Marathon restarts reformer at Galveston Bay Refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marathon Petroleum is restarting a reformer at its 593,000-bpd Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

Marathon spokesman Jamal Kheiry declined to comment.

Marathon began restarting the 65,000-bpd reformer, called Ultraformer 4, on Wednesday, the sources said. Ultraformer 4 was shut on June 29 following a malfunction.

As MRC informed earlier, in May, 2021, US refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp said its board had approved the conversion of the Martinez refinery in California to a renewable diesel plant. Besides, the company made a final investment decision regarding this project. Martinez, once complete, will be one of the largest renewables facilities in the country.

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.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) is a leading, integrated, downstream energy company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company operates the nation's largest refining system. MPC's marketing system includes branded locations across the United States, including Marathon brand retail outlets.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SK Global Chemical will invest 600 billion won (USD522.6 million) in a factory complex in Ulsan that will chemically recycle plastic waste, meaning the plastic will be completely degraded to raw material form, said Koreajoongangdaily.

The wholly-owned subsidiary of SK Innovation, Korea’s largest oil refiner, signed an agreement with Ulsan City government Thursday. The plan is to build a chemical recycling factory on 160,000 square meters of land by 2025. Once it is complete, the Ulsan factory will be able to recycle 184,000 tons of plastic waste a year.

By investment volume and size of land, this will be the largest plastic recycling project in Korea, SK Global Chemical says. Chemical recycling splits molecule chains of plastic to produce materials like naphtha and crude oil. It is a different technology from mechanical recycling that washes plastic waste and melts it in a way that preserves its molecular structure.

According to SK Global Chemical, mechanical recycling is the more prevalent technology used by plastic recycling businesses in Korea, but chemical recycling is what produces end-products of higher value. For the massive plastic recycling project, SK Global Chemical teamed up with overseas partners that possess core technology in the field.

In January, the Korean petrochemical firm signed an agreement with Brightmark, a San Francisco-based company that has pyrolysis technology for heating and vaporizing the plastic waste to produce naphtha, which in turn is the base material for a variety of petrochemical products.

Together, SK Global Chemical and Brightmark will build a factory inside the Ulsan complex that could turn 100,000 tons of plastic waster to naphtha per year. Completion for this specific production line is set for 2024. The naphtha will be reused by SK Global Chemical to make other products.

Last month, SK Global Chemical acquired 10 percent of Loop Industries, a Canadian company specializing in depolymerization technology that can recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and polyester fiber into their raw materials.

According to SK Global Chemical, Loop’s technology causes no degradation in quality or strength and can be repeated infinitely, as opposed to traditional mechanical recycling that can cause degradation in PET quality.

SK Global Chemical and Loop will also establish facilities inside the Ulsan complex that can recycle 84,000 tons of plastic waste annually from 2025. The plan is to gradually expand this figure to 2.5 million tons by 2027.

Earlier this month, SK Innovation announced that recycling plastic would be a core part of the company's business. The Ulsan plant is the first concrete plan announced after the pledge.

"The Ulsan complex is the start of our ideation to produce raw materials out of plastic waste," said Na Kyung-soo, SK Global Chemical president and CEO in a Thursday statement. "Starting from Korea, our goal is to take this plastic recycling business to Asia one day and grow into a global leader in the field."

As MRC wrote previously, in October, 2020, Advanced Petrochemical signed an amendment to the partnership agreement between its subsidiary, Advanced Global Investment Co. (AGIC), and SK Gas Petrochemical Pte. Ltd. (SKGP), a unit of SK Gas Co. Ltd.. Under the amendment, an isopropanol (IPA) plant with a capacity of 70,000 tons per annum will be added, along with the Propane Dehydrogenation (PDH) and Polypropylene (PP) plants that were already announced earlier. The company said in a bourse statement that by adding the IPA plant with an estimated cost of SAR 300 million (USD80 million), the total cost of the project for the three factories is currently estimated to be approximately SAR 7.05 billion (USD1.88 billion).

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.

Advanced Petrochemical Company (before Advanced Polypropylene) is a Saudi Joint Stock Company, established in October 2005. The company was initially launched by National Polypropylene Limited, jointly owned by Mr. Khalifa Al Mulhim, the chief executive officer of Advanced, and Mr. Monther Laheeq, who negotiated all the main deals related to the project, either before or after the establishment of Advanced Petrochemical. Currently, National Polypropylene Limited controls 7.9% of Advanced Petrochemical. Advanced Petrochemical started the construction of its plants in May 2005. The company produces 455,000 tons per year of propylene and 450,000 tons per year of polypropylene from its production facility located in Jubail Industrial City, in the Eastern coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The Bashkir Soda Company (BSK, Sterlitamak) reported a record growth in revenue in the first half of the 2021 fiscal year, which reached 28.2 billion rubles, which shows an increase of 22% compared to the same the period of 2020 fiscal year, according to a press release from the company.

At the same time, the profit from sales increased by 37% and currently amounts to more than 10 billion rubles. It is also planned to set a historical record for adjusted net profit (excluding dividends received from subsidiaries), which will amount to 7.8 billion rubles. against 5.7 billion rubles. a year earlier.

The company associates the record growth of financial indicators with a favorable market situation in the sales market, an increase in sales of the main types of products, in particular, suspension polyvinyl chloride (PVC-S) and purified sodium bicarbonate.

"In 2021, the Bashkir Soda Company plans to strengthen its position, achieving high results. The market is not an easy situation, but despite this, we see opportunities for the strategic development and growth of BSC. We have already set goals for the next decade and will do our best in order to achieve them and improve the current indicators at times ", - said the general director of BSK Eduard Davydov.

Earlier it was reported that on December 4, 2020, the Arbitration Court of Bashkiria canceled the privatization of the BSC. In favor of Russia, 95.72% of the company's ordinary registered shares were reclaimed from the ownership of Regional Fund JSC, Bashkirskaya Khimiya JSC and Bashkirskaya Khimiya Trading House LLC. Prior to the court decision, the main shareholders of BSK were Bashkiria (38.28% through Regional Fund JSC) and Bashkhim JSC (57.18%).

Bashkhim received a controlling stake in BSK (57.18%), and Bashkiria received a blocking stake (38.28%) in 2013, when the Bashkirian OJSC Soda and OJSC Kaustik were merged into the holding. Before joining Soda to Caustic, Bashkiria owned 61.65% of the authorized capital of Soda, Bashkhim - 34.82%. Following the reorganization, Soda's shares were converted into additional shares in Caustic.

According to the ScanPlast of MRC, the Bashkir Soda Company (BSK) in May produced 23,800 tonnes, having retained the figure of the previous month. In January - May of this year, the total volume of resin production at the Bashkir enterprise reached 117,300 tonnes, which is 2% more than a year earlier.

JSC "Bashkir Soda Company" was formed in May 2013 by merging JSC "Soda" and JSC "Caustic". Today "BSK" is one of the largest chemical complexes in the country. The company ranks first in Russia in the production of soda ash and baking soda, and is also one of the leaders in the production of PVC, caustic soda and cable compounds.
MRC

1. Louisiana Parish Council approves tax exemption for PBF Energy refinery project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A Louisiana parish council has approved a property tax exemption for a project that a company official said could be the saviour of independent refiner PBF Energy and its Chalmette, Louisiana refinery, said Hydrocarbonprocessing. The exemption, approved late on Tuesday, will save PBF ГЫВ91 million over 10 years in property taxes for a new renewable diesel unit, according to documents filed by PBF with the council of St. Bernard Parish on the east side of New Orleans. PBF wants to use the tax break to attract a partner for the conversion of an idled hydrocracker, which made diesel from gas oil, into a renewable diesel unit that will make the truck fuel from animal fats. "We see this project here not only as the saviour of the refinery but also the saviour of the company," said Chalmette refinery manager Steven Krynski, in remarks made before the council prior to the vote. Krynski said the company is $1.4 billion in debt from the downturn brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when lockdowns and work-from-home policies reduced demand for fuel. "Very few people realise how close we came to closing down last year not only as a refinery but as a company," Krynski said.



MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, has announced it has acquired 100% of PolyPacific Polymers Sdn. Bhd. (PPM) in Port Klang, Malaysia, as per the company's press release.

PPM is a 25kt manufacturing facility producing reinforced and modified polyolefin compounds.

Upon completion of the acquisition, the facility will undergo a rebranding and name change, and its employees will become LyondellBasell employees. PPM will continue to produce and supply the ongoing business products to its customers.

"We admire PolyPacific Pty. Ltd for the business and reputation they established over the past four decades, and wish them well as they continue to operate their Australian compounding business in Melbourne. We are excited to capture the value of PPM within our APS Asian footprint" said Jim Guilfoyle, Executive Vice President, Advanced Polymer Solutions and Supply Chain, LyondellBasell. "We welcome our new employees to the LyondellBasell family."

In conjunction with the acquisition, LyondellBasell will exit the PolyPacific, a 50:50 joint venture, which will become 100% owned by Mirlex Pty Ltd.

As MRC informed earlier, LyondellBasell reported an equipment failure at its La Porte linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant, which forced the company to shut down the 355,000 tons/year unit without a return schedule, according to the company's official letter to its customers on 17 June 2021. LyondellBasell is currently evaluating the impact of the event on its ability to supply the materials.

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.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC