N. America weekly rail up on broad gains

MOSCOW (MRC) -- During the week ended 16 January, chemical railcar traffic in North America increased 8.8% year-over-year (YOY) on gains throughout the region, said Chemweek.

Volume totaled 47,660 carloads, down 1.9% from the previous week, according to data released on 20 January by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). On a four-week basis, volume increased 3.9% from 2020 and 1.6% from 2019 (chart). For the year to date, chemical railcar traffic in North America is up 7.0%.

Chemical railcar traffic in the US contributed 33,940 carloads to the total, up 4.4% YOY and down 6.2% from the previous week. For the year to date, US chemical railcar traffic is up 5.9%. Canadian chemical rail traffic totaled 12,665 carloads, up 22.8% YOY and up 9.6% from the previous week. For the year to date, Canadian chemical railcar traffic is up 11.1%.

Chemical railcar traffic in Mexico totaled 1,055 carloads, a YOY increase of 7.0% and a sequential increase of 30.2%. For the year to date, Mexican chemical railcar traffic is down 1.5%. Among the railcar categories tracked by AAR, motor vehicles and parts, as well as oil and oil products, registered year-on-year declines of 1.2% and 3.4%, respectively.

For the first two weeks of 2021 ended 16 January, North American chemical railcar traffic was up 7.0% to 96,219 railcar loadings. In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest, while in Canada producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some relying exclusively on rail.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Syrian civil defense teams were extinguishing a huge fire that swept a number of oil tankers loading crude oil from an installation near the country's main Homs refinery after a blast that hit the depot area, reported Reuters with reference to state media's statement.

An explosion had earlier hit a government-owned crude oil transportation company in the city and oil tankers loading crude oil from the installation then caught fire, state media reported.

The governor of Homs, Bassam Barsik, was quoted on state media as saying civil defense teams were working on extinguishing the fire that erupted during "the loading of crude oil".

"There are no human casualties and we are working on containing the spread of the fire," Barsik said.

It was not clear if the explosions were an accident or the result of sabotage in a war-torn country where violence has subsided but insurgents and rebels still wage attacks in government-held areas.

There have been hit-and-run attacks on government forces in the central province of Homs in recent months by remnants of Islamic State militants who take shelter in outlying, sparsely populated areas.

The Russian air force has also been active in recent weeks in helping the Syrian army bomb suspected hideouts of militants in the Homs area.

As MRC informed before, in early February, 2020, a fire in Syria’s Homs refinery was put out by civil defense and the refinery firefighting unit, shortly after a gas compressor in the 6th project exploded.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German chemicals giant BASF said operating income saw a better-than-expected gain during the fourth quarter, boding well for its upcoming dividend policy review, said the company.

Quarterly earnings before interest and tax, adjusted for one-off items, rose 32% to 1.11 billion euros (USD1.35 billion), beating market consensus and slightly above the highest analyst estimate, BASF said in an unscheduled statement on Wednesday, citing preliminary figures.

Quarterly sales increased by 8% to 15.9 billion euros as higher volumes and product prices outweighed the effect of weaker overseas currencies.

“The BASF Group’s operating business performed better than expected in the fourth quarter of 2020,” the company said in a statement.

The company expects to post an EBIT loss in the full year of 2020, mainly due to the non-cash-effective impairments and provisions for restructuring in the third quarter of last year.

As per MRC, BASF says it has chosen BTC Europe as its new distributor in Europe for aromatic isocyanates and polyols for polyurethane applications. The collaboration comes into effect on 1 February 2021 and will comprise BASF’s polyurethane product brands Lupranat, Lupranol, and Lupraphen. The new agreement will enable the company to “react to the wish of our customers of providing the entire product portfolio from a single source,” says Oliver Peter, BASF’s account manager/European isocyanates.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase 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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Air Liquide has acquired a 40% equity stake in renewable hydrogen development company H2V Normandy, a subsidiary of H2V Product (Paris, France), which plans to build an electrolyzer complex of up to 200 megawatts (MW) in France to produce and supply green- and low-carbon hydrogen for industrial applications, reported Chemweek.

No financial details for the transaction have been given.

The electrolyzer project is planned to be built in the industrial zone of Port-Jerome, Normandy, to supply hydrogen for industrial and future heavy mobility applications, Air Liquide says. The project aims to develop new energies to decarbonize industrial activities, mainly in chemicals and refining, on the Seine Valley axis in Normandy, one of Air Liquide’s historical industrial basins in France, it says. The planned development would enable 250,000 metric tonnes/year of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to be avoided, it adds.

The investment “demonstrates Air Liquide’s long-term commitment to hydrogen energy and its ambition to be a major player in the supply of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, in order to contribute to the decarbonization of the industry and mobility markets,” it says.

Air Liquide has previously deployed a solution for CO2 capture, CryocapTM, on its existing Port-Jerome hydrogen production facility.

With France “resolutely committed to energy transition with an ambitious hydrogen plan,” Air Liquide is investing locally to develop the activity, says Air Liquide’s Francois Jackow, executive vice president and an executive committee member. The investment is in line with the company’s commitment to supply renewable or low-carbon hydrogen to support the decarbonization of industry and promote hydrogen as a key element in the energy transition, he says.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2020, Air Liquide finalised an agreement with Sasol to acquire the biggest oxygen production site in the world with a plan to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 30%. After the announcement on July 29, the international major industry gas company has now entered into a business purchase agreement with Sasol to acquire the oxygen production site in Secunda, South Africa.

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 LCCP, is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities that came online and will provide feedstock to the company's six new derivative units at Sasol'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 decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan has bought a piece of land in Kaohsiung on which it plans to build a new naphtha cracker to replace its No. 4 cracker at a cost of NTD82.3 billion (USD2.94 billion), said Chemweek.

CPC's No. 4 cracker in Kaohsiung's Linyuan District has been in operation for 37 years and has an annual ethylene production capacity of 380,000 metric tons, which cannot meet the demand of its customers, CPC spokesman Chang Ray-chung said.

Given the strong demand for basic chemical raw materials and the potential demand from a new circular industrial park being developed in Dalinpu that is focused on innovative materials, CPC decided to build a new naphtha cracker to sustain adequate supply, Chang said.

The company is required, however, to build a new plant before it dismantles the old one, and getting a site for the new plant was pressing, Chang noted. It chose for the project a 31-hectare lot it purchased in 2017 from chemical manufacturer China American Petrochemical Co. Ltd.

Chang said the state-owned company is set to start the new project in 2022 by applying for an environmental impact assessment and hopes to break ground in 2025 and begin production in 2028.

Once the new plant starts production, it is expected to produce 1 million metric tons of ethylene per year, 163 percent more than currently produced at the old facility, according to Chang.

As MRC informed earlier, Taiwan’s state-run CPC Corp plans to relocate equipment of its oil refinery and third naphtha cracker in Kaohsiung, Taiwan to set up a large-scale petrochemical complex in Indonesia. This step will better utilize the two plants’ equipment after their expected closure, preventing them from being scrapped.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC