Saudi Yansab shuts PP and PE plants for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yanbu National Petrochemical Company (Yansab), part of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), is planning to shut its polypropylene (PP) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant today (5 February 2021) for a planned turnaround, reported CommoPlast with reference to market sources.

Based in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, the company has PP and LLDPE plant with production capacity of 400,000 tons/year each.

Both plants are expected to remain off-stream for 10-15 days.

As MRC informed earlier, Yansab shut its high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) units for maintenance in early February, 2018. The planned outage lasted for around 6-7 weeks. Located in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia the HDPE and LLDPE units have a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year each.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).

Yansab is the most recent SABIC, (Saudi Basic Industries Corp), affiliate in Saudi Arabia, and will be the largest Sabic petrochemical complex. It will have an annual capacity exceeding 4 million metric tons (MT) of petrochemical products including: 1.3 million MT (metric-tons) of ethylene; 400,000 MT of propylene; 900,000 MT of polyethylene; 400,000 MT of polypropylene; 700,000 MT of ethylene glycol; 250,000 MT of benzene, xylene and toluene, and 100,000 MT of butene-1 and butene-2.

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) -- Stolt Tankers, the chemical tankers subsidiary of Stolt-Nielsen, has announced the appointment of Emile Hoekstra as CFO, effective as of 15 February 2021, reported Chemweek.

His appointment is “an important step in preparing Stolt Tankers for its IPO,” says Stolt Tankers president Lucas Vos.

Hoekstra was most recently a member of the executive board and CFO at Royal Zeelandia Group.

As MRC informed earlier, in late January 2021, Stolt-Nielsen subsidiary Stolt Tankers said it had been commissioned by BASF to help design and build a new inland chemicals vessel able to operate during periods of extreme low-water levels on the Rhine river to increase security of supply for BASF's chemicals site at Ludwigshafen, Germany.

We remind that BASF said in late January, 2021, that its 420,000-metric ton/year steam cracker in Ludwigshafen, Germany was running normally and had not caused any interruption of supply to its customers. Earlier, several media outlets reported that unscheduled flaring started on 13 January at the northern part of the Ludwigshafen site and was expected to last until 17 January and that an unspecified unit was shut, which "was not the case", as per the company's letter received by MRC.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Karpatneftekhim (Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region), Ukraine's largest petrochemical plant, raised its high density polyethylene (HDPE) prices by USD90/tonne on 3 February for shipments to the domestic market, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's customers said on Wednesday, the Ukrainian producer increased its HDPE prices for shipments to the domestic market by USD90/tonne from previous week. Prices started from USD1,270-1,280/tonne FCA, excluding VAT, for end-users. The price rise was primarily caused by higher feedstocks prices.

High prices in foreign markets also put a major pressure on prices in the county. Thus, European producers raised their February export prices by EUR150-220/tonne from January.

Karpatneftekhim is one of the largest enterprises of Ukraine's petrochemical complex. Currently, the plant can produce annually 300,000 tonnes of PVC, 200,000 tonnes of caustic soda, about 180,000 tonnes of chlorine, as well as 250,000 tonnes of ethylene and 100,000 tonnes of polyethylene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Corteva reports earnings of USD43 million for the seasonally weak fourth quarter, up from a loss of USD18 million in the year-ago quarter, on early seed sales in North America, reported Chemweek.

Adjusted earnings of USD0.04 cents per share were down 43% year-on-year (YOY) but beat the analysts’ consensus estimate for a loss of USD0.03/share, as reported by Zachs Investment Research. Net sales increased 7.5% YOY, to USD3.2 billion, as volumes increased 10% on adoption of new and differentiated crop protection products. Organic sales grew by double digits in North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. Early season sales in seed North America helped to offset currency impacts in Latin America.

“Our new and differentiated products contributed to solid top-line growth,” says Jim Collins, CEO. “We delivered progress in 2020 on key innovations and investments, such as the accelerated ramp-up of our Enlist™ system, which exceeded our initial expectations on US soybean acres in 2020. At the same time, we grew our position in key markets and regions during the year, and further strengthened our multi-channel, multi-brand strategy, including the launch of Brevant™ in the U.S. retail channel.”

Crop protection sales increased 13% YOY, to USD2.0 billion. Segment operating EBITDA was USD327 million, up from USD277 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Favorable mix, volume gains and ongoing cost and productivity actions more than offset the negative impact of currency.

Seed sales were flat YOY, t USD1.2 billion. Volume increased 9%, but was offset by unfavorable currency impacts, particularly in Brazil. Segment operating EBITDA was a seasonal loss of USD47 million, compared to a loss of USD26 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Looking ahead, the company expects net sales of USD14.4-USD14.6 billion for full year 2021, which at the midpoint is 2% higher than 2020. Operating EBITDA is expected to be in the range of USD2.4 billion to USD2.5 billion, an increase of 15-20% compared 2020.

As MRC informed earlier, in late January 2020, DuPont de Nemours, Inc., Corteva, Inc. and The Chemours Company announced that they ha entered into a binding memorandum of understanding containing a settlement to resolve legal disputes originating from the 2015 spin-off of Chemours from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (EID). Cmpanies aimed to establish a cost sharing arrangement and an escrow account to be used to support and manage potential future legacy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) liabilities arising from events prior to 1 July 2015, the day the spin-off was completed.

We remind that DuPont is investing USD400 million in the production capacity of Tyvek nonwoven fabric made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) at its site in Luxembourg. A new building and a third work line at the production site will be constructed. The launch of new facilities is scheduled for 2021.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's HDPE production totalled about 1,824,800 tonnes in 2020, up 90% year on year. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output,.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Prices of polypropylene (PP) have been growing in the Russian market since early January on the back of situation in the foreign market. In the first week of February, prices for some grades of PP reached record levels, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

In the previous years, PP prices became cheaper in January-February in the Russian market due to low seasonal demand and oversupply. The situation in the first two months of this year was completely different. High PP prices in some regions of the world and, as a result, a good export offers put serious pressure on PP prices in Russia.

Since the beginning of the year, prices of homopolymer PP have increased by more than 10%. European PP prices increased by more than EUR300/tonne in November-January, European producers intend to raise their February prices further. A similar situation is on the market in Turkey, during the same period the price of polymer increased on average by USD260/tonne.

It is the rapid rise in PP prices in a number of regions of the world in the past few months that pushes the largest producers to increase prices in the Russian market. Some Russian producers contract homopolymer PP for shipments to Europe at EUR1,150-1,170/tonne, FCA for February shipments.

Which is higher than the price level in the Russian market, even given the increase in early February. A week earlier, negotiations on February supply of polypropylene started in the spot market; some small sellers have volume restrictions. In particular, the supply of polymer produced by Ufaorgsintez is temporarily limited.

Due to the fire, Ufaorgsintez had to temporarily reduce the capacity utilisation. The import of polypropylene from Turkmenistan also decreased. Spot offers for the supply of homopolymer PP raffia in the first days of February started at Rb113,500tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, whereas at the beginning of January the price of this PP did not exceed Rb104,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Some sellers of homopolymer PP raffia rose to Rb118,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT this week. The situation is similar in the propylene copolymer market, with the greatest shortage seen in the injection moulding propylene copolymer segment.

Demand for PP subsided significantly is early February, many converters found it difficult to quickly accept new prices primarily because of the difficulty of passing the new cost of material to finished products.

MRC