DATE : 2017-01-22
Headquaters of SABIC in Rihyad
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) has signed an agreement to acquire the 50 percent that it does not already own in its petrochemical venture with Shell Arabia, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell, for $820 million, SABIC said on Sunday.
“As per the partnership agreement between the two companies that stipulates the right of SABIC to renew or end the partnership by the end of 2020...SABIC decided to acquire the full stake of Shell, which is 50 percent,” it said.
SABIC, one of the world’s largest petrochemical firms, said the $820 million figure was based on the net value of the venture’s assets. It said the acquisition was in line with a strategy to develop its successful investments.
The venture, known as SADAF, was established in 1980 and operates six petrochemical plants with total annual output of over 4 million tons year of chemicals. It makes products including ethylene, crude industrial ethanol and styrene at a complex in Jubail, on the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia.
The acquisition agreement is expected to be carried out before the end of this year, SABIC said, adding that it signed another memorandum of understanding with Shell Arabia on Sunday to boost the companies’ cooperation in unspecified international and local investments.
“We will continue to explore potential future opportunities with SABIC,” Graham van’t Hoff, executive vice president of chemicals at Shell, said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters.
In 2014, SABIC and Shell shelved plans to expand SADAF as the results of feasibility studies were not encouraging. The expansion was to have added production of polyols, propylene oxide and styrene monomer.
Shell is involved in other downstream activities in Saudi Arabia; it has a crude oil refinery with Saudi Aramco in Jubail. (Reporting by Reem Shamseddine and Hadeel Al Sayegh).
Source Arab News
DATE : 2017-01-13
Five petrochemical projects are expected to start up in Iran by the end of March 2017, the head of National Petrochemical Co. is quoted by the countrys Mehr News agency as saying.
By mid-February, the second phase of the Kavian Petrochemical complexwhich will be able to produce 1 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) of ethylene and the second phase of Morvarid Petrochemicalwhich produces ethylene and ethylene glycol (EG)will become operational. The Takhte Jamshid and Entekhab petrochemical complexes, which each produce 250,000 metric tons/year of styrene derivatives, will also go onstream, said NPC head and Iranian deputy oil minister Marzieh Shahdaei. The second phase of Pardis Petrochemical, which specializes in ammonia and urea, will be completed by the end of March.
Separately, three units at the Bushehr Petrochemical complex will become operational next year. The Bushehr complex, which is able to produce 1.65 MMt/y of methanol; 1 MMt/y of olefins; 550,000 metric tons/year of EG; 300,000 metric tons/year of light and heavy polymers; and 300,000 metric tons/year of acetic acid, is funded by Chinese financiers. The Marjan methanol plant, also known as the 7th Methanol Project, will also start up next year.
Irans petrochemical capacity currently stands at 64 MMt/y and plans are in place to boost this figure by 40 MMt/y over the next five years, to exceed 100 MMt/y. By 2026, the annual installed petrochemical capacity is planned to reach 140 million metric tons, Shahdaei was quoted by Mehr as saying.
Shahdaei also confirmed earlier reports that Iran had signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with Total and Linde, and said that the agreements should pave the way for contracts in about one year. Plans call for signing MoUs with two other international petrochemical firms, Shahdaei said but she did not provide details.
Iran exported 10 million metric tons of petrochemicals, worth $9 billion, in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year that will end 31 March. The lion`s share of outbound petrochemical consignments went to Asia, Europe, and South America, Shahdaei was separately quoted by Iran`s Financial Tribune as saying. Exports of petrochemicals increased in volume terms compared with the same period of the previous year, but declined in value.
According to Shahdaei, Iran has a 38% market share of petrochemicals in the Middle East but produces only 4.8% of the world`s petrochemicals despite having some of the largest crude oil and natural gas reserves.
Source Vanguard
DATE : 2017-01-09
Arkema is investing $90m to replace two reactors at its acrylic acid plant in Clear Lake, Texas, with start-up targeted for mid-2019, ICIS learned on Monday.
The France-based producer of acrylic monomers announced its plans to replace two 45,000-tonne/year acrylic acid reactors at the site with a single 90,000-tonne/year reactor.
The existing reactors are at the end of their life cycle, the company said. The new one will employ the latest technology.
Arkema’s current nameplate acrylic acid production at Clear Lake is about 270,000 tonnes/year, and the project is not expected to change that number.
Arkema also operates American Acryl near in Bayport, Texas, as a 50/50 joint venture with Nippon Shokubai subsidiary NA industries. That plant has a nameplate acrylic acid capacity of 120,000 tonnes/year.
In the meantime, Arkema will continue to meet customer demand from its European and Asian plants, as well as its American plants, which previously completed a modernisation programme between 2012 and 2014.
Acrylates are commonly used to make products including paint and coatings, plastics and construction and pressure-sensitive adhesives.
Source Icis News
DATE: 2017-01-05
Austrian petrochemicals producer OMV has declared force majeure on butadiene (BD) supply from its Burghausen, Germany plant, a company source confirmed on Thursday.
“I can confirm that we have had to declare force majeure in Burghausen,” the source said, adding that all of its customers had been informed.
The BD unit is currently running at reduced rates but will need to be fully shut down in order to resolve the problem, the details of which were not disclosed.
The source said that the shut down would occur around 20 January at the earliest, with production expected to be back online by mid-February.
The BD unit which has the capacity to produce about 70,000-80,000 tonnes/year, according to market sources, started up in June 2015.
OMV also has BD extraction capacity at its Schwechat, Austria petrochemical site.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2017-01-05
India’s ONGC Petro additions Ltd (OPaL) has started commercial production of its butadiene (BD) after achieving on-spec production in early January, a company source said on Thursday.
The company has a 115,000 tonne/year BD extraction unit at its new mixed-feed Dahej cracker.
The cracker has a 1.1m tonnes/year of ethylene capacity.
OPaL began operations at the mixed-feed cracker in Dahej in mid-September 2016 and was initially aiming to attain on-spec ethylene production in early October, but this was delayed as operations had yet to stabilise.
Other units at the Dahej complex include two 360,000 tonne/year high density polyethylene (HDPE)/linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) swing units; a 340,000 tonne/year stand-alone HDPE facility; and a 340,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) unit.
OPaL is a joint venture between Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC), GAIL and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC).
Source Icis News
DATE : 2016-01-03
US methyl methacrylate (MMA) markets will be balanced to start 2017, with tighter supply balancing softer demand.
Market sources are saying that supply has become tighter due to production problems in Q4 2016.
Dow will continue sales controls on its methacrylates (including MMA) at least through early 2017, mostly because of some scheduled near-term maintenance, according to a company source.
It is also continuing to run its MMA facility in Deer Park, Texas, at a reduced rate and expects this to remain the case until early 2017.
Meanwhile, softer MMA demand fundamentals are likely to extend into the new year. Demand will pick up over the summer during the peak coatings season.
Coatings applications drive much of the domestic demand for MMA, with the construction sector seen as a market bellwether.
US MMA contract pricing will continue to be driven by movement in feedstock barge acetone in 2017. Barge acetone fell near the end of 2016, tracking steep declines in upstream refinery-grade propylene (RGP).
MMA prices increased throughout much of 2016 due to strong demand and higher feedstock costs. However, acrylates pricing pressure is weak heading into the new year, due to much lower upstream propylene and barge acetone contracts.
Pricing is likely to be more contentious in early 2017 as sellers try to keep prices flat in an attempt to preserve their margins. Meanwhile, buyers will want decreases in feedstock costs to be passed along to them.
MMA market participants have said they are expecting growth in line with US GDP, currently projected between 1.5-2.5%.
MMA is a liquid monomer used primarily to produce resins and acrylic polymers. It is used in the production of surface coatings and acrylic sheeting.
US MMA capacity
Arkema Deer Park, Texas 115,000 t/yr Dow Chemical Deer Park, Texas 360,000 t/yr Evonik Industries Fortier, Louisiana 150,000 t/yr Lucite International Inc Beaumont, Texas 155,000 t/yr Lucite International Inc Memphis, Tennessee 155,000 t/yr
Source Icis News
DATE : 2016-12-26
Spot methyl methacrylate (MMA) markets in Asia are poised to hold stable going into 2017 on expectations that supply will stay snug and demand steady, producers and industry players said.
MMA prices have registered substantial gains in the last quarter of 2016, bolstered by a persistent tight supply situation in the Asia-Pacific region.
This was in part triggered by a combination of plant shutdowns, both planned and unplanned, along with a steady flow of enquiries for regional MMA cargoes.
The MMA availability shortfall has had a trickle-down effect on downstream polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) markets. PMMA production was affected due to shortage of raw material supply.
Meanwhile, term and frame contract negotiations for 2017 were ongoing at the time of writing, while overall market sentiment was optimistic.
“There are no additional [MMA plant] capacities coming up yet at least for the first-half of 2017 … so the market will still be tight,” a southeast Asia-based market source said.
“Maybe there will be [price] fluctuations along the way, depending on seasonal demand … but a stable to firm trend is likely,” the source said.
There were market participants who envisage potential MMA growth in cast sheet and emulsion resins applications.
The market took heart from steady markets, at least in China. The country’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose a two-year high of 51.7 in November, up from 51.2 in October.
The PMI is a barometer of an economy’s manufacturing activities, with a reading of 50 or higher indicating an expansion, while a number below that denotes a contraction.
“Some customers asking for December [MMA] supplies … maybe they anticipate prices to go up, so the tight situation will likely continue,” a northeast Asia-based market source said.
A second southeast Asia-based source said: “The first half [2017] shouldn’t be as tight as currently but spot [supply] may not be as easy to get.”
New MMA plant capacities are expected to come on stream near the third quarter of 2017, but there might be possible delays. The actual impact on market fundamentals is difficult to ascertain for now, market sources said.
“The start-up [of a new plant] is one thing … producing on-spec material commercially is another,” a separate southeast Asia-based market source said.
In Saudi Arabia, a 250,000 tonne/year MMA facility is due to come on stream in 2017. The plant is a joint venture (JV) between Mitsubishi Rayon Co and SABIC.
Their downstream 40,000 tonne/year PMMA plant is also set to come on stream in the second half of 2017.
Meanwhile, construction of Petro Rabigh’s new 90,000 tonne/year MMA plant, also in Saudi Arabia, is scheduled to be completed next year, market sources said.
Petro Rabigh is a joint venture between Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical and Saudi Aramco.
MMA is used as a raw material in the production of PMMA resins, a type of engineering plastic.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2017-01-02
China imported 9,343 tonnes methyl methacrylate (MMA) in November 2016, according to latest official data from China Customs.
This was 23% higher than the previous month.
However, its November 2016 imports were 2% lower than the same period in 2015, according to the data.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2016-12-29
Allnex is investing for its Radcure Business Unit at its production site in Drogenbos, Belgium, to expandUV/EB-curable acrylates capacity by 12,000 tonnes. The project includes the development of a new and fully automated reactor, increased bulk truck loading capacity and upgrades to existing reactor lines. The implementation stage will not affect the product supply and service to customers. The project is scheduled to be finished by Jun 2017.
Source : Paint & Coatings industry