Zhejiang Petrochemical delayed shutdown for maintenance at PP unit in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Petrochemical has delayed the shutdown of its polypropylene (PP) unit owing to weather issues, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that, the company has postponed the shutdown of the unit to August 28, 2020. The unit was initially suppose to shut on August 26, 2020 and was expected to remain under maintenance for about 8-10 days.

Located at Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China, the PP unit has a production capacity of 375,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, in H1 January, 2020, Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd (ZPC) achieved on-spec cargoes at its No. 1 PP plant and linear low density polyetylene (LLDPE) plant. Based in Zhejiang, China, the petrochemical complex consists of 450,000 tosn/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE), 400,000 tons/year of LLDPE and two PP plants with combined production capacity of 900,000 tons/year.

According to MRC's DataScope report, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South African petrochemicals group Sasol said that its Lake Charles Chemical facility in the US state of Louisiana remained shut after Hurricane Laura made landfall last week, reported Reuters.

The world’s top manufacturer of motor fuel from coal, said manufacturing facilities in Lake Charles shut down with high voltage transmission line corridors into the area damaged. Sasol had temporarily shut down facilities at Lake Charles in Louisiana and Greens Bayou and Winnie in Texas in preparation for the hurricane.

The massive storm hit Louisiana early last Thursday with 150 mile-per-hour (240 kph) winds, damaging buildings, knocking down trees and cutting power supplies.

Sasol did not indicate how much production would be impacted but said it was engaging with its customers and suppliers and would update the market when it had more certainty.

The company said a damage assessment was being conducted at Lake Charles with early reports indicating no damage to process equipment and no flood damage despite damage to its cooling towers from the high wind speeds.

Manufacturing operations in Greens Bayou and Winnie in Texas were not affected by the storm, it said.

“Start-up of the plants will depend on the availability of electricity, industrial gases, other feedstocks and the restoration process,” Sasol said in a statement.

The company, which is in talks for a potential partner at its US Base Chemicals plant, said it did not envisage any impact on the potential transaction.

Investors have been concerned by the company’s debt, largely due to delays and cost overruns at the Louisiana plant, including from heavy rainfall in 2017 due to Tropical Storm Harvey.

The Lake Charles Chemical Complex has seven manufacturing units and produces products used in the manufacture of soaps, detergents and cosmetics as well as speciality chemicals used in thickeners and pharmaceuticals.

As MRC reported earlier, Hanwha Group has lost to US-based chemical company Chevron Phillips in a bid to acquire a 50% stake in global chemical company Sasol’s ethane cracking center (ECC) located in Louisiana, for which the South Korean conglomerate offered more than USD3 billion.

We remind that Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker with the capacity of 1.5 mln tonnes per year reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol's new cracker, the heart of Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide feedstock to our six new derivative units at the company"s Lake Charles multi-asset site.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Citgo Lake Charles announced the refinery sustained damage as a result of Hurricane Laura, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the company's statement.

The company released the following update.

"We are pleased to confirm that all of our employees are safe," said President and CEO Carlos Jorda, "and thanks to the advance preparation and hard work of our refinery employees, there wasn't any flaring or release of hydrocarbons resulting from this ferocious storm. Our refinery employees showed tremendous professionalism during this time. We commend them for their dedication."

The refinery sustained damage as a result of high winds. A detailed assessment, which will take a number of days to complete, is currently underway as are plans to repair the damage. CITGO cannot issue a restart schedule until the assessment is complete, but the company does not expect an immediate restart.

Jorda added, "Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by the storm. We are working with local authorities to support efforts to restore the region."

As MRC wrote earlier, in the first week of July, 2020, Citgo Petroleum Corp restarted the large gasoline-producing fluid catalytic cracker at its 167,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's DataScope report, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corp has begun restarting the small crude distillation unit (CDU) and gasoline-producing fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at its 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont, Texas, refinery, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The 110,000-bpd Crude A CDU and 120,000-bpd FCC were shut on Tuesday ahead of the approach of Hurricane Laura to the US Gulf Coast.

Exxon is also restarting the 75,000-bpd PTR 3 catalytic reformer and 40,000-bpd diesel hydrotreater, sources said.

As MRC informed earlier, ExxonMobil has put off for a year work on its refinery expansion in Beaumont, Texas. The expansion project is now slated to be online sometime in 2023, versus the original 2022 proposal. Bloomberg first reported the delay. ExxonMobil declined to confirm the story, noting that it does not comment on the status of individual projects. The company "is evaluating all appropriate steps to significantly reduce capital and operating expenses in the near term as a result of market conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and commodity price decreases," the company said in a statement.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan’s biggest oil refiner Eneos Holdings Inc will hasten its transformation into a supplier of low-carbon energy and materials as domestic oil demand drops more than expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Reuters with reference to new President Katsuyuki Ota's statement.

A quicker timeline comes amid a wider consolidation in Japan’s refining sector, which has been cutting capacity as it struggles to get business from a shrinking, ageing population that consumes less fuel because of more efficient vehicles.

Eneos, formerly JXTG, unveiled last year its long-term plan to transform with an assumption that domestic oil demand would halve by 2040, or fall 2% annually. It said in May 2020 it would spend 1.5 trillion yen (USD14 billion) in three years to March 2023 to drive the change.

But “Japan’s oil demand may not return to the levels we had anticipated before the pandemic”, said Ota, who became president in June. “We need to tackle various reforms faster” to develop growth businesses such as renewable energy and streamline the refinery structure, he added.

“It would not only mean shutting refineries down, but also turning them into chemical refineries or energy platforms for electric power, hydrogen and others.”

To this end, Eneos’ refineries in a petrochemical complex in Kashima, east of Tokyo, and Mizushima, western Japan, among others have potential, Ota said.

Eneos operates 11 refineries with 1.93 million barrels per day (bpd) capacity. Their run rate in April-June plunged to 68%, lowest since 2010, as the pandemic slammed demand.

It has already decided to stop refining at its 115,000 bpd Osaka refinery, and teamed up with Mitsubishi Chemical to strengthen petrochemical refining at their plants in Kashima.

The end of refining at Eneos’ Osaka plant will cut Japan’s overall capacity to just over 3.4 million bpd, from 5.94 million bpd in the 1980s.

To cope with sliding demand, four of Japan’s biggest oil companies have merged into two, Eneos and Idemitsu Kosan, in recent years.

Ota said further alliances would likely be with players in other industries such as electricity, gas and chemicals.

Eneos is still in talks with Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) to collaborate on refinery projects, and it eyes renewable energy projects in Australia to make CO2-free hydrogen, he said.

As MRC reported previously, Eneos Corporation restarted its fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) unit in Japan on 14 August, 2020. The company halted operations at this unit on July 28, 2020. Located at Sendai, Japan, the FCC unit has a propylene capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's DataScope report, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Japan's largest refiner JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy was renamed ENEOS Corporation on 25 June, 2020, as part of a wider re-organization of the parent company JXTG Holdings. The move, which also involved renaming the parent company to ENEOS Holdings upon approval at its annual shareholders meeting in June 2020, comes as it strives to be a more comprehensive energy and materials company under its 2040 vision announced in May, 2019. JXTG Holdings was formed as a result of a merger between JX Holdings and TonenGeneral in April 2017. This followed the establishment of JX Holdings as a result of the merger between Nippon Oil and Nippon Mining Holdings in April 2010.
MRC