MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Liquide says it plans to invest over USD100 million in a new air separation unit (ASU) on its Gulf Coast pipeline network at Ingleside, Texas, reported Chemweek.
The move follows the signing of a long-term agreement with Steel Dynamics (SDI), one of the largest steel producers and metals recyclers in the US, to supply gaseous oxygen, nitrogen, and argon to SDI’s steel mill at Sinton, Texas.
The ASU will have the capacity to produce over 770 metric tons/day of oxygen, as well as nitrogen and argon to supply SDI's planned 3 million metric tons/year steel mill starting up in 2021. Air Liquide will also add 45 kilometers of pipeline connecting SDI to its Gulf Coast pipeline system, strengthening the company’s position in the US Gulf Coast region and in the growing industrial basin of Corpus Christi where it has been present since the mid-1930s.
Air Liquide’s ability to provide large volumes of oxygen and nitrogen from Corpus Christi, Texas, to New Orleans, Louisiana, via its integrated production and supply pipeline network provides its customers with an enhanced competitiveness over the long-term, the company says.
The project will strengthen the US steel industry through the establishment of the largest steel mill in Texas, says Michael Graff, executive vice president and executive committee member at Air Liquide. “The investment in this ASU and pipeline infrastructure will further enhance Air Liquide’s network capabilities and leadership position in the Gulf Coast, allowing us to meet the growing industrial gas demands of our customers in the region,” he says.
As MRC wrote before, in late December 2019, Air Liquide Philippines and Pilipinas Shell signed a long-term contract for a supply of Hydrogen to Shell’s Tabangao refinery in Batangas, Philippines. The new venture will secure for the Tabangao refinery a continuous supply of Hydrogen for its processing needs.
We remind that Shell Singapore restarted its naphtha cracker in Bukom Island in early December 2019, 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 595,170 tonnes in the first five month of 2020, up by 10% year on year. Deliveries of all ethylene polymers, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), rose partially because of an increase in capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC