Strike in Grangemouth is cancelled - Ineos

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The talks between INEOS Grangemouth (UK) and Unite the Union opened at 1.00p.m. on Tuesday 15th October and closed at 6.00a.m. on Wednesday 16th, as the Union had agreed to cancel the current industrial action and proposed strike, reported the company on its site.

INEOS, in its turn, had agreed to restart all plants as quickly as possible provided that the Union agreed not to take further industrial action before the end of March.

The Union had refused, offering a limit of a 24-hour strike per month during Q1 2014. This was not acceptable to INEOS, due to the significant safety risk (especially in the winter months) of having to shut down and restart plants multiple times.

INEOS had asked the Union to stop the wave of protest actions against INEOS’s customers, suppliers and financial lenders. The Union had refused.

INEOS had agreed to follow a proper consultation process for the changes to Terms and Conditions that it had announced in its Survival Plan and had committed to fully engage with the Union and to involve ACAS.

INEOS had asked the Union to accept that the Site is in serious financial distress. The Union had refused.

The Union had offered to drop the dispute over Mr Deans entirely and had agreed that the Company could continue its investigation without further interference. In addition the Union had agreed there would be no further industrial action over this matter regardless of outcome.

The Union had asked that INEOS withdraw its defamation claim against Unite. INEOS had agreed provided that the Union issue an apology for the defamatory statements. The Union had refused.

As MRC wrote previously, the Grangemouth site employs 1,400 people, including 700 at the petchem operations. Ineos under its ‘survival plan’ proposal is seeking to reduce the number of workers at the petchem operations by an unspecified number and make changes to the pension benefits. The proposed job cuts would not affect the refining operations, which are run by a joint venture between Ineos and PetroChina.

INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has successfully expanded production capacity for Houdry dehydrogenation catalysts at its Louisville/Kentucky, USA plant, reported the company on its site.

The double-digit million Swiss francs debottlenecking investment will support increasing demand for Houdry catalysts driven mainly by shale gas development. The facility will come on-stream in mid-October 2013 as planned.

Houdry dehydrogenation catalysts are used in the petrochemical industry to produce C3- and C4-olefins (including butadiene) from light paraffin using the CATOFIN and CATADIENE technologies, which are licensed through CB&I, one of the world’s leading engineering, procurement and construction companies and a major process technology licensor.

CATOFIN technology and catalyst correspond to a reliable and less complex production process for on-purpose olefins/butadiene production with efficient energy consumption. New generations of catalysts with significant performance improvement have been commercialized successfully in the last few years. CATOFIN technology has been selected by 32 licensees worldwide and is in operation in 12 units today, including the largest propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit currently in operation with a capacity exceeding 500,000 tpa. Over the last four years, 15 new plants have been licensed. A 600,000 tpa CATOFIN PDH unit will start operation in 2013, while a 750,000 tpa CATOFIN PDH will start up in 2015. The CATOFIN process offers superior selectivity, on-stream efficiency and revamp potential.

Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President, Head of BU Catalysts at Clariant comments: "Increasing production capacity for our proprietary, high-performance Houdry catalysts is an important part of Clariant’s growth strategy to capture opportunities driven by shale gas development which creates significant need for on-purpose olefin production. With vast experience gained over decades to support our customers in achieving reliable operation, Clariant is well positioned to serve this market".

As MRC wrote previously, Clariant has recently introduced AddWorks, its new brand for polymer additives solutions. It consists of: AddWorks, application oriented solutions specifically designed by segments of the plastics industry
AddWorks LXR, a new range of polymer additives designed to provide particular effects in a wide variety of applications.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hungarian largest oil and gas company MOL Nyrt. laid the cornerstone of a butadiene plant in a move that may decrease Hungary's dependency on imports of the chemical, said The Wall Street Journal.

MOL is set to invest 120 million euros (USD162.7 million) in the plant of its petrochemical arm TVK, part of the company's 300-billion-forint (USD1.37 billion) three-year investment scheme.

Production of butadiene, a component used in synthetic rubber production, will be supplied to tire makers across Hungary, MOL CEO Zsolt Hernadi said at an event in Tiszaujvaros, northeast Hungary.

The butadiene plant could help boost TVK's profits, because production of the chemical is more profitable than of other polymer products produced by TVK, MOL said in a statement.

The new plant will have an annual output of 130,000 metric tons from the second quarter of 2015, MOL said. MOL was trading 0.6% higher at HUF15,290 at 1116 GMT Tuesday.

Mr. Hernadi was speaking in public for the first time since a Croatian court issued an international arrest warrant against him. He is wanted for a hearing related to a bribery case. Croatia earlier sentenced a former prime minister Ivo Sanader, saying he had accepted bribes to allow MOL management to have rights over Croatian peer INA d.d.

Mr. Hernadi didn't comment on the case. MOL is focusing on business as usual and is committed to solving any problems and issues that come up, he said.

According to MRC, TVK is a significant player in market of polyolefins in Ukraine. Tiszai Vegyi Kombinat (TVK) is a Hungarian manufacturer of olefins and polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene. Feedstock is supplied by MOL of which TVK is a subsidiary and which also processes a major portion of resulting by-products from the olefins plant.

MOL previously said Hungarian authorities had dismissed the allegations against MOL, which now holds a 49.1% share of INA. Hungary's government holds a 24.6% stake in MOL.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PolyOne Corporation has launched Percept Authentication Technologies, a full-spectrum portfolio of brand protection solutions. This new suite of technologies draws from covert, overt and forensic techniques, enabling manufacturers to efficiently protect their products from counterfeiting or unauthorized distribution, as per the company's press release.

Percept technologies include formulation and consultative services to assist manufacturers and brand owners in minimizing the potential risks and loss of revenue from counterfeits in applications such as consumer goods, medical devices, packaging, and consumer electronics.

"Percept technologies are the latest example of our commitment to our solutions-based approach focused on helping customers enhance their brand and grow their business," said John Van Hulle, president of Global Color, Additives and Inks at PolyOne. "This highly customizable set of technologies was developed to help our customers protect and grow market share and reduce risk."

As MRC wrote previously, PolyOne GLS Thermoplastic Elastomers, a global leader in high-performance, custom-formulated thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) solutions, has introduced Versaflex CE thermoplastic elastomers. Created for applications in the consumer electronics market, this family of TPEs enables consumer electronics companies to differentiate their devices through design, performance and market-driven aesthetics. Versaflex CE supports more sustainable manufacturing because it bonds to PC/ABS and other substrates during molding without adhesives.

PolyOne Corporation is a global provider of specialized polymer materials, services, and solutions. PolyOne is a provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, polymer distribution and specialty vinyl resins. The company's full-year revenues in 2012 increased 4.5% to USD3.0 billion, compared to USD2.9 billion in 2011.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian trade deficit in plastic resins and raw materials surged in the first eight months of 2013 to USD615mn from just USD6.7mn in the same period last year, said Bnamericas.

Producers of polyolefins outside Brazil, especially in the US, used their lower production costs to increase their share of a fast growing market.

Imports into Brazil increased 23.6% to USD1.85bn from USD1.5bn, while Brazilian exports fell 17.2% to USD1.24bn from USD1.49bn in the same period last year.

As MRC wrote before, Brazilian imports of plastic resins rose 26% to USD1.39bn in the first half of 2013 from USD1.10bn in the same period last year.

Imports of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) increased 33.4% to USD141mn. Exports dropped 14.5% to USD217mn. The largest exporter of LDPE to Brazil was the US.

Imports of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), 45% of which came from the US, increased 22.8% to USD387mn, while imports of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), 46% of which originated in the US, were up 23.2% to USD312mn.

Imports of polypropylene (PP) increased 19.5% to USD322mn, while imports of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) increased 16.8% to USD386mn. Imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) rose 31.7% to USD152mn.

The figures for August, when the Brazilian real depreciated against the US dollar, were more positive: the trade deficit in plastic resins and other raw materials narrowed 34.4% to USD54.3mn from USD82.8mn in July. Exports increased 12.5% to USD170mn while imports fell 4.1% to USD224mn.
MRC