Petrochemicals
Industry Metrics
US product crack spreads surged amid refinery outages as Hurricane Harvey affected US Gulf Coast (USGC) refinery operations.
JXTG to shut Muroran petchem plant as Japan gasoline demand fades
TOKYO (Reuters) — JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, Japan's biggest oil refiner, said on Wednesday it will shut its Muroran petrochemicals plant due to falling demand for gasoline in Japan.
Petrotechnics’ survey reveals reality of risk in the global hydrocarbon industry
ABERDEEN, Scotland, UK — Petrotechnics, the developer of the hazardous industries’ first software platform for operational excellence, has released its 2017 Operational Risk and Process Safety Management survey results. Insights from more than 200 senior industry leaders reveal that only 6% believe their companies are fully up-to-date with their scheduled safety-critical maintenance.
New project for AXION Energy in Argentina
The project involves the Detail Engineering for the expansion of the Catalytic Cracking Unit at the refinery that Techint E&C has in Campana.
ExxonMobil Baytown, Beaumont refineries begin fuels production
IRVING, Texas — ExxonMobil said that its Baytown and Beaumont refineries have begun producing fuels at reduced rates and that crude oil and refined product pipelines in the Gulf and other regions of Texas have restarted as recovery continues from Hurricane Harvey.
Dow announces start-up of world-scale ethylene production facility, polyethylene unit in Texas
MIDLAND, Mich. — DowDuPont Materials Science, the business division of DowDuPont to be named Dow, announced the startup of its new integrated world-scale ethylene production facility and its new ELITE enhanced polyethylene production facility, both in Freeport, Texas.
LyondellBasell begins production at new PP compounding plant in China
HOUSTON and ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands — LyondellBasell announced the successful startup of a new 20 ktpy polypropylene (PP) compounding plant in Dalian, China. This is the company's third facility in China, strategically located to serve the region's growing automotive market.
Grace Licenses process technology, services to Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group
COLUMBIA, Md. — W. R. Grace & Co., a supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology and polypropylene (PP) process technology, has contracted to license its UNIPOL PP process technology and services to Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group Co., Ltd. for a new methanol-to-olefin (MTO) facility in Ningxia, China. The new reactor line is expected to begin operations in late 2018.
Chevron Phillips Chemical begins startup of polyethylene units at Old Ocean, Texas
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC announced it has successfully completed commissioning and begun start-up of its new polyethylene units at Old Ocean, Texas.
Oil and chemical spills from Hurricane Harvey big, but dwarfed by Katrina
NEW YORK/BOSTON (Reuters) — More than 22,000 bbl of oil, refined fuels and chemicals spilled at sites across Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, along with millions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of tons of other toxic substances, a Reuters review of company reports to the US Coast Guard shows.
- TA'ZIZ secures $28.5 B in agreements to expand UAE's chemicals infrastructure 5/5
- nova-Institute provides scientific basis for EU policy on bio-based plastic packaging under PPWR 5/5
- GEA launches enzymatically enhanced GEA eTOP degumming solution 5/5
- Hong Kong-Dongguan to build SAF supply chain with new biofuels firm Ecoceres facility 5/5
- Argentine government hikes biofuel prices for domestic market 5/5
- Malaysia to produce biodiesel blend with 15% palm oil from June 5/5

