Pertamina inks petrochemical partnership with SK

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Indonesia-based Pertamina didn't specify the financial value or a timeframe for the upcoming project, but said in its statement that domestic petrochemical production can't keep up with over USD5 billion worth of annual demand, making related industries heavily dependent on imports.

Indonesian state energy company PT Pertamina said Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with SK Global Chemical to construct a petrochemical facility in the Southeast Asian country.

Pertamina didn't specify the financial value or a timeframe for the project, but said in its statement that domestic petrochemical production can't keep up with over USD5 billion worth of annual demand, making related industries heavily dependent on imports.

"This partnership will allow the company to boost its output of refined products and strengthen our market position in the national petrochemical industry," Pertamina CEO Karen Agustiawan said in the statement.

SK Global Chemical Co., Ltd. develops, produces, and supplies olefins, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene, MBTE, and butene-1; aromatics. The company also provides polymers, including linear lower, medium, and high density polyethylene products; and home, impact, and random polypropylene products. It serves customers in South Korea and internationally. The company was founded in 1962 and is based in Seoul, South Korea with a sales office in Shanghai, China. SK Global Chemical Co., Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of SK Innovation Co., Ltd.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
MRC

(apic-online) -- The Chinese government's latest move to combat tax evasion by imposing a consumption tax on MTBE and aromatics is likely to raise gasoline blending costs and make imports of finished gasoline relatively more cost-effective, industry sources said this week.

China's State Administration of Taxation in mid-November announced a series of measures to take effect January 1, 2013, which include levying consumption tax on certain petroleum products that were previously exempted as well as requiring inspection certificates for those claiming exemption.

Specifically, the tax authority's notice of November 15 for the first time puts MTBE and aromatics in the list of products liable for consumption tax. The tax will be the same as the current rate on naphtha, which is Yuan 1,385/mt (USD220/mt), or Yuan 1/liter.

Asian Petrochemicalscan provides weekly market updates, commentary and assessments ranging from naphtha feedstocks to aromatics, olefins, and polymers in Southeast Asia, Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

MTBE and aromatics, commonly blended into gasoline to raise its octane level, are currently not subject to consumption tax. China exempts naphtha derivatives from consumption tax as a measure designed to encourage the petrochemicals industry and allow producers to recoup the consumption tax levied on naphtha.

Under the new rules, the exemption is being withdrawn for MTBE and aromatics sold for gasoline blending. Products obtained from naphtha that go into petrochemicals manufacturing will continue to enjoy exemption from consumption tax.

China's consumption tax is imposed on entities and individuals engaged in the production, processing or importing of taxable consumer goods.
MRC

(zawya) -- Saudi Polymers Company (SPCo), a joint venture between Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC and National Petrochemical Company, has started commercial production, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The integrated SPCo petrochemicals complex includes world-class operating units that are capable of producing ethylene (1,220 kmta), propylene (440 kmta), polyethylene (1,100 kmta), polypropylene (400 kmta), polystyrene (200 kmta) and 1-hexene (100 kmta).

In addition to direct sales to serve local Saudi demand, SPCo will manufacture products to serve growing world demand outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through its exclusive distributor, Gulf Polymers Distribution Company, utilizing Chevron Phillips Chemical's global marketing network.

SPCo, which began construction in January 2008, has created approximately 950 jobs, with a high percentage being occupied by Saudi nationals.

SPCo is a limited liability company incorporated in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is owned 65 percent by Petrochem, a joint-stock company incorporated in Saudi Arabia and 35 percent by Arabian Chevron Phillips Petrochemical Company (ACP), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Phillips Chemical.

Chevron Phillips Chemical is one of the world's top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, plastic piping and polymer resins.

The LLC and its affiliates own more than USD9 billion in assets and employ approximately 4,700 people at 42 manufacturing and research facilities in eight countries. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC is equally owned by Chevron Corporation and Phillips 66, and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

MRC

(zawya) -- New mega projects will boost the UAE's investment in the petrochemicals industry to nearly USD12 billion by 2015 to maintain its position as a major global producer of the gas-based substance, according to official data.

The investments are part of USD50 billion projects to be set up in the petrochemical sector in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which already pumps nearly 17% of the world's total chemicals output, showed the figures by the Dubai-based Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association ( GPCA ).

The funds will boost the GCC's total petrochemicals investments to nearly USD250 billion in 2015, accounting for more than half the overall industrial investment in the 31-year-old Gulf economic, defence and political alliance.

"In the UAE, total petrochemicals investments are expected to reach around USD12 billion by the end of 2015," GPCA secretary general Rashid bin Fahd told an industrial conference in Dubai this week.

His figures showed Saudi Arabia, the world's dominant oil exporter and the largest Arab economy, accounts for 67% of the GCC's industrial output while the UAE controls nearly seven per cent and Qatar about 14%.

The six members produced around 120 million tonnes of chemicals and petrochemicals in 2011, fetching them nearly USD75 billion, Fahd said.

According to GPCA , latest major chemicals projects in the region include Borouge 2 and 3 in the UAE at a cost of more than USD5.5 billion and Saudi Kayan at a cost of around USD10 billion. Other projects involve the USD7 billion SIPCHEM-Olefins in Saudi Arabia, the USD5 billion Sino-Saudi Petrochemical Complex, the USD4 billion AlRajhi Jubail Complex in Saudi Arabia and a USD3 billion QP-ExxonMobil complex in Qatar.

Petrochemical investments in the GCC countries, which sit atop 40% of the world's extractable oil deposits, are part of a long-term industrialization drive intended to lessen their reliance on volatile crude sales.

Official figures showed the six nations have pumped in excess of USD250 billion into manufacturing projects, covering petrochemicals, aluminium steel, cement, paper, home appliances, machinery and other products.
MRC

(europeanplasticsnews) -- Spanish automotive parts manufacturer Teknia Group recently launched a new plastic moulding plant in the Czech Republic.

The first phase of this 11,200m2 facility just completed by Teknia’s Automotive Plastic Division, at Nivnice, Czech Republic comprises a 2,000m2 injection moulding hall and warehouse also of 2,000m2.

Initially, the unit has been equipped with five Engel injection machines with clamping force of up to 1,000 tonnes, but the plant is scheduled to house up to 20 in the short term, according to Teknia, a young company founded in 1992 in Erandio, Spain.

The group already runs a plastic components moulding plant in Uhersky Brod in the Czech Republic as well as others in Rzeszow, Poland; Azuqueca de Henares and Jaen in Spain; Tangier,Morocco; San Luis Potosi in Mexico and in Jacarei, Brazil.

Teknia’s Czech project is part of the group’s strategic plan to boost its group turnover and invest around EUR50m to expand its international production with additional plants in Poland, Brazil and the Czech Republic by 2015. The group is also planning to launch a manufacturing unit in Asia, initially in either China or India, it says.

The Spanish group has forecast it will increase its annual sales for 2012 to around EUR200m. That figure should rise to about EUR285m by 2015, it predicted.

Teknia, which runs injection machines of up to 2,700 tonnes, produces a range of parts including seating, trim and steering wheel components; exterior parts such as bumpers and lighting and tanks as well as products for the engine compartment. It also moulds parts for the solar energy industry. The group also manufactures a range of metallic components.
MRC