Wacker cooperates with Lindberg & Lund in Finland and Sweden

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Munich-based chemicals group Wacker has reorganized its silicone distribution business in the Nordic countries, as per the company's press release.

As of March 1, 2015, Lindberg & Lund Oy AB, a subsidiary of the Norwegian chemicals distributor Lindberg & Lund AS, will market room-temperature-vulcanizing silicone rubber grades in Finland. Kevra Oy was the previous distributor for the business. Distribution responsibilities in Sweden are to remain with ABIC Kemi AB, which is now part of the Lindberg & Lund Group.

As a result of the reorganization, Lindberg & Lund will be assuming a large portion of the distribution business, giving it a key role in the sale of room-temperature-curing silicones in the Nordic region. ABIC, a Swedish specialty chemicals distributor, will act as a regional hub, distributing products to adjacent Scandinavian countries, including Denmark.

Silicone rubber compounds that cure at room temperature are referred to as RTV silicones, as distinct from high-temperature-vulcanizing (HTV) grades. These products are suitable for bonding, sealing and encapsulating, as well as for manufacturing hard-soft composites. Thanks to their versatility, RTV grades are used in an exceptionally wide variety of industrial applications including moldmaking, prototyping, and pad printing, as well as in the mass production of industrial components, such as those for the domestic appliance, automotive or lighting industries.

As MRC informed earlier, Wacker has recently developed a thermally conductive adhesive for electronics applications. The new silicone rubber with the trade name SEMICOSIL 975 TC is characterized by high thermal conductivity and good flow and processing properties. Even light pressure is enough to form an ultrathin adhesive layer between the contact surfaces. This ensures not only good bonding, but also optimum heat dissipation by the heat sink.

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, announces it has reached agreement with Standard Investment for the sale of DSM Synres, said the company in its press release.

Subject to customary approvals and notifications, the transaction is expected to close in Q1 2015. Financial details will not be disclosed at this time.

DSM Synres produces solvent-borne alkyd and acrylic coating resins at its site in Hoek van Holland (Netherlands) for the global coatings, adhesives and graphic arts markets since 1947. DSM Synres realizes sales of approximately €50 million with around 80 employees. All employees will on the closing date transfer to the new owner. Under the new ownership, Synres will continue to focus on solvent-borne coating resins for the global market.

The sale of DSM Synres is in line with DSM’s strategy for its Performance Materials cluster to improve performance via among other things upgrading its portfolio. In coating resins DSM is focusing on sustainable technologies such as water-based, powder and UV-curing coatings for end markets including decorative paints, high-end flooring, industrial wood, graphic arts and numerous metal applications.

Standard Investment, based in Amsterdam, is a hands-on private equity firm focused on small and medium-sized enterprises in the Netherlands and Belgium. Since its establishment in 2004, the firm has acquired a portfolio of 18 companies.

As MRC reported previously, Royal DSM reported a sharp decline in third-quarter net profit, despite strong performance in all segments. Looking ahead, the company said its full-year 2014 outlook is in line with current market expectations. For the third quarter, net profit decreased 21% to EUR93 million from EUR117 million last year. Net earnings per share was EUR0.51, down from EUR0.65 in the previous year.

Royal DSM is a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials. DSM delivers innovative solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance in global markets such as food and dietary supplements, personal care, feed, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automotive, paints, electrical and electronics, life protection, alternative energy and bio-based materials.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Idemitsu Kosan plans to undertake maintenance turnaround at the SM plant in April 2015, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the SM plant will undergo maintenance turnaround in April next year. The maintenance is likely to last for around three months. The plant is most likely to resume production in early July.

Located at Chiba in Japan, the SM plant has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/yr.

As MRC wrote previously, Idemitsu SM (Malaysia) shut down its SM plant for maintenance in August 2014. It is likely to remain shut for around one month. Located at Pasir Gudang in Malaysia, the SM plant has a production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

Besides, Idemitsu Kosan shut down its naphtha cracker in Japan for maintenance turnaround on September 9, 2014 and planned to restart it in November 2014. Located at Tokuyama in Japan, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 623,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 450,000 mt/year.

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products. The company runs two petrochemical plants in Chiba and Tokuyama. The two naphtha crackers can produce up to 997,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries has announced the following price revisions for December PE delivery, as per the company's press-release.

Decrease in HDPE & LDPE prices by Rs 2000/MT
Decrease in LLDPE prices by Rs 2000/MT except Rotomoulding and Octene grades where there is no change in prices.
Decrease in prices of EVA by Rs 3000/MT.
Change in DE Prices as per circular attached.

Earlier price protection is withdrawn & new price protection is announced wef 11 Dec 2014 The price protection is applicable on HDPE & LLDPE but not on LDPE, EVA and Deemed exports.

As MRC informed previously, Reliance Industries (RIL) will invest up to USD700 mln in its shale gas venture in the current fiscal and also ramp up spends under the USD13 bln capex programme in the petrochemical and refining business.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company's polymer production in 2010-11 (polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride) made 4,094 kilo tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced that UOP C3 Oleflex process technology started up and has been successfully operating in Russia, producing high-quality propylene to help meet the global supply shortage of the valuable plastics building block, said the company in its press-release.

Russia's OOO Tobolsk-Polymer facility, which became the largest Oleflex production unit in the world, is meeting design capacity of 510,000 metric tons annually (MTA) of propylene at its facility in Western Siberia.

Global propylene demand is growing at about 4 to 5% per year. Russia is expected to be a large contributor to propylene production due to the country's diversification into the petrochemicals sector, which has seen substantial investment in the polyethylene and polypropylene industries, according to GlobalData.

The C3 Oleflex process uses catalytic dehydrogenation to convert propane to propylene. Compared with competing processes, UOP's C3 Oleflex technology provides the lowest cash cost of production, the highest return on investment and the smallest environmental footprint. This superior performance is characterized by low capital cost, high propylene yields, low energy and water consumption, and use of a fully recyclable platinum alumina-based catalyst system. In addition to the C3 Oleflex process, UOP also licenses its C4 Oleflex technology, a butane dehydrogenation process to convert isobutane to isobutylene.

OOO Tobolsk-Polymer, a subsidiary of SIBUR Holding JSC, produces a wide range of high-quality polypropylene used to manufacture goods in Russia and abroad. The facility is located in Tobolsk in the Tymen region of Russia.

UOP LLC is a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. UOP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc. and is part of Honeywell's Performance Materials and Technologies strategic business group, which also includes Honeywell Process Solutions, a pioneer in automation control, instrumentation and services for the oil and gas, refining, petrochemical, chemical and other industries.

Honeywell is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes, and industry; turbochargers; and performance materials.

SIBUR is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company, which operate Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and are the leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry.

LLC "Tobolsk-Polymer" is a subsidiary of SIBUR and Russia's largest construction project of a modern PP complex with the production capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year. It is located in the industrial zone of Tobolsk, at the production site of Tobolsk-Neftekhim.
MRC