Tecnimont to provide strategic services to aid set up of petrochemical project in Bolivia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italian consulting firm Tecnimont will provide strategic services to help Bolivia develop a petrochemical project, state-owned oil company YPFB said, as per Plastemart.

YPFB CEO and Tecnimont executive signed a contract covering consulting services for the propylene and polypropylene (PP) plants to be built in Bolivia. The consulting firm must complete its work in H1-2015. The complex is expected to produce 350,000 metric tpa of propylene and PP.

"With this contract, we are taking another step toward the construction of these plants. We know Tecnimont's work, we have no doubts about the quality of the work it is going to complete within the established timeframe," CEO Villegas said. The petrochemical complex is to be built in the southern region of Tarija, with completion of the project slated for 2018.

As MRC wrote before, in late 2012, Braskem-Idesa awarded Tecnimont a USD191mn engineering and procurement contract for a 300,000t/y low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit to be constructed within the Ethylene XXI petrochemicals complex in Mexico's Veracruz state.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- OMV Petrom SA, Romania’s largest oil company, said its net income declined 20% from a year earlier because of lower oil prices and output, said Businessweek.

Profit dropped to 1.02 billion lei ($288 million) from 1.27 billion lei in the same period last year as both the gas and power business had a negative contribution "triggered by adverse market conditions," the company said in a statement to the Bucharest bourse today. Gas sales fell 23 percent to 798 million lei.

Petrom, together with Exxon Mobil Corp. are searching for oil and gas off Romania’s Black Sea coast after starting drilling operations in the Neptun block in 2011. OMV AG (OMV), Petrom’s majority owner, made a preliminary estimate for the Domino-1 well in 2012 of gas accumulation ranging from 1.5 trillion to 3 trillion cubic feet (42 billion cubic meters to 84 billion cubic meters).

Results from the drilling of Domino 2 well will be announced at the beginning of next year, the company said.

Discoveries in the Black Sea may help Romania, which imports less than 20 percent of its natural gas from Russia, become energy independent by 2020, according to Energy Minister Razvan Nicolescu.

Petrom plans to boost efforts to stabilize Romanian production by performing more than 1,400 workovers, delivering about 140 new wells, with half of them being part of "complex field redevelopment projects and exploration wells," according to the statement.

As MRC informed earlier, Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has announced that it has signed a long-term supply contract with OMV. From 2015, the Austrian oil and gas company will supply Clariant’s site in Gendorf (Germany) with ethylene. This agreement will enable Clariant to source most of its requirements for this important basic chemical in southern Bavaria.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China is importing more waste plastic in 2014 than in 2013, said Plasticsnews, citing reported Ministry of Environmental Protection representative Li Shu’ai.

In the first three quarters of 2014, China imported 39.23 million tons of waste products (including plastics), a value of USD230 billion, a decrease of 4.29% from the previous year, she said. During the same period, China imported 6.63 million tons of waste plastics, with a total value of USD4.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19%.

Li estimated that this year’s total import volume will surpass last year’s. The top import sources were Hong Kong with 22% and then Japan, the United States and Germany.

According to Li, last year’s Green Fence policy has had an impact on the industry. This year there are 1,167 waste plastics importers in China, a decrease of 100 companies from last year.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology representative Li Hongliang added that mostly small companies that had been having a big negative impact on the environment have been shut down or upgraded by the government.

Li said the ministry had hoped to have a deregulation so that provinces could make their own rules about import of waste products. But that effort will be delayed, as State Council and China’s President Xi Jinping had reiterated that they must regulate according to the law. “We will know in the future about a revision,” she said.

Afterwards, speaking with Plastics News China, she said that the Green Fence policy was considered a success and the government will now focus on other industries.

As MRC wrote earlier, the polymer wastes make about 12% of all the household wastes in Russia. During one year, Russia produces nearly 800,000 tonnes of plastic wastes, the bulk of which is stored in landfills and only 10% is recycled.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures (Bangkok) reports a 48.4% fall in profits for the third quarter of 2014 compared with the third quarter of 2013, to 618 million baht (USD19 million), as per the producer's press release.

Third-quarter sales increased 7.5%, however, to baht63.60 billion. Volumes and sales increased in the third quarter as a result of recent acquisitions and the completion of the debottlenecking project in the company’s polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant at Wloclawek Poland, at the start of the third quarter of 2014.

The acquisition of all the shares in PET resin producer Artenius TurkPET (Adana, Turkey) was completed on 2 June for about USD24 million. Artenius has a production capacity of 139,000 m.t./year. The acquisition of an 80% stake in PHP Fibers (Wuppertal, Germany) was completed on 30 April for USD87 million. PHP Fibers is Europe’s largest producer of nylon-6,6 industrial yarn for airbag application, tires, and mechanical rubber goods and is a leading producer of polyester industrial yarns.

In the first nine months of 2014, Indorama’s profits increased 35% compared with the first nine months of 2013, to baht2.66 billion, and nine-month sales increased 10.4%, to baht189.28 billion. Core Ebitda increased 32% in the first nine months, to baht14.4 billion. Higher volumes and sales during the period were mainly as a result of the recent acquisitions, debottlenecking projects, and improvement in plant utilization rate.

Indorama’s PET resins business segment reports sales of baht37.21 billion in the third quarter of 2014 compared with sales of baht38.22 billion in the year-ago quarter. The PET segment reports core Ebitda of baht1.92 billion compared with baht1.93 billion in the year-ago period.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian petrochemical firm Braskem says construction work on its Etileno XXI complex in Mexico is 82% complete as it targets a 4Q15 startup for the USD4.5bn project, said Bnamericas.

In its third quarter earnings report, Braskem said over 50,000t of material and 660 pieces of equipment had been delivered to the site in the Coatzacoalcos region of Veracruz state.

The announcement came as Braskem reported a Q3 profit of 230mn reais (USD91mn), down 42% year-on-year. The company said plummeting global oil prices were beginning to impact the value of its petrochemicals.

A centerpiece of Braskem's project pipeline, Etileno XXI is a joint venture with Mexican industrial conglomerate Idesa, which owns a 30% stake. The ethane cracker will have an annual polyethylene (PE) production capacity of 1.05Mt.

"The integrated project continues to advance and the completion of construction and the plant's startup are expected by end-2015," Braskem said.

Meanwhile Braskem said it was still conducting feasibility studies for the proposed Ascent complex in the US state of West Virginia. The project's blueprint includes an ethane cracker, three polyethylene plants and associated infrastructure for water treatment and energy cogeneration. The Sao Paulo-based firm said the project aimed to maximize opportunities offered by US shale gas.

"Around 50% of the feedstock supply has been guaranteed already and the project team continues to make progress on finalizing new agreements," Braskem said.

Braskem cited geopolitical tensions in major oil-producing countries and higher hydrocarbon production in the US as "main risk factors" to its future performance. The company said its immediate priorities include securing new contracts for feedstock and power supply.

Braskem is Brazilian main producer of polyethylene and polypropylene. In addition with ongoing plants located in both petrochemical complexes, in April 2008 Braskem opened a 300,000 metric ton polypropylene plant in the city of Paulinia (Sao Paulo).
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