DATE : 2014-03-18
Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) has restarted its 160,000 tonne/year acrylic acid (AA) plant at Ningbo in east China following the completion of scheduled maintenance, a company source said on Tuesday.
The restart of the AA unit will also help FPC ease supply pressure from the accumulating number of orders amid growing demand, the source said.
The healthy supply and demand fundamentals would help push up prices, a market source said, adding that stronger downstream demand has driven acrylic acid prices higher in mid-March.
Chinese domestic AA prices in east China were at yuan (CNY) 10,700-11,000 DEL (delivered) on 18 March, compared with CNY10,400-10,600 DEL a week ago, Chemease data showed.
FPC shut both its AA unit and the 200,000 tonne/year acrylate esters plant at the same site down on 9 March, according to the company source.
The acrylate esters plant will be restarted on 25 March, the source said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-16
L'industriel breton a annoncé hier la construction d'une nouvelle usine près de Quimper pour fabriquer des tramways 100 % électriques. Coût de l'investissement : 10 millions d'euros.
Après les voitures, le tramway ! Les annonces se succèdent chez Vincent Bolloré. Six mois après la visite du président de la République François Hollande sur le site de Blue Solutions, à Ergué-Gabéric, près de Quimper, Vincent Bolloré a annoncé la construction d'une nouvelle usine sur le site de Blue Solutions, qui produira des Bluetrams, des tramways 100 % électriques équipés de « supercapacités ».
Ces « supercapacités », technologie originale, sont développées par le groupe Bolloré dans cette usine Blue Solutions. « Elles permettent de stocker de l'électricité en quantité suffisante pour que le tramway franchisse plus d'un kilomètre sans apport d'électricité par caténaire, et sans rail. Puis, il se recharge à chaque station d'arrêt pendant que les passagers montent et descendent. Il est d'un coût 5 à 10 fois moins élevé qu'une ligne de tramway classique, en gros autour de 15 millions d'euros », explique Vincent Bolloré.
La nouvelle ligne de production de Bluetram, dont la première tranche sera en service début 2015, représente un investissement de 10 millions d'euros pour une capacité de 50 Bluetrams par an.
Cette nouvelle production, ajoute l'industriel, permettra « le recrutement de 50 personnes chez Bluetram et 50 emplois supplémentaires chez Blue Solutions, à Ergué-Gabéric. En cas de succès, 200 personnes pourraient être recrutées à terme, si la production de Bluetram est portée à 200 tramways par an en 2016-2017. »
« Toutes les villes veulent un tram, mais c'est beaucoup d'autorisations et c'est long à construire, et cher, alors que notre tram sera rapide à installer. Notre premier client pourrait être Singapour », a indiqué Vincent Bolloré, citant également l'île Maurice. « Nous fournissons tout, même les conducteurs ! »
Le groupe Bolloré (55 000 salariés dans le monde et 11 milliards de chiffre d'affaires) a investi, depuis 1995, plus de 2 milliards d'euros dans le développement de la technologie lithium métal polymère, les batteries, la Bluecar et les Bluebus. « Quand on a lancé la Bluecar en 2006, tout le monde rigolait. Mais c'est un succès. Aujourd'hui, voilà une nouvelle aventure », se félicite-t-il.
SOURCE Ouest France
DATE : 2014-03-14
South Korea’s Daesan MMA (DMMA) shut its 98,000 tonne/year methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Yeosu earlier this week for scheduled maintenance, a source close to the company said on Friday.
The plant is expected to be off line for 15 days until the end of March, the source added.
The company is a joint venture between Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon Co (MRC) and South Korea’s Honam Petrochemical.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-14
Thai MMA shut its 90,000 tonne/year No 1 methyl methacrylate (MMA) line in Map Ta Phut earlier this week for scheduled maintenance, a company source said on Friday.
The plant is expected to be restarted in mid-April, the source added.
Thai MMA also runs a separate 90,000 tonne/year line at the same site.
The company is a joint venture between Japan's Mitsubishi Rayon Corp (MRC) and Thailand's Siam Cement Group.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-13
The maintenance shutdown of Lucite International's 93,000 tonnes/y methyl methacrylate (MMA) facility in Shanghai, China, will be moved from mid-Mar 2014 to early-Apr. the facility will be off-line for around 55 days.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-13
SABIC has declared force majeure on butadiene (BD) supplies produced at its Geleen unit in the Netherlands, a company source said on Thursday.
“We experienced some technical issues over the weekend [8-9 March], which led to the production of off-spec BD,” the source said, adding, “we are running but at significantly reduced rates.”
The source said that force majeure letters had been sent to all customers as it was unable to fulfill all contractual obligations.
The source said the issue was a minor one and that on spec BD production would be resumed by 1 April at the latest.
The unit has the capacity to produce 130,000 tonnes/year of BD.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-14
LyondellBasell has declared force majeure on its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) production out of its plant at La Porte, TX, company sources confirmed. The 400,000 m.t./year unit is the second VAM unit to have declared force majeure in the US this week. DuPont's 350,000 m.t./year plant also at La Porte, TX, declared force majeure earlier this week. The plants are at different sites and the outages are unrelated, IHS Chemical says. Notional VAM spot prices in the US have ranged around $1,200-1,500/m.t. fob US Gulf (USG) this week, up from the $1,150-1,200/m.t. fob USG observed last week, according to IHS Chemical data. Albeit with limited availability, some transactions have been concluded in Europe, where prices have also jumped. From €1,050-1,120/m.t. ($1,461-1,559) del Northwest Europe (NWE) last week, spot prices have moved up to about €1,450-1,650/m.t. this week, the same data shows.
"The US VAM capacity is about 1.7 million m.t./year, the two unplanned outages effectively take out over 40% of the US capacity, exacerbating the supply tightness currently being observed worldwide," says Mike Nash, global director/syngas chemicals at IHS Chemical. The unscheduled stoppages take place close to planned maintenances and at a point in the cycle when seasonal VAM demand—into the paints and coatings industry—usually peaks.
SOURCE Chemweek's Business Daily
DATE : 2014-03-16
Idemitsu Kosan shut its 120,000 bbl/day oil refinery, 600,000 tonne/year naphtha cracker and associated petrochemical units in Tokuyama early Friday morning following a strong earthquake that rattled western Japan, a company source said.
Internal checks are being carried out on the facilities, but no announcement has been made as to when the facilities will restart, the source said.
The other petrochemical units at Tokuyama site that have been shut down include a 340,000 tonne/year styrene monomer (SM) plant; a benzene unit with a capacity of around 200,000 tonnes/year; and a 214,000 tonne/year paraxylene (PX) unit, the source said.
An earthquake of 6.3 magnitude struck off Japan's southern island of Kyushu near the city of Oita, according to the US Geological Survey.
At least 17 people suffered minor injuries as the powerful offshore earthquake hit several prefectures in western Japan at around 2:06 local time (17:05 GMT) on Friday, based on local media reports.
Idemitsu Kosan’s refining facilities at Tokuyama comprise a 120,000 bbl/day crude distillation unit (CDU); a 55,000 bbl/day vacuum distillation unit; a 26,000 bbl/day fluidized catalytic cracker (FCC); and a 20,000 bbl/day naphtha reformer.
The company plans to permanently shut down the 120,000 bbl/day Tokuyama refinery at the end of March 2014 as the refinery site will be converted to an oil products terminal. But petrochemicals operations will continue at the site, the company source said.
Reduced domestic demand and falling population in Japan have been forcing the closure of a number of refineries in the country.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) have pressured domestic refiners to either upgrade their facilities or shut them down amid concerns over overcapacity and competition from new refineries in India and China.
Meanwhile, operations at JX Nippon Oil & Energy’s 136,000 bbl/day Oita refinery in Kyushu Island and at Taiyo Oil’s 120,000 bbl/day Shikoku refinery in western Japan were not affected by the earthquake, sources from the companies said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-16
China’s Jiangmen Handsome Chemical Development restarted its 80,000 tonne/year acrylate esters plant at Jiangmen in southern China earlier than expected on 14 March, a company source said on Friday.
The acrylate esters plant was shut on 9 March for scheduled maintenance, the source added.
The shutdown period was originally planned for at least 10 days, but the plant was restarted ahead of schedule, the source said.
The company source indicated that the producer has to restart the plant earlier than expected because it has accumulated many orders.
Chinese acrylate esters suppliers have been conducting maintenance at their plants during March, according to an industry source.
While the plant’s restart will increase the supply in the domestic market, prices are still on an uptrend so far, the industry source said, adding that there will be no significant changes in the near term.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-14
China-based acrylonitrile (ACN) producer, Anqing Petrochemical, has shut its 130,000 tonnes/year ACN line in Anqing on Friday for maintenance, a company source confirmed.
“The fertilizer line was down, so there won’t be enough ammonia, one of the raw materials of ACN. There’s no overhaul since the new ACN line was powered on, so we decided to shut it for maintenance. The maintenance will last for about 20 days,” the source added.
Before Anqing Petrochemical’s line maintenance, another major ACN producer, Shanghai Secco Petrochemical, had also shut down its plant for annual maintenance. Subsequently, the average operating rate of China’s ACN plants dropped to 65% capacity.
Even though the regional supply is tight, demand from end-users remained lacklustre, according to several traders. Domestic ACN prices on 14 March were stable at yuan (CNY) 14,600-14,700/tonne ($2,378-2,394/tonne) ex-tank, according to data from Chemease, an ICIS service in China.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-16
Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) is running its 280,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant in Mailiao at around 100% capacity after the completion of a turnaround, a company source said on Friday.
The ACN plant was restarted on 11 March, according to the source.
The plant was shut down in mid-February for scheduled maintenance the source said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-02-25
Camlin Fine Sciences Ltd has expanded its business in North America after forming a wholly-owned subsidiary in Canada. The new company will trade and distribute food ingredients, antioxidants, formulations and blends to the US and Canadian markets.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-14
Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon Co (MRC) has shut its 55,000 tonne/year No 2 butane-based methyl methacrylate (MMA) lines in Otake earlier this week for a scheduled turnaround, a company source said on Friday.
The turnaround is expected to be completed by mid-April, the source added, without providing an exact shutdown date.
MRC also has a 55,000 tonne/year butane-based No 1 MMA line and a 107,000 tonne/year acetone cyanohydrin-based MMA line at the same site.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-14
Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) has delayed the start-up of its new 75,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) extraction unit to the end of March because of mechanical problems, a company source said on Friday.
"We expect to start up the BD plant at the end of March and it will undergo a test run before we start commercial production," the source added.
The BD unit started up initially at the end of January, and was expected to start commercial production in February but mechanical problems brought the test run to a halt.
The company does not have downstream plants for its BD and most of the production from the new plant will cater to its domestic customers.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-12
Spot butyl acrylate (butyl-A) prices in China’s domestic market may extend gains on the back of tightening supply, as major acrylic acid and acrylate esters facilities in the country undergo scheduled turnarounds throughout March, market sources said on Wednesday.
On 11 March, butyl-A prices were assessed at yuan (CNY) 12,500-12,600/tonne ($2,036-2,052/tonne) DEL (delivered) east China, up by CNY300/tonne from last week, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China.
Expectations of tighter supply of butyl-A - the biggest representative product of the acrylate esters market in China - prompted the reversal of its price downtrend in end-February this year, in spite of weak of demand, market sources said.
Acrylic acid is a key intermediate chemical used to produce esters such as ethyl acrylate, butyl-A, methyl acrylate, and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate. These esters are polymerised to become ingredients in paints, coatings, textiles, adhesives, polishes, and plastics.
Five producers in China have planned maintenance at their acrylic acid and acrylate esters facilities, with the shutdown period ranging between 10-40 days.
In Zhejiang province in eastern China, Formosa Plastics Corp shut its facilities in Ningbo on 9 March for a 10-day turnaround. (Please see table below)
Zhejiang Satellite Petro-chemical, meanwhile, plans to halt production at its 160,000 tonne/year acrylic acid and 120,000 tonne/year acrylate esters plant in Jiaxing from 19 March. The shutdown has to do with power supply coordination with the local government and is expected to last 15-20 days, a company source said.
In southern China, Jiangmen Handsome Chemical’s acrylate esters plant in Guangzhou is undergoing maintenance. The unit was shut on 9 March and will be restarted 10 days later.
In Shandong province in northern China, Zhenghe Petrochemical is due to take its 60,000 tonne/year acrylate esters plant off line for catalyst change on 11 March, with the shutdown expected to last 30-40 days, a company source said.
Shandong Kaitai, meanwhile, will conduct a 20-day turnaround at its acrylic acid and acrylate esters plants – each with a 80,000 tonnes/year capacity – at Zibo from 15 March. In April, it also plans to shut its 30,000 tonne/year acrylic acid and 5,000 tonne/year acrylate esters plant at the same site for maintenance of the same duration, a company source said.
Producer |
Acrylic acid (in tonnes/yr) |
Acrylate esters (in tonnes/yr) |
Location |
Shutdown date |
and duration |
||||
Formosa Plastics Corp |
160,000 |
200,000 |
Ningbo, Zhejiang |
09-Mar |
(10 days) |
||||
Jiangmen Handsome Chemical |
--- |
80,000 |
Guangzhou |
09-Mar |
(10 days) |
||||
Zhenghe Petrochemical |
--- |
60,000 |
Guangrao, Shandong |
11-Mar |
(30-40 days) |
||||
Shandong Kaitai |
80,000 |
80,000 |
Zibo, Shandong |
15-Mar |
(20 days) |
||||
|
30,000 |
5,000 |
Zibo, Shandong |
April |
(20 days) |
||||
Zhejiang Satellite Petro-chemical |
160,000 |
120,000 |
Jiaxing, Zhejiang |
19-Mar |
(15-20 days) |
SOURCE Icis News