Arkema inaugurates its first R&D center in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema, a France-based chemical manufacturer, has inaugurated its first R&D Center in China on 17 October on the Changshu industrial site in the presence of the Chinese authorities, according to the company's press release.

At the cutting edge of technology, this new center will provide development capacities as well as ideal local support for the Group’s customers in China and South-East Asia. Alongside the group’s KTC (Kyoto Technical Center) in Japan, it bolsters Arkema’s growth ambition in Asia, with the group looking forward to achieving almost 30% of its sales in fast growing regions by 2016.

Ideally located 80 kilometers to the North-West of Shanghai, the Changshu platform, Arkema’s largest industrial site in the world, now hosts an R&D Center in close proximity to its customers in this, a strategic region for the company.

The Changshu Research and Development Center (CRDC) offers geographic and technical complementarity with the group’s nine other research and development centers, in particular the Kyoto Center in Japan, which this year celebrates its 20 years of existence.

The new center helps speed up the development of customized products and solutions for Arkema’s customers in China and South-East Asia in fast-growing markets, namely batteries, photovoltaics, electronics packaging, automotive, cable, sports and paint. Arkema's CRDC provides genuine expertise and first-rate customer support on the group’s products, in particular high performance materials, fluorinated polymers, organic peroxides, and performance coatings.

Finally, the CRDC boasts state-of-the-art equipment, including application laboratories for batteries, membranes and coatings, a center of excellence for thermoplastics (extrusion, injection, etc.), a process expertise center (pilot reactor systems, polymerization, distillation), as well as a training center for customers.

As MRC informed previously, this summer Arkema introduced a comprehensive range of PEKK (Poly Ether Ketone Ketone) ultra high performance polymers comprised of three families of products whose properties meet the requirements of aerospace, oil exploration and electronics applications. These new materials significantly expand Arkema’s high performance materials offerings to high added value markets.

Arkema with annual revenue of EUR6.4 billion is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fluor's ICA Fluor industrial engineering-construction joint venture with Empresas ICA signed a contract to revamp the vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant located within the Pajaritos petrochemical complex in Mexico, located near Veracruz, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The VCM plant is run by Petroquimica Mexicana de Vinilo (PMV), a joint venture between Mexichem, the leading Mexican petrochemical company, and Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil and gas company.

The total contract value is approximately USD205 million. Fluor said it will book its USD102.5 million share of the contract in the fourth quarter of 2013.

ICA Fluor will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance and commissioning services to bring the VCM facility to its nameplate capacity of 405,000 tpy, up from its current rate of 200,000 tpy.

The project is planned to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015.

This revamp project will correct problems that have prevented the plant from reaching its nameplate capacity.

As MRC reported earlier, in mid-September 2013, Mexico's state-owned oil Pemex and Mexichem entered into a joint venture, which will enable greater competitiveness of the domestic petrochemical industry in the global market through the integration of a new company, which will create value to the chlorine-vinyl chain. The joint venture includes a cash investment and assets contribution up to the amount of USD518 million.

Mexichem is the Latin American leader in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

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. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Grangemouth refining and chemicals complex has only been shutdown twice in the last 40 years; during the Unite strike in 2008 and again this October in preparation for the strike that Unite announced last week, according to the company's press release.

The company claims that it was being encouraged to restart the complex immediately, but this is impossible to do on safety grounds, which Ineos explains, as follows:

The Grangemouth site is 3 times the size of the city of London and it is an incredibly complex system of manufacturing plants all connected by miles of pipes carrying highly flammable materials. Shutting down the site and restarting again is not like switching the lights off and on. It takes days to shut down properly and it takes weeks to bring it back up again.

When Unite forced Ineos to shut down in 2008, there were two major incidents and it took 8 weeks to get back to normal. A repeat of that this time would mean no production before Christmas.

INEOS is considering now the risks associated with restart and the additional risks that may be caused by further industrial action.

As MRC reported ealier, Ineos is considering closing its Grangemouth facility in what has been described by union representatives as a "shocking" attempt to browbeat the work. Company chairman Jim Ratcliffe described the plant as "expensive", citing "old-fashioned pensions" as a being a prime cause for concern. He was quoted as saying: "To have a future, it needs cheap feedstocks and a sensible cost structure. If we can’t resolve those issues it would need to shut down."

On 13 October Ineos invited the Unite union for talks in a bid to prevent workers at Ineos’s Grangemouth, United Kingdom operations from going on 48-hour strike on 20 October. These talks were intended to find a way to resolve the dispute over Stephen Deans, an employee representative on the site and to prevent strike action planned by the union, as well as financial issues. Ineos said it has started the process of taking the plants down in anticipation of the strike.

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) -- Petroleos Mexicanos, said it will complete the second phase of the Los Ramones natural gas pipeline after rejecting a bid from Enagas and GDF Suez, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Pemex, will construct the 740 km phase of the pipeline by 2015, the company said today in an e-mailed statement. Enagas submitted the sole bid for the project, which will connect with Los Ramones initial phase to extend from the Texas border to the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.

The Enagas bid, which was a joint proposal with GDF Suez, was voided because it "did not meet the requested requirements," the company said.

Pemex said it will pair with TAG Pipelines, a subsidiary of MGI International, to complete the second phase and plans to decide how to finance the next phase within the next few days.

IEnova, Sempra Energy’s Mexico unit, owns 50 % of the pipeline’s first phase along with a Pemex subsidiary. Mexico needs about USD13 billion for gas pipelines, according to a Credit-Suisse research note on September 26. Mexico’s natural gas demand increased 5.7 % annually during the last 10 years, Pemex has said.

Mexico's state-owned oil Pemex signed a noncommercial agreement with Exxon Mobil to share technical and scientific information of mutual interest. Pemex said in a press release that the five-year agreement renews the two oil companies' relations in matters of cooperation.

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. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Grangemouth is today commencing direct consultations with employees on the changes to pensions and terms & conditions at the site that will secure their future, said the producer in its press release.

The company is going directly to its employees because the Unite trade union has repeatedly refused to engage on these crucial issues.

The proposed changes have already been highlighted in the company’s Survival Plan and would mean that in future employees would be offered a top quality money purchase pension scheme to replace the unaffordable final salary scheme receive a transition payment for pension change of between GBP2,500 and GBP15,000 depending on service
maintain their top quartile salary (typically GBP55,000 per year) have a more modern approach to work place representation Calum MacLean, INEOS Grangemouth (UK) chairman, says, "This is D Day for Grangemouth. The site is safely closed whilst we consult the workforce. If we can get the changes we want, the company has committed to investing a further ?300 million in the site which will help secure its long term survival".

The shareholders have expressed extreme concern that the industrial action over recent days has cost the site GBP20 million at a time when losses are already GBP10 million per month. The site cannot afford this; hence the urgent need for employees to decide to support the company.

Calum MacLean, INEOS Grangemouth (UK) chairman, says, "We are going to give our employees a few days over the weekend to reflect on our proposals and then get their feedback. This feedback will be critical in influencing the shareholders in their decisions about what to do next".

As MRC wrote before, INEOS has announced that Grangemouth is financially distressed, according to the company's statement. The industrial action called by Unite the Union has inflicted significant further damage on the company. INEOS will put a proposal to the workforce today and expects a response on Monday, after the weekend. The company will review its position with its shareholders on Tuesday.

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