and Lisbon signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on Beijing's belt and road initiative - which promotes expanding land and sea links between Asia, Africa and Europe.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC)--US refiner PBF Energy has completed its acquisition of Shell’s 157,000 bbl/day Martinez refinery near San Francisco, California, said the company.

The USD1bn deal, agreed in June 2019, was completed effective 1 February 2020.

Equilon Enterprises LLC d/b/a Shell Oil Products US, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc announced that it has formally closed on the sale of Shell’s Martinez Refinery in California to PBF Holding Company LLC, a subsidiary of PBF Energy Inc, in exchange for USD 1.2 billion which includes the refinery and inventory. The deal also includes crude oil supply and product offtake agreements, and other adjustments.

The transaction covered the sale of Shell’s Martinez Refinery and adjacent truck rack and terminal in California. Shell’s associated branded fuel businesses, Aviation terminal, and Catalysts business in the area were not part of this transaction.

All regulatory requirements were met prior to the closing of this divestment.

As part of the sale, Shell and PBF entered into crude supply and product offtake agreements to continue to supply Shell branded businesses ensuring that Shell customers will continue to have access to quality Shell branded fuels.

PBF Energy and Shell have agreed to jointly move forward with reviewing the feasibility of building a proposed renewable diesel project which would repurpose existing idled equipment at the Martinez refinery to create a renewable fuels production facility. The detailed feasibility review and planning for this project is expected to continue after deal closing.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2019, Mammoet safely completed a critical lift at Shell’s Pennsylvania Chemicals Project in Potter Township, utilizing its MSG80 to hoist a 2,000 ton quench tower into position. The facility is the first major US project of its kind to be built outside of the Gulf Coast region in 20 years. Once operational, the facility will boast an ethane cracker and three polyethylene units, and is expected to employ up to 600 employees.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC