BASF expands production of waterborne automotive coatings in Brazil

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's largest petrochemical producer, has invested EUR2.5 million in its Demarchi coatings site, located in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to expand its capacity to service Brazil’s automotive industry with waterborne automotive coatings, as per the company's press release.

The goal is to meet market demands generated by new car makers setting up their plants in the country and by the trend of using waterborne technology rather than solvent-borne. BASF is the pioneer in developing waterborne basecoats for the automotive industry. The technology is eco-efficient because water replaces most of the organic solvents.

In addition to the traditional clients such as GM, Volkswagen, Fiat and PSA, and a strong presence in the segment of coatings for trucks, BASF has in the past years conquered new supply contracts which include car makers such as Hyundai and Chery.

In South America, BASF has two plants where automotive coatings are produced, one in Demarchi, Brazil, and the other in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In 2013, Brazil was the fourth biggest car sales market in the world and on the seventh place worldwide as car producer, according to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA).

As MRC informed before, BASFand its customers are innovating with plastics solutions in Asia Pacific to address the sustainability challenges of the region and the world. Thus, BASF has developed new solutions that will help local and international companies compete in areas such as lightweight solutions that improve automotive fuel efficiency and comfort; consumer product safety; buildings with better environmental performance; and manufacturing efficiency, which is enhanced through accelerated polymer densification and other process innovations.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US supermajor Chevron expects its first quarter earnings to fall from fourth-quarter levels due to impairments and foreign exchange losses, according to its interim quarterly update, said Upstreamonline.

The first two months of 2014 showed hits from "adverse foreign exchange effects" and selected asset impairments, Chevron said. "Absent these impacts, first quarter 2014 earnings are expected to be comparable with the prior quarter’s results," the California-based company said.

Chevron reported net income in the three months to December last year of USD4.93 billion, or USD2.57 per share. That represented more than a 30% drop from a year earlier.

Upstream downtime caused, in part, by weather in early 2014 has affected production so far this year "across multiple regions" including Kazakhstan, Canada, and the US.

But higher demand in Thailand and increased production at the company's LNG facility in Angola have offset some of that decline.

Chevron produced 637,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the US in 2014 through February, down from 650,000 in the fourth quarter. Internationally, production came to 1.94 million boepd, up slightly from the 1.93 million boepd produced in the previous quarter.

The company took an impairment of between USD400 million and USD500 million in the first two months of the year, a loss it chalked up to "primarily mining" and "various upstream assets". The foreign exchange hit resulted in an approximate USD100 million loss. Downstream earnings were also expected to be lower in the first quarter.

As MRC wrote before, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP (Chevron Phillips Chemical) held a groundbreaking ceremony for its U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) Petrochemicals Project at the Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas. The USGC project includes a 1.5 mln metric tpa (3.3 bln lbs/year) ethane cracker to be built at the Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, and two 500,000 mln metric tpa (1.1 bln lbs/year) capacity polyethylene facilities to be built in Old Ocean, Texas.

Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, plastic piping and polymer resins. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC is equally owned by Chevron U.S.A. Inc., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, and by wholly-owned subsidiaries of Phillips 66, and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of polypropylene (PP ) into Russia fell by 27% over the first three months of 2014. An unscheduled outage at Stavrolen did not lead to an increase in imports, according to MRC DataScope.

March PP imports to Russia decreased to 15,700 tonnes (16,600 tonnes in February). Thus, the overall imports of polymers of propylene dropped to 42,800 tonnes in the first quarter of 2014 from 58,700 tonnes from January to March 2013. The unplanned shutdown at Stavrolen's PP production did not lead to an increase in imports. New plants in Omsk and Tobolsk offset this factor, but prices grew in the market.

The overall structure of PP imports by grades over the stated period looks as follows.

Last month's imports of homopolymers of propylene (homopolymer PP) fell to 5,400 tonnes (7,200 tonnes in February). The overall imports of homopolymer PP decreased from January to March to 17,400 tonnes from 29,300 tonnes in the same period of 2013.

March imports of block copolymers of propylene (PP-impact) were about 3,300 tonnes (3,900 tonnes a month earlier). The overall imports of PP-impact decreased over the first three months of the year to 9,700 tonnes, down by 25% year on year.

Imports of statistical copolymer of propylene (PP-random) reached last month 3,100 tonnes (2,800 tonnes in February). Imports of PP-random dropped in the first quarter of 2014 to 7,100 tonnes from 8,700 tonnes over the same period of 2013.

Imports of other polymers of propylene reached 3,900 tonnes in March. Imports of these products totalled 8,600 tonnes in the first quarter of 2014 (7,800 tonnes from January to March 2013).

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exports of polystyrene (PS) from Russia in the first quarter of 2014 almost doubled year on year and totalled 22,000 tonnes, according to MRC ScanPlast.

Such a major growth in exports was caused by the increased PS production this year. High impact polystyrene (HIPS) grades accounted for the most significant increase in exports. The overall HIPS exports totalled 12,200 tonnes over the first three months of the year, while this figure was 4,800 tonnes over the same period a year earlier. Russian plants most increased HIPS shipments to the foreign markets in March. Last month's HIPS exports rose by 1.2 tonnes from February to about 5,200 tonnes, despite reduced shipments to Ukraine. Exports were substantially increased to such countries, as Turkey, Egypt, Belarus and Lithuania.

Kazakhstan and Egypt demonstated positive dynamics in consumption of Russian general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) in the first quarter of 2014. Shipments to Ukraine remained at the last year's level. The overall exports of Russian GPPS rose in the first quarter of the year by 1.6 times to more than 4,000 tonnes.

Export shipments of expandable polystyrene (EPS) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) showed a downward trend. ABS exports fell by 84% because of a growth in domestic consumption and totalled 147 tonnes.

EPS exports dropped by 6% because of the political events in Ukraine (Ukraine accounted for the lion's share of Russian EPS exports) and transport unavalability in April. EPS exports totalled 3,100 tonnes in the first quarter of 2014.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fujian Refining & Petrochemical (FREP) has shut its No.2 high density polyethylene (HDPE)/linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) line for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the line was shut on April 15, 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located in Fujian province, China, the line has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, Jilin Petrochemical shut its HDPE plant for maintenance turnaround on April 10, 2014. The plant is likely to remain off-stream for around one month. Located in Jilin province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

Tthe worldwide LLDPE production is likely to see stable growth in the upcoming years to exceed 31.4 mln tons in 2017, as per the Merchant Research & Consulting. The major market growth stimulators include the rising demand for LLDPE worldwide alongside scheduled capacity additions. Meanwhile, in 2015, in volume terms, the global LLDPE production is likely to climb to 29 mln tonnes.
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