DATE : 2014-08-01
China’s Shandong Wanda Chemical plans to start up its on-purpose 150,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) plant at Dongying in Shandong province on 2 August, market sources said on Friday.
The plant uses butene as a feedstock to produce BD through dehydrogenation.
Chinese domestic BD spot prices were at yuan (CNY) 11,700-11,800/tonne ($1,896-1,912/tonne) DEL (delivered) in north China, down by CNY500/tonne from 24 July, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-07-30
Styrene maker Styrolution confirmed on Wednesday that its Texas City, Texas, facility is undergoing routine maintenance this week and that the facility would be back online in a few days.
The company said the Texas City facility, which has a styrene capacity of 450,000 tonnes/year, began the maintenance on Monday.
The Texas City maintenance also comes as Styrolution is in the midst of a planned polystyrenePS) turnaround at its Decatur, Alabama, plant, with two lines expected to be down for two to three weeks.
The maintenance turnaround, which is impacting both PS production lines at the plant, was set to begin in late July and will continue for the first few weeks of August, sources said.
Later, in September, the company is expected to take one of those lines back down for another few weeks, to reconfigure the unit to absorb some of the lost capacity when the company permanently closes its 150,000 tonne/year Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, PS plant, according to a source close to the company.
Most North American styrene suppliers are already at reduced operating rates because of weak demand.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-08-01
Ineos is in plans to shut its acrylonitrile (ACN) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Germany informed that the plant is planned to be shut on August 28, 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.
Located in Cologne, Germany, the plant has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-08-01
Formosa Chemical & Fibre Corp (FCFC) is in plans to shut its No.3 styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant is planned to be shut on September 1, 2014. It is expected to remain off-stream for around one month.
Located in Mailiao, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-07-31
SK Global Chemical has shut a styrene monomer (SM) plant in South Korea. A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant was shut on July 28, 2014 owing to weak demand fundamentals. It is expected to remain off-stream for the month of August.
Located in Ulsan, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.
SOURCE : PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-08-06
Daqing Petrochemical is in plans to shut an acrylonitrile (ACN) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is planned to be shut in September 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around 15 days.
Located in Heilongjiang province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 80,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-08-01
LG Chem is likely to shut its butadiene (BD) plant for maintenance turnaround. A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant is planned to be shut in October 2014.
It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.
Located in Yeosu, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 145,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-08-09
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC) is likely to restart a methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant.
A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is planned to be restarted next week. It was shut on July 20, 2014 owing to mechanical issues.
Located in Niigata, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 40,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-08-11
Taiyo Oil is in plans to shut a styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance turnaround. A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is likely to be shut on August 18, 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream till October 1, 2014.
Located in Ube, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 370,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-08-09
Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) will be shutting its methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant for a short maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant is likely to be shut on August 8, 2014. It will remain off-stream till August 11, 2014.
Located in Mailiao, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 98,000 mt/year.
SOURCE : PolymerUpdate
Date: August 11 ,2014
By taking over BASF’s portion of the Styrolution joint venture, the company will become the world’s largest producer of styrene monomer, polystyrene and styrenic specialties The news that INEOS plans to swallow up BASF’s 50% portion of the Styrolution joint venture shows just how successful the company’s leaders have been in seizing opportunities and thinking creatively about the challenges it faces.
On 30 June the Swiss group revealed it is to acquire an additional 50% stake in the styrenics producer from BASF for €1.1bn. The deal is expected to close in the fourth
quarter of this year. Styrolution was established in 2011 through the merger of BASF and INEOS’ styrenics businesses, and is the world’s largest producer of styrene monomer, polystyrene and styrenic specialties.
INEOS saw an opportunity in BASF’s decision to reduce exposure to commodity chemicals and engineered the deal which also gave it the right to buy BASF’s stake from 1 February 2014. With a heavy asset base in Europe, INEOS and BASF were both exposed to the high energy and feedstock costs which have plagued commodity producers for many years. The rise of US shale gas and cheap ethane has only made the situation worse as Europe continues to move up the cost curve.
To combat this, INEOS saw the sense in merging their operations with BASF’s to give economies of scale and the ability to consolidate an over-supplied market. The
results have been positive: Styrolution’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was €442m in 2013, a 32% increase from the previous year on the back of strong polystyrene margins and styrene monomer market performance.
This deal is the latest in a string of clever manoeuvres by CEO Jim Ratcliffe and his team. In May last year INEOS and Belgium’s Solvay agreed to put their chlorvinyls
businesses into a 50:50 joint venture, forming one of the world’s largest polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producers.
Again, INEOS saw a way to emerge as a winner fromp Europe's high cots position in ethylen and Energy
through the combination which was approved in June.European PVC demand was also 30% lower the pre crisis peak.It also helped Solvay pursue its strategy to cut exposure to commodities.
INEOS is also the first European player to capitalise on US shale gas. It is mid way through the construction of terminals to import competitively-priced US ethane at
Grangemouth in Scotland and Rafnes in Norway. The company is gambling on US ethane staying cheap with oil and naphtha, expensive. It also suffered financial
difficulties after the crash. But, so far at least, its entrepreneurial attitude to the chemicals business has paid off handsomely.
Source: Icis aromatics news
Date: August 01,2014
LONDON (ICIS)--European butadiene (BD) spot market players are wondering whether the opportunity to export volumes to Asia is already over, barely a month since the arbitrage began to open in a more meaningful way and opinions are somewhat divided.
“The market is already calming down,” a trader said.
“It’s calmed down in Asia,” another trader said, “although the arb [arbitrage] is open if you are smart with freight.”
European spot players had been keeping a close eye on Asian market developments, waiting for the point when the arbitrage would open sufficiently to allow the up until now reluctant European producers to release more incremental BD.
That point started to be reached a couple of weeks ago and the BD spot market, which up until then had been a lacklustre affair, began to stir.
Last week saw the first export fixtures to Asia for 2014 as prices reached the mid-high $1,600s/tonne delivered to Asia.
Freight from Europe is usually indicated at around $350/tonne and prices around $1,300/tonne FOB (free on board) ARA.
A 2,600 tonnes BD cargo has been fixed for September arrival on the vessel Prins Johan Willem Friso.
Another two vessels - Victoria Kosan with 4,800 tonnes on board and the Norgas Conception with 3,500 tonnes and part of a combination cargo with chemical grade propylene (CGP) – are also understood to be fixed in the August loading time-frame for export to Asia, but are not confirmed.
Somes sources have been surprised about the fixtures, and many still talk about there being limited BD availability in Europe.
“We get requests from almost all traders,” a producer said, “but we are not selling spot.”
“All of them [traders] asked me for material availability for August and September,” a second producer said, adding, “but we have lower production – nobody seems to have any length.”
In addition to European volume, Brazilian, Iranian and Indian product is also expected to arrive in Asia in the September time frame.
These volumes together with some speculation that a derivative outage in the Asian region would last longer than it actually has, dampened demand and buyers retreated to the sidelines, prompting Asian players to offload stocks.
Asian prices have once again moved below $1,600/tonne which effectively shuts out European volumes even if there were tonnes to be had.
Not all sources thought that the uptrend was over, however.
In their view, European volume in general remains fairly limited due to light feed cracking and temperature constraints - they questioned whether the Victoria Kosan in particular would be heading to Asia after all - and given the sell-off was partly sparked by the now-resolved unplanned outage - they felt Asian prices would return to levels at or closer to $1,700/tonne delivered.
“Altogether [I am] feeling that its [BD supply] is pretty limited, there are still quite a few shorts needing to be covered,” a third trader said.
However, other players said that some traders would have not be keen on prices falling having only just secured volumes via sales tenders at high prices.
“I hear [trader] is offering its cargo at $1,700/tonne, but am doubtful that can work,” a source said.
“It’s a cat and mouse game,” the third trader said.
Meanwhile, the US market remains a "dead duck" in terms of spot demand, according to one contact.
Source: Icis news
Date: August 4, 2014
As part of its procurement policy for strategic raw materials, Arkema has reached an agreement for the supply of propylene with Enterprise Products Partners L.P., a leading United States midstream Energy Company.
Taking advantage of the development of shale gas in the United States, this contract secures a long-term supply (more than 10 years) of propylene produced by propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and will strengthen the competitiveness of theCoating Solutions segment.
This contract will account for a significant part of Arkema’s propylene feedstock in the United States.
Propylene is a key raw material for Acrylics, a major sector for Arkema, and where the Group is a key player in the United States and the world’s third largest player.
Enterprise Products received the necessary permits for this project in May, 2014 and construction of the plant has now started. The PDH plant is due to be completed in first half of 2016.
This agreement is fully consistent with Arkema’s growth strategy to continue its expansion in the United States.
Source: Arkema website through Chemistry Daily