Arkema develops PVDF film for photovoltaic panel sheets

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema, a France-based chemical manufacturer, has presented its new PVDF film for photovoltaic panel back sheets, according to the company's press release.

The lifetime of solar panels spans 25 to 30 years: therefore its components have to deliver long-lasting top performance. A challenge taken up successfully by Arkema thanks to its Kynar PVDF film for PV panel backsheet protection.

Kynar polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film is a key element in the design of the panel for back sheet protection. Its excellent temperature, moisture, abrasion and UV resistance, together with its white color stability which helps reflect light toward the silicon, are key factors in the panel’s long service life.

Recentlty, Arkema has teamed up with German company Krempel to develop a unique back sheet, branded KPK comprising two Kynar films over a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) core film.

"Our premium and very durable three-layers Kynar film has a proven lifetime expectancy of more than 25 years, especially when it is used in the KPK back sheet protection. Sufficiently competitive, this film is very well positioned to serve the domestic market of the photovoltaic solar field, especially in the deserts of the Middle East where abrasion from sandstorms and very high UV sunshine create extreme weather conditions", explains Bernard Schlinquer, Global Manager Kynar Film & Photovoltaics.

Arkema produces Kynar PVDF at its three plants in the US, France and China.

As MRC reported earlier, Arkema has recently officially started its new 60,000 mty emulsion polymers facility on its Changshu platform. The plant, part of Arkema’s Coating Resins business unit, will serve customers in the Asia Pacific region with a full line of waterborne emulsion polymers for coatings and adhesives applications.

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.
MRC

Gazprom eyes USD13.5bn Vladivostok spend

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gazprom is to pump USD13.5 billion into building a planned liquefied natural gas plant and associated infrastructure in the far east of Russia, siad Upstreamonline.

The Russian gas monopoly is to make the investment at the planned LNG plant near Vladivostok, Reuters cited a local governor as saying. The news wire also cited a Gazprom spokesperson as saying the investment figure, double the company’s previous figure of 220 billion rubles (USD6.67 billion today), includes the plant, port and associated infrastructure.

Gazprom plans to complete the first Vladivostok train by the end of 2018, with a throughput capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

A second train is due on line in 2020, doubling the available capacity. However, industry observers in Moscow warned that the project’s LNG may be very expensive to produce and the scheme may never break even, because its main source of gas is more than 3000 kilometres away at the Chayanda field in East Siberia.

As MRC wrote before, Russian Gazprom Neft beat analyst forecasts with a 3% year-on-year increase in third-quarter net profit. The oil-producing arm of state gas export monopoly Gazprom reported a net result of 57.5 billion roubles (USD1.75 billion), compared with 55.95 billion roubles a year earlier, while a Reuters poll of analysts had expected the company to earn 52.3 billion roubles in the latest quarter.

Gazprom Neft, is the fourth largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about 96% of its shares. The company is registered and headquartered in St. Petersburg after central offices were relocated from Moscow in 2011.
MRC

Russian Oil Gas Trade shows interest in Romanian chemical producer Oltchim

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian company Oil Gas Trade is ready to take over Romanian Oltchim chemical plant when Oltchim II will be put up for privatization, said Iliaspapageorgiadis.

"We wait for the creation of this Oltchim II, we are in good relations with the judicial administrators and we are ready to take over the chemical plant," said company’s representative Florin Rozescu, quoted by local news agency Agerpres.

He added the company’s interest for Romania’s Oltchim appeared in June this year when representatives of the company submitted a letter to former Romanian Economy Minister Varujan Vosganian, while on August 1, together with one of the owners, they visited the chemical plant.

"At the end of August, the judicial administrators asked us if we were interested in Oltchim, to finance the chemical plant’s needs with a certain amount of money. On September 12 we have provided an amount of EUR 50 million necessary for capitalization, raw materials and for the plant to move forward in order to register increased production," added Florin Rozescu.

Oltchim has been under insolvency procedures since January 2013. This came soon after the state failed to privatize Oltchim in its first privatization stage, which was won by media mogul Dan Diaconescu, who then failed to pay the pledged amount.

In September this year, Oltchim recorded a turnover of EUR 11.4 million, double than the EUR 5.6 million registered in the same month of 2012.

Based at Ramnicu Valcea in southern Romania, Oltchim produces caustic soda, petrochemicals, agrochemicals, inorganic products and building materials, including insulating PVC for panels, doors and window frames.
MRC

Rosneft eyes USD3bn spend on field trio

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian oil giant Rosneft is to pump nearly USD3 billion into developing a trio of oilfields in East Siberia, said Upstreamonline.

The Moscow-based behemoth is to spend 92 billion rubles (USD2.79 billion) on the three fields by 2015, Reuters cited a company official as saying on Thursday.

The field developments are set to feed into the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline feeding Asian markets.

The three fields are expected to add to production from the Vankor field. Although the report did not confirm the fields set for the development cash, it pointed to the Suzun, Tagul and Lodochnoye fields as seen by Rosneft as contributing flows to the ESPO.

As MRC wrote before, Rosneft and Mitsui have signed an agreement to jointly develop the massive Far East Petrochemical Company (FEPCO) project. The deal was signed by Rosneft president Igor Sechin and by Shintaro Ambe, representative director of Mitsui & Co., in the presence of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

MOL Group enters into manufacturing synthetic rubber in Hungary through JSR joint-venture

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Public Limited Company hereby informs the capital market participants that it has reached an agreement with JSR Corporation (JSR) to establish a joint venture in Hungary and construct a new plant to manufacture solution polymerization styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR), said MOL Group.

The establishment of the joint venture is subject to obtaining the necessary clearance from the relevant competition authorities. The joint venture will be incorporated with 51% of the total shares held by JSR and 49% held by MOL. The new plant capacity will be 60,000 tons per annum, with the sales launch scheduled for 2017. A capacity expansion is also under investigation and will be implemented in accordance with the demand increase of S-SBR.

Located in Hungary, the joint venture has advantages in access to Western Europe, a focal point for major tire manufacturers, as well as to Central-Eastern Europe, Russia, and Turkey, where the expansion of tire production is expected. Furthermore, some major tire manufacturers have already commenced their operations in Hungary. Utilizing MOL’s plant infrastructures and JSR’s S-SBR production technologies and sales networks, we will establish joint management in order to take care of the expansion of demand.

Featuring a characteristic molecular structure, S-SBR is highly valued worldwide as a raw material of a fuel-efficient tire known as an "eco-friendly tire", due to its excellent industry-leading properties suited to fuel-efficient tires and wet grip performance. The market of S-SBR is currently observing the tightening regulations on automobile fuel consumption and CO2 emissions on a global basis, the dissemination of a rating system for fuel efficiency of tires in Japan, Europe, and Korea, and the expected introduction of such a rating system in many other countries in the future. With this as a background, the demand for S-SBR for fuel-efficient tires is expected to expand.

In order to seize strategic business development opportunities MOL Group through its subsidiary TVK targets to build a 130,000 tons per annum capacity butadiene extraction unit at the same location, in Tiszaujvaros by 2015. The partnership with JSR provides MOL Group the opportunity to further diversify its petrochemical product line along the value chain by entering the S-SBR market as MOL Group can stably provide the joint venture with raw materials.

As MRC wrote before, 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. 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.
MRC