Lotte Chemical may resume operations at its Daesan cracker in a couple of weeks

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea’s Lotte Chemical might need several weeks to repair and restart its cracker in Daesan, reported CommoPlast with reference to the details received from the market.

The company shut its naphtha cracker after an explosion at the plant in the southwestern city of Seosan, which injured 31 people. The explosion, which was triggered by a fire at a compressor in Lotte Chemical’s naphtha cracker at around 3 a.m. local time (1800 GMT), was soon contained and under control, the company said then in a statement.

The petrochemical maker said it has suspended its naphtha cracker’s operations in Daesan county in Seosan due to the fire and will seek to minimize supply disruptions.

The company is looking into the exact cause of the accident, it said, adding there was no leak of toxic chemicals.

As MRC wrote before, Lotte Chemical has shut down its Deasan cracker for maintenance turnaround on October 14, 2019. The cracker resumed production on November 10, 2019. Located at Daesan in South Korea, currently the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 1.1 million mt/year and propylene capacity of 540,000 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 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).

Lotte Chemical runs two naphtha crackers in South Korea. One cracker is located in Daesan county in Seosan which can produce 1.1 million tonnes per year of ethylene with the other 1.2 million tonnes per year cracker in the southwestern city of Yeosu.
MRC

LyondellBasell and Bora sign definitive agreements to form Chinese JV

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell (LBI), one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, has announced it has signed definitive agreements to expand in China through a 50:50 joint venture with the Liaoning Bora Enterprise Group (Bora), as per LBI's press release.

On September 5, 2019, LyondellBasell and Bora first signed a Memorandum of Understanding and announced their intention to form this joint venture during a ceremony in Panjin, China.

"China is a large market with growing demand for high quality polyolefin products," said Bob Patel, CEO of LyondellBasell. "The combination of LyondellBasell's leading technology and Bora's operational excellence will allow us to reliably produce and provide these needed products to local customers."

Under the agreements, the partners will form a Sino-foreign joint venture, the Bora LyondellBasell Petrochemical Co. Ltd, that will operate a 1.1 million metric tons per annum ethylene cracker and associated polyolefin derivatives complex in Panjin, China, with a total expected cost of approximately USD2.6 billion. The complex will produce products that serve the growing demands of various industries in China, including packaging, transportation, building and construction, and healthcare and hygiene.

LyondellBasell will market the polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) which will be produced utilizing LyondellBasell licensed Spheripol, Spherizone PP technologies and Hostalen ACP polyethylene technology. Start-up is expected in the second half of 2020.

According to IHS Markit, Asia is the largest and fastest growing polyolefin market in the world. China accounts for more than 60 percent of the Asian polyolefins market and represents 40 percent of global growth. Olefins and polyolefins are core products of LyondellBasell.

LyondellBasell expects to make its equity contribution in the coming months. The formation of the JV is subject to approvals by relevant government authorities, including antitrust review by the State Administration for Market Regulation.

As MRC informed earlier, in January 2020, LyondellBasell announced that Shandong Jinhai Chemical Co., Ltd. would use the LyondellBasell Hostalen "Advanced Cascade Process" (Hostalen ACP) technology for a new facility. The process technology will be used for a 400 KTA HDPE facility to be built in Heze City, Shandong Province, P.R. China.

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).

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

PC imports to Russia rise by 3 times in January 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of PC granules to Russia (excluding shipments from Belarus) grew in the first month of 2020 more than by 3 times year on year to 2,590 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Imports of material into the country were 740 tonnes in January 2019.

December 2019 imports of material to Belarus reached 2,850 tonnes.


Extrusion grade PC accounted for the greatest increase in January imports. Their share rose significantly in the total imports of material into the Russian Federation to 82% (2,100 tonnes) from 44% (32,000 tonnes) in January 2019.

Sabic Innovative Plastics and Covestro were the main import suppliers of PC granules. Both producers significantly increased their shipments in the first month of the year. Thus, imports of Sabic's material grew from 400 tonnes (5% of the total imports) in January 2019 to 1,590 tonnes (62% of the total imports). Covestro's shipments also rose significantly - to 770 tonnes from 580 tonnes (excluding Belarusian imports) a year earlier.

MRC

EPPC to restart PP plant in Egypt in late March

MOSCOW (MRC) -- EPPC, one of the two local polypropylene (PP) producers of Egypt, expects to restart its PP plant in Port Said, Egypt by the end of March and resume offers to the market afterwards, reported NCT with reference to sources familiar with the matter.

This plant was shut for maintenance works in early February, 2020, according to the plan.

The PP plant has a nameplate capacity of around 350,000-400,000 tons/year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, in early 2013, Egypt lifted anti-dumping fees on PP imports from Saudi Arabia after a prior investigation of the matter.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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

PTT plans multi-billion-dollar capex over next five years

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-owned Thai energy group PTT Pcl plans a multi-billion dollar capital spending spree over the next five years that will include expanding in liquefied natural gas and investing in oil and gas pipelines, reported Reuters.

Last year Thailand announced a power development plan with a target to have 53% of its energy capacity provided by natural gas by 2037.

PTT said it would provisionally allocate 203.5 billion baht ($6.7 billion) of spending over the next five years to enhance the group’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) value chain, gas-to-power projects and other investments aligned with the national development plan.

PTT also plans to spend another 180.8 billion baht on investments between 2020 and 2024. Of that, 68% will go on joint ventures and subsidiaries, PTT Chief Executive Chansin Treenuchagron said in a statement, with 17% devoted to pipeline infrastructure and 7% for technology and engineering.

PTT has six flagship companies including oil and gas explorer PTT Exploration and Production Pcl, electricity producer Global Power Synergy Pcl and three refineries and petrochemical companies under PTT Global Chemical Pcl, Thai Oil Pcl and IRPC Pcl .

Its retail arm, PTT Oil and Retail, which operates gas stations and coffee shops, is in the process of filing for an initial public offer.

As MRC informed before, PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) fully restarted its No. 2 cracker in Map Ta Phut last week after a planned turnaround. The company started resuming operations at the cracker by end-February, 2020. This cracker was shut for maintenance on January 20, 2020.

The company also operates No. 1 cracker at the same site with a capacity of 515,000 tonnes of ethylene and 310,000 tonnes of propylene per year, which was also shut on 23 January, 2020, for a 40-day turnaround.

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).

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC