LyondellBasell licenses PE process for two EVA lines in China

LyondellBasell announced that Jiangsu Hongjing New Material Co. Ltd. will use its Lupotech T high-pressure polyethylene technology at a new facility, said the company.

The process technology will be used for two 200 kiloton per year (KTA) vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) lines. The facility will be located in the Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, P.R. of China.

“Demand for both EVA and low density polyethylene (LDPE) remains strong in the current dynamic market. In particular, higher value applications such as for solar panel lamination and encapsulant are in strong demand, driven mainly by the on-going energy transition,” said Neil Nadalin, Director Global Licensing and Services at LyondellBasell. Nadalin added, “The Lupotech T process, offering both lowest operating and balanced investment cost, is the technology of choice for our customers to produce both EVA and LDPE grades”.

Mr. Bai Wei, Chairman of Jiangsu Hongjing New Material Co., Ltd stated, “We gained within the Jiangsu Shenghong group companies a very pleasant experience with the LyondellBasell polyolefin technology offer in the field of high pressure technology. This is already the 4th and 5th polyolefin line based on LyondellBasell proprietary technology allowing us to produce superior polyolefin grades in high demand. Therefore, selecting LyondellBasell technology was a natural choice for expanding our production capacity with this additional project.”

Decades of experience in high-pressure application design makes the Lupotech T process the preferred technology for LDPE/EVA plant operators. High conversion rates, demonstrated high plant availability, and effective process heat integration are key attributes of the Lupotech T process, designed to ensure this technology’s on-going energy efficiency.

More than 13 million KTA of the Lupotech T process for LDPE/EVA production capacity has been licensed by LyondellBasell in over 70 lines around the world.

New licensees can take advantage of LyondellBasell’s in-house expertise of continuous production improvement, product development according to the latest environmental regulations and our knowhow in high pressure design, by optionally joining our Technical Service program.

As MRC wrote earlier, in July, 2021, Neste and LyondellBasell announced a long-term commercial agreement under which LyondellBasell will source Neste RE, a feedstock from Neste that has been produced from 100% renewable feedstock from bio-based sources, such as waste and residue oils and fats. This feedstock will be processed through the cracker at LyondellBasell’s Wesseling, Germany, plant into polymers and sold under the CirculenRenew brand name.

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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
mrchub.com

Thai conglomerate Siam Cement Group's (SCG) first-quarter net profit declined by 41% year on year on squeezed chemical margins due to high feedstock cost amid weak China demand, said the company.

Its chemicals segment posted a 59% slump in net profit in the March quarter, despite a 34% increase in revenues, as feedstock naphtha prices spiked along with crude following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. SCG ran its crackers at above 90% of capacity in January-March 2022.

On a y-o-y basis, Revenue from Sales increased 25% from higher sales revenue across all businesses mainly from higher product prices in-line with the market. However, Profit for the Period fell by 41%, mainly due to rising feedstock costs from Chemicals Business in Q1/2022, along with the fact that the Chemicals industry had better performance in Q1/2021 compared to normal business operations from winter freeze which caused supply shortage in the United States.

In Q1/2022, SCG’s Revenue from Sales of High Value Added Products and Services (HVA) reached 51,388 MB, accounting for 34% of total Revenue from Sales. Moreover, New Products Development (NPD) and Service Solution amounted to 17% and 5% of total Revenue from Sales.

SCG’s Revenue from outside of Thailand together with export from Thailand was 44% of total Revenue from Sales or amounted to 66,541 MB in Q1/2022, an increase of 30% y-o-y. SCG’s total assets as of March 31, 2022 amounted to 889,540 MB, of which 45% represented assets in ASEAN.

As per MRC, on 26 October 2021, a fire hit Thai petrochemical producer Siam Cement's (SCG) Map Ta Phut olefins complex. The fire broke out at a naphtha tank, which was empty at the time of the incident, because it had been shut for cleaning and maintenance. The cause of the fire is unknown.

As MRC reported earlier, Map Ta Phut Olefins Co Ltd (MOC), a subsidiary of Thailand’s SCG Chemical, has completed the maintenance work at its cracker in Map Ta Phut. Thus, the cracker with the capacity of 900,000 mt/year of ethylene and 450,000 mt/year of propylene was shut for a scheduled turnaround on 2 November, 2020, and fully resumed operations in the fourth week of December, 2020.
mrchub.com

Petroecuador will sell an additional 720,000 barrels of Oriente crude to Marathon Petroleum Supply LLC , under a larger contract awarded last month, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The U.S. refiner won a tender for 7.92 MM barrels of Oriente crude oil in April. It had offered a premium of 75 cents per barrel. Petroecuador said in a statement it will sell Marathon an additional 720,000 barrels of crude following an agreement between the two companies.

The delivery of the new crude supply will take place in two equal shipments in July, "under the same terms that were awarded a few days ago, through a medium-term tender, that is, a premium of 0.75 dollars per barrel", the company said.

The Andean nation is seeking to alleviate fiscal problems by revaluing some of its crude oil sales to refineries amid high international oil prices.

Petroecuador expects additional revenues for August of approximately USD70.7 MM with this additional sale, the statement added.

As per MRC, Marathon Petroleum’s first-quarter (Q1) sales and income shot up on the back of healthy operations at its Refining & Marketing (R&M) division. The jump in income and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was possible due to healthy results at Marathon's R&M division, with the segment reporting adjusted EBITDA of USD1.4bn compared with USD23m in the Q1 2021.

We remind, Neste Corporation has signed definitive agreements for the establishment of a 50/50 JV with US-based Marathon Petroleum. The JV will produce renewable diesel following a conversion project of Marathon's refinery in Martinez, California (the Martinez Renewable Fuels project). The closing of the JV is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including obtaining the necessary permits, which depend upon certification of a final Environmental Impact Report.
mrchub.com

Oil prices jumped on Wednesday, as the European Union spelled out plans to phase out imports of Russian oil, raising concerns about further market tightness as those nations hunt for adequate supply, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Crude benchmarks have risen steadily over the past two months following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Until now, the European Union has been reluctant to fully cut off imports of Russian oil and gas, and its plans still do not suggest a full ban for all EU members. Europe imports some 3.5 MM barrels of Russian oil and oil products daily, and also depends on Moscow's gas supplies.

"Inventories are so tight, so against this backdrop, when you're talking about this ban, there are a lot of questions on how (Europe) is going to make up for this," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group. Brent crude futures settled up USD5.17, or 4.9%, to USD110.14 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled at USD107.81 a barrel, up USD5.40, or 5.3%.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday proposed a phased oil embargo on Russia, as well as sanctioning Russia's top bank. The Commission's measures include phasing out supplies of Russian crude within six months and refined products by the end of 2022, von der Leyen said. She also pledged to minimise the impact of the move on European economies.

Hungary and Slovakia, however, will be able to continue buying Russian crude oil until the end of 2023 under existing contracts, an EU source told Reuters. Russia could offset the loss of one of its primary customers by selling oil to other importers including India and China. Neither country has stopped buying from Moscow.

As per MRC, Oil prices fell on Monday as concerns over weak economic growth in China, the world's top oil importer, overshadowed fears supply might be crimped by a potential European Union ban on Russian crude. Brent crude futures were down USD3.73, or 3.4%, to $103.41 a barrel at 1403 GMT, while U.S. WTI crude futures fell USD3.98, or 3.8%, to USD100.71 a barrel. Markets in Japan, Britain, India and across Southeast Asia were closed for public holidays on Monday. China released data showing factory activity in the world's second-largest economy contracted for a second month to its lowest since February 2020 because of COVID lockdowns.
mrchub.com

German specialty chemicals firm Lanxess reported a 55.6% year-on-year increase in its first-quarter net income on the back of higher selling prices, said the company.

Lanxess passed on the significantly increased raw material and energy costs in the first quarter via higher selling prices, the company said in a statement. Q1 EBITDA margin pre-exceptionals stood at to 13.2% , against 14.3% a year earlier.

The company expects EBITDA pre-exceptionals of between EUR280m and EUR350m in the second quarter. For the full year, Lanxess expects EBITDA pre-exceptionals to be "significantly higher than in the previous year".

"However, the guidance does not take into account potential further impacts of the war in Ukraine and the contribution of the acquisition of IFF’s Microbial Control business," the company said.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, it added.

We remind, Lanxess officially opened a new EUR50m facility for engineering plastics at its site in Krefeld-Uerdingen.
The compounding plant will provide Durethan ployamide and Pocan polybutylene terephthalate, for use in the automotive and electronic industries, Lanxess said in a statement. Capacity details were not disclosed. The company added that it received support for the project from the North Rhine-Westphalia state government, but it did not provide details.

As per MRC, Lanxess said it was suspending its business activities in Russia due to the war in Ukraine. Thus, the company had “suspended business activities with Russian customers as far as contractually possible until further notice” and had suspended all investments in Russia. Its sales in Russia and Ukraine made up less than 1% of its global sales, it said.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
mrchub.com