DATE : 2014-05-20
Formosa Chemicals & Fiber Corp. (FCFC) is likely to shut operations at its No. 3 styrene monomer (SM) plant.
Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the No. 3 SM plant has a production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.
The plant, according to a Polymerupdate source in Taiwan, will be taken off-stream for a maintenance turnaround in August 2014 and will remain shut for around 40-45 days.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-05-20
Thai MMA has stopped production at its methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, following a blast at the facility on Tuesday night, a source close to the company said on Wednesday.
The plant has two lines – each with a nameplate capacity of 90,000 tonnes/year.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-16
China-based Huizhou MMA Co will postpone the shutdown of its 90,000 tonne/year methyl methacrylate (MMA) unit in Guangdong province from May to early June for a turnaround, a source close to the company said on Friday.
The MMA plant was originally scheduled shut down for maintenance in mid-May. No reason was given for the delay.
The length of the shutdown will remain at 40 days as originally planned and the MMA plant is expected to be off line until mid-July, the source said.
Huizhou MMA is a subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon Co (MRC).
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-15
OMV has started up a butadiene (BD) plant expansion at its refining and petrochemicals hub in Schwechat near Vienna, the Austrian energy and petrochemicals major said on Thursday.
The 30% expansion raised the capacity of OMV’s BD plant at Schwechat to 60,000 tonnes/year. The company invested almost €30m in the project, it said.
"With the extended plant we are building on the synergies of the Schwechat refinery with regards to petrochemicals," said Manfred Leitner, OMV executive board member with responsibility for refining and marketing.
Global change in the refinery sector meant that petrochemical derivatives play an increasingly important role internationally, alongside traditional oil products such as diesel, heating oil and fuels, he added.
Parallel to the expansion at Schwechat, OMV is building a new BD facility at Burghausen, Germany, which is expected to start up in the second quarter of 2015. The projects were announced in May 2013.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-09
China’s Fushun Petrochemical plans to shut its 92,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant at Fushun in Liaoning province on around 19-21 May for scheduled maintenance, a company source said on Friday.
The shutdown period will last around 15 days, which will lead to a loss of about 3,500 tonnes of ACN, the source said.
ACN prices were assessed at yuan (CNY) 13,600-13,800/tonne ($2,183-2,215/tonne) ex-tank east China on 9 May, unchanged from previous day, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-09
China’s Sinopec Qilu plans to shut its 80,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant at Zibo in Shandong province on around 20 May for a scheduled turnaround, a company source said on Friday.
The turnaround will last 18-20 days, according to the source.
Its downstream 54,000 tonne/year acrylic fibre (AF) plant at the same site is currently running at 50%, the source said.
ACN prices were assessed at yuan (CNY) 13,600-13,800/tonne ($2,183-2,215/tonne) ex-tank east China on 9 May, flat from the previous day, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-09
Indonesia’s Chandra Asri has stopped production at its 100,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) unit at Anyer, Cilegon, Indonesia, because of unforeseen plant equipment breakdown, market sources said on Friday.
The Indonesian producer has issued a notice of force majeure (FM) on BD on 5 May, market sources said.
The producer could not be immediately contacted for further details.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-09
The force majeure in place on methyl methacrylate (MMA) at UK-based producer Lucite International remains in place, a source from the company confirmed on Friday.
Lucite declared force majeure at its 200,000 tonne/year Cassel site on 24 April because of a lack of feedstock at its plant.
“We're still in force majeure. And we'll be providing an update as soon as possible,” the source said.
European supply volumes have tightened in recent weeks because of planned and unplanned outages, amid improving second-quarter demand from the coatings and construction sectors, market participants said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-16
Indonesia’s Chandra Asri has restarted its 100,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) unit at Anyer, Cilegon, said market players at the sidelines of the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC).
The Indonesian BD producer declared force majeure (FM) in a letter dated 5 May to its customers, citing unplanned plant equipment breakdown.
The Indonesia producer could not be contacted immediately for comment.
APIC is held at Pattaya on 15-16 May.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-12
While oil and natural gas reserves are increasing, a lower rate of naphtha cracking in the US has opened up a an opportunity for alternate production routes for butadiene (BD) and other olefins, a Global Bioenergies executive said on Tuesday.
Crackers in the US have been moving away from naphtha as a feedstock, as ethane cracking is more economical. But the lighter feedstocks also produce less four-carbon olefins such as butadiene, said Jean-Baptiste Barbaroux during a panel discussion at the 11th annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology.
"This market trend is creating a need for alternative routes, specifically for isobutene, butadiene and propylene," said the head of corporate development at France-based Global Bioenergies.
There are several routes for propylene, no described routes for isobutene, and the dehydrogenation route for butadiene can be costly and difficult, which creates opportunity, he said.
Global Bioenergies has been working to commercialise its discovery of a biological route for producing butadiene, which it patented in April in the US. The company is working in partnership with Polish-based Synthos on its development.
Once commercialised, bio-butadiene would have the same markets as conventional butadiene as a component of plastics, nylons and rubber.
"We're not trying to develop new markets. These are existing markets," Barbaroux said.
Global Bioenergies has also developed a biological route for isobutene that is nearing industrial production, as well as one for propylene. The company has plans to develop other important olefins such as ethylene, n-butene and isoprene.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-09
Taiwan’s China Petrochemical Development Corp (CPDC) is ramping up the operating rate of a 120,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) line at Kaohsiung in Taiwan following a turnaround, a company source said on Friday.
The company brought forward the line’s turnaround to 1-7 May from mid-May, the source said.
“We we are still ramping up the [line's] operating rate,” the source added.
The company’s another 120,000 tonne/year ACN at the same site, which was shut for a turnaround in April, is now running at full capacity, according to the source.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-09
Celanese has begun three weeks of planned maintenance at its US vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant in Bay City, Texas, a source close to the company said on Wednesday.
Maintenance on the 300,000 tonnes/year Celanese unit is the latest of a number of turnarounds and outages during the past two months that brought a supply squeeze to US VAM production in the first quarter.
Output from the four major producers - Celanese, Dow Chemical, DuPont and LyondellBasell - dropped by 15% in the first three months this year compared to production in the last quarter of 2013, according to data from the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM).
US VAM production, in thousands of pounds:
| Q4 2013 | Q1 2014 |
|---|---|
| 875,759 | 740,544 |
Source: AFPM
Spot VAM prices shot up by 70% for many customers because of the squeeze and more than doubled for some, according to anecdotal evidence, but the panic began to ease in late April. Spot prices dropped this week for the first time in 2014, to $1,600-1,700/tonne, from $1,650-$1,850 previously.
But the turnarounds continue. Dow began a 50-day maintenance at its 365,000 tonnes/year VAM unit in Texas City on 22 April, sources said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-19
Synthos’ butadiene (BD) producing unit at Kralupy in the Czech Republic is back in operation following an eight-day maintenance shutdown, a company spokesperson confirmed on Monday.
The spokesperson said the shutdown “was connected with cleaning the cooling system before the summer period.”
There had been some suggestion amongst BD market players last week that the shutdown was unplanned.
The Kralupy BD unit has the capacity to produce more than 130,000 tonnes/year, according to the company spokesperson.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-16
South Korea’s Daesan MMA (DMMA) has shut its 90,000 tonne/year methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Daesan on 15 May for scheduled maintenance, a source close to the company said on Friday.
The turnaround is expected last until 18 June, the source added.
The company has a separate MMA plant in Yeosu with a nameplate capacity of 98,000 tonnes/year.
DMMA is a joint venture between Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon Co (MRC) and South Korea’s Honam Petrochemical.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-05-08
Nippon Shokubai is in plans to shut its acrylic acid (AA) plant in Indonesia for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Indonesia informed that the plant is planned to be shut in end-May 2014.
It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.Located in Cilegon, West Java in Indonesia, the plant has a production capacity of 8,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate