BASF to build new world-scale plant for specialty amines in Ludwigshafen

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's petrochemical major, is building a new world-scale plant for the production of specialty amines in Ludwigshafen (Germany), reported the company on its site.

Start-up of the facility with a total annual capacity of about 12,000 metric tons is scheduled for 2015. The product range of this flexible multi-product plant comprises 15 amines for different applications. The major applications are in the construction, automotive, crop protection and pharmaceutical industries. With this new facility, BASF is expanding its global production network of amines with plants in Ludwigshafen and Schwarzheide in Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; Geismar, Louisiana; and Nanjing, China.

"With the new plant we are responding to our customers’ demand for specialty amines, particularly in Europe," said Sanjeev Gandhi, President, BASF Intermediates division. "We have decades of experience in developing and manufacturing amines, and with the new plant we are reinforcing our global leadership position in these versatile intermediates."

As MRC wrote before, BASF had announced in March that it is building another new multi-product plant for the production of specialty amines at the BASF Verbund site in Nanjing, China. The main products of this plant, which is due to start-up operations in 2015, will be dimethylaminopropylamine (DMAPA) and polyetheramine (PEA).

With about 200 different amines, BASF has the world’s most diverse portfolio of this type of chemical intermediates. Along with alkyl-, alkanol-, alkoxyalkylamines, the company offers heterocyclic and aromatic as well as specialty amines. The range is completed by an expanding portfolio of chiral amines of high optical and chemical purity. The versatile products are used mainly to manufacture process chemicals, pharmaceuticals and crop protection products, as well as cosmetic products and detergents. They also serve to produce coatings, special plastics, composites and special fibers.

The BASF Group’s Intermediates division develops, produces and markets a comprehensive portfolio of more than 700 intermediates around the world. Its most important product groups include amines, diols, polyalcohols, acids and specialties. Among other applications, intermediates are used as starting materials for coatings, plastics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, detergents and crop protectants. Around the globe the division generated sales to third parties of about EUR2.8 billion in 2013.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s has emphasizes its commitment to supporting the changing needs and future growth of China’s plastics industry, according to the companie's press release.

The company identifies latest supply- and service-related investments and solutions that respond to the megatrends affecting the region, and local needs for more innovative and sustainable products for end-markets such as packaging and Electrical & Electronics (E&E). Clariant’s established operations in more than 18 major cities across Greater China, include production facilities, sales offices and technical service centers.

In 2013, Clariant’s sales in the Greater China region increased by 7.3% compared to 2012, and reached CHF 646 million. With its strong presence in China, Clariant understands the needs of the local market and is committed to enhancing its capability to respond to the megatrends of China’s development and the evolving demand of local customers.

Planned investment to strengthen its on-the-ground support for customers will include new units at Clariant’s production site in Zhenjiang, making good use of logistics and proximity to markets. Here, Business Unit Additives is currently evaluating options for a new Ceridust production facility to provide micronized waxes for the domestic market, and the addition of new capacity for polymer additives preparations to serve strategic markets with Addworks solutions for the Fibers, Agriculture, Packaging, E&E and Automotive industries.

Following its acquisition of the Organic Pigment Business of Jiangsu Multicolor Fine Chemical Co., Ltd (JMC) in 2013, the Business Unit Pigments will construct a world scale PV 23 plant at Zhenjiang, planned to open in 2016. At its Guangzhou plant, Clariant’s Business Unit Masterbatches is in the process of doubling production capacity to better serve local market demand and special customer requests. The Business Unit Pigments is the first and only manufacturer in the world to provide customers with a portfolio of 15 non-halogenated pigments for electronic applications. BU Pigments also offers a broad range of high quality pigments and dyes with low halogen values. These products meet the most recognized environmental standards pertaining to the use of halogens in consumer goods.

Clariant Mining is a leading provider of flotation chemicals and explosion emulsifiers to the global mining industry. Clariant Mining's strong and growing team of technical experts operates around the globe and is dedicated to providing world-class specialty chemical solutions that add value to customers' mining operations.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia will give all the necessary support to Shell in the Anglo-Dutch supermajor’s projects in the country, said Upstreamonline, citing President Vladimir Putin.

Putin, under pressure from international powers over continued destabilisation in Ukraine, met with Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden in Moscow on Friday.

"I am very pleased that your company plans to expand its area of activities in Russia," Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted the president as saying to van Beurden. The president’s office carried photographs of the meeting.

"Either along agreements with your partners or during the implementation of your own projects in Russia, we will render all the necessary administrative support or any other form of assistance," Putin continued.

Shell has a large presence in oil and gas-rich Russia, including at the Sakhalin-2 project off the country’s far eastern region.

"We are proud both about our Sakhalin-2 project and cooperation with Russia in general," van Beurden said. "During our latest meeting with (Gazprom chief executive) Alexei Miller, we came to a conclusion that we need to continue developing this project."

As MRC wrote before, Shell and Gazprom Neft have kicked off pilot shale oil exploration under their joint venture partnership in Siberia. The pair’s Russia-based joint venture Salym Petroleum Development said it had started drilling the first of five pilot horizontal wells this year and next year.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

Moscow (MRC) - Imports of polypropylene (PP) to Belarus increased by 5% in January and February 2014, with the main increase occurred for supplies of propylene copolymers, according to MRC analysts.

Total PP imports to Belarus were 10,800 tonnes in January and February 2014, compared with 10,300 tonnes in the same period a year earlier. Demand for homopolymer PP decreased by 8.1% over the reported period, while imports of propylene copolymers grew by of 58.2%.

Imports for homopolymer PP to Belarus decreased to 7,600 tonnes in the first two months of 2014, compared with 8,200 tonnes in the same period of 2013.

Russian producers increased their PP supplies because of lower price level (their shipments rose to 4,300 tonnes over the reported period, from 3,600 year on year), while European PP imports dropped.

Imports of propylene copolymers to Belarus increased to 3,200 tonnes in the first two months of the year, compared with 2,000 tonnes year on year.

All importers increased their supplies to the country over the reported period. The main suppliers over the reported period were producers from Germany (1,800 tonnes) and Czech Republic (over 500 tonnes).

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to Belarus fell by 40% over the first two months of 2014, which was caused by a slump in demand for finished products, according MRC analysts.

PVC imports into Belarus fell in January and February of 2014 to 3,400 tonnes from 5,700 tonnes a year earlier. PVC shipments were cut from Europe and the US because of a major fall in demand for finished products from PVC, particularly, for shaped and linear articles.

Some Belarusian converters were forced to shut down their production for maintenance as early as December 2013 because of almost a complete absence of demand for finished products from PVC both in the domestic and foreign markets. Companies resumed operations only in February, which affected PVC purchasing over the first two months of the year.

Germany still remained the main PVC supplier to Belarus. PVC imports from this country fell by more than twice over the stated period to 1,200 tonnes (3,100 tonnes - a year earlier). At the same time, imports from Poland rose to 1,500 tonnes from 1,300 tonnes a year earlier.

Russian producers managed to increase their presence in the Belarusian market over the first two months of 2014 because of lower prices compared with prices of European producers. PVC imports from Russia totalled about 500 tonnes (40 tonnes - a year earlier).

PVC imports from the US dropped in January and February of 2014 to 44 tonnes from 557 tonnes in January and February of 2013.
MRC