The Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Complex in Vietnam is slated to begin shipping products and working on commercial operations this April. A joint venture between Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd....
Idemitsu Kosan
Interview: Idemitsu Kosan President Takashi Tsukioka Talks Company Aims, Alliance With Showa Shell
Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. (TYO:5019) saw an eventful year in 2017, experiencing both high earnings and new challenges as part of its recent operations merger with Showa Shell Sekiyu KK...
Prime Polymer to Construct New PP Facility in Chiba
Prime Polymer Co. Ltd., a joint venture funded by Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (TYO:4183) at 65 percent and Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. (TYO:5019) at 35 percent, has solidified scrap-and-build construction plans...
Industry Outlook 2018: Petroleum Wholesales
The petroleum wholesalers industry stands to achieve record highs this fiscal year. This comes on the back of improved profitability, as the margin of difference between crude oil prices and...
Toray Plans to Strengthen Organic EL Materials, Other Growth Areas
Toray Industries Inc. (TYO:3402) is considering directing more resources toward organic EL materials and Ultrasuede, an artificial leather. Both are in full production. The company will make decisions on how...
Japan’s Best Path Forward to Survive the Global Chemical Industry’s Changing Tides – Part 8
The birth of DowDuPont Inc. raises questions as to what developments we can expect to see now in what is something of a final frontier in terms of company realignments...
IEEJ Reports Reveal Challenges Facing Petroleum Wholesalers
The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ) has put together two reports on the prospects of Japan’s petroleum industry. The first of these is a comprehensive overview of the business...
New iPhone X Represents Growing Opportunity for Japanese Chemical Manufacturers
Apple Inc. has adopted in its new iPhone X an edge-to-edge OLED screen that covers the device’s entire surface. In addition to the U.S. company and its South Korean competitors,...
Idemitsu Gets out Ahead on Binary Cycle Geothermal Power
Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. (TYO:5019) this past spring brought online the Takigami Binary Power Plant, one of the largest such power plants in Japan. Located in the town of Kokonoe,...
Trend Toward Paraxylene Facility Expansion Gains Momentum in Japan
Momentum is gaining in Japan on facility expansion by oil refining companies for paraxylene (PX) or for mixed xylene (MX) to be used as a direct raw material. While expectations...
Idemitsu Kosan, Showa Shell Enter Pre-Merger Crude Purchase and Shipping Tie-up
Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. (TYO:5019) and Showa Shell Sekiyu KK (TYO:5002) announced on May 9 that they have reached an agreement on collaboration in such areas as crude oil procurement,...
Industry Outlook 2017: Displays
The most closely followed area in the display market this year is likely to be organic electroluminescence (EL), which is expected to comprise half of small–mid-size smartphone displays as early...
Industry Outlook 2017: Petroleum Refining
A large-scale restructuring of the Japanese petroleum industry is under way. The merger between industry leader JX Holdings Inc. (TYO:5020) and fourth-ranked TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK (TYO:5012) is officially set to...
Commentary: Tight Global Supply of Hydrogenated Petroleum Resin Looks Set to Ease
The global balance of supply and demand for hydrogenated petroleum resin, used in products such as disposable diapers, appears at present as though it is set to ease. Amid steady...
TonenGeneral Sekiyu Considers Overseas Production of Hydrocarbon Resin
TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK (TYO:5012) is investigating the prospect of overseas hydrocarbon resin production, with existing plants in Japan are already operating at full capacity. And as there are limits on...
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...
Idemitsu Kosan to Reduce Throughput at Three Refineries
Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. (TYO:5019) will reduce the throughput for atmospheric distillation (topper) units at three refineries by a total of 55,000 barrels per day by the end of March...
Commentary: Japanese Polypropylene Companies Consider Major Facility Upgrades
Japanese manufacturers of polypropylene (PP) are kicking off upgrades to production infrastructure to be completed for around 2020. These companies had been cutting production capacity in line with contracting domestic...
Idemitsu Kosan and Showa Shell Sekiyu Postpone Merger
Showa Shell Sekiyu KK (TYO:5002) and Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. (TYO:5019) announced on Oct. 13 that they are postponing their merger, which had been set to take place on April...
METI Launches IoT Demonstration Project to Improve Chemical Plant Safety
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has initiated a demonstration project to use Internet of Things (IoT) technology for chemical plant safety. Data from pipework tests will be...
