SIBUR International be headed by Andrey Frolov

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Andrey Frolov has been appointed Executive Director of SIBUR International GmbH, succeeding Ilya Gushchin, who left the company for another job, as per the company's press release.

At the same time, Andrey Frolov will continue serving as Director for Methodology, Monitoring, Sales Development and Marketing at SIBUR.

SIBUR International's Moscow office will be headed by Marat Avetisov.

As MRC wrote before, SIBUR has recently sold its 100% stake in OJSC Plastik (Uzlovaya, Tula Region, Russia) to the group of private investors. The deal value totalled RUB 575 million. Production of geosynthetics (geogrids and nonwoven geotextiles), spinned off as OOO Plastik-Geosintetika (a joint venture between SIBUR and Leader Innovations Closed-End Venture Capital Fund) in 2010, was not included in the transaction and continues to operate as part of SIBUR Group.

SIBUR International GmbH is SIBUR's export division, providing trading and logistic services to SIBUR and other companies in the industry, specialising in export and distribution of Russian petrochemicals in Europe and Asia. The company operates warehouse facilities at the ports of the Black and Baltic Seas, which accept, store and ship freight. Currently, SIBUR International ships goods to 60 countries.

In 2010, SIBUR established SIBUR International Trading (Shanghai) Co., selling petrochemicals to Chinese companies. SIBUR's trading companies also operate in Turkey and Ukraine.

SIBUR is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company, which operate Russia's largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and are the leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- British Columbia’s proposed tax on natural gas exports provides long-awaited financial clarity to energy companies deciding whether to spend as much as USD240 billion to start shipping the fuel from Canada’s Pacific Coast, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Profits from liquefied natural gas, or LNG, projects will be taxed at an initial rate of 1.5%, Michael de Jong, finance minister for the nation’s westernmost province, said as the government released its budget for the fiscal year beginning in April. The rate will rise to as much as 7% after companies recover the costs of building the shipping terminals.

The province plans to erase its debt with revenues from the LNG sector, which may add CD1 trillion (USD913 billion) to its economy by 2046. ExxonMobil, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell are among companies seeking to liquefy low-cost Canadian gas so it can be shipped to Asian markets that pay as much as five times more than North America.

The province said its tax and royalty rates will be lower than in Australia and five US states, where competing projects are being built.

The government plans to seek approval of the rates from the legislature before the end of the year. Additional regulations related to gas exports are expected in 2015. The tax won’t be collected until plants are running, after 2017, de Jong said.

More than a dozen LNG projects have been proposed in British Columbia as producers seek to capitalize on Canadian fields including the Montney Shale, estimated to contain 449 trillion cubic feet of gas. No companies have yet made a final decision to proceed.

British Columbia plans to collect CD1.23 billion from its carbon tax in the fiscal year starting in April and C$441 million from gas royalties, according to budget documents. The province taxes carbon emitted within its boundaries at a level of CD30 a metric ton.

As MRC wrote before, Malaysia's state oil and gas company Petronas plans to invest USD20 billion in its liquefied natural gas project in West Canada, one of the biggest investments aimed at capitalizing on cheap North American gas. The company is planning two LNG trains of 6 million tpy each under the Pacific NorthWest LNG project by the end of 2019.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Despite weak demand prices of low density polyethylene (LDPE) increased on average by Rb1,000-2 000/tonne in February. Some producers already announced plans to increase prices in March, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The beginning of 2014 was quite difficult for the Russian LDPE market. Helped by stronger export sales, PE price has been increasing since the beginning of the year, despite weak demand and limited working capital.

Russian LDPE rose by Rb1,000-2,000/tonne for February, and some producers announced plans to increase price in March further.

Because of the seasonal pressure Russian producers have swithced to export sales; Russia's LDPE exports since December 2013 was about 19,800 tonnes.

The devaluation of the rouble against the dollar in January has made exports more profitable. More than 14,100 tonnes of polyethylene were exported over the three weeks of February.

Despite approaching of the seasonal rise in LDPE demand in the domestic market, the producers do not intend to decrease exports.

Demand for polyethylene was weak, but stable in February. Purchases volumes were reduced because of the limited working capital and weak demand for finished products. Disruptions in LDPE shipments LDPE at some producers, which had export quality problems, fueled the market.

Russian producers have small stock inventories of LDPE at the present. Some producers said they sold all their monthly volume PE for the production of shrinkable films last week. There were also rumours that Kazanorgsintez and Ufaorgsintez, which have suspended PE sales, are going to increase price for March.

The most tense situation is in the market of 108 LDPE. Supply for PE is tight, with prices this week risen to Rb60,500-61,500/tonne FCA, including VAT.

Market participants are waiting for the seasonal rise in demand and scheduled maintenance at the key supplier - Kazanorgsintez in April.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - In January imports of titanium dioxide to Russia fell by 19% compared to January 2013 and was 3,800 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope report.

Market players said decrease in imports in January resulted from overstocked inventories from last year because of weak demand in autumn.
The leader in January imports to Russia was DuPont. Total imports of titanium dioxide to Russia was 940 tonnes in January.
January imports of Ukrainian titanium dioxide was 1,200 tonnes. The greatest demand for Ukrainian material was Crimea TiOx-220 by Crimean Titan production, with total imports amounted to 480 tonnes.

There is no domestic production of titanium dioxide in Russia. The needs of paints producers, PVC converters and paper producers are met through imports. Total imports of titanium dioxide to Russia was 74,800 tonnes in 2013, up 14% from the level in 2012.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- There was an accident at Stavrolen (part of LUKOIL Group), one of the largest Russian producers of polymers, reported MRC analysts.

Depressurization of a valve took place at Stavrolen's site, unit No. 2, at 12.35 (local time), followed by a fire. The plant's polyethylene and polypropylene production were shut down.

There were no official reports of victims, causes and consequences of the accident.

Stavrolen is the second largest Russian HDPE producer after Kazanorgsintez and the third largest PP producer after Nizhnekamskneftekhim and Tomskneftekhim. Stavrolen"s HDPE and PP annual production capacities are 300,000 tonnes and 120,000 tonnes, respectively.
MRC