Exports of PA 6 from Russia increased by 22% in January-August 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman Corporation has announced that the company’s board of directors has declared a USD0.125 per share cash dividend on its common stock, as per the company's press release.

The dividend is payable on September 30, 2014, to stockholders of record as of September 22, 2014.

As MRC reported before, this year, the performance products division of Huntsman expanded its global polyetheramines (PEA) capacity by a minimum of 15% as a result of debottlenecking three of its PEA manufacturing plants globally. Expansion was done in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The company's projects at its Conroe, Texas (US), Llanelli, Wales (UK) and Singapore sites had been fully operational by May 2014.

Huntsman is a global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals with 2013 revenues of over USD11 billion. The company manufactures products for a variety of global industries, including chemicals, plastics, automotive, aviation, textiles, footwear, paints and coatings, construction, technology, agriculture, health care, detergent, personal care, furniture, appliances and packaging. Huntsman operates more than 80 manufacturing and R&D facilities in 30 countries and employ approximately 12,000 associates within the company's 5 business divisions.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's polyester maker Tongkun is in plans to start a new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is planned to be started in 2017.

To be located at Zhapu in Zhejiang province, China, the plant will have a production capacity of 1.5 million mt/year.

As MR informed before, Tongkun has shut its No.1 PTA on August 5, 2014 on account of feedstock shortage and technical issues. It remained off-stream for around 10 days. Located at Zhapu in China, the plant has a production capacity of 1.5 million mt/year.

We remind that Tongkun Group said its net profit for 2013 slumped by 72.1% year on year to yuan (CNY) 72m (USD11.6m), amid the sluggish domestic chemical fibre market. In 2013, the chemical fibre industry developed weakly, as well as oversupply in some regions which made the industry into the predicament, the company said.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - French oil company Total is to step up plans to sell off assets, cut investments and reduce operating costs to deliver on a promise to generate USD15 billion in free cash flow in 2017, Reuters.

The oil group, which has struggled with production outages in Libya, Kazakhstan and Nigeria, said on Monday it had reduced its 2017 output goal to 2.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from a previous 3 million.

"We have more than 15 major projects to fuel the future growth ... Two thirds of those projects are operated by us so that gives us confidence we will achieve the targets," chief financial officer Patrick de La Chevardiere said at a presentation to investors.

De La Chevardiere declined to comment on what assets the company could sell, adding that during the previous asset sale plan it had sold both upstream and downstream businesses.

Total, like other big oil companies, has been under pressure from shareholders to cut costs and raise dividends. It has been selling off businesses, such as its adhesives division Bostik, which French chemicals group Arkema has offered to buy for 1.74 billion euros (2.24 billion US dollar).

Total said it now planned to sell USD10 billion worth of assets in 2015-17, having achieved a target of USD15-20 billion of sales in 2012-2014.

France's biggest company by market value and the West's fourth biggest oil and gas company said last year it would engage in what Chief Executive Christophe De Margerie called a "soft-landing" in capital investments.

Organic investments would fall to USD25 billion in 2017 from a peak of USD28 billion in 2013 while operating expenses would fall by USD2 billion per year by 2017.

The company reiterated an earlier target to generate free cash flows of USD15 billion in 2017 but cut the target for next year to USD7 billion from a previous USD10 billion. It had free cash flows of USD2.6 billion in 2013.

As MRC wrote before, Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, intends to invest EUR160m before 2016 to adapt its petrochemical platform in Carling, in the Lorraine region of eastern France, and to restore its competitiveness. Total plans indeed to develop new activities on the platform in the growing markets for hydrocarbon resins (Cray Valley) and for polymers, while shutting down the acutely loss-making steam cracker in the second half of 2015.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Melitek, the Danish compounder celebrated the finishing of its expansion project and the start-up of a new production line on 15 September, as per GV.

During the last year, the company headquartered in Alslev, expanded its plant with new buildings for additional production area and an extra warehouse.

"The expansion has proceeded according to plan and budget and the new production line is installed and ready for start-up in October 2014," says Kim Laursen, Managing Director.

"The new line is in essence a true duplicate of our current line with same brands and sizing making it redundant to our current large medical line. It will however have many new features making production even more efficient and safe so indeed we are looking forward to take it into use," continues Kim Laursen.

The company said, that is experiencing increased sale from existing customers as well as from new customers. "We are expecting continued growth from our current customers and we also enjoy start of supply to new customers that will yield a strong demand for our products and services dedicated to the healthcare segment. Our growth is both on our elastomer for PVC replacement and on modified polymer plus systems," informs Jesper Laursen, Melitek’s Business Director.

With the new line in operation, Melitek has three lines dedicated to meliflex compounds for healthcare market yielding a total capacity of 25 000 tonne. The company expects that the turnover, due to the additional production line, will double within the next 5 years.

As MRC reported earlier, the value of the global medical polymer market is set to rise by more than half in the next five years, boosted by an ageing population and developing markets. The market is estimated to grow from USUSD2.3 bln to over USUSD3.5 bln, a rise of more than 52%, between now and 2018.

Melitek is a private owned Danish company specialised in medical compounds based on 30 years of experience servicing the healthcare market. Under the brand name Meliflex the company offers a broad range of materials (PE, PP, TPE, TPO and COC based compounds) that are produced according to GMP and ISO with an extensive medical service package. The compounds are PVC-free and do not contain any phthalate plasticizers.
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