Ethylene Oxide/ Ethylene Glycol Licenses Sold by Shell to CNPC

Shell has agreed to sell ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol (EO/EG) licenses for process technology to produce these two chemicals to China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). CNPC is planning to build a new plant near Chengdu, Sichuan, capable to produce a 380,000 tonnes/year mono ethylene glycol (MEG) facility and a 50,000 tonnes/year ethylene oxide capacity. So far, Shell has sold six EO/EG license to China and with three of them for CNPC. The petrochemical plant will be operated by PetroChina Sichuan Petrochemical, CNPC subsidiary with commissioning targeted in 2010.

New Polyethylene Plant in Russia by Sibur

Sibur Holding, a Russia-based petrochemical company is planning a $9.6m for a pre-feasibility study for a new polyethylene (PE) chemical plant with a capacity of 450,000-500,000 tonnes/year in the country's southern Astrakhan region.

SABIC & Sinopec in Joint Venture for Tianjin Ethylene Derivatives Plant

SABIC and Sinopec had announced their collaboration by signing a Heads of Agreement (HoA) between the two companies for development of a 1 mil tonne per year capacity of ethylene derivatives chemical plant in Tianjin, China. It will be a 50:50 joint venture investment for production of 600 ktpa of polyethylene (PE) and 400 ktpa of ehtylene glycol (EG) chemical plants.

The feedstock for the downstream derivatives will be supplied from a cracker by Tianjin Petrochemical. Completion of the project is expected to be by Q4 2009 with investment cost of $1.7 billion.

The collaboration is the first SABIC's joint venture in China, a step that is seen will be a stepping stone for an even more agressive move towards establishing a petrochemical base in China from SABIC.

Petrochemical Outlook 2008: Latin America Growing in Polyethylene

2008 seems to be a growing time for Latin America Polyethylene (PE) industry with growth in 2008 is expected to come from Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela and Chile. This is amidst Brazil's new resolution to become the regional leader of petrochemicals.

Brazil will become the key player in the region with export of polyethylene into Argentina, where growth is very limited due to the political crisis with the victory of Cristina Kirchner.

Argentina's local polyethylene producer, Dow has been actively looking associations with O&G (oil and gas) companies for feedstock guarantee. Brazil will continue exporting its LDPE (low density polyethylene) into Argentina and with raw materials climbing up, revenues would hit Brazil.