Grangemouth is currently shut down and will remain shutdown whilst the workforce is consulted about the future

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.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell's UOP and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co. (EMRE) have finalized a technology licensing agreement with a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the companies' announcement.

The deal was arranged under a joint marketing alliance between UOP and EMRE.

The new technology will enable Gazprom to improve its production of refined distillates at its Moscow oil refinery. The refiner will combine UOP Distillate Unionfining hydroprocessing solutions with EMRE's distillate de-waxing technology to produce low-sulfur diesel.

The Moscow refinery will install a hydroprocessing unit using UOP and EMRE technology as part of the plant's modernization program. The project will integrate UOP Distillate Unionfining technology with EMRE's MIDW processes for de-waxing diesel feedstocks.

The addition of the hydrotreating unit will allow the refinery to produce fuel to meet more stringent Euro 5 emissions standards for motor vehicles.

This agreement marks the first project in Russia to be launched under the joint EMRE-UOP alliance formed in 2012.

As MRC wrote previously, this summe,r catalytic cracking and hydrotreating unit and light naphtha isomerisation unit have been put into operation at Gazprom Neft’s Moscow refinery. Commissioning of the new units enabled the refinery to switch to the production of Class-5 fuels, according to Russian motor fuel specifications (Russian equivalent of Euro-5) in 2013, 2,5 years ahead of schedule. The launch of both units marks completion of the first stage of the Moscow refinery modernisation programme aimed at improving the quality of its products.

"Gazprom Neft - Moscow Oil Refinery" is a subsidiary of "Gazprom Neftl". The plant's production capacity is 12.15 million tonnes of oil a year. The company manufactures automotive gasoline, diesel, marine and aviation fuel, fuel oil, high-octane additive to motor gasoline, bitumen and gas for various purposes, as well as polypropylene (PP).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Saudi Acrylic Polymer Company (SAPCO), a joint venture (JV) which has been established by Evonik Industries and the Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC), has signed the Mechanical completion certificate for the superabsorbents polymer plant in Jubail, which was built under Evonik license, said Plastemart.

The signing of the certificate marks an important milestone for the start-up of the plant and the beginning of commercial production in Q4-2013.

"The new facility is the first superabsorbents production plant in the Middle East region", says Patrik Wohlhauser, Evonik Executive Board member and responsible for the Consumer, Health & Nutrition reporting segment. "That underlines Evonik’s strong commitment to the emerging markets and will boost once more our leading position for superabsorbents."

Evonik is a leading global producer of superabsorbents, a key basic material for the manufacture of diapers and feminine hygiene products. The production capacity of the new facility will be around 80,000 metric tons p.a. whereas the overall investment range was in the triple-digit million euro range.

Evonik Industries and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC) have established a joint venture called Saudi Acrylic Polymers Company (SAPCo) for the production of superabsorbents. SAAC is a joint venture of the Saudi companies National Industrialization Company (Tasnee) and Sahara Petrochemicals. The production facility with the capacity of 80,000 metric tpa is scheduled to begin production in late 2013. The total investment will be in the triple-digit million Euro range. The EPC-contract will be assigned to Fluor. The SAPCo superabsorbent production is part of a new acrylic acid and derivative complex on the Tasnee premises of the Al Jubail Chemical Park in Saudi Arabia and will benefit from favorably priced propylene feedstock from the adjacent cracking facility operated jointly by Tasnee, Sahara and Lyondell Basell.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Akron Polymer Systems Inc. has installed a solvent film casting in a new 800-square-foot clean room at the specialty polymer development company, said Plasticsnews.

The machine from Frontier Industrial Technology Inc., which can make cast film up to 18 inches wide, will go into production in October. APS is installing a new laminator on the line. Before starting up the clean room and film line, Akron Polymer Systems had to outsource that production to toll film makers, according to President and CEO Frank Harris. The cast film floats on a blanket of air during the process, he said.

Film is a key part of several Akron Polymer Systems projects, including substrates for flat panel displays and polymers for membranes used in gas separation, water purification and fuel cells.

But Akron Polymer Systems is involved in other product developments as well, such as biodegradable, high-strength polymers, nanotechnology, thermally stable composite resins for missile nose cones, and biomedical innovations such as a plastic implant that enhances bone growth in cancer patients. APS is making the polymer used in research at Methodist Research Hospital in Houston.

The company makes batch sizes of the new polymers, working on joint product and process development, does custom synthesis of new polymers and monomers for large corporations, and imports high-performance polymers and additives.

As MRC wrote before, the University of Akron's department of polymer engineering received a donation valued at $1 million of Moldex3D injection simulation software from CoreTech System. The software allows manufacturers to simulate the flow of polymers into a variety of mold shapes. It also reduces errors, product development costs and expedites time-to-market. The university will use the software to educate polymer engineering students about mold-making for plastic products.

Akron Polymer Systems also worked on technology called in-plane switching films, winning a grant from Ohio's Third Frontier program. Film made by in-plane switching lines up the liquid crystals to give a vivid, clear picture, improving off-angle viewability, such as looking at the screen from a side angle.

Akron Polymer Systems uses a long list of advanced materials, including polyimides, polysulfone, composites and biodegradable polymers for medical. The company's income sources are royalty payments on research and development, government funding, custom synthesis of pilot-plant quantities, sales of imported specialty chemicals and consulting services.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- In order to enhance sustainability within the supply chain the chemical companies BASF, Bayer, Evonik Industries, Henkel, LANXESS and Solvay joined forces in the Together for Sustainability (TfS) initiative, reported Solvay in its press-release.

The TfS initiative has successfully concluded its first year of piloting sustainability assessments and audits in global supply chains.

TfS aims at developing and implementing a global supplier engagement program that assesses and improves sustainability sourcing practices, including ecological and social aspects. Participating suppliers will now only have to complete one form instead of multiple questionnaires with the relevant sustainability information provided to all participating buyers who would otherwise need separate sustainability assessment or audits from these suppliers.

During the initiative’s pilot phase, TfS members have initiated about 2,000 assessments and audits. In the next phase of implementation, which draws on the learnings from the successful pilot phase, TfS will increase its activities to further procurement markets and will look to continue growing by onboarding new members.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem is participating in the bidding to acquire the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) assets of Belgium's Solvay in South America. Braskem said the negotiations had not yet concluded and it could not say when they would be completed. Solvay Indupa operates two industrial sites, one in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, and the other in Santo Andre, in Brazil's Sao Paulo state, that produce PVC plastic and caustic soda. Mexico's Mexichem and Braskem have been seen as the most likely suitors of the assets since Solvay announced its decision to sell them in February this year.

Solvay, with a market share 27%, is the second largest PVC manufacturer in Europe, after Kerling with 29% of the market.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.

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.

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.

Henkel AG & Co. is a manufacturing company making various chemical products including detergents and adhesives, with brands and technologies for consumer and industrial businesses, headquartered in Dusseldorf.

Bayer AG is a German chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in Barmen, Germany in 1863. It is headquartered in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and well known for its original brand of aspirin.
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