In launching eXsource yesterday, Qenos opened a direct channel that offers a new and extended range of local and international specialty polymers, calling it a "significant" investment" in a growing market in the uses of polymers.

 

Qenos' main business is in producing polyethylene, which gets sold to pipe manufacturers like Pipeflex and Vinidex, which then sell to the oil and gas industry, particularly for upstream gas distribution and gathering networks.

 

Qenos can also supply all the other polymers used in pipe manufacture and the energy contractor supply chain, and eXsource market development manager Gerald Beckton said the company saw an opportunity in the growing number of applications where those polymers are used.

 

"Where the overall market may not be growing, the use of polymers certainly is," he told Energy News. 

 

"For example, polyethylene and other polymers are displacing traditional pipeline materials like steel and concrete for other applications, but for energy it's really around the steel pipelines.

 

"Qenos has a great reputation in the polyethylene manufacturing market as having a great range, excellent service, high quality and performance products with local customer service and technical support.

 

"So we felt we could grow our business by offering those same set of customers and new ones more polymers than just polyethylene than we manufacture, which means importing from Tier 1 suppliers like ExxonMobil, LyondellBasell Industries, our parent company Bluestar Chemical which is part of ChemChina, and supplying that to new and existing customers."

 

The ability to access the technical support from those Tier 1 suppliers will enable Qenos to assist in new products and product developments. 

 

"The major gain I see from the market is Qenos, by launching the eXsource business unit, is bringing that reliable, accountable supply model with local support and customer service to the imported polymer supply chain," Beckton said.

 

"While in the past people have been working on importer supply chains and relying on traders, Qenos is now bringing the local delivery model to that imported supply chain."

 

Qenos has recently been one of the major parties in lobbying around domestic gas prices and supporting the local manufacturing industry.

 

Its major feedstock for polyethylene production is ethane gas taken from the offshore Bass Strait fields and sent to its Altona factory or ethane from Santos' Moomba hub, which is transported via a dedicated pipeline to its Botany plant in Sydney.