Reliance and Abu Dhabi Chem to jointly build first chlor-alkali plant n the UAE

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has recently entered a joint venture with Abu Dhabi Chemical to build the first petrochemical plant to produce Chlor-alkali products in the UAE, according to CommoPlast.

The new plant will be located in Ruwais, UAE and will produce Ethylene Dichloride (EDC) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC).

The USD2 billion project is named TA’ZIZ EDC & PVC. Its output will meet the growing demand in the local market, as well and in Southeast Asia and Africa.

The project is preliminarily designed to produce 580,000 tons/year of EDC, which would need to use 790,000 tons of chorine per annum. The downstream PVC plant is expected to have an annual output of 360,000 tons/year.

Market sources said that the excess EDC supply would be exported to India, where the demand expands at a healthy pace.

As MRC informed before, in November 2021, Reliance Industries and Saudi Aramco decided to re-evaluate their agreement for the Middle Eastern producer to buy a stake in the refining and petrochemical business of India"s biggest private refiner, and both companies would look at broader areas of cooperation due to the changing energy scenario.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of unmixed PVC was 911,400 tonnes in January-November 2021, up by 7% year on year. The emulsion and suspension PVC market showed an increase in demand. November estimated consumption of SPVC in Russia totalled 79,340 tonnes versus 76,720 tonnes in October. Russian producers reduced their exports, and their output also increased after the completion of scheduled maintenance works.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company produces polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride and other petrochemical products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil and SABIC have announced the successful startup of Gulf Coast Growth Ventures world-scale manufacturing facility in San Patricio County, Texas, reported Reuters.

The new facility will produce materials used in packaging, agricultural film, construction materials, clothing, and automotive coolants. The operation includes a 1.8 MM metric tpy ethane steam cracker, two polyethylene (PE) units capable of producing up to 1.3 MM metric tpy, and a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit with a capacity of 1.1 MM metric tpy.

“We built this state-of-the-art chemical plant ahead of schedule and below budget, by leveraging our global projects expertise in execution planning and delivery, while keeping everyone safe and healthy,” said Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company. “This is a remarkable achievement that positions us well to help meet growing global demand for performance products while providing meaningful investment in the US Gulf Coast.”

ExxonMobil and SABIC have partnered together for 40 years on petrochemical projects. Gulf Coast Growth Ventures represents their first JV in the Americas. SABIC is the operating partner for two long-standing JV with ExxonMobil in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kemya in Jubail and Yanpet in Yanbu. Ownership interests in Gulf Coast Growth Ventures is evenly divided with 50% to ExxonMobil and 50% to SABIC. ExxonMobil is the site operator.

As MRC wrote previously, a little more than two years after announcing San Patricio County was selected as the site for its new ethylene cracker plant, ExxonMobil and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. celebrated the groundbreaking for the new facility (September 2019).

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

According to MR''s ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

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.

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) - Imports of polypropylene (PP) in Kazakhstan grew to 39,700 tonnes in first eleven months of this year, up 8% compared to the same period of 2020. PP exports increased more significantly by 24%, reported MRC analysts.

November PP shipments to Kazakhstan grew to 2,400 tonnes from 3,600 tonnes a month earlier, local converters decreased their purchasing of homopolymer PP in Russia and Azerbaijan. Overall PP imports into the country exceeded 39,700 tonnes in the first eleven months of the year, compared to 36,600 tonnes a year earlier. At the same time, the stable work of the local producer during this period of time allowed increasing the export sales of polypropylene by almost a quarter.

November imports of homopolymer PP and propylene copolymers increased to 2,100 tonnes and 300 tonnes, respectively, versus over 2,300 tonnes and 1,300 tonnes a month earlier, local companies reduced purchases pipe PP in Russia and PP-homo in Azerbaijan. Overall imports of homopolymer PP and propylene copolymers reached 28,600 tonnes and 11,200 tons, respectively, in January-November 2021, compared to 28,600 tonnes and 8,100 tonnes a year earlier.

November exports of PP from Kazakhstan increased to 1,600 tonnes against 800 tonnes in October. Kazakhstan's PP exports over the first eleven months dropped to 28,000 tonnes, whereas this figure was 22,700 tonnes a year earlier. About 92% of total exports accounted for Russia.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican state oil company Pemex on Thursday signed a long-term crude supply contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc as part of its acquisition of the Deer Park refinery in Texas, reported Reuters.

Pemex and Shell in May announced the transaction, which is worth almost USD600 MM and will make the Mexican firm the sole owner of the refinery near Houston. The facility has capacity to process 340,000 bpd.

Shell will supply about 200,000 bpd of foreign and US crude to the plant for at least 15 years, according to a source and a July document seen by Reuters.

A Pemex unit expects to supply up to 115,000 bpd of Mexican crude to the refinery and receive about 230,000 bpd of refined products that could go to Mexico. The transfer secures for Mexico a greater supply of fuel produced by the plant while reducing sales to gasoline retailers in the US.

Pemex separately agreed to supply the adjacent Shell Chemical plant with feedstocks, and made two-year job offers to the plant's salaried workforce, two sources said.

Pemex Chief Executive Officer Octavio Romero in a statement pledged to operate the plant safely and protect its staff and the environment. The refinery's new board of directors held its first meeting on Thursday, he said.

If Pemex suspends or reduces the volumes that are part of its supply contract, it would have to pay Shell between $50 MM and USD190 MM depending on the year it does so, according to the July document.

Pemex's fuel production declined by almost half between 2016 and 2020 and its refineries ran at less than 50% of their capacity in 2020. In contrast, Deer Park ran at 78% of capacity in 2020.

As MRC wrote before, Mexico carried out the transaction as agreed: USD596 MM for the refinery's assets - equivalent to Shell's 50% stake in the JV's debt - as well as the liquidation of the USD596 MM that made up Pemex's stake in the refinery.

We remind that Royal Dutch Shell plc. said in November, 2021, that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The plant's costs are estimated to be USD6-USD10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (mmty) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene (PE), two important constituents of plastics.

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

According to MR''s ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yanbu National Petrochemical Co. (Yansab) reported a surge of over twofold in 2021 net profit after Zakat and tax to SAR 1.531 billion, from SAR 677.6 million a year earlier, said Argaam.

The strong performance was driven by better average sales prices despite lower production and sales volume, due to the turnaround and shutdown of the company's plants as previously announced on Jan. 26 and July 11, 2021. 26 and July 11, 2021.

When compared to previous quarter, net profit jumped 86.3% from SAR 179.8 million, thanks to higher production and sales volumes.

Shareholders’ equity, after minority interest, increased by 0.37% to SAR 15.042 billion as of Dec. 31, 2021 from SAR 14.985 billion a year earlier.

Yanbu National Petrochemical Co’s (Yansab) net profit rose slightly in the fourth quarter of last year amid higher average selling prices.

Earnings were partly weighed down by higher average feedstock costs, Yanbu said in a statement filed on the Saudi bourse, Tadawul.

For the whole of 2021, the company's net profit more than doubled on the back of higher average selling prices despite lower production and sales from plant turnarounds.

As per MRC, Yanbu National Petrochemical Company (Yansab), part of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), restarted its cracker after a planned turnaround. The cracker in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, which can produce 1.38 mln mt/year of ethylene and 400,000 mt/year of propylene, resumed operations on 15 February, 2021. It was shut for a turnaround on 5 February 2021.

The company also has polyolefin plants at the same site with production capacity of 400,000 tons/year of polypropylene (PP) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) each. They were also taken off-line for maintenance on 5 February 2021.

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