Explosion at Mexican oil giant Pemex headquarters kills 25

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A powerful explosion rocked the Mexico City headquarters of state-owned oil giant Pemex on Thursday, killing at least 25 people, injuring more than 100 and trapping others inside, Reuters.

The mid-afternoon blast in a neighboring building shattered the lower floors of the downtown tower, throwing debris into the streets and sending frightened workers running outside.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a preliminary line of investigation was that the blast came from a gas boiler that exploded in the adjacent Pemex building. But the cause was still being determined, the official added.

Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said the blast killed at least 25 people, injured over 100, and that the number of casualties could rise.

Pemex said initially the tower was evacuated due to a problem with its electricity supply. It then said there had been an explosion, but did not say what caused it.

The Pemex blast occurred shortly before many workers were due to end their shifts at the complex. The company said its business would not be affected by the incident and that it would continue to operate normally.

Pemex has experienced a number of deadly accidents in recent years and lesser safety problems have been a regular occurrence. In September, 30 people died after an explosion at a Pemex natural gas facility in northern Mexico.

More than 300 were killed when a Pemex natural gas plant on the outskirts of Mexico City exploded in 1984.

Eight years later, about 200 people were killed and 1,500 injured after a series of underground gas explosions in Guadalajara, Mexico's second biggest city. An official investigation found Pemex was partly to blame.

Pemex, a symbol of Mexican self-sufficiency since the oil industry was nationalized in 1938, has been held back by inefficiency and corruption and by the burden it shoulders of providing about a third of federal tax revenues.

Pemex , Mexican Petroleum, 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, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009.

However, the majority of its shares are non-publicly listed and under control of the Mexican government. The value of its publicly listed shares totalled USD102 billion in 2010, representing approximately one quarter of the company's total worth.

MRC

Russian producers to rollover PP prices for February from January

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Despite the low demand in January, prices of polypropylene (PP) in the Russian market have not declined. Some Russian producers have already announced that in February they intended to keep the January prices, according to a ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Traditionally, the demand for polypropylene in January is low. January 2013 was no exception. Many Russian converters in the second half of December replenished their inventories actively in anticipation of long New Year holidays, and in the first half of January they have not resumed purchases. Some sompanies in January refused from purchases due to lack of orders for finished products.

By late January, the prices actually had been kept at the level of late December. Deals for raffia for a month were at Rb62,000-64,700/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT. Deals for injection moulding homopolymer of propylene were at Rb63,500-66,000/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Some market participants expect prices of polypropylene to decline in February. Local producers, by contrast, they intend to keep prices of polypropylene in February at the January level. They note that the stocks of polypropylene are small and there is no pressure from cheaper imports, as a result, there is no reason for further price reductions.

MRC

Borouge and Borealis have their polyethylene polymers to be listed under PE100+ Association quality list

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borouge and Borealis, leading providers of chemical and innovative plastics solutions, achieved another breakthrough by having their high stress crack resistant (HSCR) polyethylene PE100 polymer, BorSafe HE3490-LS-H, listed under the PE100+ Association’s quality list, reported USindustrysourcing.

Thanks to the high performance and properties of these PE100 polymers, engineers can be confident that their pipelines will provide a reliable and maintenance free infrastructure for many years to come.

The full range of HSCR PE100 polymers manufactured by Borouge and Borealis are now included in the latest list of PE100+ Association, providing further reassurance regarding the consistent high quality of these products.

“Many projects have been undertaken around the world using pipes produced from Borouge and Borealis HSCR PE100 polymers,” said Khalfan Al Muhairi, Vice President Marketing Centre Pipe at Borouge.

“BorSafe HSCR PE100 polymers are ideal to be used for producing pipes that will be installed using trenchless technology and in rocky soils due to their toughness and reliability, as compared to pipes produced from other materials."

As MRC reported earlier, in May, 2012, Borealis offered the infrastructure pipe industry a range of innovative polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) materials through its BorSafe and BorECO product ranges. For hot and cold water pipes, Borealis has a long track record with its BorPEX product range as a supplier of crosslinked polyethylene (PEX). Later last year Borealis and Borouge combined their expertise t0 serve the automotive market by introducing a new grade of polypropylene (PP) specified for use in lightweight bumper applications for two new Renault automotive platforms.

Borouge and Borealis innovative polyethylene and polypropylene solutions for pipes help address the global water challenge and are considered the main core of the Companies’ joint Water for the World programme, which has benefited more than 300,000 people around the world who lack access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation facilities
MRC

Fitch assigns SIBUR final 'BB+' rating

MOSCOW (MRC) -- International rating agency Fitch Ratings has assigned SIBUR Securities Limited's issue of guaranteed 3.914% notes due 2018 (the Notes) for the aggregate amount of USD1,000m a final senior unsecured 'BB+' rating, according to FitchRatings' press release.

The Notes are unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by JSC SIBUR Holding (OAO SIBUR Holding, SIBUR, 'BB+'/Stable).

The rating action follows a review of the final documentation materially conforming to the draft documentation reviewed when Fitch assigned the expected 'BB+(EXP)' rating on 17 January 2013. As MRC reported earlier, Fitch Ratings had affirmed the long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of JSC "SIBUR Holding" at "BB +" and short-term IDR at 'B'.

SIBUR Securities Limited (the Issuer), the issuer of the bonds, is an Ireland-based private limited liability company established for this sole purpose. The notes will benefit from an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee from OAO SIBUR Holding (the Guarantor). The guarantee will be a senior unsecured obligation of OAO SIBUR Holding and will rank equally in right of payment with all its existing and future senior unsecured and unsubordinated obligations.

Proceeds will be used for short-term debt refinancing and general corporate purposes. Covenants apply to the issuer, the Guarantor and certain subsidiaries and include a negative pledge (with permitted liens) and limitation on incurrence of indebtedness with a total proforma debt-to-consolidated EBITDA ceiling of 3.5:1. Events of defaults include cross default or cross acceleration to the debt of the Issuer, the Guarantor or any material subsidiary with a USD50m threshold.

SIBUR's ratings are supported by its leading position in the Russian petrochemicals sector, diversified portfolio and access to associated petroleum gas (APG) which ensures low costs versus most international peers and underpins its strong operational cash flow generation over the cycle.
MRC

Magna to build an injecion moulding factory in the USA

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Norplas Industries, an Ohio company owned by Magna International, a Canadian auto supplier, plans to build a state-of-the-art robotic paint line and injection molding factory in a Delta Township industrial tract that includes General Motors Co.’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant, reported LSJ.

Magna officials said Wednesday they have not settled on an exact site and that pay ranges for employees and a timetable for opening the plant have not been set.

The project is one of two Norplas has planned in Michigan. It also wants to build a new facility for light assembly and sequencing for Ford Motor Co.’s Fusion sedan front-end modules in Brownstown Township, south of Taylor in Wayne County, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp. That site would employ at least 220 jobs.

Overall, Norplas plans to spend $81.8 million on the two facilities, including $75 million on the Delta site.

As MRC informed earlier, in December 2012, the Russian company "Avtotor Holding" and Magna International Europe signed an agreement on cooperation in the creation of automotive cluster in the Kaliningrad region. As per the agreement the parterns plan to build 21 plants, 15 of which - for the production of automotive components.

Besides, we remind that Magna has recently chosen Arnite A, a high performance compound based on polyethylene terephthalate (PET), from DSM for use in its latest generation of exterior mirror adjustment units.
MRC