SIBUR and Government of the Amur Region sign cooperation agreement

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oleg Kozhemyako, Governor of the Amur Region, and Pavel Lyakhovich, Member of the SIBUR Management Board and Managing Director, have signed a cooperation agreement between the Government of the Amur Region and the petrochemical holding, said SIBUR in its press-release.

According to the agreement, both parties share a common interest in SIBUR's investment and its other programmes in the Amur Region, most notably the prospective construction of a gas chemical complex. The agreement provides that when investing in the Amur Region SIBUR will build on the local potential of the region, particularly with regards to its technical infrastructure, labour sourcing and liaison with educational institutions.

The Amur Government, in turn, undertakes to offer full support to ensure development of the gas chemical industry within the Region in compliance with applicable law. In particular the local authorities will look into the possibility assisting in the construction of infrastructure facilities required to build and operate the gas chemical complex, and including these facilities in the state programme for the Socioeconomic Development of the Russian Far East and the Baikal Region through 2025.

In late 2013, SIBUR and Gazprom signed a memorandum of cooperation to build a gas processing plant (GPP) and a gas chemical complex (PCC) in the Amur Region. The agreement outlines cooperation by the parties on the prospective construction of a large-scale multicomponent gas processing complex in the Yakutsk and Irkutsk gas production centres, which Gazprom is developing under the Eastern Gas Programme. Initial estimates suggest that the prospective gas chemical complex will produce 2.4 mtpa of ethylene and its derivatives.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The capacity of the Russian extrusion grade polycarbonate (PC) market was 55,100 tonnes from January to August 2014, up by 7% year on year, according to MRC ScanPlast report.
The extrusion segment accounts for 85% of the PC granules consumption in Russia. Extrusion grade PC is used for the production of honeycomb PC sheets. Its main application areas are agriculture (construction of greenhouses) and civil engineering (awnings, roofs, decoration). Accordingly, there is seasonal demand for PC granules, and May and September account for its peaks.

Extrusion grade PS is the most popular in the Russian market, this segment is constantly expanding, and new players emerge. Consequently, demand for material has been increasing.

Kazanorgsintex, Russia's only PC producer, manufactures PC grades for sheet extrusion. Kazanorgsintez accounted for 64% of the total segment from January to August 2013. This year's share of the plant increased to 67%.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's production of finished products from polymers grew by 8.5% over the first eight months of 2014. Russian films producers accounted for the main increase, whereas the construction sector demonstrated negative results, reported MRC analysts.

August production of main products from polymers in Russia dropped by 8.4% from July due to a number of factors.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, the August output of non-combined and unreinforced films decreased to 109,000 tonnes from 112,000 tonnes in July. Thus, production of these products in Russia totalled about 720,700 tonnes from January to August 2014, up by 28.4% year on year.

Last month's output of plates and sheets was about 18,500 tonnes (19,300 tonnes in July). Production of these products by Russian companies reached 144,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 2.2% year on year.

August production of plastic pipes, hoses and fittings unexpectedly fell to 55,800 tonnes (56,000 tonnes in July). The overall output of these products reached 358,400 tonnes over the first eight months of 2014, down by 9.1% year on year.

Last month's production of plastic windows, their frames and sills also showed a negative result, which is not typical for this time. Production fell to 2.6 million sq. meters versus 2.9 million sq. meters in July. The output of plastic windows and window sills was about 16.1 million sq. meters from January to August 2014, down by 9.1% year on year.
mrpclast.com

MOSCOW (MRC) - Ukraine's imports of polycarbonate (PC) increased to 3,000 tonnes in January-August 2014, up 17% year on year, according to MRC DataScope report.

Injection moulding sector, which takes the largest share of the market (60%), for the period increased by 7% to 1,300 tonnes.
Extrusion sector (market share of 25%) consumed almost 700 tonnes of PC granules, nearly doubling compared to the same period a year earlier.

This trend has resulted from the tendency to import substitution of Russian PC sheets in the Ukrainian market.
Blow moulding sector (15% of the Ukrainian market of PC) for January-August showed an increase of 25% from the last year level, reaching 480 tonnes.

Market players expect buying activity to increase with the beginning of autumn. Despite complicating economic and political situation in the country, some companies have continued to successfully carry out their activities.

It is difficult to say clearly regarding the cooperation between Russian and Ukrainian companies so far. Some of them have kept relationship, others - not.

Ukrainian market of polycarbonate completely depends on import, as the country has not processing capacities. The main volumes of PC are imported from Europe (Sabic, Bayer, Styron).


Exporters are loyal to the pricing in the Ukrainian market. Domestic prices since the beginning of this year to a greater extent depend on the exchange rate, rather than on other factors.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The plant engineering and construction specialists, Uhde Inventa-Fischer, have executed the revamp of a plant for the production of bottle and packaging-grade PET for Indorama Ventures Poland Sp. Z.o.o. in Wloclawek, Poland, as per Packaging Europe.

The capacity of the polycondensation plant, which was built and commissioned by Uhde Inventa-Fischer in 2002, was increased from 160,000 to 216,000 tonnes per annum. At the same time, the production costs have been considerably reduced through economies of scale and an improvement in energy and feedstock efficiency.

The revamp, which focussed on optimizing all reactors, product pipe systems and utilities, was implemented swiftly and efficiently in order to achieve minimum plant downtime without compromising high quality standards. Uhde Inventa-Fischer's scope of supplies included the basic and detail engineering, supply of all core equipment and supervision of the revamp and recommissioning processes.

As MRC wrote previously, Indorama Ventures is going to expand the PET polymers production capacity in the USA by setting up a new plant with a capacity of 540,000 tonnes per year, according to the decision made by the Board of Directors of Indorama Ventures PCL at their meeting dated November 14, 2012. This expansion, which is expected to be completed in Q4 2015 will take IVL's total capacity in North America of PET polymers up to 2,100,000 tonnes per annum.

Uhde Inventa-Fischer is a leading international engineering company located in Berlin, Germany, and Domat/Ems, Switzerland. Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s scope of services includes the development, engineering and construction of industrial plants for the production of polyester, polyamide and polylactic acid. The company has built and commissioned more than 400 production plants throughout the world. In 2004 Uhde Inventa-Fischer joined the ThyssenKrupp Uhde Group, which has now become part of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG.

Indorama Ventures is a leading producer in the polyester value chain in Thailand with strong global network and manufacturing across Asia, Europe and North America. Its products serve major players in diversified end use markets, including food, beverages, personal and home care, health care, automotives, textile, and industrial. The company"s main products are PTA, PET and polyester fibre, which are distributed across the world.
MRC