Switzerland's Klesch to acquire Petroplus refineries

(klesch) -- The Klesch Group is interested in acquiring the Petroplus refineries in Petit-Couronne, France, in Coryton in the UK and Ingolstadt in Germany, founder of the group Gary Klesch said on Friday.

Petroplus filed for insolvency on Wednesday after it was unable to reach an agreement with its lenders and unable to continue to fund its subsidiaries.

Last week, Petroplus had announced plans to sell its refinery in Petit Couronne, France, and said it was evaluating the potential sale of its refineries in Switzerland and Belgium.

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Geneva, the family-owned Klesch Group is one of Europe's leading operators of industrial and commodity-related business.
With combined revenue in excess of USD 5 billion, The Klesch Group employs more than 3,000 people across four principal business units with locations in Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

MRC

(eastman) -- Eastman Chemical Company and Solutia Inc. announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement, under which Eastman will acquire Solutia, a global leader in performance materials and specialty chemicals.

Under the terms of the agreement, Solutia stockholders will receive USD 22.00 in cash and 0.12 shares of Eastman common stock for each share of Solutia common stock.

Based on yesterday's closing prices, Solutia shareholders will receive cash and stock valued at USD 27.65 per Solutia common share, representing a premium of 42 percent and a total transaction value of approximately USD 4.7 billion, including the assumption of Solutia's debt.

"The acquisition of Solutia is a significant step in our growth strategy and one that I am confident will strengthen Eastman as a top-tier specialty chemical company with strong, stable margins," said Jim Rogers, chairman and chief executive officer of Eastman.

"The addition of Solutia will broaden our geographic reach into emerging geographies, particularly Asia Pacific, establish a powerful combined platform with extensive organic growth opportunities, and expand our portfolio of sustainable products, all of which are consistent with our growth strategy", said Rogers.

MRC

(sinopec) -- China's Qilu Petrochemical, a subsidiary of Sinopec, is planning to start up its 250,000 tonne/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant at Qilu in Shandong province in November 2012, a company source said on Monday. The HDPE plant is still under construction and production is expected to start in November, the source said.
The company will expand the capacity of its naphtha cracker at the same site from 800,000 tonnes/year to 1,000,000 tonnes/year in 2013, the source added.


Officials from Qilu Petrochemical were not immediately available to comment.
Sinopec Qilu Company, located in Zibo city, Shandong province, with 24.8 square kilometers area, is a super large scale refining, chemical, chemical fiber enterprise of petroleum/salt/coal/natural gas chemical.

MRC

(arabianbusiness) -- China's top energy group and its partners Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell have agreed to push ahead with plans for a USD12.6bn refinery.

The petrochemical complex in east China is likely to start before similar rival facilities, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said.
It added that it and its joint venture partners signed an agreement to cooperate further on the project while Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was visiting Doha on Wednesday.
"The three parties will cooperate further to push for the implementation of the project. The investment is a major development that will deepen CNPC's cooperations with a major Middle East resource nation and an international oil company," CNPC, parent of PetroChina, said in a statement.

The project, which includes a 400,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery and a 1.2-million-tonne-per-year ethylene complex, is one of several joint-ventures that China, the world's second biggest energy consumer, hopes will provide the fuel for its expanding economy.
The other projects include ventures between Chinese energy firms and Venezuela's PDVSA, Kuwait Petroleum International and Russia's Rosneft.

China's total refining capacity stood at around 10 million barrels per day at the end of 2010. It is likely to add another 3.7 million bpd between 2011 and 2015, industry officials said.
The CNPC project, to be located in the east coastal city Taizhou, won initial government approval in June.


Industry experts said Qatar Petroleum and Shell would have to work hard at negotiating a final deal that allows them to take part in the more lucrative fuel retailing.

MRC

(arabianbusiness) -- Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) reported a 10 percent drop in quarterly profits on Tuesday, missing forecasts, as the world's biggest petrochemical firm by market value felt the impact of lower prices globally.

SABIC made a net profit of SR5.24bn (USD 1.40bn) for the three months to end December, compared with SR5.81bn in the same period a year earlier.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters expected the firm to post, on average, a net profit of SR7.1bn for the second quarter.
The bellwether Middle East conglomerate, which supplies chemicals, industrial polymers, fertilisers and metals globally, had posted record profits in the second and third quarters last year.

"The economic situation in Q4 impacted but we started to see an improvement in prices and we hope it improves further," chief executive Mohamed al Mady told reporters. "My prediction is that 2012 will be a mirror image of 2011 and that 2013 will be even better."

Mady said fourth quarter sales rose to SR47bn, from SR40.8bn in the prior-year quarter. On the year, SABIC had sales of SR190bn, up from SR151bn in 2010.
Over the past year, several SABIC subsidiaries have brought on stream new production lines, increasing the company's sales volumes at a time of high chemical prices.
Strong oil prices last year also enhanced the comparative advantage enjoyed by Saudi chemical producers, which typically use gas feedstock, over their global rivals which buy naphtha at prices linked to crude.
However, the sector's dependence on highly cyclical machinery makers, carmakers and builders makes SABIC, which is 70 percent state owned, particularly vulnerable to an economic downturn.
In November SABIC said it was setting up a venture capital arm, based in the Netherlands, to expand beyond petrochemicals into innovative technology companies.
SABIC shares closed 2.1 percent lower on the Saudi Arabian bourse ahead of the results.

MRC