The energy crisis has intensified, and the supply of chemicals has plummeted

The recent overseas situation is not optimistic. BASF declared force majeure, Mitsui Chemicals closed its factories, and the supply of various chemicals plummeted.

BASF: The 400,000-ton/year MDI unit at the Geismar plant in North America suffered from an unexpected equipment failure that affected the operation of the plant. From now on, force majeure will take effect on all MDI products and products containing MDI components. BASF is currently carrying out active maintenance on the equipment, and the production interruption is currently forecast to last about three weeks.

Olin, an American epoxy resin manufacturer, announced that the German factory will stop producing epoxy resin, only because the production cost is too high, and the recovery time will be further announced.

PTA giant Mitsui Chemicals plans to close Japan's Iwakuni Otake's purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant, which has a production capacity of 400,000 tons/year, in August 2023. The main reason is the decline in global market conditions and the reduction in domestic demand in Japan.

In addition, due to two strong earthquakes in Japan, Tokyo Electric Power Company said that more than 2 million customers in the service area were out of power. At present, there are still generator sets out of operation, chemical plants and oil refineries are also affected, and many companies have been forced to close.

Japan's largest refiner ENEOS said its 145,000-bpd Sendai refinery in the northeast and its 129,000-bpd Chiba refinery in Tokyo Bay were closed after the earthquake. Shipments of petroleum products at the Sendai and Chiba refineries have also been fully suspended, and it is unclear when they will resume.

MARUZEN NCC maintains a minimum operation of 500,000 tons/year ethylene and 300,000 tons/year propylene.

Japan's JSR's factory in Qiandao has been affected, and its main products include BD, IPM, and all derivatives S/D

Ube Maruzen said that the 12,000-ton LDPE and 50,000-ton LLDPE units will be temporarily shut down completely.

The Chiba plant of Japan's Tosoh Group's Ocean Vinyl Chloride Company was shut down due to an earthquake that caused a power outage.

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co.'s Soma LNG import terminal has ceased operations due to a power outage.

Mitsui Chemicals suspended operations at a plant in Chiba Prefecture.

Sumitomo Rubber Industries' tire plant in Shirakawa City, Fukushima Prefecture has ceased operations.

Shin-Etsu Chemical's PVC plant was affected and the plant was shut down.

Throughout the above chemical enterprises to stop work, production, shutdown, etc., the main factors are the spread of the epidemic and force majeure, which can not help but make many domestic midstream coating and chemical enterprises feel anxious. What's more serious is that in addition to the shortage of upstream supply and the continued high price of raw materials, the comprehensive production cost of enterprises is also increasing, and the main influencing factor is the aggravation of the energy crisis.

On Wednesday, Eastern Time, WTI April crude oil futures closed up $5.24, or 4.78%, at $114.93 a barrel. Brent crude oil futures for May ended up $6.12, or 5.30%, at $121.60 a barrel.

Affected by the general environment, many chemical companies were forced to suspend production and production, and some companies chose to take the opportunity to perform maintenance and reduce load operations. The PTA factory has been overhauled more, and the capacity utilization rate has been at a low point during the year.