ConocoPhillips nets USD400m from Lukoil stake sale

(upstreamonline) -- ConocoPhillips has said it expects to record an after-tax gain of around USD400 million after selling its 30% stake in the Russian joint venture Naryanmarneftgaz to its partner, Lukoil.

The Houston-based explorer had seen production of 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the Timan-Pechora province venture, of which the Russian independent already held the remaining 70%.

The joint venture held seven licences, with five fields producing crude and natural gas liquids.

The US supermajor said the sale - first reported by Upstream earlier this month - was being made as part of its ongoing divestment strategy.

The divestment strategy has now exceeded its USD20 billion target, running up USD20.2 billion worth in offloads, according to Reuters.
MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Four workers were injured in a flash fire at a ConocoPhillips natural gas processing plant in Wyoming during planned maintenance Wednesday morning, the company said.

The fire extinguished itself immediately and the four contract employees have been transported to receive medical attention, according to a statement by the company.

An investigation will be conducted into the cause of the fire at the Lost Cabin Gas Plant, and the maintenance operation has been suspended, the company said.

The plant has been evacuated but the surrounding community was not, ConocoPhillips said.


MRC

(bloomberg) -- Leonid Mikhelson, the billionaire who controls OAO Novatek (NVTK), Russia’s largest private gas producer, is poised to bump Alisher Usmanov from his perch as the country’s richest person.

The 57-year-old paid less than USD4 billion for a 57.5 percent stake in OAO Sibur Holding, eastern Europe’s largest petrochemical producer, in a series of transactions from December 2010 to the end of 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. His stake is worth about USD7 billion today, according to the index.

A decade ago, Moscow-based Sibur was a debt-laden unit of OAO Gazprom, the Russian gas exporter now half-owned by the state. Today, the closely held maker of more than 2,000 products, including gases and plastics, is preparing for an initial public offering that could add billions of dollars to Mikhelson’s fortune.

Mikhelson acquired 25 percent of Sibur from Gazprom’s former lending arm, Gazprombank, in December 2010. He bought the shares through investment company ZAO Miracle, which was then a subsidiary of his Cyprus-based Dellawood Holdings Ltd.

According to an October 2011 Dellawood financial report, Mikhelson now owns 57.5 percent of the company. His estimated cost for the additional stake in the company is based on Gazprombank’s valuation reported in December 2010, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Sibur is betting that demand for the company’s products will increase as developing economies grow. Next month, the company plans to start testing a facility that will produce 500,000 tons of polypropylene a year, with commercial output to start next year, Mikhelson said in June.

Sibur may hold an IPO within 18 months to 3 years, Mikhelson told reporters in June 2011. While now isn’t a good time for the IPO, Sibur will be ready “to quickly list the shares should the situation change in spring,” Mikhelson said in June 2012.

MRC

(Plastech) -- The environmental benefit of the use of recycled polyamide for automotive applications has been validated by a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) jointly led by leading engineering plastics developer Rhodia (member of the Solvay group), Valeo, one of the world’s top automotive suppliers and car-maker PSA Peugeot Citroen.

Rhodia, Valeo and PSA combined their savoir-faire to carry out a multi-criteria analysis on the entire life cycle of the fan and shroud assembly, an important engine cooling component for the new Peugeot 208. The part is manufactured by Valeo using recycled Technyl polyamide (PA) from Rhodia Engineering Plastics.

On average, 20 percent of a car comprises 150 to 250kg of plastic parts. Therefore the collaborative initiative between Rhodia, Valeo and PSA scientifically confirms the potential of the growing use of recycled plastics to help answer the environmental challenges facing the automotive industry.
MRC

(Plastech) -- The plastics industry is worldwide one of the most innovative sectors. The secret of its success lies in the plastics themselves. Synthetic materials or plastics (polymers) contribute greatly to fulfilling existing and future demands.

Last year, approximately 280 million tons of plastics were produced, in 1950 it was only 1.5 million. The characteristics of plastics - being extremely flexible, highly resilient and yet very light - have boosted the career of plastics in many areas of application.

One of the biggest areas for the application of synthetic materials is packaging. Composite PE/PA-materials can be used to create films of varying thickness for the packaging of foods.

Another excellent example for the use of plastics as packaging materials is the polyethylene (PET) bottle. The biggest advantage of the PET bottle in comparison to the conventional glass bottle is its significantly lower weight.

One more example: the most important fully synthetic material in heat insulation is foamed polystyrene. Most widely used is expanded polystyrene rigid foam (EPS), which can be formed into blocks, boards, and other geometrical shapes.

For years, plastics-based composite materials have been experiencing a boost in the car industry.

By the way: even though the majority of all synthetic materials is still produced from crude oil and natural gas, renewable raw materials are increasingly utilized.
MRC