The hottest magnitude 9 earthquake in Japan affect

The magnitude-9 earthquake in Japan affected the global petrochemical industry

the magnitude-9 earthquake in Japan affected the global petrochemical industry

March 14, 2011

[China paint information] at 2:46 p.m. local time on March 11, a magnitude-9 earthquake occurred in Northern Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. This is the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Japan. The earthquake and tsunami hit the cities along the northeast coast of Japan. Japan's chemical industry is mainly distributed in coastal towns. Chiba, one of the centers of Japan's chemical industry in the earthquake hit area, has many refineries and ethylene plants. What was the situation of Japanese chemical enterprises during the earthquake? What impact will the earthquake have on Japan and even the global chemical industry? CCIN of this newspaper conducted a special interview

at 2:46 p.m. local time on March 11, a strong earthquake occurred in northeastern Japan. The tsunami caused by the magnitude-9 earthquake set off a ten meter high wave, which rushed up to the inland of Japan. It is a list of effects related to user queries, which has seriously affected the petrochemical industry in Japan's industrial zone of Jingbin. The French wallep R & D center of American Ken Lian Aluminum Corporation has developed a new aluminum lithium alloy called airware. Japan is the third largest economy in the world, and almost all of its energy demand depends on imports. As the closure of the plant affected the international demand for crude oil, the oil price responded immediately. At the same time, the supply constraints also led to the rise of plastic prices. However, industry experts pointed out that since Japan mainly imports four functional membrane customization production lines from France and Japan, and petrochemical enterprises are not in the earthquake area, the impact of the earthquake on Japan's overall chemical industry should not be fatal

refinery fires disturb the oil market

the earthquake and tsunami triggered explosions or fires in some refineries in Japan, and many of the refineries that have not been damaged have been closed due to insufficient power supply or potential safety hazards. According to Reuters, the 220000 barrels per day refinery of kesmo oil company in Chiba City was on fire. Keiyo ethylene, a subsidiary of Maruyama Petrochemical Company, shut down its 690000 T/a naphtha cracking unit. New Japan Petroleum Energy Company shut down its p-xylene unit with a combined capacity of 600000 tons/year in Kawasaki City, Ibaraki Prefecture and a p-xylene unit with a combined capacity of 350000 tons/year in Kawasaki. In addition, the company's three refineries were closed: 145000 barrels per day Sendai refinery, 189000 barrels per day Kajima refinery and 270000 barrels per day gen'an refinery

Mr. sander of the Baltic Shipping Council (BIMCO) predicted: "tanker shipping may be affected by the refinery fire, thereby reducing the demand for refined oil shipments." Because market participants were generally worried about the decline in demand in the Japanese market, the prices of crude oil and naphtha, which rose due to the unstable political situation in the Middle East, fell in panic after the earthquake. Dominick chirichella, senior partner of New York energy management company, said: "in the long run, the current situation in Japan may have a negative impact on crude oil prices, which is good for refiners." On March 11, Brent crude oil futures fell by $1.59 per barrel to $113.84 per barrel; U.S. crude oil futures fell $1.54 a barrel to $101.16 a barrel. At the close of the day, the price of naphtha fell to US $989 ~ 991/ton (CFR, Japan)

the closure of ethylene plants will push up prices

according to alembic global advisors, an American investment research company, on March 12, the global price of ethylene and downstream synthetic resins will be pushed up due to the plant closure and supply reduction caused by the Japanese earthquake

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings said on March 11 that it closed its plant in Kajima City, Ibaraki Prefecture due to power interruption caused by the earthquake. The plant is the largest ethylene plant in Japan, accounting for 11% of Japan's total output. According to ICIS, there are five ethylene plants in Chiba County, and now at least two have been forced to close

according to the consulting company, 90% of ethylene in Japan uses naphtha as raw material. They predict that the global supply and demand balance of ethylene will become more tense after the earthquake, pushing up the prices of ethylene and polyethylene. Analyst Hassan Ahmed said that Japan's ethylene production accounted for 5.5% of the world's total, and its exports accounted for 8.5% of the world's total; Polyethylene production capacity accounts for 4.1% of the world, and its export volume accounts for 2.2% of the world; Polypropylene production capacity accounts for 5.5% of the world, and its export volume accounts for 4% of the world. As crude oil prices fall in the short term, ethylene product profits will expand. Ethylene producers such as Dow Chemical, LyondellBasell and West Lake Chemical will benefit from this

the overall impact is not obvious

Dow Chemical's ion exchange resin plant in northern Tokyo was hit by floods, but as of press time, there were no casualties and environmental impact reports. Dow has 31 Factories in Japan. A spokesman for the company said that due to limited communication, it is difficult to learn about all factories at present. The joint venture of DuPont and Mitsui announced that only 2/3 of the field of view of the objective lens was illuminated, and its office building in Tokyo was slightly damaged, and some pipelines of the yudugong engineering plastic factory were damaged, with no casualties

Asahi Kasei, Japan's second largest chemical manufacturer, said that it had stopped production at the Miyagi chip factory. At present, it was impossible to determine the losses. Workers had been evacuated and injured people were reported. Bridgestone, the world's largest tire company, said that at present, all factories have not been greatly damaged. Japan Synthetic Rubber Company (JSR) Kajima factory in Ibaraki Prefecture stopped production, but no facilities were damaged. JSR has an annual output of 120000 tons of butadiene and 36000 tons of EPDM in Kagoshima. Tokyo gas company shut down the plant and stopped gas supply

it is also reported that the closure of ports due to the tsunami may affect the global sulfuric acid market. Japan is now the third largest exporter of sulfuric acid in the world, with a total output of about 7.5 million tons/year. In 2010, the total export volume of Japan's sulfuric acid was 2.8 million tons, and the products were mainly sold to Chile, China, the Philippines and India. Sulfuric acid is a by-product of copper smelting in Japan, and its producers include Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and Pan Pacific

Pang Guanglian, director of the International Department of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, said in an interview with CCIN on March 13 that he had contacted Japanese chemical enterprises in China. The explosion of kesmo refinery and the temporary shutdown of ethylene and bisphenol A units of Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Chukuang industrial and other companies have been carried out. However, as the Kanto region is dominated by ethylene units of refineries, there are not many chemical units, At present, the overall impact of the earthquake on Japan's chemical industry is not too great. The influence of afterpotential needs to be further observed