Lukoil posts 1.9% annual output rise

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian independent Sika has said it expects to report production up 1.9% for 2013 as efforts to arrest falling output in West Siberia and expand overseas start to bear fruit, said Upstreamonline.

Lukoil's overall production fell in 2010 and 2011, and registered a 0.5% increase in 2012. The Moscow-headquartered explorer said it increased production to around 911 million barrels in 2013, according to preliminary figures.

The output includes oil production up 0.9% to around 635 million barrels and gas production up 4.9% to 25.8 billion cubic metres. Reserve replacement for the year is expected to be 112%, Lukoil said.

Lukoil is planning exploration in Iraq, West Africa, Romania, the Baltic Sea, the Komi Republic, Samara Oblast and the northern Caspian Sea over the coming year.

It is aiming to see commercial hydrocarbon production start at Iraq’s giant West Qurna-2 field during the first half of 2014. The explorer announces its full results for 2013 in March.

As MRC wrote before, OAO Lukoil subsidiary Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD has secured a EUR420 million line of credit from five international banks to finance the modernization of its Burgas, Bulgaria, refinery along the Black Sea.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hungarian vinyl flooring manufacturer Graboplast has started production at its new Euro 2.7 million (USD3.7 million) PVC recycling plant at Tatabanya in the north west of the country, said Recyclinginternational.

Said to achieve 'a major production cost saving', the facility has a capacity of 1000 tonnes per year and is designed to reduce raw material requirements at the company's flooring plants in Tatabanya and Gyor by 6-8%.

The technology includes a special grinding process that breaks PVC flooring into small pieces and then cools it to -100°C. The resulting glass-like material is then vaporised, allowing it to be used in the manufacture of new products.

The 600-square-metre processing hall was built with the help of EU and Hungarian government funds of almost Euro 800 000 (USD1.09 million).

Meanwhile, Graboplast has started building a new Euro 20 million (USD27 million) facility in Tatabanya for the production of luxury vinyl tile flooring.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company has announced that the SCG-Dow Group, a joint venture between Dow and Siam Cement Group, has finalized the start-up of its new propylene oxide (PO) facility in Thailand by successfully completing its full capacity performance test, as per Ein News.

Dow reached a key milestone in October 2011 when the plant achieved stable production levels in preparation for the full capacity run scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011. The new facility met that target on time by successfully completing the full capacity run on November 22, 2011 - only two months after starting raw material feeds to this new plant. Additionally, the plant exceeded expectations for all quality and yield performance parameters.

The world-scale plant, located within the Asia Industrial Estates (AIE) site near Map Ta Phut, Thailand, has a name plate capacity of 390,000 tonnes per annum of PO via the innovative hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide (HPPO) technology.

"Dow's investment in this new facility strategically enhances its existing position as the global capacity leader in PO and better positions its derivative businesses such as Polyurethanes and Propylene Glycol," said Steven English, global vice president, Dow Polyurethanes. "As a global strategic source point, Dow can better serve customers of these life-enhancing industries in Asia and beyond."

As MRC informed earlier, last year, Dow Chemical signed a long-term ethylene off-take agreement with a new Japanese joint venture that will allow the chemical producer to enhance its performance plastics franchise. The joint venture was formed between Japanese companies Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsui & Co. to construct and operate a Linear Alpha Olefins unit on the US Gulf Coast.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and synthetic rubber. Besides, Dow is the world's largest producer of propylene oxide (PO), propylene glycol (PG), and polyether polyols, and is a leading producer of quality aromatic isocyanates, such as MDI and TDI. Dow's polyurethane products enhance a broad range of applications including construction, automotive, furniture, bedding, appliance, decorative molding, athletic equipment and more.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bolstered by a late winter, Sika AG's sales picked up momentum in the 4th quarter of 2013. Total sales grew 9.4% in local currencies in the 2013 financial year, according to producer's press-release.

Adjusted for exchange rates, sales were 6.5% higher at CHF 5.14 billion. This positive development is largely due to organic growth. The rapid integration of acquisitions also helped to drive growth momentum.

5.9% of the overall sales increase reported in the 2013 financial year was attributable to organic growth, to which all regions contributed. Acquisition-related sales growth came to 3.5%. The strong Swiss franc produced a negative currency effect of 2.9%. This resulted in 6.5% sales growth in Swiss francs. In light of the demanding conditions prevailing in numerous markets, the results achieved bear testimony to the strength and robustness of Sika's growth strategy.

The region EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) reported 8.5% growth for 2013. This positive trend was driven primarily by organic growth in Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the UK, as well as by acquisitions.

The accelerated build-up of business in the emerging markets produced sales growth of 17.2% in local currencies and 11.8% in Swiss francs. The proportion of sales generated by the emerging markets increased to 38% (previous year:37%).

Through investments in emerging markets, the launch of new products, and the acquired companies, Sika is poised to continue its growth strategy in the current year 2014. That being said, the significant currency movements witnessed in the past few months and the process of integrating the newly acquired companies present a challenge in terms of sales growth and costs items.

As MRC wrote before, AkzoNobel N.V., a paints and coatings company and a maker of specialty chemicals sold its Building Adhesives business for 260 million euros to Swiss-based Sika AG in 2013.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The rise in earnings of Advanced Petrochemical Co. (APC) was mainly driven by the increase in production, as product prices rose 5% in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter and sales grew 8%, reported Ein News with reference to CEO Abdullah Al Qarie's interview with Alarabiya TV.

He added that his company is studying new investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia, in addition to overseas markets of the US and Canada. Asked whether the company may borrow through issuing Sukuk, the top official asserted that the company's credit ability is very strong.

APC had posted a 38% rise in Q4-13 net earnings to above SAR 161 million, beating estimates of SAR 153.5 million.

As MRC wrote previously, in 2012, Advanced Petrochemical Company (Advanced) and Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (Satorp) signed on a sales agreeent for the supply of 50,000 tonnes per year of propylene from Satorp Refinery to be built in Jubail Industrial City (2) to Advanced. Under this agreement, Satorp will provide Advanced with 50,000 tonnes of propylene annually for an initial period of three years and it will be renewed on an annual basis. And it is expected to commence supply starting from January 1, 2014 and Satorp will supply propylene by a pipeline from Jubail (2) to Jubail (1).
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