Dozens of chemical companies, such as Wanhua, Dow, and BASF, cease production!

Recently, Wanhua Chemical announced that in accordance with the annual maintenance plan, the subsidiary Hungarian Prostec Chemical Company’s MDI device (300,000 tons/year) will start to shut down for maintenance on August 17, and the maintenance is expected to be about 50 days; TDI device ( 250,000 tons/year) will start to stop for maintenance on August 26, and the maintenance is expected to be about 30 days.

The 50-day shutdown of Wanhua Chemical’s plant means that the supply of MDI, TDI and other products will drop sharply in the past two months, which has undoubtedly stirred up waves in the industry. And according to the paint procurement network, this kind of time-consuming overhaul is not an exception in the chemical industry in the second half of the year.

The shutdown and equipment maintenance of major domestic chemical plants can take up to 2 months!

Since the second half of the year, the petrochemical industry has intensively planned for shutdown and maintenance. Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum, Shida Shenghua, Sinopec, Qilu Petrochemical, Qixiang Tengda and other large plants have successively announced shutdowns and maintenance, involving millions of tons of production capacity and the longest cycle. It can last as long as 2 months, making the market that is already in short supply worse.

Sichuan Meifeng: In the near future, it plans to conduct shutdown inspections on the production equipment of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sichuan Meifeng Chemical Technology Co., Ltd., and implement optimization and elimination. The maintenance and start-up and shutdown time is expected to be about 20 days.

Shaanxi Yanchang: The 100,000-ton/year ethylene glycol plant is currently operating at low load and is scheduled to be overhauled for 2 months in September.

Rongxin Chemical: The 400,000-ton/year ethylene glycol plant was originally planned to be shut down for 1 month in early August for maintenance. The current shutdown time has been delayed to the middle, and 60% of the load is in operation.

Dow, Canada: Three sets of ethylene glycol plants totaling 1.23 million tons/year have been shut down and are expected to be overhauled for 50 days.

Sanjiang: The load of the 150,000-ton/year ethylene glycol plant has increased slightly recently. It is expected that the plant will start to shut down for maintenance for 2-3 weeks in early August.

Kaiyue Yulin, Shaanxi: The methanol plant is scheduled to be overhauled on August 10, for 50 days.

Shaanxi Changqing: The methanol plant is scheduled to stop on time at 24:00 on the 9th, and the maintenance is expected to be two weeks.

Lean chemical industry: The 260,000-ton/year methanol plant will be shut down for maintenance on August 8th for a period of about 20 days.

China Coal Ordos: The 1 million ton methanol plant started to shut down on July 25 for maintenance, and the estimated duration is about 25 days.

Xinjiang Xinye: The 500,000-ton/year coal-to-methanol plant will be shut down for maintenance on July 26, with a duration of about 20-25 days.

Ningbo Dafa: The 220,000-ton staple fiber plant will be shut down for maintenance on July 20. The plan is 20 days.

Sanfangxiang: The 400,000-ton staple fiber plant will be shut down for maintenance on July 25, and the maintenance is planned to be about 25 days.

West China: The 200,000-ton staple fiber plant is scheduled to be overhauled in mid-August for one month.

Jixing: The 30,000-ton staple fiber plant will be overhauled on August 5, and the restart time is yet to be determined.

Qilu Petrochemical: The 200,000-ton/year styrene plant was shut down for 45 days on August 2 for maintenance.

Jiangsu Xinyang: The 300,000-ton/year styrene plant is scheduled to be shut down for maintenance for about 25 days in early August.

Jiaxi, Anhui: The 350,000-ton/year styrene plant is scheduled to shut down for 15-20 days on August 15 for maintenance.

Liaotong Chemical: The styrene plant plans to start overhauling for 35 days on July 15.

Lanshan Tunhe: BDO maintenance on July 25 for one month.

Sinopec Great Wall Energy and Chemical Industry: Two sets of 100,000-ton/year BDO devices are expected to be in storage and overhaul in September, which is expected to be 20 days

Shi Dashenghua: The 200,000-ton/year MTBE isomerization unit is expected to have an overhaul plan around the middle of this month, and the planned shutdown will be about 40 days.

Shandong Shenchi Chemical Co., Ltd.: The 400,000 tons/year mixed alkane dehydrogenation co-production 350,000 tons MTBE unit has a maintenance plan recently, and the maintenance is planned for about half a month.

Qilu Petrochemical: The 70,000-ton/year Gaoshun butadiene rubber plant is being shut down for maintenance. It is expected to start in September.

Shandong Hualu Hengsheng: The 1 million tons/year methanol plant will be overhauled for about 20 days on August 6.

Jiangsu Haili: 200,000 tons/ton caprolactam device load is near 50%, and it will be shut down for maintenance for one month at the end of July;

Changchun Chemical: The manufacturer's No. 2 and No. 3 bisphenol A production lines (with a total production capacity of 270,000 tons/year) plan to shut down for 45 days in mid-September.

Qixiang Tengda: 100,000 tons/year of methyl ethyl ketone plans to start parking for maintenance on August 10, and the estimated time for parking for maintenance is 35 days.

Tosoh (Ruian): The 80,000-ton/year MDI plant was shut down on August 1 for maintenance, which lasted about 25-30 days.

According to the Coating Purchasing Network, on August 2, the ethylene plant of Qilu Petrochemical’s Olefin Plant entered the shutdown phase. This overhaul is a complete shutdown after four consecutive years of operation in 2017. It has established a "stop 10 open 8 overhaul for 32 days." The overall goal of “seeing ethylene at both ends in 50 days” is the most difficult task in the history of Qilu Petrochemical’s maintenance.

Polypropylene products: Sino-Korea Petrochemical, Donghua Energy Ningbo, CNOOC and Shell, Fujian United and other chemical companies plan to stop for maintenance in August, and the driving time will be around the end of August to next month in October, of which Shijiazhuang Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd. is 200,000 tons per year. PP plans to park for 2 months.

Polyethylene products: Qilu Petrochemical, Yanshan Petrochemical, Maoming Petrochemical and other chemical companies plan to shut down for maintenance in August, with a cycle of about 50 days.

Polyvinyl chloride products: chemical companies in Dagu, Henan Shenma, Gansu Jinchuan, Qilu Petrochemical, etc. plan to shut down for maintenance from August to September, and the maintenance is expected to be up to 45 days.

The force majeure of overseas giants such as Ineos Styrolene, Lyondell Basel, BASF, etc. continues

Under the influence of many large factories for maintenance, the domestic chemical market has gradually fallen into the dilemma of shortage of supply. At the same time, the overseas market is still not optimistic.

In early August, news of force majeure of Ineos Styrolution came out in the European market, saying that the factory in Antwerp, Belgium was swaying, which made the already-supplied European ABS market worse.

India's Reliance Industries Limited announced on August 5 that it will close its 400,000-ton/year PP plant in Jamnagar, India, for about a month or more.

DOMO announced that its plant in Leuna (Germany) has experienced force majeure with PA6 polymer due to unexpected and unpredictable technical defects.

An acetic acid leak occurred at LyondellBasell’s plant in La Porte, Texas, and was forced to close the PE and olefin production of its Texas plant. The PE department is expected to restart within a week. Overall, there are at least four PE producers in the United States that are still implementing force majeure and sales distribution plans.

Haldia Petrochemical Company (HPL) broke out a fire at a 700,000 tons/year naphtha processing plant in West Bengal, East India. There were no casualties or serious property damage in the fire, but HPL will maintain its equipment for a month.

European floods damaged local oil pipelines and affected BASF's ethylene supply of LDPE in the Netherlands. BASF previously announced an escalation of LDPE force majeure in the Netherlands, and recently announced that its entire PE production in Europe has encountered force majeure.

Covestro's 320,000-ton/year MDI device in Texas, USA, and the 420,000-ton/year MDI device in Brunsbiter, Germany, are both at the stage of force majeure.

The supply of Dow's 340,000-ton/year MDI device in Texas, USA was interrupted due to unexpected mechanical failures from the raw material supplier. MDI force majeure has continued since February.

DuPont "zytel" brand PA6 PA66 and HTN material (PPA), Minlon (PA6.6GF) and "Rynite" brand PET are currently under force majeure.

The PP and LLDPE plants of Yanbu National Petrochemical Company in Saudi Arabia have unexpectedly shut down, and there is no clear plan to resume production for the time being.

At present, SASOL, the only international company in the world that conducts large-scale coal liquefaction to produce synthetic fuels, has declared force majeure.

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Whether at home or abroad, problems in any link of the chemical industry's production and transportation will cause a "butterfly effect" on the entire industrial chain. The chemical market inventory has dropped sharply, high-end products have been blocked from arriving in Hong Kong, overseas transportation is difficult to find, and the imbalance between supply and demand continues to be severe... This kind of influence is gradually transmitted downwards, which will cause more and more chemical companies in the industrial chain to supply shortages. At present, there have been situations in which chemical companies do not offer quotations and restrict sales. With increasing anxiety, the rush to buy is gradually heating up, and the next price increase will be a matter of course.