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Everchem Updates
VOLUME XXI
September 14, 2023
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September 14, 2021
Tropical Storm Nicholas could strengthen into hurricane before reaching Texas coast
Author: Janet Miranda
2021/09/13
HOUSTON (ICIS)–Tropical Storm Nicholas continues to strengthen as it moves towards the Texas coast and could be near hurricane strength before reaching the Texas coast late Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The tropical storm is located about 85 miles (137 km) south-southwest of Matagorda, Texas. Maximum sustained winds have increased to 65 miles/hour (105 km/hour).
Nicholas is moving towards the north-northeast and it is forecasted to keep moving in this direction through tonight. Strengthening is expected in the meantime, although the storm should weaken by Tuesday and Wednesday as it moves inland.
The following map shows the forecasted path of the storm.
Source: NHC
Nicholas is expected to produce high winds, heavy rains and the possibility of storm surges across the impacted region.
About 6 to 12 inches of rain is expected, with isolated amounts up to 18 inches across portions of the Texas coast.
Interior southeast Texas is forecasted to see totals of 4 to 8 inches, with localised flooding reaching up to 10 inches through Thursday.
Life-threatening flash floods could occur in metropolitan areas across the upper Texas Gulf Coast and in southwestern Louisiana, the NHC said.
Tropical Storm Nicholas could disrupt operations at several chemical plants, refineries and terminals that export oil, fuel and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the Texas coast.
US liquefied natural gas (LNG) production did not appear to be immediately threatened, as feedgas to Freeport LNG and Corpus Christi in Texas remained stable from the previous day for 13 September.
Daylight-only transits were advised by Sabine pilots on 13 September, as two loadings took place from Cheniere’s Sabine Pass in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.
Two LNG vessels were in port at Freeport LNG by mid-day and another vessel was loading at Cameron LNG on 13 September.
Nicholas comes 15 days after Hurricane Ida made landfall in neighbouring Louisiana.
The hurricane caused a large reduction in the production of US Gulf offshore oil and natural gas due to damage to key ports in southeastern Louisiana and equipment for offshore production.
Hurricane Ida winds and rainfall knocked out power in the region and caused plant outages across affected areas, further tightening key US chemicals and polymer markets, although the impact was less severe than from Winter Storm Uri.
PORT CONDITIONS
Ports in the Texas and west Louisiana gulf region are on watch as Tropical Storm Nicholas nears landfall in the area late Monday.
All shipping ports listed below remain open, with Corpus Christi and Freeport, Texas, likely to be most impacted by the storm.
- Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas
- Corpus Christi, Texas
- Galveston, Texas
- Freeport, Texas
- Houston, Texas
- Lake Charles, Louisiana
Freeport is expected to close temporarily late evening on 13 September and reopen on 15 September, according to shipping agent GAC North America.
In Houston, the container terminals have ceased ingate operations through Tuesday morning, Port Houston said.
Additional reporting by Ruth Liao, Anna Matherne
September 14, 2021
Europe BDO market to be defined by self-sufficiency, tightness in 2022
Author: Nick Cleeve
2021/09/07
LONDON (ICIS)–The European butanediol (BDO) market has changed radically during 2021, with domestic supply of material becoming much more important due to disrupted global tradeflows.
Previously regular imports from Asia have been sharply reduced by multiple factors including soaring logistics costs, limited vessel space and price increases in Asia that have made the European market unattractive, despite the record price increases seen for European contract pricing during 2021.
There was also a smaller flow of material from the US, but this has been effectively ended by the closure of Shandong Ruyi’s Texas production facility at the end of 2020.
Imports are likely to remain limited for the rest of the year and into 2022 due to logistics constraints, global tight supply and rising consumption in Asia for polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT).
CONSTRAINED DOMESTIC SUPPLY, RESTRICTED IMPORTS
European contract pricing has seen quarterly price increases far larger than previous market movements throughout the year.
Before 2021 the largest quarterly price increase seen in the BDO market was €200/tonne, but Q3 2021 BDO pricing stands at €2,250/tonne above Q4 2020 levels.
BDO is a chemical intermediate used in the production of polymers such as polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) and spandex, solvents and fine chemicals.
The succesive quarterly price increases were largely driven by the absence of import volumes, which tightened the market and left buyers with very limited alternatives to domestic suppliers of material.
Domestic production issues at INEOS and BASF – as well as an outage at LyondellBasell earlier this year – have worsened the pressure put on the European market by the absence of import volumes.
Asian export availability to Europe remains constrained by snug supply and challenges in long-haul freight.
Suppliers in Asia largely focus on regional outlets where demand has been decent in recent months.
“We continue to receive enquiries from Europe, but did not ship any over due to limited vessel space,” said a producer in NE Asia.
Hesistancy to commit to import volumes was also heard in Europe.
A European buyer said that “if I buy Asian material… always have risk vessel will be delayed.”
“If desperate (I am) willing to take that risk. At the moment not the case.”
–
CONSISTENT AND STRONG DEMAND
Strong demand for material across end uses has also pulled on limited stocks of material and further driven price increases.
The key automotive sector remains a strong source of consumption despite production limitations caused by a lack of semiconductors, with sources saying that demand will be even stronger once the shortage is resolved.
Demand is expected to stay strong for the rest of the year and into 2022, with sell-side sources anticipating consumption in 2022 to be similar to or stronger than the high levels seen this year.
One producer said that negotiations for next year started much earlier than usual as “a lot of customers (are anticipating a) strong 2022 and want to secure volume”.
PBAT – A FAST GROWING NEW APPLICATION
On top of supply constraints and demand from previous applications, European sources expect the growth in demand for polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) to put further pressure on BDO availability in 2022.
PBAT is a biodegradable plastic used to replace polyethylene (PE) in single use applications such as plastic bags.
It is a niche product in Europe, but in China 1.8m tonnes/year of new capacity is expected to open during 2021 and 2022 with more than 3m tonnes of additional capacity to follow.
Some of these projects include additional BDO capacity which will counterbalance the additional consumption, but only 321,000 tonnes/year of additional BDO production is expected to open in Asia before the end of 2022, according to ICIS data.
This wave of new capacity is driven by Chinese legislation mandating the use of biodegradable plastic for single use applications.
This ban began on a small scale focused on major cities in 2020 and will become more widespread in coming years with the goal of covering all urban areas by 2025.
The global BDO market is already tight, so this new application has the potential to cut off Asian exports to Europe and even encourage European exports as more and more BDO goes into PBAT.
Insight by Nick Cleeve
September 14, 2021
Europe BDO market to be defined by self-sufficiency, tightness in 2022
Author: Nick Cleeve
2021/09/07
LONDON (ICIS)–The European butanediol (BDO) market has changed radically during 2021, with domestic supply of material becoming much more important due to disrupted global tradeflows.
Previously regular imports from Asia have been sharply reduced by multiple factors including soaring logistics costs, limited vessel space and price increases in Asia that have made the European market unattractive, despite the record price increases seen for European contract pricing during 2021.
There was also a smaller flow of material from the US, but this has been effectively ended by the closure of Shandong Ruyi’s Texas production facility at the end of 2020.
Imports are likely to remain limited for the rest of the year and into 2022 due to logistics constraints, global tight supply and rising consumption in Asia for polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT).
CONSTRAINED DOMESTIC SUPPLY, RESTRICTED IMPORTS
European contract pricing has seen quarterly price increases far larger than previous market movements throughout the year.
Before 2021 the largest quarterly price increase seen in the BDO market was €200/tonne, but Q3 2021 BDO pricing stands at €2,250/tonne above Q4 2020 levels.
BDO is a chemical intermediate used in the production of polymers such as polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) and spandex, solvents and fine chemicals.
The succesive quarterly price increases were largely driven by the absence of import volumes, which tightened the market and left buyers with very limited alternatives to domestic suppliers of material.
Domestic production issues at INEOS and BASF – as well as an outage at LyondellBasell earlier this year – have worsened the pressure put on the European market by the absence of import volumes.
Asian export availability to Europe remains constrained by snug supply and challenges in long-haul freight.
Suppliers in Asia largely focus on regional outlets where demand has been decent in recent months.
“We continue to receive enquiries from Europe, but did not ship any over due to limited vessel space,” said a producer in NE Asia.
Hesistancy to commit to import volumes was also heard in Europe.
A European buyer said that “if I buy Asian material… always have risk vessel will be delayed.”
“If desperate (I am) willing to take that risk. At the moment not the case.”
–
CONSISTENT AND STRONG DEMAND
Strong demand for material across end uses has also pulled on limited stocks of material and further driven price increases.
The key automotive sector remains a strong source of consumption despite production limitations caused by a lack of semiconductors, with sources saying that demand will be even stronger once the shortage is resolved.
Demand is expected to stay strong for the rest of the year and into 2022, with sell-side sources anticipating consumption in 2022 to be similar to or stronger than the high levels seen this year.
One producer said that negotiations for next year started much earlier than usual as “a lot of customers (are anticipating a) strong 2022 and want to secure volume”.
PBAT – A FAST GROWING NEW APPLICATION
On top of supply constraints and demand from previous applications, European sources expect the growth in demand for polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) to put further pressure on BDO availability in 2022.
PBAT is a biodegradable plastic used to replace polyethylene (PE) in single use applications such as plastic bags.
It is a niche product in Europe, but in China 1.8m tonnes/year of new capacity is expected to open during 2021 and 2022 with more than 3m tonnes of additional capacity to follow.
Some of these projects include additional BDO capacity which will counterbalance the additional consumption, but only 321,000 tonnes/year of additional BDO production is expected to open in Asia before the end of 2022, according to ICIS data.
This wave of new capacity is driven by Chinese legislation mandating the use of biodegradable plastic for single use applications.
This ban began on a small scale focused on major cities in 2020 and will become more widespread in coming years with the goal of covering all urban areas by 2025.
The global BDO market is already tight, so this new application has the potential to cut off Asian exports to Europe and even encourage European exports as more and more BDO goes into PBAT.
Insight by Nick Cleeve
September 11, 2021
Arsenal’s Polytek Acquires Specialty Resin & Chemical Easton, PA & Dowagiac, MI – September 7, 2021 – Polytek® Development Corp. (“Polytek”), a manufacturer of specialty polymers for coating, mold making, and casting applications, announced today the acquisition of Specialty Resin & Chemical. Polytek is a portfolio company of Arsenal Capital Partners. Founded in 2007 and located in Dowagiac, MI, Specialty Resin & Chemical is a supplier of user-friendly mold making, casting, and coating products, including bar top epoxy resin and polyurethane resin. They fit in well alongside Polytek’s existing consumer brands because of their strong focus on customer service and dedication to providing products specifically designed for hobby and art communities. Doug Lorenz, CEO of Polytek, commented “With years of experience and a broad and diverse product line, Specialty Resin is well positioned to serve do-it-yourselfers, hobbyists, and small businesses. They have created a name for themselves among these communities and we are very excited to help them build and grow upon the great success they have already achieved.” Daniel Wilson, owner of Specialty Resin & Chemical, will remain in an active role within the Specialty Resin & Chemical brand, and the two companies will continue to do business under their existing names. Daniel commented, “Our goals align very closely with Polytek’s mission, and we are eager to join their team. We look forward to continuing to support our customers while developing new product options for them.” Genesis Capital, LLC acted as the financial advisor to Polytek.
About Polytek® Development Corp. Founded in 1984, Polytek® Development Corp. is headquartered in Easton, PA with operations in Pomona, CA, Galesburg, MI, Franklin, IN, Grants Pass, OR, and South St. Paul, MN. Polytek is a leading manufacturer of specialty polymers including polyurethane elastomers and casting resins, silicone, epoxies, latex, thermoplastic elastomers, and board materials. These systems are used primarily in mold making, casting, and coating applications in industrial and consumer sectors, including construction and restoration, arts and crafts, DIY, product design and manufacturing, entertainment, and education. Polytek® brands include Raw Material Suppliers, Alumilite, BCC Products, Environmental Technology, Inc., Pro Marine Supplies, Stone Coat Countertops, Incredible Solutions, Custom Polymer Designs and MAS Epoxies. www.polytek.com
About Specialty Resin & Chemical Specialty Resin & Chemical supplies high-quality mold making, casting, and coating solutions to hobbyists, small businesses, and the DIY community. Product lines include epoxy resin, polyurethane resin and rubber, silicone rubber and related accessories. www.specialtyresin.com
About Arsenal Capital Partners Arsenal is a leading private equity firm that specializes in investments in middle-market industrial growth and healthcare companies. Since its inception in 2000, Arsenal has raised institutional equity investment funds of $5.3 billion, has completed more than 200 platform and add-on investments, and achieved more than 30 realizations. Arsenal invests in industry sectors in which the firm has significant prior knowledge and experience. The firm works with management teams to build strategically important companies with leading market positions, high growth, and high value-add. Visit www.arsenalcapital.com.
September 11, 2021
Arsenal’s Polytek Acquires Specialty Resin & Chemical Easton, PA & Dowagiac, MI – September 7, 2021 – Polytek® Development Corp. (“Polytek”), a manufacturer of specialty polymers for coating, mold making, and casting applications, announced today the acquisition of Specialty Resin & Chemical. Polytek is a portfolio company of Arsenal Capital Partners. Founded in 2007 and located in Dowagiac, MI, Specialty Resin & Chemical is a supplier of user-friendly mold making, casting, and coating products, including bar top epoxy resin and polyurethane resin. They fit in well alongside Polytek’s existing consumer brands because of their strong focus on customer service and dedication to providing products specifically designed for hobby and art communities. Doug Lorenz, CEO of Polytek, commented “With years of experience and a broad and diverse product line, Specialty Resin is well positioned to serve do-it-yourselfers, hobbyists, and small businesses. They have created a name for themselves among these communities and we are very excited to help them build and grow upon the great success they have already achieved.” Daniel Wilson, owner of Specialty Resin & Chemical, will remain in an active role within the Specialty Resin & Chemical brand, and the two companies will continue to do business under their existing names. Daniel commented, “Our goals align very closely with Polytek’s mission, and we are eager to join their team. We look forward to continuing to support our customers while developing new product options for them.” Genesis Capital, LLC acted as the financial advisor to Polytek.
About Polytek® Development Corp. Founded in 1984, Polytek® Development Corp. is headquartered in Easton, PA with operations in Pomona, CA, Galesburg, MI, Franklin, IN, Grants Pass, OR, and South St. Paul, MN. Polytek is a leading manufacturer of specialty polymers including polyurethane elastomers and casting resins, silicone, epoxies, latex, thermoplastic elastomers, and board materials. These systems are used primarily in mold making, casting, and coating applications in industrial and consumer sectors, including construction and restoration, arts and crafts, DIY, product design and manufacturing, entertainment, and education. Polytek® brands include Raw Material Suppliers, Alumilite, BCC Products, Environmental Technology, Inc., Pro Marine Supplies, Stone Coat Countertops, Incredible Solutions, Custom Polymer Designs and MAS Epoxies. www.polytek.com
About Specialty Resin & Chemical Specialty Resin & Chemical supplies high-quality mold making, casting, and coating solutions to hobbyists, small businesses, and the DIY community. Product lines include epoxy resin, polyurethane resin and rubber, silicone rubber and related accessories. www.specialtyresin.com
About Arsenal Capital Partners Arsenal is a leading private equity firm that specializes in investments in middle-market industrial growth and healthcare companies. Since its inception in 2000, Arsenal has raised institutional equity investment funds of $5.3 billion, has completed more than 200 platform and add-on investments, and achieved more than 30 realizations. Arsenal invests in industry sectors in which the firm has significant prior knowledge and experience. The firm works with management teams to build strategically important companies with leading market positions, high growth, and high value-add. Visit www.arsenalcapital.com.
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