Innospec not to acquire petrochemical company TPC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Innospec has withdrawn its takeover bid to acquire TPC Group.

"We have spent a great deal of time and effort studying the TPC business, and, while we still feel that it is a good fit with Innospec, we are unable to conclude a deal structure in a manner where we are totally satisfied with the value creation for our shareholders," said CEO Patrick Williams.

"As a result, we have reluctantly decided that it would be in our investors' best interests to withdraw our proposal. Our acquisition strategy has always been focused on delivering shareholder value, and we continue to pursue other opportunities which we hope will come to fruition in the coming months."

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, TPC Group is a leader in providing highly specialized lines of chemical products. The Company sells its products into a wide range of performance, specialty and intermediate markets, including synthetic rubber, fuels, lubricant additives, plastics and surfactants.
MRC

(plastemart) -- Japan's top refiner, JX Nippon Oil& Energy Corp, is set to skip planned maintenance shutdown at its naphtha cracker at Kawasaki in 2013. The company, which last conducted a turnaround at the unit, with capacity to make 443,000 tpa ethylene this year, is likely to conduct the next maintenance shutdown in 2016.

We remind that, as MRC reported ealier, JX Nippon Oil announced that on 6 November the company along with SK Global Chemical Co had begun construction of a new facility to produce paraxylene in Ulsan, South Korea. The annual production capacity of the new plant is said to be 1 million tonns of paraxylene. The unite will be managed by a joint venture company of JX Nippon Oil and SK Global Chemical - Ulsan Aromatics (UAC).
MRC

(plastemart) -- KBC Advanced Technologies has signed a contract for a large optimization and efficiency project with Fujian Refining and Petrochemical Corp. (FREP), a joint venture comprised of Fujian Petrochemical Co., ExxonMobil, China Petroleum & Petrochemical Co. and Saudi Aramco.

Under the multi-million US dollar contract, KBC will provide a 5-year Petro-SIM and ProSteam software license, build a refinery and petrochemical integrated flowsheet model, online utility optimizer and complex-wide LP model, and train Fujian personnel on software model building and applications.

As MRC informed earlier, Saudi Aramco had begun talking to prospective buyers for products from its Fujian Refining and Petrochemical Company (FREP) complex at Quangzhou in China's Fujian province. FREP production facilities comprise an 800,000 tpa steam cracker, a 400,000 tpa PP plant, a 400,000 tpa LLDPE plant, a 400,000 tpa HDPE plant, a 120,000 tpa butadiene plant, a 700,000 tpa paraxylene plant and a 260,000 tpa benzene plant at Quanzhou.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - By 2019, the capacity of the world market of plastic pipes will reach USD80 billion, according to the research made by the marketing company Ceresana.

In 2011, the share of plastic pipes made of PVC accounted for more than 55%. The second most popular material for pipes production is polyethylene, in particularly, HDPE, which was used for the production of 28 to 45% of the total amount of pipes. But despite the popularity of the traditional materials, the proportion of such materials used in production of pipes, as ABS plastic, polybutylene, polyamide, will increase in the near future, according to experts.

North America and Western Europe have given up their positions as for the sales of plastic pipes to the Asia Pacific region, which occupies the first place and accounts for 50% of the global demand for plastic pipes. According to Ceresana's outlook, the Asia Pacific region will further increase the consumption of plastic pipes in 2019 - to more than 60%.

We remindl that, as MRC reported previously, this year Russian companies increased production of plastic products. Over the past nine months, the production volume of polymer goods increased by 10% compared to that of the previous year. The largest increase accounted for plastic pipes. In January-September, the total production of plastic pipes, hoses and fittings by Russian plants made about 528.400 tonnes, up 26% compared to the same period a year ago.
MRC

(petroworld) -- Spanish energy giant Repsol is in talks with Pemex regarding a new strategic partnership, following up on a promise made by new Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto to open the state-owned company to new investors.

The new alliance comes as Repsol tries to reorganise its Latin American business, having been stripped of its shares in the now nationalised Argentinian producer YPF earlier this year.


At present Pemex is Repsol’s third largest shareholder, holding 9.5% of the company, and may look to gain more influence. Earlier this year, the company sided with one of Chairman Antonio Brufau’s rivals and tried to force management changes, but the two firms have since found common ground.

Pemex will also be looking gain from Repsol’s expertise in production. The company is looking to boost its output having fallen behind in recent years and not being able to replicate the record 3.4m barrel haul it produced back in 2004.

“There have been formal contacts in recent months on several areas between Repsol and Pemex. I’m optimistic for a more solid partnership between the two,” commented Fluvio Ruiz, Pemex board member.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.

Petroleos Mexicanos or Pemex is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value. Its products include petrochemicals, natural gas, liquid gas, sulphur, gasoline, kerosene, and diesel.

MRC