On November 22, 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce released the “Market Access Negative List (2019 Edition)”, which includes prohibited and permitted matters.
For prohibited access matters, market entities are not allowed to enter, administrative agencies will not review and approve, and are not allowed to go through relevant procedures;
For licensing matters, including qualification requirements and procedures, technical standards and licensing requirements, market entities shall submit applications. , administrative agencies make decisions on whether to grant access in accordance with laws and regulations;
For industries, fields, businesses, etc. that are not included in the negative list for market access, all types of market entities can be treated equally in accordance with the law Enter.
The 2019 version of the negative list includes a total of 131 items, 20 fewer items than the 2018 version of the negative list, a reduction ratio of 13%.
Prohibited access categories
Among them, those involving the petrochemical polyester industry are restricted projects in the “Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance Catalog” and new construction is prohibited. .
Restricted Category
1. New construction of atmospheric and vacuum projects below 10 million tons/year, catalytic cracking below 1.5 million tons/year, and continuous reforming below 1 million tons/year. (including aromatic hydrocarbon extraction), hydrocracking production units with a capacity of less than 1.5 million tons/year.
2. Newly built naphtha cracking plant to produce ethylene with a capacity of less than 800,000 tons/year, acrylonitrile with a production volume of less than 130,000 tons/year, purified terephthalic acid with a production volume of less than 1 million tons/year, and a plant with a production volume of less than 200,000 tons/year of purified terephthalic acid. Ethylene glycol, styrene of less than 200,000 tons/year (except dry gas to ethylbenzene process), caprolactam of less than 100,000 tons/year, ethylene acetic acid, oxo acetic acid of less than 300,000 tons/year, natural gas to methanol (CO2 Except for natural gas with a content of more than 20%), coal-to-methanol production equipment with a capacity of less than 1 million tons/year, acetone cyanohydrin method methyl methacrylate, grain method acetone/butanol, chlorohydrin method epoxy propane and saponification method epoxy chlorine Propane production equipment, saponin (including hydrolyzate) production equipment with an annual capacity of less than 300 tons/year.
3. Build new production equipment for dyes, dye intermediates, organic pigments, and printing and dyeing auxiliaries (except those that are encouraged and those using encouraged technologies).
Licensing access category
In the licensing access category, those involving the petrochemical polyester industry , the editor summarizes it as follows:
1. No investment in the construction of specific energy projects is allowed without obtaining a license
Refining: New refining and expansion of primary refining projects shall be determined by the provincial government in accordance with the relevant regulations approved by the state. Planning approval. Construction of new refining and primary refining expansion projects that are not included in the relevant plans approved by the state is prohibited.
2. No investment in specific raw material projects is allowed without obtaining permission
Petrochemicals: New ethylene, paraxylene (PX), and diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) projects shall be approved by the provincial government in accordance with the nationally approved petrochemical industry planning and layout plan. Construction of new ethylene, paraxylene (PX), and diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) projects that are not included in relevant plans approved by the state is prohibited.
Coal chemical industry: New coal-to-olefins and new coal-to-paraxylene (PX) projects shall be approved by provincial governments in accordance with relevant plans approved by the state. New coal-to-methanol projects with an annual output of more than 1 million tons must be approved by the provincial government. Construction of other projects is prohibited.
The impact of the list on petrochemical polyester projects: In the context of overcapacity, the market needs large and strong leading companies to compete with the world!
my country has officially kicked off the refining year in 2019, with multiple PX units waiting to be put into production; PTA and ethylene glycol will also enter a new round of expansion after 2019 cycle, 2019 may be the last year of low inventory for PTA.
PX is still at the peak of production in 2020, and PTA production capacity may usher in a major explosion, while the number of new polyester production capacities is expected to remain at the 2019 level. The deepening of integration has improved the profitability of polyester factories, and the concept of PX-PTA-polyester interest bundling has become increasingly solid, with the three links jointly enjoying an increase in overall profits. The entire industrial chain is facing the test of globalization’s capacity expansion, and competition for industry voice is fierce.
Petrochemicals emerged in the 1940s and 1950s and expanded massively in the 1960s and 1970s and beyond. Initially, the petrochemical business was primarily undertaken by subsidiaries of major oil companies. But once refineries reached equilibrium, oil companies began spinning off petrochemical subsidiaries as independent companies. Now, that’s changing, with oil companies looking at ways to increase petrochemical participation. One option is to reconfigure refineries to produce more olefins or aromatics.
According to statistics from BP Energy, consumption of liquid fuels increased until 2030 and then stagnated. On the other hand, petrochemical products showed the highest growth from 2017 to 2040. This has also led to a trend for oil companies to develop downstream!
Saudi Aramco acquired 70% of SABIC in March 2019. The refinery will be commissioned in 2025. Aramco is in talks to buy a 25% stake in Reliance Industries (one-third of its turnover comes from petrochemicals).
Petronas Petronas is expanding its involvement in the chemicals business through the Petronas Chemicals Group, which includes a joint venture with BASF to produce acrylic acid, oxo alcohols and BDO, and construction in Tanggerang Refinery and petrochemical integrated development (Refineryand Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project, a 30,000 barrels/day refinery and a 3 million tons ethylene unit. RAPID is a joint venture with Saudi Aramco.
Thailand’s PTT Co., which owns its petrochemical division PTTGC and often expands into various chemicals businesses through joint ventures, plans a joint venture with Daelim Industrial Co. to build a year-long facility in the United States. An ethylene plant with a capacity of 1.5 million tons.
GS Caltex, South Korea’s second largest refiner, will build a mixed feedstock cracking unit and olefins production plant at the Yeosu Refining Center in 2021.
S-Oil Corp., South Korea’s third largest refinery, is wholly owned by Saudi Aramco. The project plans to build a mixed feed cracking unit and olefins downstream facilities near its Onsan plant in 2023.
Gulf Coast Growth Ventures, a joint venture between Exxon Mobil and Sabic, has announced the construction of a 1.8 million tons/year ethane steam cracker device, and its downstream polyethylene and ethylene glycol monomer devices. The project is scheduled to be put into production in 2022.
Saudi Aramco and Sabic will build a fully integrated crude oil-to-chemicals (COTC) refining center in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. The refining center will process 400,000 barrels per day of oil, produce approximately 9 million tons of chemicals and base oils, and is scheduled to begin operations in 2025.
Oil companies are aware that the growth of gasoline and diesel consumption is slowing down and may even be negative in the future. One area of growth for petroleum derivatives that can be confirmed is petrochemicals. Many oil companies are considering ways to diversify petroleum downstream products and protect their future demand by integrating downstream into chemicals.
The route some oil companies are taking is to build large refineries designed to maximize the conversion of crude oil into chemicals – so-called COTC integrated refineries (i.e. crude oil to chemicals refining) factory).
Coincidentally, some consumers of chemical products, such as polyester fiber manufacturers, are integrating upstream into COTC refining integrated refineries. In the future, owners of integrated refining and chemical projects, owners of cheap crude oil, or owners of large domestic chemical markets will have significant competitive advantages!
This year, PX projects from three major refining and chemical integration projects including Hengli Petrochemical, Zhejiang Petrochemical, and Hengyi Brunei have been put into production one after another, with a total capacity of more than 10 million tons per year. The addition of PX will make China almost independent of the import of paraxylene.
This will mean that the world’s paraxylene (PX) trade pattern will be rewritten, and may lead to large surpluses and depressed prices.
This is obviously very important to the world and China’s polyester industry. Manufacturers of these projects will have a huge competitive advantage over non-integrated polyester producers. Whether it can compete with the world’s large petrochemical companies for the market, the release of the market access negative list (2019 version) is particularly important to enhance the competitiveness of Sinopec’s polyester project. </p
