BASF selects Toyo as Asia-Pacific engineering partner for petrochemical work

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Toyo Engineering has reached a comprehensive engineering partnership agreement with BASF for the Asia-Pacific region, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the companies' announcement.

The three-year agreement covers basic engineering, detailed engineering, procurement, construction management, and other project-related services in the region's petrochemical and chemical sectors.

Toyo said the deal was struck based on the confidence BASF has in Toyo through projects managed by BASF and its affiliates in Malaysia and China for 15 years.

Toyo added that it would work to reduce BASF's investment costs and schedule lead time by participating in projects from the planning stages.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

We remind that, as MRC wrote earlier, over the past month Toyo Engineering received a number of projects from large petrochemical companies. Thus, the company was awarded a contract from Russia's TAIF-NK to provide services for detailed engineering and procurement on the oil refinery modernization project in Nizhnekamsk; it received a contract to build a 15,000-tpy synthetic resin (Ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer, EVOH) production plant in Houston, Texas, from Nippon Synthetic Chemical; the company was jointly awarded with ENPPI, an engineering company under the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, a contract to build a 400,000 t/y polyethylene plant as part of Ethydco's petrochemical complex to be established in Alexandria, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and owned by ETHYDCO.

Toyo Engineering Corporation is an engineering, procurement and construction company serving mainly the hydrocarbons (oil and natural gas) and petrochemical sectors worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company (Saudi Kayan) announces the interim financial results for the period ended 31.03.2013, said Gulfbase.

1.The net loss for the first quarter 2013 was SR (154.87) million compared to SR (71.12) million for the same quarter last year with an increase of 117.8% and compared to SR (194.45) million for the previous quarter with a decrease of 20.4%.

2.The gross profit for the first quarter 2013 was SR 58.73 million compared to SR 132.23 million for the same quarter last year with a decrease of 55.6 %.

3.The operating loss for the first quarter 2013 was SR (10.73) million compared to operating profit of SR 75.65 million for the same quarter last year.

4.The per share loss for the three month period ended March 31, 2013 was SR (0.103) compared to SR (0.047) for the same period last year.

5.The increase in losses in the first quarter 2013 compared to the same quarter last year is due to increase in cost of sales as a result of a decrease in production and sales volume due to the scheduled turnaround for some production units. In addition, there was an increase in selling, general & administrative expenses and Zakat provision.

6.The decrease in losses in the first quarter 2013 compared to the previous quarter is due to improvement in the average selling prices for some of the company products , decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses despite the increase in Zakat provision and the decrease in the sales volume.

As MRC wrote earlier, Saudi Kayan, Sadara Chemical and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC) have joined forces to establish a new company, which will build the first butanol plant in the Middle East and the largest in the world. The Saudi Butanol Company, which will produce butanol to support the growth of the paints and coatings industry in Saudi Arabia, will be located at Tasnee Petrochemicals Complex in Jubail Industrial City and operated by Tasnee.

Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company is a manufacturing affiliate of the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, won a razor-thin victory in yesterday's special presidential election but the opposition candidate refused to accept the result and demanded a full recount, said Independent.

Maduro's stunningly close victory followed an often ugly, mudslinging campaign in which the winner promised to carry on Chavez's self-styled socialist revolution, while challenger Henrique Capriles' main message was that Chavez put this country with the world's largest oil reserves on the road to ruin.

Maduro, acting president since Chavez's 5 March death, held a double-digit advantage in opinion polls just two weeks ago, but electoral officials said he got just 50.7% of the votes to 49.1% for Capriles with nearly all ballots counted.

The margin was about 234,935 votes. Turnout was 78%, down from just over 80% in the October election that Chavez won by a nearly 11-point margin.

Maduro, a longtime foreign minister to Chavez, rode a wave of sympathy for the charismatic leader to victory, pinning his hopes on the immense loyalty for his boss among millions of poor beneficiaries of government largesse and the powerful state apparatus that Chavez skillfully consolidated.

Venezuelans are afflicted by chronic power outages, crumbling infrastructure, unfinished public works projects, double-digit inflation, food and medicine shortages, and rampant crime — one of the world's highest homicide and kidnapping rates — that the opposition said worsened after Chavez disappeared to Cuba in December for what would be his final surgery.

Analyst David Smilde at the Washington Office on Latin America think tank predicted the victory would prove pyrrhic and make Maduro extremely vulnerable.

"This is a result in which the 'official winner' appears as the biggest loser," said Amherst College political scientist Javier Corrales. "The 'official loser' — the opposition — emerges even stronger than it did six months ago. These are very delicate situations in any political system, especially when there is so much mistrust of institutions."

Maduro focused his campaign message on his mentor: “I am Chavez. We are all Chavez.” And he promised to expand anti-poverty programs.

Maduro will be officially sworn in on 19 April.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yanbu National Petrochemical Company (Yansab) has announced in its interim financial results for the first quarter of 2013 that its net income was SR 667.07 million compared to SR 720.27 million for the same quarter last year with a decrease of 7.4%, and compared to SR 640.77 million for the previous quarter with an increase of 4.1%, said Tradearabia.

The gross profit for Q1, 2013 was SR 800.29 million compared to SR 906.99 million for the same quarter last year with a decrease of 11.8%.

The operating income for Q1, 2013 was SR 744.45 million compared to SR 845.49 million for the same quarter last year with a decrease of 12.0%.

The earning per share for the three months period ended March 31, 2013 was SR 1.186 compared to SR 1.280 for the same period last year.

The decrease in the current quarter compared to the same quarter last year is due to decrease in produced and sold quantities as a result of the shutdown of ethylene glycol unit to carry out the periodic maintenance and some technical repairs from Nov.25, 2012 till Jan.25 2013 as announced in Tadawul. The improvement in the sales price of most products and lower finance charges has reduced the impact.

The increase in the current quarter compared to previous quarter is due to improvement in sales price of most products and lower finance charges despite lower sold quantities.

As MRC wrote earlier, Yansab reported a 3.6% year-on-year drop in fourth-quarter profits to 640.8 million Saudi riyal (USD170.8 million), citing lower prices for most products.

The objectives of Yansab are to engage in manufacturing of petrochemical products (ethylene, ethylene glycol, high density polyethylene, low linear density polyethylene, polypropylene, Butene 1, Butene 2, MTBE and BTX).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - In the first quarter of 2013, total production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in Russia made 165,600 tonnes, down 1% compared to the same period in 2012, according to MRC ScanPlast.

As for the previous month, Russian producers on the back of low seasonal demand and excess imports in March produced 55,430 tonnes. In February this figure due to the calendar factor was 51,600 tonnes.

In March the total production of suspension PVC (SPVC) in Russia amounted to 53,500 tonnes. The largest Russian producer of PVC - SayanskKhimPlast reduced its production in March to 22,600 tonnes (compared to 23,700 tonnes in February).

The second largest producer - Kausitk (Sterlitamak), on the contrary, in March increased its PVC output to 19,300 tonnes (compared to 16,00 tonnes in February). Kausitk (Sterlitamak) traditionally kept a high level of capacity utilization in the period of low demand in order to form additional inventories during the scheduled turnaround in June - July.

Kaustik (Volgograd) in March reduced the capacity utilization rate by 2%, the total output of PVC made about 8,000 tonnes. However, in January - March the total production of PVC by the plant made to 23,300 tonnes, up 5% year on year.

Sibur-Neftekhim increased PVC production in March to 3,600 tonnes. At the end of last week, the company completely stopped all its chlorine production. The company has stopped its chlorine production due to the oncoming launch of 330,000 tonne/year production RusVinyl (JV Sibur and Solvin) in the first quarter of 2014.

The only producer of emulsion PVC in Russia - Khimprom (Volgograd) in March reduced its capacity utilization by 4%, the production of PVC made about 2,000 tonnes. In the first quarter of this year, production of emulsion PVC made around 5,700 tonnes, which is 3% higher than a year ago.

Overall, the first quarter of 2013 total production of polyvinyl chloride in Russia amounted to 165,600 tonnes, down 1% compared to the same period in 2012. The reduction in output to a greater extent resulted from the reduction of SayanskKhimPlast's capacity utilization.


MRC