Mitsui Chemicals to expand meltblown nonwovens capacity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals is expanding its production capacity for meltblown nonwovens at its wholly-owned subsidiary Sunrex Industries in response to growing industrial demand, said the company.

The expansion at the facility in Yokkaichi will increase the Mitsui Chemicals Group's overall production capacity for meltblown nonwovens by 30%, the company said in a statement. Mitsui Chemicals is "looking to supply nonwovens not only as sanitary materials for the likes of disposable diapers but also as industrial materials for a variety of applications", it said. The new line in Yokkaichi is expected to start operations in April 2023.

Products targeted toward this end will include TAFNEL, which can be used as an oil-adsorbing material, a structural material for automotive seats and a civil engineering material; SYNTEX, a structural material for filters and masks; and other such high-quality nonwovens. In particular, SYNTEX nano – a brand consisting of superfine fibers – is expected to meet with use in products such as highly advanced precision filters.

Mitsui Chemicals plans to further bolster and grow its nonwovens business going forward, with the newly announced facility expansion coming as one such move.

As per MRC, 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.

As MRC informed earlier, Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co Ltd said in March, 2021, it would invest in the development of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Britain. The Japanese company will take a 15.4% share in Storegga Geotechnologies which is developing the Acorn CCS project to store carbon dioxide emissions in depleted North Sea oil and gas reservoirs.

Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese chemical company that is part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of about USD15 billion and has operations in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the United States. The company mainly produces specialty chemicals, petrochemicals and base polymers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), the country's top refiner, will increase crude purchases from Iraq by 11.5% in 2022 to 390,000 bpd, partly to make up for a shortfall from Mexico and a possible supply cut from Kuwait, reported Reuters with reference to two sources familiar with the matter.

Iraq is the top supplier of oil to India and its market share there is set to rise as another refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp. will also buy more crude from the Middle Eastern nation.

India is the world's third biggest oil importer.

IOC has resorted to buying higher volumes from Iraq as Mexico is curbing supplies as it opens a new refinery, sources said.

Indian refiners also expect oil supplies from Kuwait could be cut in the next fiscal year starting in April as Kuwait aims to start its 615,000 bpd Al-Zour refinery this year, the sources said.

Last year, Kuwait had initially signed a nine-month oil supply contract with Indian refiners but later extended it by three months to March 2022 due to a delay in the commissioning of Al-Zour refinery.

Mexico's national oil company Pemex has agreed to supply 22,000 bpd (1.1 MM tons) of oil to IOC, the sources said.

As MRC informed before, in late January, 2022, Pemex signed a long-term crude supply contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc as part of its acquisition of the Deer Park refinery in Texas. Pemex and Shell in May, 2021, 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.

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 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.
MRC

1. Yokogawa latest survey reveals great impact of industrial autonomy on environmental sustainability

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yokogawa Electric Corporation has revealed the results of its latest survey to gain further insights into the current and future state of industrial autonomy in process manufacturing, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing. The survey highlights that the number of manufacturers moving forward with industrial autonomy is clearly increasing, and that there is a high awareness of the expected benefits on environmental sustainability. The global survey was conducted in seven markets (China, Germany, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, SE Asia and the US) amongst 534 respondents from 390 companies in the chemical & petrochemical, life sciences, oil & gas, power generation, and renewable energy industry sectors. Key insights. Regarding environmental sustainability, 45% of the respondents anticipate that industrial autonomy will have a significant impact and another 36% expect a moderate impact in the areas of dynamic energy optimization, water management, and emissions reduction. In contrast, only 6% expect industrial autonomy to have no impact at all on environmental sustainability.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders, and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe, have announced a price reduction for all polystyrene (PS) in Europe, according to the company's press release as of February 2.

Effective February 1, 2022, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products listed below went down, as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) -- by EUR40 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech and STYRON X- Tech and STYRON C- Tech high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by EUR40 per metric ton.

As MRC reported earlier, Trinseo raised its prices for all PS, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer (SAN) grades on January 1, 2021, as stated below:

- STYRON GPPS -- by EUR175 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech and STYRON X- Tech and STYRON C- Tech HIPS - by EUR175 per metric ton;
- MAGNUM ABS resins - by EUR155 per metric ton;
- TYRIL SAN resins - by EUR155 per metric ton.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Russia, prices of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's GPPS were at Rb190,750-201,700/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT, in February, whereas HIPS prices were at Rb202,750-213,700/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Prices of Penoplex's material to be shipped in February grew to the range of Rb209,000-211,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Prices of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's GPPS were at Rb190,500-199,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in early February.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD3.0 billion in net sales in 2020, with 17 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,600 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical (NSRP) will not shut its new polypropylene (PP) plant in Vietnam in February because of feedstock supply disruption, according to CommoPlast.

The new plant has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year of PP.

NSRP previously reduced its capacity utilisation to 80% in January due to financial difficulties.

As MRC reported earlier, on 26 January, 2022, state oil firm PetroVietnam blamed NSRP for the recent production cut. State media had reported PetroVietnam had failed to make an early payment under a "Fuel Products Offtake Agreement" (FPOA) with the refinery, causing financial difficulties for Nghi Son. But PetroVietnam, which owns 25.1% of the 200,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Thanh Hoa province, insisted it was not to blame.

According to recent media reports, NSRP will no longer require a lengthy shutdown this February after major shareholders agreed to provide short-term funding to the company to settle the debts.

We remind that NSRP shut its new PP plant in Vietnam for maintenance on 24 August, 2021, instead of the initially scheduled date of 17 August, for approximately three weeks. The company decided to postpone the maintenance shutdown at this plant by one week from the previous schedule due to the COVID-19 related lockdown. Thus, the new PP plant came back on-line in mid-September, 2021.

We also remind that Vietnam’s Nghi Son oil refinery officially began commercial production from 14 November 2018, following months of tests. The USD9 billion refinery is 35.1% owned by Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Co, 35.1% - by Kuwait Petroleum, 25.1% - by PetroVietnam and 4.7% - by Mitsui Chemicals Inc.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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.
MRC