Altivia acquires KMCO and its ethoxylation assets at Crosby, Texas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Altivia Oxide Chemicals (Houston, Texas), an affiliate of Altivia Petrochemicals, has announced that it has acquired KMCO and its associated chemical ethoxylation manufacturing assets at Crosby, Texas, reported Chemweek.

The facilities, located on 160 acres near Houston, include 31 reaction and distillation trains with capacity for ethylene and propylene oxide reactions as well as a broad range of organic reactions including polymerization, neutralization, and condensation. Products include surfactants, lubricant additives, fuel additives, and a variety of ethoxylation and propoxylation based intermediates. Its products service the coatings, automotive, fuels and lubricants, and surfactant industries.

Altivia plans a USD25-million process safety and control systems upgrade to the facilities and will start production in two new oxide reactors by the end of this year. "The reaction chemistries in Crosby are complementary to Altivia’s current product offerings and will provide our customers important sourcing options," said Altivia CEO J. Michael Jusbasche. "The market for oxylation tolling and custom manufacturing services will now have available a state-of-the-art facility on the US Gulf Coast."

As MRC reported before, Altivia Ketones & Additives, LLC an affiliate of Altivia Petrochemicals, has acquired Dow’s Acetone Derivatives Business and associated chemical manufacturing assets at Institute, W.Va., as well as the Institute Industrial Park. Altivia successfully assumed operations and product distribution without delay on November 1, 2-19.

We also remind that Dow Chemical began major maintenance on the LHC 1 cracker at Terneuzen, Netherlands from 9 September, 2019. More than 1,500 extra employees from various external companies carried out maintenance works in the subsequent period.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc restarted the crude distillation unit, coker and gasoline-producing cat cracker at its 225,300 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Shell is restarting the hydrocracker, while the reformer and naphtha hydrotreater will remain shut for previously planned work, the sources said. The coker is scheduled to undergo planned work beginning next week, but is expected to remain in operation.

As MRC wrote before, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp said it will shut down its 110,000-barrel-per-day Tabangao refinery in the Philippines for one month from mid-May as the coronavirus pandemic has hammered oil demand.

We also remind that Shell Singapore restarted its naphtha cracker in Bukom Island this week 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, 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.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – Data collected and tabulated by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) show that with stabilizing activity in China partially offsetting widespread weakness due to COVID-19, global chemicals production fell 1.3 percent in April, an improvement from the 3.3 percent decline in March and 2.1 percent decline in February, said Americanchemistry.

During April, chemical production fell in every region. Headline global production was off 5.8 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis and stood at 110.2 percent of its average 2012 levels.

During April, global capacity rose by 0.2 percent and was up 3.3 percent Y/Y. With the decline in production, capacity utilization in the global chemical industry fell 1.2 points, to 75.6 percent. This is down from 82.8 percent last April, below the long-term (1987-2017) average of 86.5 percent, and is the lowest level since April 2009.

Among chemical industry segments, April results were negative across most segments, with some gains in plastic resins, synthetic rubber, and manufactured fibers – primarily in China. Considering year-earlier comparisons, growth was present only in synthetic rubber.

ACC’s Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) measures the production volume of the chemical industry for 33 key nations, sub-regions, and regions, all aggregated to the world total. The index is comparable to the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) production indices and features a similar base year where 2012=100. This index is developed from government industrial production indices for chemicals from more than 65 nations accounting for about 98 percent of the total global chemical industry. This data set is the only timely source of market trends for the global chemical industry and is comparable to the U.S. CPRI data, a timely source of U.S. regional chemical production.

As MRC informed earlier, Russia's output of products from polymers grew in April 2020 by 11.2% year on year due to quarantine restrictions. However, this figure increased by 3.4% year on year in the first four months of 2020. According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, April production of unreinforced and non-combined films decreased to 107,000 tonnes from 110,400 tonnes a month earlier. Output of films products grew in the first four months of 2020 by 12.5% year on year to 402,800 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraq's oil exports, excluding those from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, fell 6.6% in May, according to the oil ministry, indicating that OPEC's second-biggest oil producer may have struggled to cut its output by about 23% in accordance with the new OPEC+ agreement, reported S&P Global.

Iraq's oil exports in May averaged 3.212 million b/d, the ministry said in a statement on June 1. In April, exports were 3.438 million b/d.

Iraq had agreed to trim its output by 1.061 million b/d in May and June as part of a broader OPEC+ pact to cut production by a historic 9.7 million b/d during these two months. Iraq, which does not publish its production figures, has a quota of 3.59 million b/d for May and June under the new OPEC+ agreement.

The country struggled for most of last year to comply with its old OPEC+ quota. Iraq and Saudi Arabia affirmed on May 23 their commitment to the OPEC+ agreement during a visit by Iraq's acting oil minister Ali Allawi to the Gulf state.

Iraqi exports from the southern oil terminals reached 3.098 million b/d and from Turkey's Ceyhan 114,000 b/d, the ministry said.

In April, average exports from the southern terminals stood at 3.351 million b/d, from Ceyhan 76,000 b/d and to Jordan 11,000 b/d.

The OPEC producer raked in USD2.09 billion in May by selling its oil at an average price of USD21/b, compared with USD1.4 billion in April at an average of USD13.8/b.

As MRC informed previously, Iraq's oil-rig count has tumbled by almost two-thirds this year after international oil companies were ordered to cut spending because of the oil crash and OPEC's second-largest producer agreed to stringent new OPEC+ cuts.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem announced the selection of Charleston, South Carolina for its new global export hub facility to serve international customers, said Chemweek.

The hub will provide packaging, warehousing and export shipping services to support Braskem's polypropylene (PP) production facilities in the United States. With the design and development phase well underway, the new global export hub is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2020 and will have a capacity to support export shipments of up to 204,000 metric tons/year of PP and specialty polymers.

Braskem is partnering with the Port of Charleston and warehouse provider Frontier Logistics, which will construct, lease and provide services to Braskem under a five-year agreement. Ahead of the facility's completion, the company plans to continue to leverage its existing international export capabilities out of Houston, Texas, which will also be maintained following the launch of the new Charleston hub. The announcement of the new South Carolina facility complements Braskem's existing network of global export hubs which include facilities in North and South America and Europe.

Mark Nikolich, Braskem America CEO said, "As the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas and the leading producer of polypropylene in the United States, Braskem is focused on reinvesting in its business and leadership positions to support our clients worldwide. The build out of our new global export hub in South Carolina allows us to leverage our feedstock advantaged, polymer production assets in the US Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, to best meet our international clients’ needs."

The new export hub facility is being developed as Braskem works to complete Delta, its new PP production line at La Porte, Texas, which is nearing completion and is scheduled for the launch of commercial production in the third quarter of 2020.

As MRC informed earlier, Brazil’s sole polyethylene (PE) producer Braskem will raise LDPE and PP prices for the rest of May by Real 150/mt (USD26.61/mt), according to industry sources, while HDPE and LLDPE prices will remain unchanged. Braskem is currently renegotiating its naphtha contract with Petrobras, as prices in North America have edged up on higher crude. The Brazilian petrochemical company’s JV with Idesa in Mexico also has limited feedstock supply. In the beginning of May, the company reduced the price of all PE grades in May to address falling demand and a decline in international feedstock prices.

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.
Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC