DATE : 2014-11-14
Taiwan-based China Petrochemical Development Corp (CPDC) is expected to restart one production line at its 240,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant in Kaohsiung this weekend, a company source said on Friday.
The other ACN line at the same site was restarted last weekend after the completion of maintenance, the source added.
The plant has two lines with a capacity of 120,000 tonnes/year each. They were shut down on 23 and 27 October respectively for a 15-day turnaround.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-11-13
Japan’s Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co (MGC) is on track to restart its 40,000 tonne/year methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Niigata on 20 November, a company source said on Thursday.
The plant was taken off line in early October for 40 days of planned maintenance.
Other Japanese producers include Mitsubishi Rayon (MRC), Asahi Kasei, Kuraray, Mitsui Chemical and Sumitomo.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-11-07
IMCD NV has announced that its BASF standard acrylic monomer partnership was extended to the Iberian region. Representing the last remaining IMCD European territory to be included in the partnership agreement, this expansion will allow IMCD to distribute glacial acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, butylacrylate, ethylacrylate and methylacrylate in Iberia.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-11-06
Westlake confirmed today it began pumping feedstocks into its 260,000 t/yr styrene unit in Westlake, Louisiana, an initial step in the process of restarting production.
The company expects to ramp up run rates over the weekend and be at commercial run rates by 10 November.
The Westlake styrene unit has been offline since 15 August, when it was taken down due to poor market economics.
Since then, an outage in Europe boosted demand for US cargoes and widened the arbitrage during October and into this month. Yesterday the styrene netback to Europe was calculated at 71.35¢/lb.
SOURCE Argus
DATE : 2014-11-06
Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon Co (MRC) has restarted its 107,000 tonne/year acetone cyanohydrin-based methyl methacrylate (MMA) line in Otake earlier in the week after a turnaround, a company source said on Friday.
The plant was taken offline in mid-October for a scheduled maintenance.
The company also runs two 55,000 tonne/year butane-based MMA lines in the same site.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-11-06
KBR has won a contract for work on the debottlenecking and expansion of SABIC’s Petrokemya butadiene extraction plant in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, the US-based energy and petrochemicals engineering firm said on Thursday.
The contract is for the project’s front-end engineering design (FEED).
KBR said that SABIC plans to "significantly expand" the plant which was built in 1993 with a capacity of 123,000 tonnes/year.
It did not disclose by how much capacity will be expanded, by when the project is expected to be completed, and how much it will cost.
However, KBR added that expected revenue from the contract was included in its 2014 third quarter backlog of unfilled orders for the hydrocarbons business segment.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-11-03
French chemicals group Arkema has finalised the creation of Sunke, its 55:45 joint venture with Jurong Chemical (the Chinese acrylics market leader). Sunke's factory in Taixing, China has 2 acrylic acid production lines, each with 160,000 tonnes/y capacity. It is the largest site making this type of product in China. A third production line at the unit will enter service at start 2015 increasing capacity at the site to 480,000 tonnes/y. Following a $240 M investment, Arkema will have 50% of the site's capacity. At start 2015 the French group will spend $235 M on increasing its stake in Sunke's capital to 67% (giving it 320,000 tonnes/y capacity). The project will improve Arkema's ability to serve clients in the superabsorbents, paints, adhesives and water treatment industries in China and Asia.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-11-06
Thai MMA Co has stopped production at its 90,000 tonne/year No 1 methyl methacrylate (MMA) line in Map Ta Phut earlier in the week because of technical issues, a source close to the company said on Friday.
The No 1 line is expected to be off stream for at least 10 days, the source added.
Thai MMA has another 90,000 tonne/year No 2 line at the same site, which was originally due to undergo scheduled maintenance in early November.
However, the maintenance shutdown might be adjusted, depending on operating status of the No 1 line, the source said. No further details are immediately available.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-11-06
China's Qingdao Soda Ash Industrial Co plans to start building a new 500,000 tonne/year styrene monomer (SM) plant at the end of this year, a source close to the company said on Friday.
The new SM unit, which will require an investment of about yuan (CNY) 1.4bn ($229m), will be built at the Dongjiakou chemical base of parent firm Qingdao Hiwin Group, the source said.
Construction work at the new unit is expected to be completed in June 2016, the source said.
Qingdao Soda Ash Industrial mainly produces the chemical products including soda ash and fertilizers.
Its parent firm Qinqdao Hiwin Group is an integrated chemical and construction materials producer.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-11-05
Russia-based major Sibur has restarted production at its butyl acrylate (butyl-A) facility, in Dzerzhinsk, and output is running as normal, a source from the company confirmed on Wednesday.
The turnaround began in october.
Sibur has the capacity to produce 34,000 tonnes/year of butyl-A at the facility, which is based in the eastern industrial area of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod in Russia.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-10-31
Styrenics producer Styrolution is restarting units at its Bayport, Texas plant near Pasadena, according to a posting to a community hotline late on 10/30.
The plant "will be in the process of starting up portions of our site process units over the next two weeks," according to the message. The company indicated earlier this week it intended to restart the 779,000 t/yr styrene plant.
Scheduled maintenance at the facility began in late September. US styrene exports to Europe are expected to be steady in November as prices in the region remain elevated because of the continuing disuption at Shell's Moerdijk site in the Netherlands.
SOURCE Argus Media
DATE : 2014-11-03
Chugai Pharmaceutical announced its supply plan for the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir) this flu season (October 2014 through March 2015) on October 29. The company will supply enough Tamiflu for roughly seven million persons, one million fewer than last flu season. Based on the scale of past outbreaks, the company expects that this should be enough to deal with a large-scale outbreak if it occurs.
Chugai plans to supply Tamiflu Capsule 75 for about four million treatment courses and Tamiflu Dry Syrup 3% for about three million courses. The company will consider supplying additional Tamiflu if a large-scale outbreak occurs.
SOURCE : Pharma Japan