Gazprom lowers gas price for Ostchem to USD 260/tonne

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom, in order to fill the underground gas storage facilities has reduced the price for natural gas from about USD 390-400 to USD 260 per thousand cubic meters for the Ostchem Holding, which belongs to the Group DF of businessman Dmitry Firtash, said Ukrainian News agency.

The source has noted that the Naftogaz of Ukraine national joint-stock company, which also imports gas to Ukraine had not obtained gas discounts from Gazprom. Earlier, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Eduard Stavytskyi had said that under preliminary data, the price for gas acquired by national joint-stock company from Gazprom will make up about USD 410 per thousand cubic meters in October-December 2013.

On October 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference that Gazprom had lowered gas price for Ukraine to USD 260 per thousand cubic meters in order to pump it into underground gas storage facilities.
"Having informed the Russian authorities, Gazprom helped Ukraine to pump in the required amount of gas into underground gas storage facilities at the discount of USD 260 per thousand cubic meters. Approximately, and I may be mistaken in some, several dollars, when recently the price for Ukraine had been USD 400, and now it is about USD 380-390 per thousand cubic meters," he said.

At the same time, Putin did not specify the name of the importer, who obtained the said discount. In September, Firtash said that Ostchem planned to accumulate 6-6.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities by November (then there were about 1.3 billion cubic meters of Ostchem's gas).
Besides, he added that in view of the increase in gas pumping into underground gas storage facilities, Gazprom would increase the transit of the fuel through the territory of Ukraine.

In August, the average customs cost of the natural gas imported by Ukraine (taking in account supplies from Europe) decreased by 3.2% to USD 393.5 per thousand cubic meters as against July. In July 2013, Ukraine imported natural gas from Europe at the price of USD 394.92 per thousand cubic meters and from Russia at USD 401.52 per thousand cubic meters.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, in May the Cabinet of Ministers approved the expected balance of importation and distribution of natural gas for 2013 with the amount of imports of 27.3 billion cubic meters of gas.
Of the total amount of importation, Gazprom will deliver 18 billion cubic meters, RWE Supply & Trading (Germany) - 1.3 billion cubic meters, Ostchem (from Russia) - 8 billion cubic meters.

As MRC wrote before, Mr. Dmitry Firtash, Head of the Board of Directors Group DF, projected that the volume of domestic mineral fertilizers market will double by 2017. According to the outlooks published by OSTCHEM (a company operating Group DF"s nitrogen chemical productions), by 2017 the nitrogen fertilizers consumption volumes will rise from the current 950 thousand tons up to 2 million tons, phosphates - from 225 up to 460 thousand tons, potassium fertilizers - from 125 up to 270-280 thousand tons.

OSTCHEM is an asset management company consolidating efforts of Group DF"s nitrogen chemical industries: STIROL Concern (Gorlovka), Severodonetsk Azot, Cherkassy Azot, Rivneazot.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Performance Products division of Huntsman Corporation has announced plans to re-focus its surfactants business in Europe, according to the company's press release.

The company plans to transition away from a number of surfactant assets and product lines that have commoditized and to focus on developing and growing the remaining differentiated surfactants business in Huntsman’s strategic markets. Relevant authorities and social partners will be fully consulted.

Stu Monteith, President of Huntsman’s Performance Products division said: "We expect the restructuring to be complete by end-2014. It will result in a European surfactants business more closely aligned to our chosen markets and more integrated with the rest of the division’s business processes and chemistries." He added: "We are in discussions with potential partners for certain facilities and every effort will be made to ensure a smooth and seamless transition for customers and other stakeholders."

It is estimated that about 250 Huntsman Performance Products European positions could potentially be affected by these changes during the next 18 months.

Upon completion the company expects the annual EBITDA benefit to be approximately USD20 million.

Huntsman’s surfactants business in other parts of the world as well as other product lines in the Performance Products division (including amines, maleic anhydride and carbonates) will not be affected by the proposals.

As MRC reported earlier, this summer, Huntsman Corporation acquired the remaining ownership of Russian joint venture Huntsman NMG, giving it full ownership of the company. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. HNMG is a leading supplier of polyurethane systems to the adhesives, coatings and footwear markets in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Huntsman is a global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals with 2012 revenues of over USD11 billion. Our operating companies manufacture products for a variety of global industries, including chemicals, plastics, automotive, aviation, textiles, footwear, paints and coatings, construction, technology, agriculture, health care, detergent, personal care, furniture, appliances and packaging. Noting improvements across the chemical maker's main product lines, Moody's Investors Service has lifted its outlook on Huntsman Corp. to Ba3, up three notches; the outlook was raised to positive from stable.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik Corporation, the German specialty chemicals company, has appointed Jason Fox as director of Evonik’s Oil & Gas Group, which the company formed to boost the resource-efficiency of products it supplies to the oil and gas industries, reported the company on its site.

"I am very happy to welcome an experienced professional such as Jason to Evonik’s Oil & Gas Group," said Ted Pettijohn, senior vice president of growth and development at Evonik. "Global demand for energy is projected to rise with oil and natural gas becoming the top two energy resources. A tremendous amount of investment and advances in technology will be required to meet these demands. Jason’s role will be to develop and execute Evonik’s strategy to leverage our products and technology to support these industries."

Fox joins Evonik after more than 10 years at oilfield chemicals company Nalco Champion. Fox supported the company in various roles including marketing, business development, strategic market planning, and pricing management.

As MRC wrote previoulsy, at its last meeting the Supervisory Board of Evonik Industries AG, the German speciality chemicals group, unanimously passed resolutions relating to the successful focusing of the group on specialty chemicals and its future growth targets. Over the past five years Evonik has been restructured from an integrated conglomerate to a listed specialty chemicals company. Following the refocusing of the business, the next step is to consolidate management and administrative processes.

As part of the company's strategic portfolio expansion, Evonik plans to launch a new generation of PVC plasticizers. Evonik started construction of the production facilities with the estimated production capacity of 40,000 tpa at the Marl Chemical Park this summer.

Evonik Industries is an industrial corporation in Germany and one of the world's leading specialty chemicals companies. Company's specialty chemicals activities focus on high-growth megatrends, especially, health, nutrition, resource efficiency, and globalization, and on entering attractive future-oriented markets. In 2012 Evonik generated sales of EUR13.6 billion and an operating result (adjusted EBITDA) of EUR2.6 billion. The international rating agency Moody's has upgraded the credit rating of the German speciality chemicals group Evonik Industries AG from Baa3 with a positive outlook to Baa2 with a positive outlook.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Chemicals & Fibres Corp (FCFC), a Taiwanese producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins and other intermediate plastic products, has restarted its No.2 styrene monomer (SM) unit, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the unit restarted on October 4, 2013. It was shut in August 2013 for maintenance turnaround.

Located in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the unit has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, FCFC's No.1 SM plant, located in Mailiao, Taiwan, with the capacity 250,000 mt/year was taken off-stream in early September for more than 40 days of maintenance works.

Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corporation (FCFC) is a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Group, the largest private owned enterprise in Taiwan, with annual revenue of USD13.5 billion.

Formosa Plastics Corporation is a Taiwanese company based in Taiwan that primarily produces polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins and other intermediate plastic products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belarus-based Grodno Azot has placed an order with plant engineering specialists ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions for the planning and delivery of a nitric acid plant and a plant for the production of the liquid fertilizer urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) based on the Uhde process, said ThyssenKrupp in its press release.

The facilities will be integrated into the company's existing chemical plant in the regional capital Grodno in the west of Belarus. The new complex comprises a 1,200 t/day nitric acid plant and a UAN plant with a daily capacity of 3,395 t/day liquid urea ammonium nitrate solution with a nitrogen content of 32 percent. The order awarded to the Process Technologies business unit (Uhde) of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG comprises basic and detail engineering, the supply of equipment and material, and supervision of the installation and startup of the plant. Start-up is scheduled for 2016.

The Process Technologies business unit (Uhde) of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG has a wealth of experience and expertise in the planning and construction of fertilizer plants. Over more than 90 years Uhde has completed well in excess of 150 projects in this area and continuously adjusted its portfolio to meet the changing challenges.
The tail gas treatment unit integrated into the new plant in Grodno also meets the latest environmental protection standards. The Uhde EnviNOx® process reduces the levels of harmful nitrogen oxides in the production of nitric acid. With the help of this process, eco-toxic laughing gas (N2O) – which as a contributor to global warming is roughly 300 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide – can be almost completely removed.

For the Process Technologies business unit (Uhde) of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG, this is the second major order from Grodno Azot. Back in 2008 its Belarusian subsidiary PTC Khimvolokno placed an order with ThyssenKrupp (Uhde Inventa-Fischer) to supply a polyamide production plant. As from the beginning of this year Grodno Azot is now capable of producing 260 t/day of this versatile high-quality polymer – doubling its previous output. The material is used for example in medical technology, textiles and the food industry.

As MRC wrote before, ThyssenKrupp Uhde has won a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for a single-train polypropylene (PP) plant based on LyondellBasell's Spheripol process technology for ZapSibNeftekhim L.L.C, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sibur.

ThyssenKrupp AG is a German multinational conglomerate corporation based in Duisburg and Essen, Germany. The corporation consists of 670 companies worldwide. While ThyssenKrupp is one of the world's largest steel producers, the company also provides components and systems for the automotive industry, elevators, escalators, material trading and industrial services.

MRC