Mitsui Chemicals starts commercial production at new LUCANT plant in Chiba

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo) has recently started the commercial production of a new plant to produce LUCANT, a series of hydrocarbon-based synthetic fluid, at its Ichihara Works in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, according to MarketScreener.

With this new plant coming on top of an existing plant at Iwakuni-Ohtake Works, Mitsui Chemicals' production capacity for LUCANT is now set to increase, allowing the company to comfortably keep up with the strong global demand for the product. Further, by moving to a two-base system spread across Iwakuni-Ohtake Works and Ichihara Works, Mitsui Chemicals aims to bolster its business continuity planning for LUCANT.

Mitsui Chemicals' LUCANT is a high-performance hydrocarbon-based synthetic oil - the world's first such product to be offered commercially. In addition to its viscosity being largely resistant to temperature changes, the material has a number of other noteworthy properties, including excellent shear stability and thermochemical stability.

These characteristics see LUCANT finding use as a viscosity modifier in applications that require very high quality - such as gear oil for automotive drivelines, as well as industrial lubricants and greases. The product has been approved for use by prominent automakers and lubricant manufacturers.

Amid an era of heightening needs for eco-friendly products, LUCANT is expected to meet with rising global demand as a product able to help achieve improved fuel efficiency and longer operating life.

Mitsui Chemicals has a strategic partnership with The Lubrizol Corporation's Additives Segment (Segment President:Tom Curtis ) which acts as a major producer of lubricant additive packages. Going forward, both Mitsui Chemicals and Lubrizol intend to further expand and grow the LUCANT business in the lubricant market.

Further, as its own independent initiative, Mitsui Chemicals intends to tackle market development and application development for the expanded use of LUCANT as a functional liquid polymer, including applications as a modifier for elastomers and engineering plastics.

As MRC reported earlier, in May, 2021, Neste, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. and Toyota Tsusho Corp. announced they are joining forces to enable Japan’s first industrial-scale production of renewable plastics and chemicals from 100% bio-based hydrocarbons.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software driving digital transformation and sustainability, has formed a new alliance with Wood, the global consulting and engineering company, to accelerate digital transformation of industries such as power, energy, chemicals and mining with the launch of a new solution called Connected Build, a key part of Wood’s Digital Twin offering, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Wood has standardized its use of AVEVA Enterprise Resource Management as a key component of the Connected Build offering to its industrial clients globally.

Connected Build optimizes project delivery while improving collaboration on new build projects and facilitating the digital modernization of existing plants and refurbishments. The new solution capitalizes on design efficiencies to deliver the build accurately the first time, unlocking sustainability and value benefits while ensuring worker safety. As part of Wood’s vision for operational excellence, leveraging technology to standardize and optimize delivery is key to achieving efficiencies and to meet sustainability targets.

The new Connected Build solution is a key part of Wood’s Engineering Digital Twin strategy by sharing project status and materials availability data in real-time with all stakeholders, optimizing project execution through benefits such as improved labor productivity, reduced material waste and costs, shortened project cycles and improved yield. When applied to the engineering and build phases, the Connected Build approach results in rapid and seamless project handover, while shortening time to production and improving digital resiliency for Wood’s clients.

Initial deployments of Wood’s Connected Build Digital Twin has set a new benchmark for digital engineering, boosting safety, and improving overall asset performance while delivering savings on the total cost of the project and an additional saving in operations and maintenance.

AVEVA and Wood share a significant history of innovation. Wood has previously integrated its own Go-Technology commissioning solution into its use of the AVEVA Engineering Design software suite. To support the rapid acceleration of their Connected Build offering, Wood has standardized AVEVA Enterprise Resource Management to provide a single, coordinated platform approach across all stages of a project, from design and materials procurement to construction, advanced work packaging, commissioning and completions.

Going forward, the two organizations will remain strategically aligned with a laser focus on delivering maximum value for shared clients through continuous technology improvements and developments.

As MRC reported previously, in May 2021, Maire Tecnimont Group, through its subsidiary Tecnimont, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with AVEVA to create new digital predictive and prescriptive maintenance services that drive enhanced business outcomes.

We remind that Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. has recently announced that its subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and Mumbai-based Tecnimont Private Limited were awarded an EPCC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning) Lump Sum contract by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), for the implementation of a new paraxylene (PX) plant and the relevant offsites facilities. The plant will be located in Paradip, in the State of Odisha, in Eastern India. The overall value of the contract is about USD450 million.

PX is a feedstock for the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA). PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which, in its turn, is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption reached 64,750 tonnes in March 2021, which corresponds to the last year's figure (64,520 tonnes). Overall estimated PET consumption in Russia decreased by 5% year on year to 182,300 tonnes in January-March, 2021.

AVEVA is a global leader in industrial software, driving digital transformation and sustainability. By connecting the power of information and artificial intelligence with human insight, AVEVA enables teams to use their data to unlock new value. We call this Performance Intelligence. AVEVA’s comprehensive portfolio enables more than 20,000 industrial enterprises to engineer smarter, operate better and drive sustainable efficiency. AVEVA supports customers through a trusted ecosystem that includes 5,500 partners and 5,700 certified developers around the world. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with over 6,500 employees and 90 offices in over 40 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dr. Vinod Purayath has joined Avient, formerly PolyOne, as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, according to GV.

A business leader with a technical, entrepreneurial mindset, Dr. Purayath has achieved global success in materials development, with a particular emphasis on semiconductor and digital memory applications. At SanDisk Corporation, he held technical and engineering leadership positions over an eight-year period, building and leading a global team of engineers. Dr. Purayath later joined Applied Materials, as the technology leader for its new Selective Removal Products business, and most recently served as Vice President, Process Technology for SunRise Memory.

Dr. Purayath's academic credentials are extensive, including a PhD in Quantum Engineering and Science Systems, University of Tokyo; a Master's of Business Administration, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); a Master's Degree in Materials Science in Engineering, PSG College of Technology; and a Bachelor's of Science in Physics, Bharathiar University. A continual and passionate innovator, Dr. Purayath has been named as an inventor in more than 150 patents.

As MRC reported previously, in January 2021, Avient Corporation announced the official opening of its new CycleWorks facility in Pogliano, Italy. The new lab and plant will conduct chemistry testing and evaluations to help customers meet the challenge of plastics recycling and advance the goal of a circular economy. The demonstration plant mimics real-world recycling conditions in a research environment, said Avient.

On 1 July 2020, PolyOne and Clariant Masterbatches joined together as Avient, a company focused on specialised and sustainable material solutions with projected 2020 pro forma revenues of approximately USD 3.7 billion. Avient has approximately 9,100 employees and is certified ACC Responsible Care and a founding member of the AEPW.
MRC

1. PetroChina expects profit to increase in H1

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PetroChina said that the company is estimated to swing to profits from losses in the first half of this year amid broad demand recovery and strengthening oil prices, said the company. PetroChina made an estimated profit of 45bn-60bn yuan (USD7.3bn-9.3bn) in January-June this year after it declared a net loss of Yn30bn in the same period of 2020. Its estimated first-half 2021 profit would also be up sharply from Yn28.4bn in January-June 2019.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures were steady during mid-morning trade in Asia July 5 as the market continued to await guidance on the OPEC+ alliance's production plan for August onwards after the UAE's desire for a higher output target soured negotiations, reported S&P Global.

At 11:32 am Singapore time (0332 GMT), the ICE September Brent crude futures contract slipped 8 cents/b (0.11%) from the previous close at USD76.09/b, while the NYMEX August light sweet crude contract was down 11 cents/b (0.15%) at USD75.05/b.

The stability in the market comes as investors wait for a definitive production plan from OPEC+, which is in a quandary after sustained objections from the UAE forced the producer group to reconvene for a second time July 5 at 3 pm Vienna time (1300 GMT).

OPEC+ was set to agree on boosting collective crude output by 400,000 b/d each month from August to December and to extend its supply management agreement through the end of 2022. However, the UAE stymied the proceedings by insisting its baseline production level, from which its quota is determined, should be raised.

The UAE's baseline under the current pact, determined by its October 2018 production level, is 3.168 million b/d, but the country now claims a capacity closer to 4 million b/d. Increasing the baseline would enable the UAE to pump more crude.

Other OPEC+ members deemed this request to be unfair. Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told the Al-Arabiya network that the UAE was isolated in its position, and that all other members had approved the deal.

Analysts have said that failure to reach a deal that allows for an increase in production quotas would tighten an already undersupplied market. This is especially since a lack of consensus would see the alliance revert to its existing production agreement, under which output quotas would remain flat at July levels.

Analysts have also raised concerns that the UAE may leave the alliance altogether, a prospect the country had previously considered. Another scenario entails the breakdown of co-operation within the alliance itself, which could see a flood of oil entering the market.

We remind that as MRC informed earlier, Indian refiners, anticipating a lifting of US sanctions, plan to make space for the resumption of Iranian imports by reducing spot crude oil purchases in the second half of the year. The world"s third-largest oil consumer and importer halted imports from Tehran in 2019 after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 accord and re-imposed sanctions on the OPEC producer over its disputed nuclear programme.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC