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

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

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

MOSCOW (MRC) - October production of finished products made from polymers in Russia decreased, following nine months of growth. Production volumes of key products from polymers decreased by 0.8% in October compared with the September level, according to MRC.

Production in one of the key sectors - polymer pipes, hoses and fittings dropped significantly in October. Production growth of other finished products made from polymers also slowed.

In general, October results looked as follows. According to the Federal State Statistics Service, the production volume of pipes, hoses and fittings made ??of polymers fell to 50,400 tonnes in October, from 56,100 tonnes in September. Total production of these products was about 496,500 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, down 17.7% year on year.

October production of plates, films and combined sheets was 76,800 tonnes, from 74,500 tonnes a month earlier.
Total production of these polymer products reached 704,900 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, which is only up 0.5% year on year.

October output of plates, sheets, porous and combined films in Russia rose to 20,500 tonnes, up 2.4% from the September level. Total production of these products was 173,200 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, up by 16.5% year on year.

October production of plastic windows and window sills rose to 3.4 mln square meters, compared to 3.1 mln square meters in September. Total production of these polymer products reached 23.5 mln square meters in the first ten months of the year, up by 8.5% year on year.

October production of plastic doors and door boxes was about 108,000 square meters, up by 9.9% from the September level. In general, production of these products in Russia was 814,400 tonnes in the ten months of the year, down by 3.4% year on year.

October production of polymer bottles and flasks reached 958 mln units. Total production of these products was about 11.3 bln units in the first ten months of the year, down by 1.2% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP, the petrochemical venture of US oil producer Chevron Corp. and refiner Phillips 66, has announced the completion of its study to expand normal alpha olefin (NAO) capacity at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas, and receipt of approval to proceed with detailed engineering, design and procurement of long-lead equipment, according to the company's press release.

The capacity expansion is targeting a 20% minimum increase in a phased approach. Final project approval will be sought in the first quarter of 2014.

Construction would be targeted to commence in the first quarter of 2014, and the project would be completed in the second quarter of 2015.

"This is a critical milestone in meeting our goals to remain a consistent and reliable supplier to our customers and to meet their growth strategies," said Mitch Eichelberger, general manager of normal alpha olefins and polyalphaolefins for Chevron Phillips Chemical. "We are well-positioned to take full advantage of the abundant resources from shale resource development and to support our customers as they continue to grow their businesses."

Normal alpha olefins and their derivatives are used extensively as polyethylene co-monomers, plasticizers, synthetic motor oils, lubricants, automotive additives, surfactants, paper sizing, and in a wide range of specialty applications.

As MRC informed earlier, Yokogawa Electric Corp. has been recently selected as the main automation contractor for Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP’s USGC Petrochemicals Project. The project, first announced in March 2011, will include an ethane cracker with capacity to produce 1.5 mln tpa and two new polyethylene facilities, each with an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes. The ethane cracker will be built at Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas, and two polyethylene units will be built at a site in Old Ocean, also in Texas and near Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Sweeny plant.

Chevron Phillips Chemica, headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas (north of Houston), US,l is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, piping, and proprietary plastics. Chevron and Phillips 66 each own 50% of Chevron Phillips Chemical.
MRC