AMERICAS

Nippon Paint moves on Axalta as talks fail

Japan’s Nippon Paint has entered talks to acquire US-based Axalta after merger talks with the Netherlands-based rival AkzoNobel fell apart. Axalta confirmed that it is in talks with Nippon regarding a potential deal, after Nippon Paint issued a statement admitting that it is in talks regarding the potential takeover of a US company, without specifying the target. Both producers note that there is no guarantee of a deal.

TiO2 pricing poised to gain momentum

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) pricing has room to run and probably will, based on major producers’ share price rallies since January 2016 lows, said equity research firm Alembic Global Advisors. Some buyers in the US TiO2 market have concurred, saying recently that ilmenite ore prices are likely to begin moving upward, which would exert additional pressure on domestic TiO2 prices. Alembic said its analysis suggests that announced Chinese steel production cuts may result in global ilmenite production cuts of 6-10%, lending support to further ore price hikes.

Force majeure on chlor-alkali at Chemtrade

Chemtrade Logistics has declared force majeure on caustic soda, chlorine and hydrochloric acid from its chlor-alkali plant in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In a regulatory filing, the company said “a recurrence of an operating issue” resulted in an unplanned interruption of production. The issue is expected to be permanently fixed in April 2018 during a planned turnaround. Chemtrade acquired the plant as part of its purchase of Canexus in a deal completed in March 2017.

Nebraska approval for Keystone XL route

TransCanada has received regulatory approval from Nebraska for an alternative route for its Keystone XL oil pipeline, but it remained still unclear if or when the long-planned project will actually go ahead. Keystone XL was conceived to ship up to 830,000 bbl/day of crude oil from the oil sands in Canada’s Alberta province and the Bakken shale in North Dakota to Steele City, Nebraska, for onward delivery to refineries in the US Gulf Coast area.

Venezuela plastics production to resume

Venezuela’s domestic polymers producer announced to the country’s plastics industry association, AVIPLA, it would start plastic resins production on 25 November after an extended stoppage, a local industry participant said. The resin targeted for initial production was not revealed, but industry participants expected that the starting resin would be a polyethylene (PE) applied to food packaging.

Airgas to build new plant in N Carolina

Airgas plans to build a new air separation unit (ASU) in Mebane, North Carolina, US, to increase its capacities in the state’s research triangle area. The ASU, expected on-stream in 2019, will produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon for use in customer applications such as metal fabrication, blanketing and purging, combustion, chilling and freezing. It will also produce medical grade oxygen to supply to hospitals, nursing homes and research laboratories as well as food and pharmaceutical grade nitrogen.

US October durable goods orders fall 1.2%

New orders for US manufactured durable goods in October fell $2.8bn or 1.2% from September to $236bn, driven by lower orders for transportation equipment, the US Census Bureau said. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.4%. Excluding defense, they decreased 0.8%. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft – a “core capital goods” orders measure seen as a proxy for business spending plans – declined 0.5% in October, following increases of 2.1% and 1.4% in September and August, respectively.

Westlake benefits from tight caustic supply

Westlake Chemicals’ vinyls segment will likely benefit from tight caustic soda supply all the way into 2019, investment bank Cowen said. Capacity closures in Europe and China, along with a lack of new additions announced in North America, will also drive the projected growth, the group said. Cowen noted vinyls sales volume was up 6.3% sequentially in Q3 2017. It attributed this to operating rates that resulted from deferred maintenance/turnarounds on acquired Axiall assets.

EUROPE

AkzoNobel, Axalta end merger talks

Dutch paints and coatings producer AkzoNobel said on 21 November that it has ended merger talks with US automotive paint producer Axalta Coating Systems. AkzoNobel confirmed the discussions in late October. The talks revolved around merging AkzoNobel’s paints and coatings business with Axalta. AkzoNobel said it still plans to spin off its specialty chemicals business, which it plans to complete in April 2018. AkzoNobel CEO Thierry Vanlancker said the company “remain focused on our strategic options to continue to develop our business and improve profitability” in the future.

PKN Orlen plant restarts after force majeure

Poland’s PKN Orlen lifted its force majeure on its 600,000 tonne/year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) in Wloclawek on 20 November, according to a spokesperson. The plant was shut down and a force majeure on PTA was declared on 8 November. The shutdown was caused by a technical problem with a heat exchanger. This heat exchanger was a replacement for another heat exchanger which caused a shutdown of the plant in October last year as well.

Europe Dow stops all new orders for LLDPE

Dow Europe has stopped all new orders for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) in November, a company source said on 22 November. The source also said the company was very close to doing the same for low density polyethylene (LDPE). “This is in line with the very strong order load this month, healthy demand and expectation of [an] increase for December as… the costs are increasing,” said the source.

Solvay to sell Spain chlorine plant to CUF

Solvay has confirmed it is to sell its chlorine plant in Torrelavega, Spain, to Portuguese producer CUF for an undisclosed sum, adding that the 40 workers at the facility would not be transferred to the new owner. CUF, through its subsidiary Altamira Electroquimica del Cantabrico, committed to invest around €55m to overhaul the plant in order to install a membrane cell-based technology, as per EU regulations, instead of the current mercury-based process.

EU citizens petition against glyphosate

An official petition against the European Commission’s proposed renewal of glyphosates in the EU was signed by 1.3m citizens and is now likely to add weight to calls to prevent the herbicide being renewed. Details of the European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI)’s petition were discussed during a public hearing in the European Parliament on 20 November.

Kazan Soda Elektrik plant to reach full capacity

The new Turkish soda ash plant Kazan Soda Elektrik is due to run at full capacity by late January or early February, a source at the company said. “The first line and second line of Kazan is working at full capacity now, the third and fourth line will start in December, and in January the fifth line will start. By the end of January or early February we are planning to have full capacity,” said the source.

Chemicals play role in UK manufacturing orders

Total orders in the UK’s manufacturing industry were the highest in just under 30 years in the three months up to November 2017, according to the latest CBI Industrial Trends Survey on 21 November, with chemicals making a significant contribution. The survey also found that export order books were at their joint-highest level in more than 20 years, with chemicals once again playing an important role alongside electronics and transport goods.

Spain chem sales to rise 5.7% in 2017 on recovery

Spanish chemical companies’ sales are set to increase in 2017 by 5.7%, year on year, to €62.4bn, as domestic consumption and the global recovery fuelled demand, the country’s chemical trade group FEIQUE said. More than half of the sales (€34.9bn) came from exports, up 7.4% year on year, according to FEIQUE. Sales during 2018 are forecast to grow by 4.7% to €65.3bn, making chemicals one of the best manufacturing sectors in the Spanish economy where it already accounts for 12.8% of GDP.

INEOS buys majority share in gas exploration

INEOS has agreed to take a majority share in two exploration licences in the Northern Gas Fields West of Shetland, UK, which contains the Lyon prospect, from Siccar Point Energy E&P. Lyon is a material prospect that is thought to contain 1-3tr cubic feet of recoverable gas, which, if successful, could be large enough to form a new gas-hub development similar to the Laggan-Tormore fields, the company said.

Perstorp to reduce output in early Dec

Swedish producer Perstorp is to reduce output at its 65,000 tonne/year plasticizers plant in Stenungsund during December but said it will avoid a complete shutdown. There were initial expectations of a six to seven day outage for production of di-propyl heptyl phthalate (DPHP) in early December, which would have been associated with an upstream production outage. Perstorp said contractual commitments will be covered.

SIBUR starts building 100,000 tonne/year plant

Russia’s SIBUR has started construction of its 100,000 tonne/year dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP) plasticizer plant in Perm, Russia. The project, which was announced in June, is forecast to come on stream in 2019. DOTP is a plasticiser used in sectors such as coatings for flooring and roofing, wallpaper as well cable compounds and other construction products.

ASIA

Sinochem Quanzhou revises ethylene project

China’s Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical has revised the product portfolio of its 1m tonne/year ethylene project at Quanzhou in Fujian province, a company source said. Under the latest plan, construction of a 260,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) unit will be postponed, while capacity of the ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) unit will be halved to 100,000 tonnes/year. Capacities of the high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant and ethylene glycol (EG) plant will be downsized to 360,000 tonnes/year (from 400,000 tonnes/year) and 459,000 tonnes/year (from 500,000 tonnes/year), respectively.

Caustic soda market in wait-and-see mode

China’s domestic caustic soda market is experiencing a wait-and-see sentiment as alumina producers have been implementing a production cut policy since 15 November, sources said. In Shandong province, domestic 32% caustic soda prices were heard to be lower by Chinese yuan (CNY) 100/lmt (liquid metric tonne) ($15/lmt) to around CNY1,230/lmt on 22 November. Alumina producers are the most important caustic soda buyers in China, and they were required by the government to cut production by 30% from 15 Nov to 15 March for environmental purposes.

Rate cut on detergents boosts LAB outlook

A reduction in the goods and service tax (GST) applicable on detergents lent a stronger outlook to linear alkyl benzene (LAB) demand in the near-term, market sources said on 22 November. Effective from 15 November, the Indian government slashed GST rates on mass consumption items including detergents from the highest 28% slab to 18%. Following this move, market players expect stronger demand for detergents in the weeks ahead, propping demand for LAB.

Air Products to build two air separation plants

Air Products has signed a second long-term oxygen and nitrogen supply contract with a global materials supplier in the Guandong province in southeast China for the construction of two sets of cryogenic air separation plants, the US industrial gases major said. An existing plant, which started-up earlier in 2017, was Air Products’ first of its kind to be built in China. The new plants are scheduled to come on-stream in 2018.

INEOS aims to deliver US ethane to China in 2019

INEOS aims to deliver US ethane to China in 2019 using a purposely built 95,000 cubic metres (cbm) carrier. The ship would be the world’s largest carrier and will be operated by Evergas, which also operates the firm’s Dragon ships delivering ethane to Europe. INEOS has signed an agreement with China’s SP Chemicals on a long-term supply contract, although the company did not disclose its duration. The carrier will deliver ethane to SP Chemicals’ new gas cracker facility currently under construction in Taixing, China. The cracker is expected to have annual ethylene capacity of 650,000 tonnes.

South Korea’s YNCC to shut two crackers in 2018

South Korea’s Yeochun NCC (YNCC) is planning to shut two crackers for maintenance next year, according to a source familiar with the situation. The major ethylene exporter will take its No 2 cracker down for repairs in Q1, the source said. The shutdown of around two weeks could take place in February or March. There are no details yet on the nature of the technical issue at the plant that can produce up to 580,000 tonnes/year of ethylene.

Sinopec Sichuan Vinylon cuts VAM output

China’s Sinopec Sichuan Vinylon Works is currently operating its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plants at a reduced rate of 75-80% of capacity due to curtailed natural gas supply as the feedstock is being channelled to meet winter heating demand, a company official said. The curtailed output at the VAM plants – which have combined annual production capacity of 500,000 tonnes located at Chongqing, Sichuan province – was expected to prevail until around the Lunar New Year period in the second half of February 2018. The plants were previously operating at around 80-90% of capacity.

Philippines Q1 ethanol allocation up 10.2% vs Q4

The Philippines’ Department of Energy (DOE) has set a total allocation of 75,790 cubic metres (cbm) of locally produced ethanol in Q1 2018, a market source said. That marked an increase of 7,040 cbm, or 10.2%, from the Q4 2017 allocation, which was 68,750 cbm of locally produced ethanol. Domestic producers are required to submit anhydrous ethanol production plans on a quarterly basis to the DOE. The expected output would then be allocated to various gasoline blenders to meet part of their monthly requirements. There are currently 10 ethanol producers in the Philippines enrolled in the biofuel programme.