AMERICAS

Wanhua to build new MDI plant in Louisiana

China’s Wanhua has decided to build a new methyl di-p phenylene isocyanate (MDI) plant in Louisiana, ICIS learned. The estimated cost of the new Wanhua plant will be around $1.12bn and will represent the second-largest investment by a Chinese company in Louisiana’s chemical industry, following Yuhuang Chemicals $1.85bn methanol plant based in St James Parish, Louisiana. Site selection for the proposed plant will be completed later this year. MDI is used in the manufacture of polyurethanes.

ProAmpac acquires Trinity Packaging

Ohio-based packaging firm ProAmpac has acquired New York-based Trinity Packaging for an undisclosed . According to ProAmpac, Trinity will retain its name and become a separate division within ProAmpac. The combined company will have 22 manufacturing sites and 3,000 employees, ProAmpac said, which will supply more than 5,000 global customers. The two company’s end markets include food, pet care, healthcare, lawn care, retail and secure packaging for cash and valuables.

PPG acquires stake in Taiwan Chlorine

PPG has acquired a 40% ownership interest in Taiwan Chlorine Industries (TCI) from China Petrochemical Development Corporation (CPDC), the US-based coatings major said. TCI was originally established in 1986 as a joint venture between PPG and CPDC to produce chlorine-based products in Taiwan. At the time PPG owned 60% of the venture. In 2013, when PPG separated its commodity chemicals business and merged it with Georgia Gulf to form Axiall, it transferred its 60% stake in TCI to Axiall. Axiall was acquired by Westlake Chemical last year.

Enerkem waste-to-methanol plant opens

Enerkem’s commercial waste-to-methanol plant in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is now fully operational. The milestones were set by Enerkem’s senior lender Integrated Asset Management (IAM). The company added that the plant meets “the highest quality standards” set by the International Methanol Producers and Consumers Association (IMPCA) for the production and sale of methanol. The plant is designed to produce methanol and ethanol with annual capacity of 38m litres, or 10m gallons.

Pembina plans LPG export terminal in Canada

Pembina Pipeline plans to develop a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) export terminal on Canada’s west coast in British Columbia province, the Canadian midstream energy company confirmed. The terminal, on Watson Island near Prince Rupert, about 1,500km northwest of Vancouver, could have an LPG export capacity of about 20,000 bbl/day. The project, with an estimated capital cost of up to Canadian dollar (C$) 175m ($132m), could be realised within two years after a final investment decision is made.

YPF bidding for Shell’s Argentina assets

Argentina’s state-run oil company YPF is among the bidders for Royal Dutch Shell’s refinery and network of gasoline stations in Argentina, media outlets in Argentina reported, citing unnamed sources. The assets are valued at about $900m. Shell’s downstream assets in Argentina include the Dock Sud refinery in Buenos Aires, roughly 630 petrol stations, and trading, supply and other businesses. Shell’s service stations represent 18% of the Argentine market, according to figures provided by the firm in 2014, with YPF the dominant player in the sector.

Enterprise to build Permian Basin pipeline

Enterprise Products Partners plans to construct a pipeline to transport natural gas liquids (NGL) from the Permian Basin to the company’s NGL fractionation and storage complex in Mont Belvieu, Texas by Q2 2019. The 571-mile (918km) 24-inch diametre (60cm) pipeline, which the company named Shin Oak, will start at Enterprise’s Hobbs NGL fractionation and storage facility in Gaines County, Texas. Enterprise estimates an initial design capacity of 250,000 bbl/day, which could be expanded to 600,000 bbl/day.

US 2016 energy-related CO2 emissions down 1.7%

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from US energy-related use totalled approximately 5,170m tonnes in 2016, 1.7% below 2015 readings, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said. Energy-related CO2 emissions in 2016 are 14% below the 2005 levels, consistent with a decade-long downward trend. The EIA noted coal use was lower in 2016 compared to 2015 while oil and natural gas consumption were higher. CO2 emissions from petroleum and natural gas use increased 1.1% and 0.9% respectively in 2016, the EIA said, while coal-related emissions decreased 8.6%.

Air Liquide to supply new methanol plant

Air Liquide Engineering and Construction has signed an agreement to supply a hydrogen purification unit for a planned Yuhuang Chemical Inc (YCI) methanol plant in St James Parish, Louisiana. YCI, which is the US subsidiary of China’s Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co (SYCC), said construction of the methanol complex began earlier this year. The first phase of the methanol project to begin operations is slated for 2018, the company said.

EUROPE

Oxea to phase out DOTP at Amsterdam site

Germany’s Oxea is due to phase out product dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP). In a March-dated letter, the company said that due to continuously strong demand in plasticizers dioctyl adapate (DOA), trioctyl trimellitate (TOTM), L9TM and L9TMP, it decided to discontinue the production of DOTP in the Amsterdam Esters Plant. Oxea has a nameplate capacity of plasticizers of 100,000 tonnes/year over four units; one in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, two in Oberhausen, Germany, and one in Nanjing, China.

AkzoNobel backs chairman Burgmans

Dutch specialty chemicals firm AkzoNobel backed on 12 April the chairman of its supervisory board, Antony Burgmans, as a number of shareholders, led by UK hedge fund Elliott Advisors, called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to be held to dismiss him. Neither firm has confirmed the reasons as to why Burgmans is the target of the request, but in a statement AkzoNobel committed to rejecting any proposal to remove him from his position.

OMV refinery, cracker turnaround to start

OMV’s refinery and petrochemicals units at its Schwechat, Austria site will go into a planned maintenance turnaround from early next week, a company spokesman said on 12 April. “The turnaround will start at the beginning of next week and is scheduled until mid-June,” the spokesman said. The units under maintenance include the cracker at the site which has the capacity to produce 500,000 tonnes of ethylene/year, and a 60,000 tonnes/year butadiene (BD) extraction unit.

Sika shareholder wants to sell to Saint-Gobain

The founding family of Swiss construction chemicals major Sika remains determined to sell its controlling stake in the company to French industrial group Saint-Gobain, it confirmed in the wake of Sika’s annual meeting on 11 April. The Burkard family was reacting to Swiss media reports that claimed that the family doubted that the stalled sale to Saint-Gobain can be completed. In December 2014, the family agreed to sell its stake to Saint-Gobain for Swiss franc (Swfr) 2.75bn ($2.75bn).

Odfjell awards contracts for chemical tankers

Odfjell has signed final shipbuilding contracts with China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding for construction of two additional chemical tankers with stainless steel cargo tanks, the Norway-based international chemical shipping company said on 10 April. The two vessels, for which Odfjell in March signed a “letter of intent”, will be 38,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt) both with 40 tanks and a cargo capacity of about 45,000 cubic metres (cbm), the company said.

Russia adopts new VAT exemptions

The Russian government on 11 April approved new value-added tax (VAT) exemptions for imported equipment to be used by the country’s chemical producers. The decree allows VAT-exempt imports of equipment to produce methanol, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), as well as spare parts for this equipment currently not produced in the Russian Federation, the governmental press-service said.

Sintez’s plant online post turnaround

Sintez’s larger ethanolamine facility at Dzerzhinsk in Russia is back online and on-spec material is being produced, a company source said on 11 April. The restart of the larger ethanolamines facility was initiated at the end of last week, but it took some days for the production to restart normally, said the company source. This follows a brief maintenance turnaround, which started in the second half of March and was scheduled to last until the first half of April. The turnaround was necessary for maintenance and inventory management reasons.

Romania’s Oltchim restarts 2EH unit

Romania’s Oltchim restarted its 2-ethyl hexanol (2EH) unit on 5 April, five days earlier than planned, a company source said on 11 April. The site was carrying out routine maintenance and is now said to be “at full capacity”. The 40,000 tonne/year site, at Ramnicu Valcea, Romania, commenced its scheduled outage on 10 March. The 2EH market in Europe continues to be described as tight, demand is healthy and spot prices have risen again into April.

Germany investor confidence rebounds

Investor confidence in Germany rebounded in April, reaching a level comparable to that before the UK’s Brexit referendum in June 2016, the country’s ZEW economic research group said on 11 April. Mannheim-based ZEW said that its economic sentiment indicator for Germany rose by 6.7 points, from 12.8 in March to 19.5 in April. The index, which is based on a survey of about 300 financial market analysts, has a long-term average of 23.9.

ASIA

PetroChina Yunnan to start up aromatics

PetroChina Yunnan Petrochemical is expected to start up its aromatics unit at Yunnan in southwest China in July, with unspecified timeline for commercial output, market sources said on 12 April. The aromatics unit is designed to produce 600,000 tonnes/year of toluene and 530,000 tonnes/year of xylene. All toluene output will be saved for captive use, with no commercial sales available. Xylene output will be mainly destined for the south China market, as well as southwest China.

ChemChina/Syngenta deal gets green light

The proposed acquisition of Switzerland’s Syngenta by China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) has received approval from the China’s Ministry of Commerce, Syngenta said on 12 April. “This represents a further step towards the closing of the transaction, which is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2017,” the statement said. On 10 April, Mexican competition authorities also gave the green light for the acquisition, which is subject to several regulatory approvals, to go ahead.

ZPC signs deal with DuPont for sulfuric acid

Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical Co. (ZPC) has awarded and signed contracts with DuPont for a sulfuric acid regeneration (SAR) unit at its upcoming $15bn petrochemical complex on Dayushan Island, the Chinese firm said. The SAR unit will have a capacity to regenerate 858 tonnes of spent sulfuric acid, it said. After completion, the complex will have a refining capacity of 40m tonnes/year, or 800,000 bbl/day, ZPC added.

Wanhua to shut larger Ningbo MDI unit in mid-May

China’s Wanhua Chemical will shut its 800,000 tonne/year methylene di-phenylene isocyanate (MDI) unit in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, in mid-May for a turnaround but the exact shut down dates have not been confirmed, a company source said. The unit, which is currently running at 80% of capacity, will be taken off line for around two to three weeks for regular maintenance, the source said.

Isu Chem-Shandong Dongming to shut MEK

Isu Chem-Shandong Dongming plans to shut its 40,000 tonne/year methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) plant at Heze in China in late April for a turnaround, a company source said. The month-long overhaul is scheduled to start on 26 April, the source said. In the run up to the maintenance shutdown, the plant is being operated at 100% capacity, the source added.

BlueStar Harbin raises phenol/acetone rate

China BlueStar Harbin Petrochemical has increased the run rate at its phenol/acetone plant in Heilongjiang province to 90% on Tuesday, a company source said. The plant, which can manufacture 75,000 tonnes/year of phenol and 45,000 tonnes/year of acetone, had been running at 75% since early April, the source said. High costs of raw material benzene remains an impediment to higher production of phenol and acetone, the source said.

China’s Dynamic (Nanjing) delays BG plant restart

China’s Dynamic (Nanjing) Chemical Industry is further delaying the restart of its butyl glycol (BG) plant at Nanjing in Jiangsu province because of slow demand, a company source said. The plant, which has a combined BG and butyl di-glycol (BdG) capacity of 80,000 tonnes/year, was taken off line on 1 April. Dynamic has yet to schedule a restart date, the source added.

MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA

SABIC confirms completion of PMMA plant

Saudi Methacrylates Company (SAMAC), a joint venture between Saudi Arabia’s SABIC and Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon, has completed the construction of a new polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) facility in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia, SABIC confirmed on 10 April. The plant, the construction of which began in mid-2014, will have a capacity of 40,000 tonnes/year and is expected to take six months to reach that capacity once commissioning begins.

TSOC targets May restart of butyl-A PLANT

Saudi Arabia’s Tasnee Sahara Olefins Co (TSOC) is targeting an early-May restart of its butyl acrylate (butyl-A) plant, a source with knowledge of the matter said. “The turnaround is in currently in progress. The company is targeting an early-May restart of the plant,” the source said. The plant has a capacity of 160,000 tonnes/year and is located in Al-Jubail.