COVID-19 - News digest as of 20.05.2020

1. Borealis decision to discontinue world-scale polyethylene project in Kazakhstan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis says it will not proceed with the development of a multi-billion-dollar integrated steam cracker and polyethylene (PE) project in Kazakhstan, said the company.“The decision to discontinue this project is based on a thorough assessment of all aspects of the prospective venture and impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic as well as the increased uncertainty of future market assumptions,” Borealis states.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire broke out on Tuesday at a catalyst plant in LG Chem’s petrochemical complex in the southwestern city of South Korea, leaving one worker dead and two injured, reported Reuters with reference to the company and a fire station official's statements.

The fire, which occurred at LG Chem’s catalyst plant in the southwestern city of Seosan at around 2:25 p.m. (0525 GMT), has been contained, a fire station official from the Seosan Fire Station told Reuters.

LG Chem said the cause of the fire was likely to be spontaneous ignition of powder at the plant, but the company is looking into the exact cause.

In early May, a gas leaked from the South Korean petrochemical maker-owned factory in India, killing more than 10 people and making more than hundreds of people sick. Last week, LG Chem sent a delegation to India to investigate the cause of the incident.

As MRC wrote previously, LG Chem, a South Korean petrochemical major, has reduced its operational rates of its cracker to around 90-95% starting January 2020 due to weaker economic fundamentals. Based in Daesan, South Korea, the cracker is able to produce 1.27 million tons/year of ethylene and 650,000 tons/year of propylene. The company increased capacity utilisation at this cracker to 100% on 10 March, 2020, in order to supply ethylene to Lotte 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 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.

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. According to ICIS report, it is 15th biggest chemical company in the world in 2011. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd is poised to start up its new acrylonitrile (ACN) plant on 20 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 in early May, but then postponed the start to the second half of May.

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 ScanPlast report, Russia's ABS output was 920 tonnes in March. Russian producers manufactured 2,600 tonnes of ABS plastics in January-March 2020, down by 59% a year earlier.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The U.S. ethanol industry is showing some signs of recovery as government officials ease stay-at-home orders that depressed fuel demand, while a vote Friday in Congress could bring the industry one step closer to federal aid, industry officials said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Fuel demand collapsed by about a third with the spread of the novel coronavirus this spring, and U.S. ethanol production capacity halved as around 150 facilities either idled or reduced rates. Now as restrictions ease and gasoline demand inches higher, about 140 facilities are idled or running at reduced rates, Renewable Fuels Association President Geoff Cooper said on Friday.

“It seems the worst may be behind us,” Cooper said in a call with reporters. “But make no mistake, we still have a very long way to go to climb out of the hole that COVID-19 put us in."

U.S. production of ethanol - a corn-based fuel that refiners must blend into their gasoline - has increased since the start of May, rising to 617,000 barrels per day in the week to May 8, U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed. Production bottomed at the end of April, at 537,000 bpd.

Output is still down more than 40% from year-ago levels, though. And while inventories fell in the most recent week to 24.2 million barrels, stored supply is still nearly 9% higher than the same time last year, EIA data showed.

“We are seeing inventories come down, but we need to see frankly many more weeks of that to get this thing back into balance,” said Neil Koehler, chief executive of Pacific Ethanol.

The increased production comes as Congress readies a vote on Friday for a coronavirus relief bill that includes aid for the biofuels industry. After assistance to the industry failed to make its way into the first relief package from Congress, advocates hope that the new bill will pass the House of Representatives on Friday before moving on to the Senate.

The bill, introduced by House Democrats, would reimburse producers that suffered unexpected market losses because of the pandemic from Jan. 1 through May 1.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and 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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Haldia Petrochemicals’ plant and Indian Oil’s refinery in East Midnapore district have been put on high alert in the wake of cyclone Amphan, which is expected to hit West Bengal coast on Wednesday, reported THE HINDU.

Several measures have been taken by the Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) management in view of the cyclone, said its plant head Ashok Ghosh.

"We have decided not to take any power from the grid but will remain connected to it," he told PTI.

HPL will run additional compressors and cooling water units to support the process plants, Ghosh said, adding that all the drains within the premises of the factory have been cleaned.

He said nobody will stay in the plant except those in the control room.

All senior officers will be present at the plant site on Wednesday, he added.

The storm system in the Bay of Bengal, Amphan, developed into a super cyclone on Monday and is expected to make landfall along the West Bengal-Bangladesh coast on Wednesday, according to the India Meteorological Department.

As MRC wrote previously, in late March 2020, HPL shut its naphtha cracker, after ports in the country declared force majeure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The petrochemical maker operates a 670,000 tonnes per year cracker, which on average would need more than 150,000 tonnes of naphtha feedstock a month if the unit is at full capacity.

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.
MRC