EPS consumption in Ukraine has decreased by 7% in the first half of the year

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Consumption of expandable polystyrene (EPS-C) in Ukraine has decreased by 7% compared to 2012 in the first half of 2013, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Ukrainian market volume for EPS in January-June 2013 totalled 12,900 tonnes. The share of domestic supply was only 18%, which is equivalent to 2,400 tonnes of material, while in the first half of 2012 it was 25%.

EPS imports has increased slightly from 10,300 tonnes 2012 to 10,600 tonnes in the first half of 2013. The share of EPS by Sibur Himprom production accounts for 87% of total EPS imports in the first half of 2013, accounting for 9,200 tonnes.

EPS exports of Ukrainian group Stirol (Gorlivka) remain the same, namely 1,480 tonnes in the first half of 2013, compared with 1,460 tonnes year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dongying Yimeide is likely to restart a dioctyl phthalate (DOP) plant, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is likely to be restarted in early August 2013. It was shut for a maintenance turnaround.

Located in Shandong province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, strong demand for DOP plasticiser in the Russian market allowed local producers to keep the June prices for July. In July the supply of plasticiser DOP in the Russian market has increased markedly. However, despite expectations of many market participants, the price of DOP for July was left at the roll over from June on the back of strong demand. The spot deals for Russian plasticiser DOP for July deliveries were in the range of Rb74,000 -75,000/tonne FCA, including VAT.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrian OMV has said it plans recruit an additional 1600 upstream staff in the next three years to meet its planned growth in exploration and production activities, said Upstreamonline.

OMV chief executive Gerhard Roiss said that the company’s increasing focus on upstream since 2011 meant it would need hundreds of new employees "to achieve the growth we have planned".

The Vienna-based integrated energy player said it will need both experienced technical staff and graduates of geosciences and oil engineering, with vacancies based domestically and internationally.

The company said that the Norwegian Sea’s Aasta Hansteen and Zidane gas fields would be a primary contributor to the jobs boost, along with the explorer’s large-scale Domino gas find at in the Bulgarian Black Sea.

OMV is also working on co-operation models with universities such as Austrian University of Leoben to increase the number of technical graduates.

As MRC wrote before, Clariant announced that it has signed a long-term supply contract with OMV. From 2015, the Austrian oil and gas company will supply Clariant’s site in Gendorf (Germany) with ethylene. This agreement will enable Clariant to source most of its requirements for this important basic chemical in southern Bavaria.

OMV is an integrated international oil and gas company, headquartered in Vienna. OMV's main business is in Exploration & Production (E&P), Gas & Power (G&P) and Refining & Marketing (R&M). With group sales of more than EUR34 billion (2011) and a global workforce of around 30,000 (2011), OMV is the largest listed manufacturing company in Austria.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The registry court Cologne has resolved the appointment of Claudia Nemat to the Supervisory Board of Lanxess, with immediate effect, according to the company's statement.

Claudia Nemat is assuming the seat left open by the death of Ulrich Middelmann some weeks ago.

"We welcome Claudia Nemat in her new role and look forward to working closely together with a well-renowned expert for the high-tech industry and corporate leadership," said Rolf Stomberg, Head of LANXESS’ Supervisory Board.

Claudia Nemat has been a member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG in Bonn since October 2011. She is responsible for the Board area Europe and the strategic steering of technology. Before joining Deutsche Telekom AG, Claudia Nemat spent 17 years working for the consultancy McKinsey&Company.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Synthetic rubber specialist Lanxess will be adding not one but five new grades to its portfolio of "green" ethylene-propylene-diene elastomers (Keltan Eco) before the end of 2013. This will lead to a further significant increase in the range of applications for this synthetic rubber using ethylene from a state-controlled, biobased source. The five new grades are "drop-in" variants of conventional EPDM rubber grades from Lanxess that are already in widespread use. If all goes according to schedule, they will be commercially available in the second half of 2013.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR9.1 billion in 2012 and roughly 17,400 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 50 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. Lanxess' first-quarter sales were down by 12% year-on-year to EUR2.1 billion, mainly due to lower volumes and fallen selling prices.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italian company Eni saw profits drop during the first half of the year as lower oil prices and production hit revenue, said Upstreamonline.

Eni posted a net profit of EUR1.8 billion (USD2.4 billion) for the first half of the year, down 52.7% on the EUR3.8 billion booked during the first six months of 2012.

The fall in profits came as sales sank 6.2% to just under EUR59.3 billion, compared to the EUR63.2 billion booked during the same period a year a go.

Affecting Eni's results was a lower contribution from the company's exploration and production division where sales dropped 12.7% to EUR15.6 billion.

This came as the company achieved an average of USD70.33 per barrel of oil equivalent during the first half of 2013, down 6.4% on the USD75.10 per boe booked during the first half of last year.

The fall in prices was compounded by a 2.7% drop in output during the six month period to an average of 1.62 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared to nearly 1.67 million boepd a year ago.

Eni attributed a 3.4% fall in liquids production to to lower output in Nigeria, planned facility downtimes, as well as mature field declines.

It also claimed lower output in Nigeria and mature field declines was largely behind the 2.4% fall in natural gas production during the first half of the year.

These factors leading to the fall in output were partly offset by the start-up and ramp-up of of projects in Russia,Egypt Algeria and Angola, as well as higher liquids production from its operations in Iraq.

As MRC wrote before, Eni has announced its plans to undertake a renovation and recovery project at the Gela refinery located on the southern coast of Sicily in Italy. The nearly EUR700m project is aimed at upgrading the heavy crude processing facility environmentally friendly and competitive to meet the challenges of the market.

Eni S.p.A. is an Italian multinational oil and gas company, present in 79 countries, and currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 87,7 billion euros (USD138 billion), as of July 24, 2008.The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 2.29% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas group.
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