Ukrainian Government may reconsider PE and PVC import duties

(MRC) -- Ukrainian Government initiated reconsideration of its WTO membership conditions in order to increase import duties on certain groups of goods. Polyethylene and PVC may allegedly enter the list, according to MRC analysts.

By the end of the year Ukrainian government plans to initiate talks about changing Ukraine's tariff obligations made on joining WTO. On September 8, representatives of the Federation of Employers, as well as a number of industry associations, asked the government to begin negotiations with WTO to reconsider tariff rates. In particular, they proposed to raise import duties on pork, raw sugar, phosphate fertilizers, cars, etc.

According to MRC analyst, Sergey Karaychentsev, HDPE, PVC-S as well as other polymer products can enter the list of goods under import duties changes. Economically well grounded level of import duties changes can make 6.5%, since this is in agreement with WTO rules.

Annual capacity of the only Ukrainian producer of these polymers - Karpatneftechem (Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region), is 100 KT of high-density polyethylene and 300 KT of suspension PVC. In 2010, Ukrainian market capacity of high-density polyethylene made 130 KT, and PVC-S - 125 KT.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Foster Wheeler AG's Global Engineering and Construction Group, through a collaborative agreement with Honeywell's UOP, was recently awarded a contract by Oman Refineries and Petrochemicals Co. UOP/Foster Wheeler will provide a basic engineering design package for a solvent deasphalting (SDA) unit at the Sohar Refinery in Oman. The SDA unit is a major part of the Sohar Refinery Expansion Project which will significantly increase the refinery's production of petroleum products such as LPG, naphtha, Jet A-1 fuel, gasoline, diesel and propylene. The SDA unit will be designed to process 2.5 mln tpa of vacuum residue of Oman Export Blend crude to produce Deasphalted Oil (DAO) and asphalt for road bitumen production. The SDA Unit is expected to be on stream in 2015. The terms of the contract were not disclosed. The contract value was included in the company's second-quarter bookings for 2011.


MRC

(Plastemart) -- State-owned refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) plans to increase naphtha exports by 12.5% to 1.8 mln tons in 2012 when its new refinery ramps up operation. Production has commenced at the Bina refinery, and exports are expected to rise from the current 1.6 mln tons. Bharat Oman Refinery Ltd (BORL), a joint venture of BPCL and Oman Oil Co, started its 120,000 bpd Bina refinery earlier this year, and expects to reach full capacity by end of 2011.

MRC

(Business Times) -- Petronas plans to build a USD 1.6 billion petrochemical complex in Brunei with Germany's BASF, Malaysia's state news agency Bernama reported on Tuesday quoting Prime Minister Najib Razak. No further details on the complex were immediately available. ⌠Both projects will have positive impact on both countries, particularly the job opportunities to be created, Najib was quoted as saying during his annual visit to the oil-rich sultanate.

MRC

(Arabian oil and gas) -- Saudi Aramco Total Refinery and Petrochemicals Company (Satorp) expects its new refinery at Jubail in Saudi Arabia to be fully operational in December 2013, the joint venture's chief executive said on Tuesday, according to a Reuters report. The USD 14 billion Jubail facility is part of the Kingdom's plan to almost double its refining capacity.

"Overall Engineering, Procurement and Construction work at the refinery is 68% complete," Fawwaz Nawwab, CEO of Satorp, told reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Nawwab said that although the refinery was designed to process 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), Saudi Aramco had committed to supply it with up to 440,000 bpd.

MRC