Braskem Ethylene plant gets USD700mn credit line

(fibre2fashion) -- Braskem Idesa announced on June 5th the approval of a line of credit in the amount of USD$ 700 million by the Brazlian National Economic and Social Development Bank - BNDES to finance the construction of the largest petrochemical complex being developed in the Americas: Braskem Idesa- Etileno XXI Project.

These funds come in addition to the amounts already approved by the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) in the month of April, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an organization that belongs to the World Bank Group, and the Italian credit bureau - SACE, both in May.

The group of financial institutions will also include Mexico's development banks, BANCOMEXT and NAFINSA- Nacional Financiera, and commercial whose loans are subject to the completion and closing of the formal documentation.

The loan will be granted to Braskem IDESA SAPI, the joint venture controlled by the Brazilian Braskem, S.A. and with a relevant participation of the Mexican group IDESA in order to build and operate a petrochemical complex that will have a capacity of 1 million tons of polyethylene, through an ethane cracker and three polymerizations plants (two high density polyethylene and one low density polyethylene).

Etileno XXI Project, located in Nanchital, Veracruz, Mexico, continues to progress within schedule, land movement and site preparation works are 70% completed and the civil construction started on may 18th with the first foundations.
MRC

(akm) -- At the Nizhnekamskneftekhim annual meeting the decision to pay the 2011-dividends in the total volume of 4.319bn rub. (2.36 rub./pcs) was affirmed, the company informed.

The annual report, accounting and 10 BOD members were approved.PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit was affirmed as an auditor. The first BOD sitting was held after the meeting of the holders. A.Shigabutdinov, director general of TAIF, was elected as a chairman.

The Company (TIN 1651000010) is one of the largest petrochemical complexes in Eastern Europe. Its products are diversified to involve 120 kinds of chemical and petrochemical products, especially, synthetic rubber and styrene.

The share capital is equal to 1.83bn rub. split in 1611256ths (88.04% of share capital) common and 218983.75ths (11.96%) preferred stocks of 1 rub. par.

The 2011-net profit (IAS) rocketed 88.8% up to 16.8bn rub.; consolidated revenues from sales moved up by 29.5bn rub. to 126bn rub. (30.6% higher prior year figures).

The 2011-net profit rallied up (RAS) 86.19% to 14.413bn rub.; revenues - 29.97% to 122.699bn rub. from 94.407bn rub.; profit from sales - 20.076bn rub. from 13.043bn rub
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – In May, the import volumes of general-purpose polystyrene (GPPS) increased to 6,200 tonnes, which made a historic peak in the supply of material to the Russian market over the last few years, according to MRC analysts.
Since the early 2012 the imports of GPPS have been increasing significantly, reaching its peak in May. Since the beginning of the year it was imported more than 19,000 tonnes of material to the Russian market, up 13% compared with the imports volumes in January-May 2011.

In May, the imports of GPPS made 6,200 tonnes, up 44% compared with the previous month – 4,300 tonnes. Such a sharp increase in imports of GPPS is not typical for the Russian market, which in 2011 was by 88% covered by domestic production. Main producers of the material are Nizhnekamskneftekhim, PG Prof and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat.

The increased consumption of material in the second quarter of 2012 resulted in an excess of demand over the capacity of Russian producers. Market participants compensated the emerged shortage by imports of the material.

MRC

(upstreamonline) -- Russia’s new energy minister has said he favours returning to the idea of introducing profit-based taxes to replace onerous revenue taxes seen as a brake on new output.
Alexander Novak called on his government to return to discussion of the change.

Unlike Saudi Arabia, its nearest rival for the title of world's top oil producer, Russia has little spare capacity and its government is struggling to balance its dependence on oil revenues with the industry's need for tax incentives to increase output.

Most of the industry has spoken out in favour of a profits-based tax system to replace the series of revenue based taxes which skim around 90% off the price of a barrel of export crude oil, but budget hawks have resisted any move to relax the current regime.

Novak said the government should to proceed with earlier proposals on tax relief for Arctic offshore zones and onshore tight oil plays where state player Rosneft will be working with ExxonMobil, Eni and Statoil.

But Novak, a former Finance Ministry official who emerged at the last minute to head the Energy Ministry in the new administration, suggested they would be ineffective in the long run.

"Current tax regulations make it unprofitable to produce a significant volume of reserves at both new and producing fields. In my view it is necessary to return once more to consideration of a move to profit-based taxation of the industry," he told a tax policy meeting.
MRC

(saudidailyrecord) -- The United States is seeing a dramatic surge in oil and gas production and could overtake the world's biggest producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia, in another decade, a US official said.

"Some of the numbers are eye-popping," Daniel Sullivan, commissioner in Alaska's department of natural resources, told a panel of experts at the International Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal.

In the last quarter the US produced six million barrels of conventional and unconventional oil a day, he said, adding: "We haven't done that in 15 years."

Since 2008, the US added 1.6 million barrels of additional oil, and in 2011, the US registered the largest increase in oil production of any country outside of OPEC, he told hundreds of participants.

These figures compared to a daily output in March of about 9.923 million barrels a day by Saudi Arabia, the largest producer of the OPEC nations, and 9.920 million by Russia, according to the industry data compiler Joint Organizations Data Initiative.
MRC