Grangemouth staff sign revised Ineos contract

MOSCOW (MRC) -- All 1,350 staff at the Ineos site in Grangemouth have signed up to the company’s revised pension plan as well as accepted its new terms and conditions, as per Ein News.

As part of the arrangements, it is confirmed that current salaries for the existing workforce will remain unchanged.

According to the company, the acceptance of these changes represents the next milestone in securing the GBP300m investment needed for the company to continue trading and build a new terminal to import Shale Gas from the USA.

Calum MacLean, Ineos Grangemouth (UK) chairman, said: "This is another important step in the rebirth of the Grangemouth site. With our costs coming under control, the shareholders are committed to making good on their promise of a ?300m investment, which will allow us to build a new terminal and use US shale gas as a new raw material for the petrochemicals site."

Ineos is also to more than double the number of apprentices and graduate recruits over the next three years, added MacLean.

As MRC wrote previously, in December 2013, Ineos unveilsed a plan that will transform the economics of the loss-making Grangemouth site, making it almost instantly profitable. Britain is to see its first deliveries of US shale-derived gas in 2016 when Ineos completes a GBP300m investment programme at its Grangemouth plant in Scotland.

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) -- Fushun Petrochemical has shut a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant for maintenance turnaround, said Apic-Online.

A source in China informed that the plant was shut on January 7, 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month. Located in Fushun, Liaoning province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, a subsidiary of PetroChina - Fushun Petrochemical - in the second half of this year, started production of basic petrochemical products at its new plant in Fushun, Liaoning Province, China. The design capacity of the petrochemical complex is 300,000 tonnes per year of polypropylene (PP), 350,000 tonnes per year of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and 450,000 tonnes per year of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE).

PetroChina Company Limited is a Chinese oil company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer and the most profitable company in Asia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- European producers have announced an increase in January polyvinyl chloride (PVC) prices by EUR10-20/tonne for the CIS countries following rising ethylene prices, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The January contract ethylene price in Europe was agreed by EUR15/tonne higher than in December. Consequently, increased ethylene prices pushed up the production cost of PVC by EUR7,5/tonne. However, European producers announced a more substantial increase in January PVC prices for the CIS markets.

Deals for January shipments of suspension polyvinylchloride (SPVC) were negotiated in the range of EUR780-830/tonne FCA this week. Some producers said that due to the relatively warm weather they had no problems with sales. Therefore, they were forced to limit their export quotas.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The blast occurred in the afternoon at the plant run by Mitsubishi Materials in Yokkaichi city, reported BBC News with reference to Mie prefecture.

At least five people have been killed in an explosion at a chemical factory in central Japan. The number of injured has ranged, in reports, from 12 to 17.

Maintenance crews were cleaning out a heat exchanger used in the production of silicon products when the blast happened, officials said.

It is not clear at this stage what caused the explosion, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Japan.

The plant manufactures polymers and uses a number of highly-volatile chemicals including hydrogen and chlorine, he adds.

Emergency officials said there had been no fire and the situation was quickly contained.

Mitsubishi Materials - a division of the huge Mitsubishi Corporation - makes a range of automotive, electronics, and construction and engineering products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC) is expected to shut its ethylene dichloride (EDC) and vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plants for maintenance, according to Apic-online.

Located at Mesaieed Industrial city in Qatar, the EDC and VCM plants have production capacities of 500,000 mt/year and 300,000 mt/year, respectively.

According to a Polymerupdate source in Qatar, both the plants are likely to be taken off-stream for a maintenance turnaround in March 2014. The period of the shutdown could not be ascertained.

As MRC reported earlier, Qatar’s chemical and petrochemical industry’s planned investments will further increase the country’s export portfolio to 23 million tonnes per year by 2020, from 10 million tonnes in 2013, as per Muntajat CEO Abdulrahman Ali Al-Abdulla's statement. As demand for chemicals and petrochemicals continues to rise, the Gulf petrochemicals industry continues to be the largest producer and exporter in the world, accounting for 11% of the USD 600 billion global market, he said.
MRC