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...
petrochemical
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...
Japanese Petrochemical Companies Look at Creating Joint Maintenance Firm
A plan has been floated for Japanese chemical companies to partner up in establishing a maintenance company dedicated to servicing petrochemical plants. The companies currently carry out maintenance independently, but when their schedules overlap for the regularly conducted large maintenance jobs they perform once every four years, finding the personnel poses a challenge. The idea...
Canada Builds Petrochemical Presence With Rich Natural Gas Reserves – Part 2
The Canadian province of Alberta has been gaining attention as a petrochemical production area due to its rich reserves of natural gas. Currently, the province is working to attract C1 and C2 chemical projects, and provincial officials say that costs associated with production and exports to Asian markets compare favorably to figures in the U.S....
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...
Canada Builds Petrochemical Presence With Rich Natural Gas Reserves – Part 1
The Canadian province of Alberta has been gaining attention as a petrochemical production area, coming thanks to the region’s rich reserves of natural gas. Currently, two plans are underway there for the production of propylene and downstream polypropylene (PP) using propane dehydrogenation (PDH). The province has been active in attracting C1 and C2 chemical projects...
Japan Polypropylene to Build New PP Facility With Annual Capacity of 150,000 Tons
Japan Polypropylene Corp. announced on April 26 that it is investing 9 billion yen ($80.91 million) for the construction of a new polypropylene (PP) facility in the company’s Goi plant in Chiba Prefecture. Scheduled to come online in October 2019, the new facility will have an annual production capacity of 150,000 tons with use of...
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...
ExxonMobil Chemical President Discusses Expansion, Pursuit to Become Global Leader
ExxonMobil Chemical Co. is actively pursuing expansion in the U.S. and abroad, says President Neil A. Chapman. Sitting down recently for an interview with The Chemical Daily, Chapman outlined the company’s plans regarding future growth investment, explaining that the company intends to establish a leading position in the global petrochemical industry. The company hopes to...
METI to Launch New Accreditation System Encouraging High-Tech Safety at Petroleum and Petrochemical Plants
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will launch a new accreditation system on April 1 to promote high-tech safety at oil refineries and petrochemical plants. A ministerial ordinance was issued on March 22 to revise the associated regulations. The new system will encourage the adoption IoT at plants so that facility data can...
Petrochemical E-Commerce Gains Popularity in China
Petrochemical e-commerce is becoming more and more popular in China. Accounting for 30 percent of total corporate transactions in Shanghai in 2016, petrochemical products saw a year-on-year increase of 21 percent. China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., better known as Sinopec, have streamlined their platforms, and a number of product-specific...
Siam Cement Acquires Qatar Petroleum Stake in Vietnamese Petrochemical Project
Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG) has decided to further its position in the Long Son Petrochemicals Complex in Vietnam by acquiring Qatar Petroleum’s entire stake in it. The Qatari firm earlier backed out of its investment in Long Son Petrochemical Co. Ltd., which is to build the complex. The purchase price is $36.1 million, and...
Saudi Aramco Buys $7 Billion Stake in Malaysia’s RAPID Project
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, will be involved in the refinery and petrochemical integrated development (RAPID) project being developed by Malaysia’s Petronas. Saudi Aramco plans to take a 50-percent stake in the project, pumping in a sum expected to reach $7 billion. The deal signing was timed to coincide with a visit to...
Commentary: Government Causes Headache for Oil, Petrochemical Sectors With Overtime Limits
The Japanese government has embarked on reforms to change people’s ways of working. Among them, overtime restrictions and efforts to end the norm of long working hours are causing particular concern in the oil refining and petrochemical industries. The biggest challenge is the periodic maintenance carried out at production bases every four years. Companies risk...
South Korean Lotte Chemical Looks Into Acquiring Singapore’s JAC
South Korean petrochemical giant Lotte Chemical Corp. has set out to acquire Singapore-based Jurong Aromatics Corp. (JAC), a manufacturer of petroleum and aromatics. According to a report submitted to the Korea Exchange, Lotte Chemical has already qualified to bid on JAC. Lotte Chemical is also aggressively investing to grow its petrochemical business in Asia, and...
Industry and Academia Join Forces, Look to Develop Stable Operation Technology for Petrochemical Plants
Some 20 Japanese companies are coming together in the joint development of soft-sensor technology as a new stable operation technology for petrochemical plants. Involving Japanese petrochemical manufacturers and engineering companies among others, the project will deploy the statistical analysis method developed by the University of Tokyo’s Prof. Kimito Funatsu. Soft-sensor technology analyzes information obtained from...
Commentary: Hasty Shutdown of Naptha Crackers in Japan Results in Surging Imports
Imports of petrochemical products are suddenly surging. Import volume for ethylene from January to August 2016 jumped by 17 times year-on-year to about 80,000 tons. Polyolefin also increased in import volume, rising by around 20 percent from the same period the year prior. Imports have filled a shortage of domestic supply, as Japan’s petrochemical companies,...
Korean Government Encourages Industrial Restructuring Amid Petrochemical Oversupply
A structural reform of the petrochemical industry in South Korea is on the horizon. In addition to encouraging voluntary adjustments to production capacity, the South Korean government is placing emphasis on high-performance products such as synthetic resins and synthetic rubber, and is planning to promote industrial upgrades to the existing petrochemical hubs that are Ulsan,...
IHI Aims for Steady Flow of Orders for New Multitubular Reactor
IHI Corp. (TYO:7013) is stepping up its market strategy for petrochemical plants, with a uniquely developed multitubular reaction apparatus that serves as a large-scale, cutting-edge reactor. IHI has already received orders for three reactors to be used in acrylic acid production plants, and hopes to take orders at a stable rate of two per year...
