Braskem Sign a Contract to Supply Ethane from US

Braskem to import US ethane; INEOS considers Texas growth

Braskem has signed a 10-year contract with Enterprise Products Partners for the supply of ethane imported from the US, starting in mid-2017, Braskem said in a statement on March 21.

The company will invest around R$380 million ($104.84 million) to adopt the use of shale-gas ethane feedstock in its operations and to diversify the supplying of its petrochemical complex in the state of Bahia – which is currently 100% naphtha-based – allowing it to use up to 15% of ethane.

The US ethane will be shipped from the Port of Houston in Morgan's Point, Texas, where it will be liquefied and loaded onto special vessels refrigerated to -90°C, to the Liquefied Gas Terminal in the Port of Aratu in Bahia.

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Saudi Butanol Commence Operation at Jubail Plant

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Samir Seeks Supplier of 8 Mln Barrels of Crude Oil

Morocco's sole refiner, Samir, has launched a tender to buy 8 million barrels of regular Urals or Kirkuk crude oil for delivery from April through June, according to a company source on Friday.

The company said it was seeking to offer a contract to a single supplier for the three months, with the possibility of extending the deal for another three months.

The refiner said it was seeking two cargoes of one million barrels each for April, three cargoes of the same size for May and three more for June.

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SK Incheon Petrochem increases condensate imports from Iran after sanctions end

Latest Indian Chemical Bulk Prices as on March, 26

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China’s Saudi Oil Imports in February Hit Near Record High

China’s monthly oil imports from Saudi Arabia hit their second highest level on record in February, while arrivals from Russia also surged, as weak crude prices prompted the world’s top energy consumer to bring in record high volumes last month.

China’s total oil imports rose about 20 percent on year to the highest ever on a daily basis in February, when near 10-year low global oil prices drove buying from a group of new importers and for state and commercial stockpiling.

Saudi Arabia was China’s top supplier in February with shipments of 1.38 million barrels per day (bpd), customs data showed on Monday, slightly below a record 1.39 million bpd in February 2012. Russia came in third, behind Angola, with shipments of 1.03 million bpd, up almost 48 percent on a daily basis from a year ago.

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India's BPCL to Spend Rs 10,000 Crore to upgrade its Refining Capacity

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MRPL to Shut its Mangalore Refinery in April 1, 2016

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Demand for petrochemicals dry up elsewhere: Is India the new horizon?

Has the market for petrochemicals changed dramatically?A new world study seems to think soDemand is no longer growing at the rate at which it had in the past as demand from the baby boomers in the US seems to have tapered off as they grow older.The big market was China. Its galloping double digit growth saw an insatiable appetite for chemicals and petrochemicals but that is now changing.In China the demand for high selling items such as PTA, PVC and their derivatives as well as other chemicals have now gone down, so much so that incremental demand has almost disappeared.

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SSPCL Completes Maintenance Work at its Jinshan Unit
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Braskem to Buy Ethane from Enterprise Products
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Petchem Demand Active as U.S. Feedstock Cost Advantage Fluctuates
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China's Hanbang Starts New 2.2 mn PTA Unit

China based Hanbang Petrochemical has successfully started up its second purified terephthalic acid (PTA) unit and production operations are ongoing, an industry source told on Wednesday.

However, the plant has yet to achieve on-spec production. According to the source, the plant is currently running one of its two production lines, each with an annual capacity of 1.1 million MTPA.

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Thailand’s naphtha-based petrochemical producers to benefit from lower oil prices in 2016

Pennsylvania ethane cracker still in play

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Kolon & BASF Sign a Agreement to Set up JV for POM in South Korea

Kolon Plastics and BASF have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture in South Korea to manufacture polyoxymethylene (POM), an engineering plastic used in industrial, transportation, construction and consumer markets.

The 50:50 JV, named Kolon BASF innoPOM Inc, will have an annual capacity of 70,000 metric tonnes. It will be located at the existing manufacturing site of Kolon Plastics in Gimcheon, South Korea, which already includes a POM production. The start of operation is scheduled for the second half of 2018 creating in total the world’s largest complex for the production of POM.

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Latest Chemical Bulk Prices as on March 17, 2016
GAIL Announces Price Revision in HDPE, LLDPE

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China's Guangxi Starts EA Production Supply at 100% Level

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Taiwan's Formosa Operates its PC unit at 100% capacity

China Dongying Shut its MBIK Unit for Maintenance

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Innova Plastic Shut Its GPPS Unit

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RIL to invest Rs 13,000 crore in petrochemical expansion-IV: Execution in 27 months flat

Project execution will include engineering, procurement, construction, installation and start-up of facilities.
 8The Basic engineering package shall be provided by Reliance Project Management Group (RPMG) in consultation with Reliance R&D Department.
 8Detailed Engineering for this project shall be executed by the Mumbai Engineering Center (MEC).
 8Procurement will be done with the help of RIL's internal Procurement and Contracts department.
 8Engineering deliverables for procurement such as SOQ for construction contracts, MRs for all tagged equipment and PR for all bulk items shall be developed by MEC.
 8Construction of above ground structures such as equipment foundations, control building for the proposed CPVC, VCM, PVC & ethane storage tank project shall be executed under the responsibility of the site construction department of RIL by appointing various contractors.
 8The construction contractors will include all disciplines, such as civil, structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation. Vendor services will be taken for specialized equipment during the construction and commissioning phase.
 8Project Schedule: Overall completion schedule envisaged for this project is 27 months with a two month grace period.

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RIL to invest Rs 13,000 crore in petrochemical expansion-III: Project management details

Project execution will include engineering, procurement, construction, installation and start-up of facilities.
 8The Basic engineering package shall be provided by Reliance Project Management Group (RPMG) in consultation with Reliance R&D Department.
 8Detailed Engineering for this project shall be executed by the Mumbai Engineering Center (MEC).
 8Procurement will be done with the help of RIL's internal Procurement and Contracts department.
 8Engineering deliverables for procurement such as SOQ for construction contracts, MRs for all tagged equipment and PR for all bulk items shall be developed by MEC.
 8Construction of above ground structures such as equipment foundations, control building for the proposed CPVC, VCM, PVC & ethane storage tank project shall be executed under the responsibility of the site construction department of RIL by appointing various contractors.
 8The construction contractors will include all disciplines, such as civil, structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation. Vendor services will be taken for specialized equipment during the construction and commissioning phase.
 8Project Schedule: Overall completion schedule envisaged for this project is 27 months with a two month grace period.

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RIL to invest Rs 13,000 crore in petrochemical expansion-II: Details of utility requirements

The RIL expansion will be also entail investments in utilities that will involve the the treatment and distribution of raw water. steam/condensate, cooling water, DM water, fire water, compressed air, nitrogen and oxygen, hydrogen, fuel gas and a power plant.
 The following systems will have to be put into place:
 8Air Separation Unit
 8Compressed air system
 8DM water plant
 8Raw water
 8Cooling towers
 8Captive Power Plant
 8Fire water system
 8Tank farm
 8Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP)

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RIL to invest Rs 13,000 crore in petrochemical expansion-I: Expansion will raise capacity across the board

Who says big investments are not taking place in the oil & gas and related segments in India?
 8Close on the heels of news that money is going to be pumped into the KG Basin to get deepwater gas discoveries off the ground, RIL has unfolded a massive Rs 13,250 crore plan to expand its gas craker at Bharuch in Gujarat, based on imported propane.
 The expansion will raise the company's petrochemical capacity in the following manner:
 8Ethylene capacity will go up by a hefty 200,000 tonnes
 8Ethylene Dichloride by 89,000 tonnes
 8Vinyl Chloride Monomer, Polyvinyl Chloride and Chlorine by 45,000 tonnes
 8Caustic Soda by 52,000 tonnes
 8Ethylene Oxide by 30,000 crore
 8HDPE by Rs 2,000 tonnes
 8Ethylene Vinyl Acetate by 2,000 tonnes
 New units are to be added as well, and that includes:
 8A Chlorinated Poly Vinyl Chloride (CPVC) unit with a capacity of 70,000 tonnes
 8A Vinyl Chloride Monomer of 12,00,000 tonnes
 8A Poly Vinyl Cholride of a capacity of 12,00,00 tonnes.
 8There will also be a concomitant increase in relevant product and byproduct capacities as well.

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HPCL & GAIL Plans to Build a Petrochemical Plant in Andhra Pradesh

State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and GAIL India Ltd have shortlisted three sites in Andhra Pradesh for setting up a 15 million tons per annum refinery, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today.

"HPCL and GAIL have carried out a prefeasibility cum configuration study for 15 million tons integrated refinery cum petrochemical complex and also a standalone petrochemical complex," he said.

Financial appraisal of setting up the refinery-cum- petrochemical complex or just the petrochemical complex has also been carried out.

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Pennsylvania ethane cracker still in play

Thailand’s naphtha-based petrochemical producers to benefit from lower oil prices in 2016

GNFC & Belgium's EcoPhos to set up Rs 526 cr di-calcium phosphate plant

China to enter into petrochemical complex in Azerbaijan

S Korea’s KPIC to expand ethylene capacity by H1 2017

INR Slips 11 Paise Against USD

Latest PVC offer to India

KPIC Plans to Expand its Ethylene Production Capacity

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Asian energy companies boosting petrochemical outputs

Demand for petrochemical products is growing solidly in China, despite turmoil in markets for steel and other materials due to China's supply glut.

Chinese and Southeast Asian energy companies are rushing to expand their production facilities to meet rising demand in the coming years, particularly in emerging markets.

Thailand's energy giant PTT group operates a total of about 20 oil plants in Map Ta Phut, Rayong Province, about 200km southeast of Bangkok. The public company has been running its ethylene plant at full capacity over the past two years. Ethylene is a basic petrochemical product.

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