BASF started piling of the first plants of its smart Verbund project in Zhanjiang

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF kicked off the piling work of the first plants of its smart Verbund project in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China, said the company.

This came as another important milestone in the development of the company’s USD10 billion investment project since its official commencement in November 2019. The first plants will produce engineering plastics and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to serve the increasing needs of various growth industries in the southern China market and throughout Asia.

"It only took less than two years since the signing of the first Memorandum of Understanding to the official piling of our first plants. Thanks to the great support from government authorities and local communities, as well as to the continuous efforts of our employees and partners worldwide, the project has been progressing steadily,” said Haryono Lim, Senior Vice President, Senior Project New Verbund Site China, BASF. "We are confident to bring the first batch of ‘Made in Zhanjiang’ products to the market by the end of 2022 as planned."

BASF applies the highest safety standards and will implement a comprehensive smart manufacturing concept at the Verbund site based on cutting-edge technologies. As of today, the project has reached a record of 50,000 safe work hours without a lost time injury since commencement.

As MRC reported earlier, BASF has recently announced the commercial launch of Fourtune which is a new Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) catalyst product for gasoil feedstock. Fourtune is the latest product based on BASF’s Multiple Framework Topology (MFT) technology. It has been optimized to deliver superior butylene over propylene selectivity while maintaining catalyst activity and performance.

We remind that BASF has restarted its No. 1 steam cracker following a maintenance turnaorund. Thus, the company resumed operations at the plant on September 30, 2019. The plant was shut for maintenance in mid-August, 2019. Located at Ludwigshafen in Germany, the No. 1 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 235,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 125,000 mt/year.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing 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.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF generated sales of EUR59 billion in 2019.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kaofu Chemical has undertaken a planned shutdown at its polystyrene (PS) in Kaohsiung, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in the Taiwan informed that the company started turnaround at the plant on May 28, 2020. The plant is expected to remain off-line for about 2-3 weeks.

Located in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported before, Kaofu Chemical shut down its PS plant in Kaohsiung plant for approximately a one-month turnaround in June 2019. The exact date of shutdown was not available.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, April estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in Russia was 36,170 tonnes, down by 12% year on year. Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics totalled 157,110 tonnes in January-April 2020, down by 5% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thailand’s IRPC, a PTT Plc subsidiary, is planning to take its polypropylene (PP) lines off-stream in June for routine maintenance, reported CommoPlast.

At the time of this report, there is no additional information on how long the plant would remain shut.

IRPC is the third-largest PP producer in Southeast Asia, having an annual capacity of 775,000 tons/year. The shutdown is expected to affect the supply of homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP), according to market sources.

There are also reports that Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) has issued a sales tender for propylene (C3) cargoes for the second half of May loading. PTT usually supplies propylene (C3) feedstock to IRPC and HMC.

As MRC informed earlier, in late October, 2019, IRPC unexpectedly shut down its upstream propylene unit due to an unspecified technical issue. As a result, the company had to lower the operation rate at the downstream PP plant.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market was 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula - production, minus export, plus import). Supply increased exclusively due to PP random copolymer.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Plastics USA has pushed a turnaround at its PVC plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to July, 2020, as per S&P Global with reference to a source familiar with company operations.

Initially, the company planned to conduct maintenance works at this plant with the capacity of 513 mt/year in May, 2020.

Formosa has not responded to requests for comment.

In March, Formosa Plastics was emerging from a turnaround at its 798,000 mt/year PVC plant and upstream 753,000 mt/year vinyl chloride monomer unit at its Point Comfort, Texas, complex.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russian producers of unmixed PVC decreased capacity utilisation in April. However, Russia's overall PVC output totalled 351,000 tonnes in January-April 2020, up by 2% year on year.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pledged to begin charging citizens for gasoline, as the fourth cargo of a five-tanker flotilla bringing fuel from Iran approached the South American nation’s exclusive economic zone, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Iran is providing the country with up to 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and components to help it ease an acute scarcity that has forced Venezuelans to wait in hours-long lines at service stations or pay steep prices on the black market.

With the arrival of the gasoline, Maduro said he would end the policy of providing fuel effectively for free after more than two decades of frozen pump prices. He provided no details. "Gasoline must be paid for,” Maduro said in a state television address, saying that the price increase would be part of a “normalization and regularization plan."

"I have Venezuela’s support and understanding,” Maduro said, blaming the shortages on the United States, which sanctioned state oil company PDVSA last year as part of a push to oust Maduro, whom the U.S. accuses of having rigged elections in 2018. Service stations have begun testing new payment systems, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

In recent weeks, more than 100 service stations across the country have received new equipment that would allow them to charge for gasoline and ration retail sales, though their operators have not yet received clear instructions from the government or PDVSA, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Maduro in 2018 had pledged to increase prices at the pump, but never went through with the plan. Ending fuel subsidies is seen as politically risky in Venezuela, where a 1989 effort to raise gasoline and transportation prices contributed to a deadly wave of riots and looting.

As it was said 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.The Russian government acquired assets from Venezuela from Rosneft. The owner became a company 100% owned by the Russian Federation.

As MRC informed earlier, Rosneft produces at its facilities and sells ethyl alcohol and acetone in Russia, which are used in the manufacture of antiseptics. 15 thousand tons of these substances are produced per month. On the day the quarterly report was published, Rosneft told how its work has changed in the context of the coronavirus epidemic.

Acetone, along with phenol, is the main raw material component for the production of bisphenol A (BPA, by condensation), which, in turn, is used to produce polycarbonate (PC).

According to ScanPlast of Market Report, the total estimated consumption of PC granules in the Russian market (excluding imports and exports to Belarus) amounted to 22.7 thousand tons in the first quarter compared to 17 thousand tons for the same period last year. Demand increased by 33%.
MRC