Qingdao Haiwan resumes production at SM plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qingdao Haiwan Chemical, has brought on-stream its styrene monomer (SM) plant in Shandong, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that, the company resumed operations at the plant on April 20, 2020. The plant remained under maintenance for about one month.

Located at Qingdao in Shandong province in China, the SM plant has a production capacity of 500,000 mt/year.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Russia, Nizhnekamskneftekhim reduced its April selling PS prices by Rb10,000/tonne. GPPS for injection moulding and extrusion was offered at Rb86,000-90,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, whereas HIPS - at Rb90,000-94,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Penoplex reduced its GPPS prices by Rb10,000/tonne. Demand for the Kirishi plant's material remained quite good. And Gazprom neftekhim Salavat reduced its indicative prices by Rb8,000/tonne, and its GPPS prices for small- and medium-sized buyers have not been settled yet.

Qingdao Haiwan Chemical Co., LTD. was founded in 1947, one member enterprise of Qingdao HIWAN GROUP LTD in Dongjiakou Industrial Park, located in NO.66, Gangfeng Road, Poli Town, Huangdao District, Qingdao city, Shandong Province. The company's main product includes 32% and 50% caustic soda, vinyl chloride (VCM), SG-8, SG-7, SG-5, SG-3 type of polyvinyl chloride (SPVC), dichloroethane (EDC), styrene etc.
MRC

Rosneft Kuibyshev oil refinery halted for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kuibyshev oil refinery, owned by Russian energy giant Rosneft, has halted operations for maintenance from April 15 until June 1, according to Refinitiv Eikon data citing the energy ministry, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Kuibyshev plant has annual capacity of 7 million tonnes of oil products.

Rosneft said the maintenance had been brought forward to April 16 to raise the plant’s efficiency. It decline to confirm when the maintenance would be completed.

As it was written earlier, Rosneft, Russia’s largest state-owned oil company, announces the cessation of operations in Venezuela and the sale of assets related to activities in this country due to US sanctions. As a result of the execution of the agreement and the sale of assets, Rosneft will receive a 9.6% stake in its one of its 100% subsidiaries. US sanctions forced Rosneft. The Russian government acquired assets from Venezuela from Rosneft. The owner became a company 100% owned by the Russian Federation, the press service of the government said. US sanctions forced Rosneft. Neither Rosneft nor the government have yet named the state-owned company that bought the assets of NK, and did not answer the question whether it was Rosneftegaz or some other structure.US sanctions.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

PBF completes Chalmette, La. refinery restart following lightning strike

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PBF Energy completed restarting its 190,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Chalmette, Louisiana, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations' statement on Friday.

The refinery was knocked offline by a lightning strike on April 18 and began restarting on April 19, the sources said.

As MRC wrote before, US refiner PBF Energy has completed its acquisition of Shell’s 157,000 bbl/day Martinez refinery near San Francisco, California. The USD1bn deal, agreed in June 2019, was completed effective 1 February 2020.

Besides, in late March 2020, PBF Energy Inc said it was operating its refineries at minimum rates, with throughput about 30% lower than the refiner’s expectations, as coronavirus-driven travel curbs hit fuel demand.

We also remind that Shell Singapore restarted its naphtha cracker in Bukom Island in early December 2019, following a two months maintenance shutdown since the beginning of October 2019. Thus, this cracker was taken off-stream for the turnaround on 1 October 2019. The cracker is able to produce 960,000 tons/year of ethylene and 550,000 tons/year of propylene.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC

MTO plant built by Wison Engineering successfully starts up in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- On April 20, 2020, the first phase of Connell Chemical Industry Ltd.'s 600 KTA MTO complex, a 300 KTA MTO plant, successfully started up and produced on-spec ethylene and propylene, reported Markets Insider.

This project is the first large-size chemical project brought online during period when Chinais in the process of restarting the economy while fighting COVID-19 pandemic. The MTO plant started feed-in at 8:18 AM on April 15, produced on-spec propylene at 7:00 AM on April 18, and produced on-spec ethylene at 4:00 AM on April 20.

This plant is deployed with Honeywell UOP's advanced MTO/OCP reaction technologies and Wison Engineering's olefin recovery and separation technology – "Pre-cutting + Oil Absorption" process. The project was built by Wison Engineering through an EPC contract. The integrated process with UOP MTO/OCP technology and Wison Engineering's olefin recovery and separation technology is the most advanced MTO process in the world, featured by advantages of high feedstock yield and low catalyst consumption. This commercialization is the 10th successful commercial application for Wison Engineering's olefin recovery and separation technology. This successful startup has once again proved the reliability of this olefin separation technology and Wison Engineering's leading capability in MTO technology and engineering.

In July 2016, Wison Engineering was awarded an EPC contract for Connell Chemical Industry's 300 KTA MTO project. At the same time, Wison Engineering and Connell also signed a licensing agreement on process design package (PDP) contract for Wison's proprietary olefin separation technology. Wison Engineering was responsible for engineering design, procurement and construction of MTO reaction and concentration unit, olefin separation unit, olefin cracking unit and additional auxiliaries. Following the contract signing, site construction started in the same month.
In October 2016, Honeywell UOP and Connell signed the licensing agreement on MTO+OCP technology.

In September 2017, the project handover ceremony for 300 KTA MTO plant was successfully held at project site.
On April 20, 2020, 300 KTA MTO plant successfully started up and produced on-spec ethylene and propylene.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC

KNPC says oil refinery project halted over coronavirus case

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC) said work on a project linked to the Al-Ahmadi oil refinery was halted because a worker was diagnosed with the new coronavirus, said Reuters.

The worker, an Indian national, was employed by a contractor, KNPC said on Twitter, without giving details about the project.

"Work has stopped on the project until precautionary measures are taken to identify those who came in contact with him and the necessary tests are done," it said.

As MRC informed earlier, Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) on Thursday announced the operation of naphtha conversion unit number 107 in the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery with a production capacity of 30,000 bpd.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC