Chevron walks away from Lithuanian shale

MOSCOW (MRC) -- United States supermajor Chevron has given up on conventional and unconventional gas exploration in Lithuania, having closed its office in Vilnius and ceded its stake in the company holding the Rietavas licence to Sweden’s Tethys Oil, said Interfaxenergy.

"Chevron has closed its office in Vilnius. The company has divested its 50% equity interest in LL Investicijos," the company said in a statement. LLI acquired the Rietavas concession in 2007, with Chevron taking on a 50% stake in the local company for LTL 58 million (USD22.8 million) in 2012.

Chevron turned down the opportunity to develop the Silute-Taurage concession in Lithuania last October, despite winning the tender as the only bidder. It blamed an uncertain regulatory regime for the decision, and sources in Vilnius say little has changed.

Proposals last year for shale gas revenue taxation included provisions for a 40% rate – more than double the existing levy for conventional oil and gas production.

Chevron has been at the forefront of shale gas development across Central Europe and has encountered significant public protests. In addition to Lithuania, it has pursued projects in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria – with the company forced to abandon operations in the latter after Sofia decreed a moratorium in early 2012.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s Tethys Oil confirmed this week it had increased its stake in Rietavas from 14% to 30% following Chevron’s exit. It also holds stakes in two other projects, with production underway at the Gargzdai licence.
MRC

BASF designers present automotive color trends

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The designers at BASF’s Coatings division have published their automotive color trends for 2014/2015, said the producer in its press release.

With their collection entitled “Under the Radar”, new color ranges are appearing on the trend radar. The development of special effects is setting new accents and opening up unusual color ranges. BASF’s designers are predicting that this will make automotive colors more complex and more individual in the future. This ability to stand out from the crowd caters to the consumers’ desires, since the topic of individualization is playing an increasingly important role, especially when buying a car.

The designers observe a social change moving from luxury to a heightened awareness of quality and values. For automotive colors, this means that what counts is not attention-grabbing, but rather the “wow”-effect at second glance. Innovative special effects create these accents. For instance, the new collection contains the newly developed XSpark special-effect coating. XSpark contains very fine glass particles that reflect the light, thus creating a distinctive sparkle that is particularly effective only in light.

Thanks to a targeted special effect, classic colors like blue or silver develop a completely individual color behavior. Thereby, they visually reinforce the car bodies’ geometry and vitalize their broad surfaces with brilliant sparkle (XSpark).

BASF’s Coatings division develops, produces and markets innovative automotive coatings, automotive refinishes and industrial coatings as well as decorative paints. We operate sites in Europe, North America and South America as well as Asia Pacific. Within this network, we collaborate closely with our customers all over the world. In 2013, the Coatings division achieved global sales of EUR2.9 billion.

As MRC wrote before, BASF and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) has broken ground on the construction of its world-scale isononanol (INA) plant in Maoming Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Maoming, China. At start-up in 2015, the plant, which is the first of its kind in China, will serve the increasing market demand for next-generation plasticizers. A newly-formed 50-50 joint venture company has been created, BASF MPCC Company Limited.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas.

MRC

BASF commissions new flat laminating line for polyurethane insulating panels


MOSCOW (MRC) -- At its Lemforde site BASF has commissioned a new pilot line for the development and discontinuous production of polyurethane insulating panels, said the company in its press release.

The new flat laminating line facilitates the production of panels up to ten meters long using two different application techniques: Flat coating in which the material is applied into the open mold; and injection technology that optimally delivers the polyurethane into the closed mold using a novel mixing head.

Customers have also responded very positively to the new plant in Lemforde. Reinhard Beelmann, Technical Manager at Schmitz Cargobull in Vreden: “We believe this is another positive step in our many years of good business relations with BASF that makes it possible to develop new foam systems with much greater focus and independently of production processes. We can now save time and money in the qualification of new materials and accelerate market launch."

For the flat laminator, a new testing center hall with a total of 900 square meters has been built in Lemforde. Installations for the development of other polyurethane applications such as insulated pipelines will also be accommodated here.

As MRC wrote before, BASF, Huntsman, Shanghai Hua Yi (Group) Co., Shanghai Chlor-Alkali Chemical Co. and Sinopec held a ceremony Tuesday kicking off the construction of a new 240,000 tpy plant for crude MDI (diphenylmethane diisocyanate) at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP) in Caojing, China.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN).
MRC

Kraton puts LCY merger on hold for now

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kraton Performance Polymers is at least temporarily stepping back from plans to merge with Taiwanese rival LCY Chemical Corp, said Chemanager.

The Houston, Texas-based manufacturer of styrenic block copolymers (SBC) said it has notified its potential partner that its board of directors intends to withdraw its recommendation that Kraton shareholders approve the combination agreement signed at the end of January 2014.

Observers now expect the deal, initially scheduled to close in the fourth quarter of this year, to be renegotiated. If successful, it would create a leading worldwide manufacturer of SBC with more than USD2 billion in annual sales. Explaining the rethink, Kraton pointed to declines in the operating results of the LCY's SBC activities in the 2014 first quarter as well as the deterioration in its full-year outlook. It also cited a decline in its own share price and negative reactions from shareholders following its management's announcement on 24 June that the merger could take two years longer to pay off than originally expected.

SBC is the largest of LCY's seven business units, last reporting annual sales of USD612 million. In the first quarter of this year, EBITDA fell to just below USD3 million, and reports said the second quarter was not expected to show improvement.

If requested by LCY, during the five-day notice period Kraton will be obliged to negotiate in good faith with the Taiwan company regarding any revisions or adjustments proposed by LCY to the terms and conditions of the agreement that would enable its board to continue to recommend the share transfer.

The combination agreement will remain in effect unless and until it is terminated in accordance with its terms, Kraton said. It added that it does not intend to make further public comment regarding the status of any negotiations

Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc. is a leading global producer of engineered polymers, including styrenic block copolymers (SBC).
MRC

BASF opened new BasCat laboratory at TU Berlin


MOSCOW (MRC) -- On the South Campus of Technical University (TU) Berlin, BASF together with the Cluster of Excellence "Unifying Concepts in Catalysis" (UniCat) today opened the new BasCat Laboratory building, said the company in its press release.

On about 1,000 square meters of laboratory and office area, 17 scientists will in future be researching the principles of heterogeneous catalysis for raw material change. BASF and TU Berlin are devoting considerable resources to establishing the BasCat Laboratory: BASF is investing up to EUR6.4 million during the first five years. The total volume is around EUR13 million.

As MRC wrote before, BASF now offers high performance Ultramid (polyamide), which is derived from renewable raw materials. BASF uses an innovative approach that replaces up to 100% of the fossil resources used at the beginning of the integrated production process with certified biomass.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN).

MRC