Westlake restarts Lake Charles ethylene unit in US

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has signed an agreement to buy the Ryton PPS (polyphenylene sulphide) business from US-based petrochemical company Chevron Phillips Chemical Company for USD220 million, expanding its offering of high-performance polymers and entering a solid growth market, reported Solvay on its site.

Solvay Specialty Polymers, which has the industry’s broadest product portfolio, will gain access to new business segments and customers and broaden its offer in many innovative and demanding applications. Ryton PPS has a strong share in the automotive sector, replacing metal parts to make cars lighter and more energy efficient. Other worldwide leading positions are in electronics where it enhances fire resistance of components, and in filter bags to extend their lifetime in reducing pollution at coal-fired power stations.

"Ryton PPS fits neatly with our unique specialty polymers portfolio and reinforces our unrivalled capabilities to provide solutions to our customers in dynamic innovative end-markets," said Augusto Di Donfrancesco, President of Solvay Specialty Polymers.

The group will buy from Chevron Phillips Chemical two Ryton PPS resin manufacturing units in Borger, Texas, its pilot plant along with R&D laboratories in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and a compounding plant in Kallo-Beveren, Belgium. Chevron Philips Chemical’s compounding unit in La Porte, Texas, will provide temporary tolling services to Solvay.

Completion of the transaction is due in the fourth quarter of 2014 and subject to customary closing conditions.

As MRC informed previously, Solvay SA and Ineos Group AG have given a name to their chlorovinyls joint venture, Inovyn, as the two firms prepare the launch the company by the end of 2014. The new company will officially open following divestments by both companies required by the European Commission. Until completion, Solvay and Ineos will continue to run their businesses separately.

Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. The company has diversified into two major sectors of activity: chemicals and plastics. Solvay supplies over 1500 products across 35 brands of high-performance polymers – fluoropolymers, fluoroelastomers, fluorinated fluids, semi-aromatic polyamides, sulfone polymers, aromatic ultra polymers, high-barrier polymers and cross-linked high-performance compounds.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) --The European Commission (EC) has asked Romania a series of questions regarding the privatization process of the Romanian chemical producer Oltchim SA, as per Ceeinsight.

"There is a suspicion that the state doesn’t act like a private investor," the president of the Romanian Competition Council Bogdan Chiritoiu stated, as cited by the newswire. "The EC has asked for an explanation regarding the fact that, although Oltchim has debts toward the state, the state doesn’t apply any enforcement actions, as any creditor should do, which raises concerns about a possible state aid."

Romanian chemical producer Oltchim entered into insolvency proceedings in January 2013. The privatization of the company was set for December 2014.

In the first half of 2014, Oltchim narrowed its loss to RON 114.5 mln, which is 22% down year-on-year, as in the first half of 2013 the company reported a loss of RON 147.4 mln.

Oltchim's main products include polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyols, dioctyl phthalate (DOP) and caustic soda.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Norge AS reported plans to install a new processing unit at the Slagen refinery to enable production of high quality vacuum gas oil, a higher-yield feedstock used to create finished products such as diesel, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new residual flash tower is an upgrading unit that will improve the facility’s overall crude distillation process by replacing production of heavy fuel oil with lighter, higher-value gas oil.

"The new investment in Slagen builds upon other strategic investments in Europe and further strengthens the industry-leading position of our advantaged assets in meeting increasing demand for energy," said Jerry Wascom, president of ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company. "This project, coupled with a recently announced major upgrade at our Antwerp facility, will further strengthen ExxonMobil’s integrated downstream portfolio in Europe to better compete in the challenging environment our industry currently faces."

ExxonMobil is investing for the future in its Slagen refinery despite low margins and industry-wide losses in Europe. This project demonstrates ExxonMobil’s long-term view, with strategic investments in advantaged refineries to more successfully face the challenging industry environment. The company is evaluating investments in other advantaged assets in its global refining network.

"ExxonMobil continues to optimize its world-class refining assets through strategic investments in assets with advantages over our competition," said Stephen Hart, regional director of ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company. "The new processing unit at Slagen refinery supports the company’s position as a leader in the global energy market by improving the production slate at the Slagen refinery. The new unit will enable improvement in the product yield in a highly energy-efficient manner that will help further strengthen the industry-leading position of our assets."

International comparisons show that the Slagen refinery is one of the most energy-efficient refineries in the world. Since the early 1990s, the refinery has implemented internal measures to save energy, and it is 25% more energy efficient today than it was in 1990.

As MRC wrote before, ExxonMobil Corp. started scheduled maintenance on a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit at its 561,000-b/d integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Baytown, Texas. The Baytown refinery, which has the ability to process up to 584,000 b/d of crude oil, operates two FCCs with a combined processing capacity of 204,000 b/d, according to the latest operational data available from ExxonMobil’s web site.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- OAO Rosneft head Igor Sechin met with the chairman of Vietnam Oil & Gas Group to discuss cooperation in refining as the Russian oil producer looks at adding fields off the Asian country’s southern coast, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Sechin and Nguyen Xuan Son, the chairman at Vietnam Oil & Gas, met in Moscow and talked about possible joint exploration, output and refining projects, Rosneft said today in a statement on its website.

Rosneft has been building ties with Asia since its 2006 initial public offering, signing a USD270 billion, 25-year supply agreement with China in 2013. The Kremlin-controlled company, which gained Vietnamese natural gas producers with the purchase of TNK-BP last year, is seeking to reduce dependence on western markets as Russia’s ties with the US and the Europe Union sour over the conflict in Ukraine.

"PetroVietnam is a strategic partner for Rosneft," Sechin said in the statement.

Rosneft and PetroVietnam also discussed supplying Russian oil to PetroVietnam’s Dung Quat refinery and potential cooperation on modernizing the plant, according to the statement.

Rosneft is in talks to buy Chevron’s stake in gas fields off southern Vietnam for about USD200 million, PetroVietnam CEO Do Van Hau told Bloomberg in an interview on Aug 22.

As MRC wrote before, PetroVietnam, state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, announced that it is going to construct the second oil refinery in the country. The refinery could cost USD8-10 billion.

PetroVietnam, Japan’s Mitsui & Co. and Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production are partners in the Chevron project and have the first option on any stake up for sale, Hau said.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC