According to data compiled by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s (METI) Material Industries Division, ethylene production for August totaled at 562,000 tons for a year-on-year increase of 10.9 percent. With the impact of production stoppages at three ethylene facilities from 2014 to 2016 coming full circle, demand for petrochemical products both domestically and...
ethylene
Petro Rabigh Phase II Nears Completion
The second phase of expansion at the Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co. petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia is near completion, with trial operations set to soon commence. All plants are expected to come online in 2017. A naphtha reformer will come online by the end of 2017, and chains producing cumene and phenol from benzene...
Mitsui Chemicals Moves to Diversify Petrochemical Feedstock, Adapt Plants for Propane Use
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (TYO:4183) is moving forward with plans to diversify the raw materials for ethylene produced at it plant in Takaishi, Osaka Prefecture. As part of the effort to provide propane as a petrochemical feedstock, Mitsui Chemicals is preparing plant and equipment, including berths for propane liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker ships and related...
Periodic Maintenance at Six Ethylene Plants in Japan Could Tighten Petrochemical Supply in 2018
It appears increasingly like Japan will experience a shortage in petrochemical products such as ethylene in 2018. Six ethylene plants, half the number in Japan, will be shutting down for periodic maintenance. A major Japanese petrochemicals company said that it hopes a production increase of shale-derived ethylene in the U.S. will alleviate this shortage. The...
Japan’s Ethylene Sector Records Second Best Year to Date in Ordinary Profit
Fiscal 2016 was a good year for Japanese ethylene. According to data compiled by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s (METI) Material Industries Division, the ethylene businesses of 10 companies combined to increase by 23.3 percent in year-on-year total ordinary profit to 230.2 billion yen ($2.09 billion). The increase marks the second best result...
Wanda Petrochemical Group Invests 10B Yuan to Enter Ethylene Market
Wanda Petrochemical Group, an entity within the China Wanda Group, will begin ethylene production as part of a 10 billion yuan ($1.48 billion) investment. A subsidiary in the group will construct a naphtha cracker in the Dongying Economic Development Zone in Dongying, China. The initiative’s production capacity for ethylene and derivative products is expected to...
Riken Synthesizes High Molecular Weight Polar Polyolefins With Rare Earth Metal Catalyst
A research group from Riken, the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, has developed a copolymerization technology that efficiently incorporates polar groups into polyolefins. High molecular weight polar polyolefins can be synthesized using a rare earth metal catalyst to copolymerize alpha-olefin (polar monomer) and ethylene (nonpolar monomer) in an arbitrary mixing ratio. Ordinary polyolefins do...
Private Sector Has Edge on State-Owned Business in Indonesia’s Petrochemical Industry – Part 1
Large-scale investment plans are progressing in Indonesia’s petrochemical industry. PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk and Malaysia’s Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Sdn Bhd each plan to construct naphtha cracking furnaces with an annual ethylene production capacity of 1 million tons in Banten Province, West Java. Including derivatives equipment, total investment for each facility is estimated to...
Plans for New LPG Cracking Furnaces Multiply in China, South Korea – Part 2
Falling crude oil and naphtha prices since 2014 have raised the profitability of petrochemical products such as ethylene, thus increasing momentum for the construction of new facilities in Asia. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cracking furnaces are a part of this trend as manufacturers make effective use of the cost advantage of LPG in the wake...
METI Estimates Global Supply and Demand Trends for Petrochemical Products
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has compiled predictions for petrochemical product supply and demand until 2021. According to these predictions, global ethylene production will exceed 200 million tons in 2021 for an increase of 45.4 million tons compared to 2015. From the fall of 2017 onward, the addition of more shale gas-derived...
Asia Could See Large Influx of US Shale-Derived Ethylene
U.S. shale-derived ethylene is expected to increase in the Asian market, with a number of companies planning the construction of ethylene export terminals. For such projects, 10,000-ton class tanks require billions of yen (1 billion yen = $87.87 million) in investment, making the plans appear to be targeted at recruiting long-term customers primarily from Asian...
Japan’s Petrochemical Industry Sees Revitalization With Ethylene Facility Upgrades
A noticeable trend is taking place in Japan with a spurt in capital investment to upgrade petrochemical facilities. Asahi Kasei Mitsubishi Chemical Ethylene Corp. will revamp its facilities at the Mizushima Plant this year to increase ethylene production. Tosoh Corp. (TYO:4042), meanwhile, has begun looking into boosting the efficiency of the company’s ethylene plant in...
Sinopec to Buy out BP’s Share of Petchem JV
BP PLC has announced that the company will withdraw from its petrochemical JV with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., commonly referred to as Sinopec. BP has agreed to sell its total 50-percent share in the JV, Shanghai Secco Petrochemical Co. Ltd., to Sinopec subsidiary Gaoqiao Petrochemical Co. Ltd. for a total amount of $1.68 billion....
Mitsui Chemicals to Strengthen Petrochemical Business With 100 Billion Yen Investment
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (TYO:4183) is planning to allocate 100 billion yen ($905.3 million) for capital investment in the petrochemical sector by fiscal 2025. For its ethylene facilities, the company will install storage tanks for raw material diversification to improve logistics. In the polyolefin realm, the company is eying the possibility of constructing factories in Japan...
Westlake, Lotte Chemical to Complete US Ethane Cracker by End of 2018
Westlake Chemical Corp. revealed at its recent business results briefing that an ethane cracker it is building jointly with Korea’s Lotte Chemical Corp. in Lake Charles, Louisiana, looks set to be completed by the end of 2018. Westlake said commercial production is slated to begin in the first half of 2019. This ethane cracker will...
Japan’s Naphtha Cracker Capacity Utilization Exceeds 100 Percent in January
With capacity utilization of ethylene-producing naphtha crackers reaching 100.1 percent in Japan last month, it marks the first time since February 2008 that naphtha crackers have operated at more than full capacity. This can be attributed to strong demand, even while domestic production capacity is shrinking. Imports of petrochemicals are decreasing and demand for made-in-Japan...
Japanese Ethylene Production Down 8.8% for 2016, Operating Ratio Remains High
Ethylene production from January to December 2016 suffered a year-on-year drop of 8.8 percent to 6.2793 million tons, according to production records of major petrochemical products that were compiled by the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association (JPCA). Although decreased capacity caused production to fall, the ethylene operating ratio remained above 90 percent for the 37th...
Idemitsu Kosan, Mitsui Chemicals to Increase Propane Ratio in Petrochemical Raw Materials
Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. (TYO:5019) and Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (TYO:4183) will increase the propane processing capacity at Chiba Chemicals Manufacturing LLP. Jointly operated by the two companies, the complex has an ethylene manufacturing facility with a current capacity of 370,000 tons per year. Periodic maintenance will be carried out at the complex in the autumn...
Naphtha Cracker Margins Contract in Southeast Asia
Naphtha cracker margins are contracting in Southeast Asia. The spread between naphtha and ethylene was just under $600 per ton from late October to the beginning of November, down 20 percent since April. While the margin remains reasonable, there are strong expectations that there will be oversupply of olefin in Southeast Asia throughout next year....
Rabigh Phase 2 Project Completion Pushed Back to May 2017
An expected delay in the completion of a derivatives plant is set to push back the timeline on the Phase 2 expansion project of Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co., a joint venture for oil refinery and petrochemical business in Saudi Arabia between Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. (TYO:4005) and Saudi Aramco. The plant was initially set...
