Nan Ya Plastics to shut MEG plant for maintenance in Taiwan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nan Ya Plastics is in plans to shut its No.4 monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the line is likely to be shut on September 7, 2014. The plant expected to remain shut for around one month.

Located at Mailiao, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 720,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, Sinopec Hubei Chemical Fertilizer has started a new MEG plant on February 8, 2014. Initially the plant was scheduled to start commercial production in late 2013. Located at Zhejiang in Hubei province of China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

Another Chinese petrochemical producer Hubei Chemical Fertilizer started a new monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant in late 2013. Located in Hubei, China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year.
MRC

BASF increases prices for pigments and dyes worldwide

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's petrochemical major, will increase prices for numerous pigments and dyes by up to 15% worldwide, reported the company on its site.

The price increase will come into effect from 1 September, 2014, or as contracts allow.

The products affected are predominantly azo pigments, yellow and red high performance pigments, effect pigments, phthalocyanines and dyes.

Price increases are necessary due to the current market situation, significantly higher raw materials costs and rising cost of environment, health and safety as well as maintenance.

The products affected are mainly used as raw materials in the coatings and paints as well as in the printing and plastics industries.

As MRC informed before, in March 2014, BASF announced that it had developed a broad portfolio of raw materials for coatings destined for the paints, construction, furniture and flooring coatings as well as automotive and industrial coatings industries. Thus, BASF presented its hybrid pigments Paliotan Yellow EH 1560 (L 1631), Yellow EH 1561 (L 1921) and Red EH 1604 (L 3131), which are combinations of high-quality organic and inorganic pigments and designed for industrial coating applications.

BASF is the largest diversified chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF 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.
MRC

Lukoil eyes spending cut amid volatility

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil producer, plans to cut its capital spending because of economic and political volatility, said Upstreamonline, citing vice president Leonid Fedun.

Lukoil has not been directly affected by Western sanctions against Russia over its stance towards Ukraine but is suffering from a spike in international borrowing rates and the overall slowdown in Russia's economy, Reuters reported.

"I will recommend to my colleagues to cut the investment programme to accumulate more cash," Interfax quoted Fedun as saying. Fedun is one of two main Lukoil shareholders along with chief executive Vagit Alekperov.

Senior vice-president Alexander Matytsyn said the company aimed to cut capital expenditure by as much as USD2 billion starting from 2015.

In the first six months of the year, Lukoil's capex stood at USD7.7 billion, with around a quarter in overseas projects. Lukoil has the most foreign assets among Russian energy companies. It is leading the West Qurna-2 project in Iraq. The company said in a presentation on Friday that daily production at the project had reached 330,000 barrels per day. West Qurna-2's output is expected to peak at 1.2 million bpd from estimated recoverable reserves of about 13 billion barrels.

Input from the project boosted Lukoil's overall crude production in the second quarter by 7% to 2 million bpd. It posted second-quarter net profit of USD2.39 billion on Friday, up 14% year on year, on the back of rising oil prices.

As MRC informed before, Lukoil is set to drill deep for unconventional gas in Saudi Arabia's challenging "Empty Quarter" desert region early next year after a decade-long hunt for conventional deposits that has proved futile. Lukoil Overseas official said the joint venture will drill the first well in the first quarter of 2015 and the second during the last six months.

Lukoil is one of the world's biggest vertically integrated companies for production of crude oil & gas, and their refining into petroleum products and petrochemicals. The company is a leader on Russian and international markets in its core business, which accounts for over 20% of Russian oil production and 18% of the total Russian oil refining. Lukoil also controls two of the largest petrochemical plants in Russia and Ukraine: Stavrolen and Karpatneftekhim.
MRC

YPF, Petronas sign USD550 mln Vaca Muerta shale accord

MOSCOW (MRC) -- YPF SA and Petroliam Nasional Bhd., state-controlled companies from Argentina and Malaysia, signed a USD550 million accord to develop shale oil at the world’s fourth-largest deposit in Vaca Muerta, said Bloomberg.

Miguel Galuccio and Shamsul Azhar Abbas, chief executive officers for YPF and Petronas, respectively, signed a deal to develop a 187-square kilometer area (72 square miles) at Petronas’s Kuala Lumpur headquarters today, the Buenos Aires-based producer said in an e-mailed statement. YPF will invest USD75 million and Petronas $475 million to drill more than 30 wells in three years in southwestern Argentina. Depending on the results the program could be expanded to a five-year USD1 billion investment, YPF said.

"We are in preliminary talks with others," Galuccio said on a videoconference from Kuala Lumpur. "We will keep talking. There is no immediate rush for more joint ventures."

YPF is seeking partners to develop Vaca Muerta, a formation the size of Belgium that contains at least 23 billion barrels of oil. Chevron Corp. (CVX), the third-largest oil company by market value, signed a memorandum of understanding with YPF in August 2012 that 11 months later led to a development accord. Chevron’s initial Vaca Muerta investment in Loma Campana of USD1.24 billion was later expanded to USD16 billion.

As MRC wrote previously, Malaysian state oil and gas company Petronas has pushed back the completion date for its Johor refinery-petrochemical project to 2017 as a final investment decision has been delayed. The company was expected to give the project the green light this year but had to push it back due to political uncertainty during the national elections early this year, industry sources said.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
MRC

BASF opens construction chemicals plant in Kenya

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has inaugurated its new production plant for concrete admixtures in Nairobi, Kenya, as per the company's press release.

The production site will allow BASF to better meet the increasing demand for construction chemicals of customers in Eastern Africa.

At the site, BASF produces standard and custom-made performance admixtures from the MasterRheobuild and the MasterGlenium product line.

"We are now able to rapidly supply our customers with admixtures for all cement and aggregate types, whether their construction projects are located in the urban areas of Eastern Africa or in more remote sites," said Dick Purchase, head of BASF’s regional construction chemicals business for the Middle East, West Asia, CIS and Africa.

"BASF’s admixtures enable to produce concrete with higher strength, and to increase its workability retention," he added. "This is of special importance in urban areas such as Nairobi, Kenya, or Kampala, Uganda, where transportation of concrete to the construction site may take longer due to high traffic."

Kenya is a particularly strong growing market for construction chemicals in Eastern Africa, according to company officials.

"Growth in emerging markets is an integral component of BASF’s strategy," said Laurent Tainturier, senior vice president of CIS, Middle East and Africa at BASF. “In line with this, BASF’s Africa strategy aims to double sales on the continent by the year 2020.

"The new production facility will strengthen the product portfolio in the region, and will meet the demands for multi-story buildings, long-lasting infrastructural constructions and more energy efficiency in construction techniques."

The new production site in Nairobi is also a further step to strengthen the global network of the Master Builders Solutions brand, according to BASF officials. The solutions offered by the brand will also strongly benefit contractors from other regions doing construction projects in Eastern Africa, as they may already know the product portfolio and technologies.

BASF notes that it has been actively selling construction chemicals to the Eastern African market for more than 25 years. Other production sites in Africa are located in Westonaria, South Africa; Algiers, Algeria; Sadat City, Egypt and Casablanca, Morocco.

As MRC informed previously, in late 2011, BASF announced that it was increasing its presence in the growing African markets. The company also said that it would open a new office in Nairobi, Kenya, to serve customers in East Africa and Sub-Sahara.

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