Three US automakers reopened manufacturing plants

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Detroit's big three automakers, Ford, GM and Fiat-Chrysler reopened manufacturing plants this week, which was expected to increase demand for polypropylene and other petrochemicals used by the sector, said S&P Global.

However, 38.6 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March, which market sources expect to make for a slow recovery.

April US housing starts fell 30.2% from March to their lowest seasonally adjusted level since February 2015, and authorized building permits fell 20.8% month on month, US Department of Commerce data released this week, with fallout seen in a sharp decline in PVC demand.

As MRC informed earlier, according to the results of four months of the current year, the global car market decreased by 29.2% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 21 million 012 thousand cars and light commercial vehicles. In April, sales of cars in the world amounted to 3 million 967 thousand units, which is 44.8% lower than the same indicator a year earlier. China remains the world leader in car sales in April with an indicator of 1 million 936 thousand cars, which corresponds to the level of the previous year.
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Chinese provincial official urges shut down of CNPC Dalian refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A vice governor in China’s northeastern Liaoning province appealed to the central government to shut down Dalian Petrochemical Corp, at the annual national parliament conference (NPC), said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the 410,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) plant is CNPC’s biggest refinery and one of the oldest in the country. It is also China’s largest processor of Russia’s East Siberia Pacific Ocean blend crude transferred via pipeline.

The refinery has had several severe accidents in the past decade, including an oil spill in 2010, an explosion in 2013 and a fire in 2017, stoking safety and pollution concerns as it is located less than 10 kilometres from the port city of Dalian.

“I sincerely appealed (to) the industrial ministry and state-owned assets supervision and administration commission to coordinate with CNPC to shut down Dalian refinery as soon as possible,” said Chen Xiangqun, a vice governor at Liaoning, according to the NPC report.

Beijing had vowed in 2017, soon after the fire at Dalian refinery, to relocate all small- and medium-sized chemical plants to planned chemical parks and out of urban areas by 2020, and move the larger plants by 2025.

According to the petrochemical industry layout, CNPC’s Dalian refinery was due to move to Changxing island, where the 400,000 bpd Hengli Petrochemical is located. But there has been no update on its relocation since the layout was jointly issued by the state planner and industrial ministry in 2018.

Chen also appealed during the NPC to allow Dalian city government to choose a new owner for the idled land preserved for Dalian refinery in Changxing island, and to push forward the construction of a new refinery by using the refining capacity of the plants no longer in use.

CNPC did not response to Reuters’ request for comment on Chen’s suggestion.

As it was written earlier, CNPC has started to build a natural gas storage base in the northwestern Xinjiang region, with a total capacity of 5.6 billion cubic metres (bcm). The gas storage base, located in Shanshan county in Xinjiang, is a part of China's planned 20 bcm natural gas centre in the northwest region. The Asian country plans to launch the storage base in 2025.

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

Mitsubishi Chemical invests in French bioplastic development firm

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lactips (Saint-Jean-Bonnefonds, France), pioneering producer of soluble bioplastic with zero environmental trace, has raised EUR13 million (USD14.3 million) in new capital, said Chemweek.

The round was led by Bpifrance’s SPI fund, managed on behalf of the French government as part of the Investments for the Future Program, and Diamond Edge Ventures, the innovation investment arm of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. The new infusion of capital will enable Lactips to ramp up its product development and industrial facilities.

Lactips says it now has the financial resources needed to drive the development of its innovative biosourced, biodegradable and water-soluble solution based on milk protein, providing an alternative for numerous industrial plastics. Lactips will accelerate the industrialization of its plastic pellets and films to offer a wider selection of fully biodegradable and recyclable biosourced packaging. The company will press ahead with its packaging products, to respond to the challenges of micro-plastics ending up in the oceans. In addition, Lactips will be looking to supply certain packaging markets in the food and construction sectors as well as single-use packaging.

“This EUR13 million fundraising is structural and strategic at the same time, thanks to these two new shareholders…Since our company’s inception, we have successfully demonstrated that our innovative material can cover a wide range of applications,” says Marie-Helene Gramatikoff, CEO and co-founder of Lactips. The funds will enable the company to rapidly transition to production phase, while continuing to develop the “planet’s greenest plastic,” she says.

As MRC informed earlier, Mitsubishi Chemical has undertaken a planned shutdown at its naphtha cracker in Japan. The company commenced turnaround at the cracker on May 9, 2020. The cracker is likely to remain under maintenance till end-June, 2020. Located at Kashima, Japan, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 540,000 mt/year and a propylene capacity of 270,000 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.

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

Air Products names COO

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Products has appointed executive vice president Samir Serhan as chief operating officer (COO). Serhan has served as executive vice president since December 2016, and leads the company’s technology, engineering, project execution, procurement, manufacturing, construction, and start-up functions, said Chemweek.

With the appointment as COO, Serhan assumes full profit and loss responsibility for the Americas, Air Products’s largest operating region, representing 45% of total company sales in fiscal-year 2019.

The company previously announced on 21 May that it extended chairman and CEO Seifi Ghasemi's term through September 2025.

As MRC wrote earlier, in December 2014, SIBUR-Khimprom (a subsidiary of SIBUR Holding) and Air Products entered into an agreement to build a new air separation unit in Perm and to supply the facility with locally produced gases. The unit came on-stream in 2016. After the commissioning Air Products will supply industrial gases for SIBUR-Khimprom over the next 20 years.

Besides, we remind that in September 2019, SIBUR, the largest petrochemical comples in Russia and Eastern Europe, and BASF, Geman petrochemical major, agreed to closely cooperate on sustainable development to share their best practices.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polpropylene (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

LG Chem to conduct safety inspections at global sites

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korean petrochemical producer LG Chem is carrying out emergency inspections at all 40 of its factories worldwide in response to two fatal accidents this month, including a leak of styrene vapour at the LG Polymers India plant in Visakhapatnam that killed at least 12 people, said Chemweek.

The inspections will be done by internal and external safety experts and will be completed by the end of June. Safety upgrades will be made as needed, but LG said any plants with questionable prospects for being made safe may be closed indefinitely. The company did not indicate if the inspections will disrupt production at the plants.

The 7 May incident at LG Polymers India also injured hundreds of people. A fire at an LG Chem research center in South Korea's Daesan less than two weeks later, killed one worker and hospitalised two others.

SM is the main feedstock for the production of polystyrene (PS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, March 2020 estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics 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. Overall output of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) totalled 32,100 tonnes in March 2020. 98,390 tonnes of HIPS and GPPS were produced in January-March 2020. The decrease in Russian plants' output was 3%.

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.
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