Borealis still keeps its Stenungsund cracker shut

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austria-based petrochemicals producer Borealis has maintained its cracker in Stenungsund (Sweden) offline longer than initially anticipated, after it was shut following a force majeure declaration at the site on May 11, reported S&P Global.

Sources said that the unit has been offline longer than initially expected with no confirmed startup date.

The Stenungsund cracker has an ethylene capacity of 625,000 tonnes and a propylene capacity of 150,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, Borealis said Monday (11 May) that it was still investigating a fire that broke out late Saturday at its Stenungsund steam cracker in Sweden. 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.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

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

1. Dutch business coalition, including AkzoNobel, calls for sustainable COVID-19 recovery plan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel, together with the other members of the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition (DSGC), a CEO-led coalition of eight Dutch multinational corporations, has endorsed sustainability as the cornerstone of COVID-19 recovery plans at a national and EU level, said Chemweek. DSGC is calling on the Dutch government to endorse the EU Green Deal as one of the cornerstones of the EU's recovery plan, and build a COVID-19 recovery plan around an investment schedule that firmly puts the Dutch economy on the path of realizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreements, AkzoNobel says.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC Europe, an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), has unexpectedly shut its No. 6 cracker in Wilton (UK), reported S&P Global.

Thus, this cracker which has an annual ethylene capacity of 865,000 tonnes and propylene capacity of 415,000 tonnes was shut on June 17 due to technical issues.

It is not expected to come back online for another two weeks.

As MRC wrote before, SABIC took off-stream its SABIC Olefins 4 cracker owing to technical issues on May 10, 2019. Further details on duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in beek, the Netherlands, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 690,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 360,000 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 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 347,440 tonnes in January-April 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Supply exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nova Chemicals, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mubadala Investment Co. (Abu Dhabi), has announced that Todd Karran, president and CEO, has elected to retire, effective 1 August 2020, said Chemweek.

A career veteran of Nova Chemicals, Karran has served as president and CEO since 2015. He joined Nova in 1985 and was previously CFO; vice president/corporate development and treasurer; chief information officer; vice president/applications; and vice president and controller/olefins and polyolefins.

Karran has led the company through significant growth and expansion projects, including the completion and start-up of a new polyethylene reactor in Alberta, Canada; the decision to expand Nova’s geographical footprint into the US Gulf Coast; and building a second advanced Sclairtech technology facility in Ontario, Canada.


“There have been a number of important milestones achieved under [Karran’s] leadership and we truly appreciate his commitment to the Nova family and, not least, ensuring an unwavering focus on safety,” says Musabbeh al Kaabi, chairman of the board of directors. The board is currently finalizing arrangements to hire “a talented and experienced leader” to replace Karran, Kaabi says.

As MRC informed earlier, Borealis AG and NOVA Chemicals Corporation has announced they have reached an agreement for Borealis to buy NOVA Chemicals’ 50% ownership interest in Novealis Holdings LLC (Novealis). Formed in 2018, Novealis is the joint venture between affiliates of Borealis and NOVA Chemicals, which subsequently formed a 50/50 joint venture with an affiliate of Total S.A. to launch Bayport Polymers LLC (Baystar) in Houston, Texas, US.

As MRC reported earlier, in January 2017, NOVA Chemicals announced the start up of its new world-scale linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) gas phase reactor at its Joffre, Alberta site.

Besides, NOVA Chemicals expanded ethylene production capacity by 20% at its cracker in Corunna, Ontario from the previous capacity of about 839,000 tpy. The expansion occurred between 2014 and 2018 and was part of a wave of expansions and upgrades to NOVA's existing facilities near Sarnia, Ontario. Other upgrades in the plan included a debottlenecking of the Moore low-density polyethylene (LDPE) line and a retrofit of the Moore high-density polyethylene (HDPE) line.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 721,290 tonnes in the first four month of 2020, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments grew partially because of the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim.

NOVA Chemicals Corporation is a plastics and chemical company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is wholly-owned ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's state-owned refineries Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC and Sinochem have ramped up crude throughput to average 80% of capacity in June from 76% in May as profit margins increased, a monthly survey by S&P Global Platts showed June 19, said S&P Global.

Their June runs are also higher than the 79% recorded in the survey a year earlier, the data showed. "We have lifted our crude runs as we finally start making money this month - when all the high-cost feedstock was finished and we started to crack the cheap crudes that we booked in March," an Anhui-based Sinopec refiner source said.

Moreover, "as crude prices moved to around $40/b, the Price Adjustment Risk Fund that state-owned refineries need to pay is less than before, when crude prices were far below USD40/b, so we can keep more profit," a Shandong-based Sinopec refiner source said.

Beijing collects a Price Adjustment Risk Fund contribution on gasoil and gasoline sales when a basket of crude oil prices falls below USD40/b. The payment changes in line with the price gap between USD40/b and the actual average price of the basket of crudes over 10 working days. Guidance retail prices for gasoline and gasoil are set at a level corresponding to a crude price of USD40/b.

In the state-owned sector, PetroChina led the recovery with a five percentage point increase in run rates from May, while Sinopec and CNOOC each raised rates by three percentage points.

The higher throughput comes despite two big refineries, PetroChina's 2.05 million mt/year Dalian Petrochemical and Sinopec's 13.8 million mt/year Tianjin Petrochemical, undergoing maintenance since May.

In total, 32 of the state-owned 38 refineries surveyed across the four companies have raised run rates in June. These refineries, with a combined capacity of 8.6 million b/d, plan to process 6.9 million b/d of crude in June. Platts' June survey canvassed 19 refineries under Sinopec, 17 under PetroChina, CNOOC's Huizhou refinery and Sinochem's Quanzhou refinery.

The survey included the 8.5 million mt/year Sinopec-SK Wuhan Petrochemical refinery in Hubei, the province most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which plans to run at 105% of its capacity in June, up from 93% in May, 61% in April and a floor of 59% in March, the data showed.

Seven refineries with a combined capacity of 1.49 million b/d reported operating above 100% capacity in June, accounting for 17% of the surveyed capacity. This compares with three refineries last month.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical, a subsidiary of Sinopec Corporation, shut the cracker unit in Tianjin in northeast China for scheduled repairs on 15 June, 2020. This cracking unit with a capacity of 900,000 tonnes of ethylene per year and 480,000 tonnes of propylene tons per year will be closed for scheduled repairs until 24 June, 2020.

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