AMERICAS
Ethylene XXI nearing completion
Braskem SA and Grupo Idesa’s JV plant is nearing completion and is expected to come on-stream by July 2015. The USD 4.5 billion complexes will include an ethane cracker with a capacity of 1,050 KTA, two 750 KTA HDPE plants, and one 300 KTA LDPE plant.
Comments: The new ethylene cracker will enable Braskem-Idesa to take advantage of the low feedstock shale gas to secure a steady ethylene supply to produce polyethylene. The complex will include one low-density polyethylene and two high-density polyethylene plants. Nearly all of the output from this cracker will be towards HDPE and LDPE production.
Hexpol makes first North American plastics acquisition
Hexpol AB has acquired the plastics compounding business of RheTech Inc. for USD 112 million. RheTech primarily produces PP compounds for the automotive market.
Comments: Hexpol Compounding, a division of Hexpol Group, primarily focuses on rubber compounding and thermoplastic elastomer compounding. The company is highly focused on expanding and strengthening its business position in North America, mainly through acquisitions. RheTech is the company’s fifth acquisition in North America and its first in 2015. In 2014, they acquired Portage Precision, Vigar Rubber Compounding, and Kardoes Rubber spending over USD 68 million for all three acquisitions. In 2010, they also acquired Burton Rubber for USD 200 million from PolyOne.
Formosa files construction permit for new PE plant
Formosa Plastics has filed a construction permit application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for the construction of a new PE plant at its facility in Point Comfort, Texas. The new plant will be in addition to a 625 KT LDPE plant which is under construction at Point Comfort.
Comments: The United States is currently undergoing massive increases in ethylene capacity with 11 news team crackers in various stages of planning and construction in addition to debottlenecking and expansion of several existing crackers. Formosa is on track to build its 1,000 KT grassroots ethylene cracker to leverage inexpensive ethane and other natural gas liquids derived from shale gas along with a 625 KT LDPE plant by 2017. The company is also constructing a propane dehydrogenation unit at the same site. Those plants received greenhouse gas permits from the EPA in August 2014.
EUROPE
Aero Plast launches PE stretch film plant
Aero Plast has opened a new production facility in Chelmza, Poland for the manufacture of PE stretch films for use in agricultural applications. The facility has a capacity of 5.5 KTA.
Comments: Poland has recently become the most attractive destination in Eastern Europe for investment in polyolefin films. There has been a healthy demand growth for both polypropylene and polyethylene films in flexible packaging for various applications ranging from food to medical to agricultural and industrial. Aero Plast’s PE film will be used to package sugar beet pulp, corn silage, food waste, and grass and industrial waste.
UOP licenses Oleflex propylene process in Russia
Russia’s Tobolsk Polymer facility has licensed Honeywell’s UOP C3 Oleflex process technology. The plant, which is located in Western Siberia, has a propylene production capacity of 510 KTA.
Comments: Russia has recently invested in olefins and derivatives to leverage its abundant supply of oil and associated gas into petrochemical production for both the domestic and export markets. SIBUR is a perfect example of this strategy, as it has vertically integrated down the C3 chain into polypropylene and polypropylene films. A steady internal supply of high-quality resin has already improved the margins of SIBUR’s subsidiary Biaxplen and allowed the company to produce specialty grades of biaxial-oriented polypropylene film for export to Western Europe.
Poligal starts construction on new BOPP plant
Poligal has started construction on a new BOPP extrusion line at a new plant in Poland. The plant, which is built with an investment of about USD 35 million, is expected to have a production capacity of 40 KTA BOPP.
Comments: Demand growth for BOPP film has been bleak in Europe over the past five years, but the last two years have seen a return on investment in new capacity to the region. Spain’s Poligal is trying to capitalize on Poland’s promising flexible packaging market as well as an attractive location for potential exports. The 8.7-meter extrusion line from Brückner will produce 5-layer coextruded films for applications in food and medical packaging. Poligal is also expanding its capacity for cast polypropylene film closer to home in Portugal.
MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
Equate completes the first phase of PE debottlenecking
EQUATE petrochemical company has completed the first phase of its PE debottlenecking project. Upon the project’s completion in 2016, EQUATE’s PE capacity will be expanded from 825 KTA to 1,000 KTA.
Comments: Equate is a joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company, Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). PE debottlenecking is part of the company’s ‘2020 Strategy’ plan to strengthen its business position in the Gulf, as well as globally.
ASIA PACIFIC
R&P Ltd license specialty PP compounds technology from ExxonMobil
R&P Pte. Ltd has licensed the technology to produce specialty PP compounds (TPO) from ExxonMobil Chemical. The specialty PP compounds produced will be marketed under R&P’s brand name, STERLENE for the Asia Pacific region. R&P has been a toll compounder for ExxonMobil in the TPO market from September 2008 to October 2014 and was responsible for ExxonMobil’s Exxtral™ grades.
Comments: The automotive industry in Asia Pacific is home to some of the largest and fastest-growing automotive markets anywhere in the world. China, India, and Thailand are all among the top ten globally in terms of automotive sales volumes. Several global automakers have set up manufacturing bases in this region. There is a healthy, fast-growing market for automotive plastics in this region with the emphasis being on lightweight using innovative new materials. Several polyolefin producers and compounders compete to cater to this market. ExxonMobil historically only licensed its TPO/TPV product line via AES but in the past decade has signed a couple of technology licensing agreements with other compounders.
Vietnam’s govt. approves PTT’s refinery and petrochemical complex
Vietnamese government has given final approval for PTT’s fully integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in Vietnam. The project which will be located in Binh Dinh province will require an investment of USD 22 billion. Construction for the refinery and petrochemical complex is expected to be completed in 2021.
Comments: Vietnam currently has only one refinery, Dong Quat which is barely able to cater to less than 30% of the country’s needs. Vietnam is a net importer of several polyolefin products, and the new complex that PTT intends to build could change that scenario. The Vietnamese government has offered a generous tax benefit to PTT for the next ten years.
Ineos licenses PP technology to China
Full-Tech (Changzhou) Chemistry & Development Co., a subsidiary of Fund Energy Investment Holdings, has licensed Ineos’ Innovene PP process for the manufacture of PP homopolymers and random and impact copolymers. The plant will have a capacity of 300 KTA of PP.
Comments: Ineos has had plenty of success licensing its Innovene PP technology to several Chinese producers. Chinese petrochemical producers have recently slowed down their capacity addition and expansions and some announced projects have been either delayed or put on hold in the short term.
Petronas selects Spheripol and Spherizone technology for Rapid project
Petronas has selected LyondellBasell’s Spherizone and Spheripol PP process for a new unit to be constructed in the Rapid complex at Johor State in Malaysia. The capacity for the new unit will be 900 KTA.
Toray to expand PP spun bound capacity in Indonesia
Toray Industries plans to expand the production capacity for high-performance PP spun bound at the Toray Polytech Jakarta site. PP spun bound capacity at the site will be increased to 37 KTA and the expansion will come on-stream in September 2016.
Comments: Spun bounded polypropylene is the most desired synthetic fiber in the manufacture of disposable diapers due to important features like strength and higher elastic properties when compared to other synthetic fibers. Major PP spun bounded manufacturers like Kimberly Clark, Fiberweb, and others, have installed additional capacities or built new manufacturing plants in the Southeast Asia region in recent times (post-2012). The decision to enhance the PP spun bound production capacity in Indonesia, by Toray, is being implemented as one of the basic strategies to capture the growths in Asia and emerging countries in other regions that are expected to register significant economic growth as well as the growth in fields related to health and sanitation.
IOCL to commission PP plant in FY 2017
Indian Oil Corporation Limited has completed a feasibility study for setting up a PP Plant as a part of the petrochemical complex attached to the refinery in Paradip, Odisha. The plant will have a PP production capacity of 700 KTA.
Comments: The newly formed Indian government is emphasizing on a faster pace of industrial development and manufacturing operations in the country in the next 5-10 years. Polypropylene consumption in the country has also been on the rise in the past decade and the Indian government expects this trend to continue in the future. The two reasons have driven IOCL to establish a new PP plant in Odisha with an investment of USD 500 million.