Borealis investigates weekend fire incident at Stenungsund cracker in Sweden

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austria-based petrochemicals producer Borealis said Monday that it was still investigating a fire that broke out late Saturday at its Stenungsund steam cracker in Sweden, reported S&P Global.

Borealis said in an initial public statement issued Sunday that "its emergency plan was immediately activated by the local crisis team." The fire broke out on 9 May, at 20:45 CEST, according to the company.

The company said no one was injured and that it was working closely with authorities to investigate the causes.

Market sources said the incident would have an impact on the market, referring back to when the Stenungsund cracker was under force majeure for around 10 days in April which helped noticeably to balance ethylene supply in Northwest Europe, which had been particularly long. Sources are predicting a similar impact as a result of this latest incident, with additional impact on propylene, a source said, as "they were cracking heavier."

As MRC informed earlier, the company declared FM on April 8 due to a technical incident, while before that Borealis had had lowered its steam cracker operating rates as a result of the recent slump in oil prices and the coronavirus lockdowns in Europe.

The Stenungsund cracker can produce 625,000 mt/year of ethylene and 150,000 mt/year of propylene.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 557,060 tonnes in the first three month of 2020, up by 7% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments rose because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. Demand for LDPE subsided. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 267,630 tonnes in January-March 2020, down 20% year on year. Homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers accounted for the main decrease in imports.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
MRC

LG Polymers PS plant remains shut after accident during its restart

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LG Polymers has decided not to resume operations at its polystyrene (PS) plant in India after the gas leak, according to Apic-online.

The pre-dawn tragedy at the LG Polymers plant in Visakhapatnam on 7 May, which left 11 dead and hundreds hospitalised, was on account of a styrene gas leak which occurred while starting up the facility.

A company source who wished not to be identified informed a Polymerupdate editorial team member, on account of the coronavirus pandemic, the plant had been shut. After 40 days of being closed, the company was preparing to restart operations when the accident occurred. The leakage was plugged within hours of the accident and the vapours neutralised.

When asked to elaborate on the reasons why the accident occurred, there is speculation in the press of it being a valve malfunction, however, the source said "I would request everyone to wait for an official statement from LG, as a thorough investigation is underway to determine the exact reason for the leak".

The PS plant was set up in 1961 as Hindustan Polymers and was taken over by South Korea?s LG Chem in 1997 following which it was named LG Polymers. The plant makes PS and expandable polystyrene (EPS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, March 2020 estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in Russia dropped by 2% year on year, totalling 42,130 tonnes. The estimated consumption totalled 121,880 tonnes in the first three months of 2020, down by 2% year on year. Overall, Russian plants produced 42,790 tonnes in March 2020.
MRC

Lotte expects to restart Daesan cracker by end of year

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea’s Lotte Chemical might resume operations at its cracker in Daesan that was hit by an explosion in early March by late 2020, according to Chemweek.

The company shut its naphtha cracker on March 4,2020, 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 then, adding there was no leak of toxic chemicals.

Initially, Lotte Chemical planned to restart this cracker in a couple of weeks after the fire.

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 557,060 tonnes in the first three month of 2020, up by 7% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments rose because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. Demand for LDPE subsided. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 267,630 tonnes in January-March 2020, down 20% year on year. Homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers accounted for the main decrease in imports.

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

Zhejiang Petrochemical delays start up of new ACN plant until H2 May 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd has postponed the start of its new acrylonitrile (ACN) plant to the second half of May, 2020, reported S&P Global.

Based in Zhejiang, China, this plant is able to produce 260,000 tons/year of ACN. Initially, the company planned to begin operations at this production last week.

As MRC informed earlier, Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd started up its ethylene cracker in late December 2019 and its polyolefin plants in late December 2019-January 2020.

Market sources reported then that one of its polypropylene (PP) plant with capacity of 450,000 tons/year started up by 30 December 2019, followed by another line with same capacity by 15 January 2020.

Meanwhile its 450,000 tons/year of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and 300,000 tons/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE) were launched around similar time with PP plants.

We also remind that China's greenfield Zhejiang Petrochemical will use a range of process technology from Honeywell UOP for the second phase of its integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, according to a document, quoting a senior Honeywell official. "This second phase of the complex by itself will process 20 million tons per year of crude oil and produce another six million tons per year of aromatics when completed," Bryan Glover, vice president and general manager, Process Technology and Equipment, at Honeywell UOP, stated in the document as of January 2019.

ACN is the main feedstock for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to MRC's DataScope report, overall ABS imports to the Russian market increased in the first two months of 2020 by 8% year on year to 4,800 tonnes. This figure was at 4,500 tonnes in January-February 2019. February imports of material into the Russian Federation rose by 48% year on year to 2,500 tonnes from 2,700 tonnes a year earlier. Imports were 2,300 tonnes in January 2020.
MRC

Tianjin Bohai plans to run its PDH plant in China at full capacity utilisation this week

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tianjin Bohai Chemical is expected to reach 100% capacity utilisation at its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant within this week, reported S&P Global.

The company unexpectedly shut down this plant on 22 April, 2020, and initially planned to resume its operations in late April, but this PDH unit was restarted on 7 May, 2020.

Located in Tianjin, China, the PDH plant has a propylene capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Tianjin Bohai Chemical last restarted its PDH plant in late March, 2020. Previously, in early February, the company decided to postpone the restart of its PDH plant by another 19 days to February 29 due to sluggish demand for propylene. This came after the facility, located in northeastern China, had delayed the restart of its 600,000 mt/year propylene plant to February 10, from February 6, extending the Lunar New Year holidays in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Tianjin Bohai uses 720,000 mt/year of propane when at full capacity.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market was 267,630 tonnes in January-March 2020, down 20% year on year. Homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers accounted for the main decrease in imports.

Tianjin Bohai is a state owned enterprise, with over 100 subsidiaries and 35,000 employees. It has joint venture relationships with a number of foreign partners, including: LG Chem, Solvay, Akzo Nobel, Clariant, Veolia, Air Liquide and Vopak.
MRC