Shell to start up new petrochemical complex in the USA by end of 2022

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Chemicals expects its new petrochemical complex in southwest Pennsylvania to come online by the end of 2022, Royal Dutch Shell CFO Jessica Uhl said February 3, during the company's Q4 2021 earnings call, according to Polymerupate.

She said that the company was finishing up the project in 2022, "which should hopefully be up and running by the end of the year."

The project's startup was delayed from earlier in 2022 after Shell temporarily suspended work in 2020 to implement safety protocols at the height of coronavirus-related shutdowns.

The project in Monaca, Pennsylvania, includes a 1.6 million mt/year cracker and three polyethylene (PE) plants with a combined capacity of 1.6 million mt/year. Of those three plants, one will produce high density polyethylene (HDPE) and the other two will produce linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE).

As MRC wrote earlier, 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.

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) -- US paints and coatings group PPG has entered into an agreement to buy the powder coatings business of Italian company Arsonsisi, boosting its offering in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the company.

As part of the deal, PPG will gain Arsonsisi’s highly automated, small- and large-batch powder manufacturing plant in Verbania. The acquisition will also add metallic bonding to the US group’s portfolio. According to PPG, metallic bonding is one of the fastest growing markets for powder coatings used in specialty finishes for automotive, appliance and general industrial applications.

“We are pleased that the addition of this business will offer our EMEA customers expanded powder coating options to meet increasing demand for these sustainably advantaged coatings,” said Michael Shukov, PPG general manager, industrial coatings, EMEA.

PPG said powder coatings are one of the fastest growing coating technologies due to their sustainability benefits – they do not release solvents and are fully reusable as any paint not deposited on a substrate during application returns to the system, thus reducing waste. The Pittsburgh-based company aims to have 40% of its sales from sustainably advantaged products by 2025.

Arsonsisi said it will continue to produce and sell its range of liquid paints for industrial use, which include high-quality specialty products for numerous sectors, as well as UV coatings, electroplating, anti-corrosion and tinting systems.

Commenting on the divestment, Arsonsisi’s chairman Carlo Junghanns said: “The sale of our powder coatings division will allow us to invest new and significant resources in our energetic research and development activities to further strengthen Arsonsisi’s presence in the industrial liquid paints business, with the aim of offering increasingly innovative and tailor-made solutions to our valuable partners."

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. Financial terms were not disclosed. Last year saw PPG make two acquisitions, namely Finland’s Tikkurila in June and Germany’s Worwag in May.

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2021, PPG announced an expansion of its coatings manufacturing capacity in Europe for packaging applications. The investments at sites in The Netherlands and Poland will support growing customer demand in the region for the latest generation of coatings for aluminum and steel cans used in packaging for beverage, food and personal care items. The projects include a further expansion of the company’s location in Tiel, The Netherlands, which will increase the plant’s production capacity for PPG INNOVEL non-BPA internal coatings for beverage cans by 30%. Expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, the project follows a 50% expansion completed at the end of 2020.

We remind, PPG Industries Ohio Inc. received a patent in Russia for a new coating. The authors of the invention were a group of American specialists. The material is a film-forming composition that ensures the uniformity and appearance of the coating, and also avoids smudges. The material consists of polymer binders, polysiloxane resin, hardener and other substances.

PPG Industries Group was founded in 1883 in the USA. PPG Industries Inc. is an international American company producing coatings, chemicals, optical components, specialty materials, glass and fiberglass. The company includes over 150 production units and representative offices in more than 60 countries around the world. PPG is one of the top 500 US corporations by sales.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) --Japan's No. 2 oil refiner, Idemitsu Kosan, has no plan at the moment to give fresh financial aid to Vietnam's Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical (NSRP), which has cut production to 80% of capacity due to a funding problem, reported Reuters with reference to an official's statement.

Vietnam's largest refinery avoided a lengthy shutdown last month after a major shareholder secured short-term funding following a disagreement between shareholders about financing for crude, having earlier cut its run rate.

"The refinery is taking measures to bring back its run rate to normal levels," Yoshitaka Onuma, a general manager at Idemitsu, told an earnings news conference on Tuesday, but declined to say when.

"Since the short-term funding issue has been solved, we have no plan to book an impairment loss on the refinery."

Idemitsu has a stake of 35.1% in the 200,000 bpd refinery, which meets a third of Vietnam's petroleum needs.

But the refinery's shareholders are in talks to improve its financial health as the funding is not ample, Onuma added.

Asked if Idemitsu would provide fresh financial support, Onuma said, "We don't have such a plan for now."

Kuwait Petroleum has a share of 35.1% in the refinery, while PetroVietnam holds 25.1% and Mitsui Chemicals owns 4.7%.

NSRP has been struggling because of system trouble that delayed its 2018 launch while oil product margins slumped during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the loss has shrunk, as oil prices have soared since, Onuma said.

As MRC wrote before, 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.

We remind that NSRP shut its new polypropylene (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.

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

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