Iran to privatise oil and gas sector

April 12 (plastemart) -- Mehr Iran plans to privatise all its refineries and petrochemical units, seeking to speed up the sale of state assets in a bid to encourage private investment and boost the economy. Currently, the Iranian economy is under U.S. and U.N. sanctions over Tehran's disputed nuclear program. Western companies shirk from investing in Iran due to the long-running nuclear dispute. Few of the companies on sale may end up being transferred within the country's vast public sector.

Work on ceding (ownership of) oil companies has begun and based on plans, all petrochemical units and refineries will be ceded, including service, drilling and support companies. Iran has transferred shares in six petrochemical plants and power stations to a social welfare investment organisation of the Islamic Republic's armed forces, instead of debt payment.

MRC

April 12 (plasteurope) -- Henry Sperle, executive board member of Borealis (Vienna/Austria), is to retire on 31 May 2010. Sperle is considered to be one of the leading players responsible for establishing the petrochemical and polyolefins industry in Norway.

Before joining Borealis in 1994, when it was established through the merger of Statoil and Neste, he worked in various roles in process technology and manufacturing and in 1992 was appointed to the position of vice president responsible for polyolefins at Statoil. Sperle was a member of the first executive board of Borealis and made a major contribution to the group's creation and formation.

In 1998, he played a leading role in the establishment of Borouge (Abu Dhabi / United Arab Emirates) with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc, Abu Dhabi / UAE) in the Middle East, resulting in the successful commissioning and start up of the Borouge 1 world-scale polyolefins production facility.

Sperle (62) concludes over 35 years at Borealis and its founding companies as the executive vice president responsible for the Middle East and Asia, including the major expansion projects Borouge 2 and Borouge 3.

MRCMRC Reference

Borealis. The share in the Russian market in 2008:

polyethylene - 4.1% (including HDPE - 4.7%, LLDPE в─⌠ 8.7%);
polypropylene в─⌠ 3.2% (PP-impact - 7.5%).

Annual sales growth in Russia over the last 5 years:
polyethylene - 11%;
polypropylene в─⌠ 6%.

Leader in polymers processing technologies:
extrusion coating;
cable extrusion;
injection molding.

April 12 (fibre2fashion) -- Braskem, a Brazilian petrochemical company, intends to set up polyethylene plant in Bolivia, by investing US $2 billion to $3 billion. However, the final project and the investment per say, will be determined on the basis of the studies that will be carried out for this installation, said Carlos Brenner, International Projects Director, Braskem.

This plant is likely to be installed in Puerto Suarez, Santa Cruz province. Announcement for this new development was made after discussions with, Carlos Villegas, President of Bolivia's state-owned hydrocarbons company, YPFB, in La Paz. After a firm decision is taken, the project will be implemented within a five-year time period.

According to Brenner, Braskem will utilise ethane derived from natural gas, to produce plastic resin. A part of the investment has to be carried out by Bolivia for the process of separation of ethane from gas to make the project feasible, while Braskem will undertake the remaining procedures, said Brenner.

MRC

April 12 (plasticsnews) -- Sister companies Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik GmbH, Cincinnati Extrusion GmbH and B+C Extrusion Systems (Foshan) Ltd. are uniting under one name ≈ Battenfeld-Cincinnati. U.S.-based American Maplan Corp., another partner company, is also part of the new umbrella organization.

Officials would not reveal the newly formed firm's combined sales, but the new Battenfeld-Cincinnati brand has a market share 1,5 to two times larger than its nearest competitor, marketing director Christoph Steger told European Plastics News, part of the Plastics News Global Group.

Five global production plants ≈ one each in Austria, China, the U.S. and two in Germany ≈ will be integrated into the new entity. The merged company will be divided into three sections: construction, infrastructure and packaging.

The construction division, headed by Rainer Kottmeier, will focus on equipment to make products such as profiles and PVC sheet. The packaging division, led by Henning Stieglitz, will develop equipment for products such as thermoformed films. There will also be an infrastructure division, led by Walter Hader, focusing on pipes for water, gas and telecommunications.

Steger says the group is not planning any layoffs.

Private equity firm Triton owns the businesses. Triton began uniting back-office functions in 2008 for Battenfeld, based in Bad Oeynhausen, Cincinnati Extrusion of Vienna and American Maplan of McPherson, Kan. Battenfeld and Cincinnati Extrusion combined their China operations in Foshan under the name B+C Extrusion the same year.

Battenfeld-Cincinnati said the new organization will be able to concentrate on specific businesses, and pool expertise from each individual company under one name.

MRC

April 12 (plastemart) -- In a bid to alleviate its debts, chemicals giant Ineos is considering sale of a stake in the Grangemouth petrochemical facility. Ineos had purchased the Grangemouth plant from BP in 2005. It is located in Scotland, and processes about 200,000 bpd of crude oil. Grangemouth is a moderately complex refinery equipped with both hydrocracking and catalytic cracking systems, giving it flexibility to produce gasoline and middle distillates, such as diesel, according to market demand. The plant is connected to the North Sea Forties pipeline, which delivers about 650,000-700,000 bpd of crude oil, roughly half of the UK's daily production. Morgan Stanley has a deal with Ineos for product marketing and some crude oil purchase. The news comes at a time when many European oil and chemical companies have been looking to sell domestic refineries as demand for fuels and petrochemical products has fallen more sharply in Europe than in most other parts of the world, hitting profit margins.

MRCMRC Reference

Ineos is a petrochemical group.
In Russia Ineos's interests are represented by Ineos Polyolefins and IneosChlorVinyls.

The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PVC - 4.5%;

polyethylene - 1.9%
(HDPE - 2.8%, LDPE - 1.2%);
polypropylene - 1.4%
(PP-random - 22.1%, PP-impact - 2.0%);
polystyrene - 0.9%.

Imports by polymers processing technologies:
profile extrusion;
pipe extrusion;
film extrusion;
injection molding.