Borouge opens new packaging facility at Abu Dhabi Khalifa Port

MOSCOW (MRC) -- UAE-based Borouge, a manufacturer of polyoleofins, has opened part of its new packaging facility at Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Port, which would enhance the company’s exports to the rest of the world, as per Technical Review.

The new facility was designed and constructed after a joint agreement was signed between Borouge and Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT) in June 2014, revealed officials from Borouge.

Abdulaziz Alhajri, CEO of Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge), said, "Operating our new packaging facility at Khalifa Port embodies our commitment to ensure better, safer and faster distribution of our products and reflects the importance of this advanced packaging solution, which Abu Dhabi Terminals has provided us."

Khalifa Port is a major trade gateway in the UAE, through which a majority of Borouge products are shipped. The port has a capacity of 385,000 metric tonnes, meant to enhance the company’s existing supply chain network.

Wim Roels, CEO of Borouge, said the new packaging facility and services provided at Khalifa Port provides more flexibility to serve customers better and achieve business targets all over the world, in addition to the existing packaging facilities in the Ruwais plant and in the company’s regional hubs in China and Singapore.

As MRC wrote before, Borouge has recently introduced three new solutions for advanced packaging, baby care and toy market at Arabplast 2015.

Borouge is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil company and Borealis.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. Borealis is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, and operates in over 120 countries with around 5,300 employees worldwide, generating EUR7.5 billion in sales revenue in 2012.
MRC

Matheson to supply gases for new Sasol cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MATHESON has entered into an agreement with Sasol to supply tonnage oxygen and nitrogen to Sasol’s world-scale ethane cracker, which is part of Sasol’s USD8.1 billion expansion in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

MATHESON’s new Air Separation Unit (ASU) will augment existing operations, supplying both Sasol and existing customers while also providing for additional expansion in the Lake Charles area. "This ASU reflects the drive by MATHESON to further develop and reinforce our existing coast-to-coast bulk industrial gas network in the Sunbelt of the US," said Scott Kallman, CEO of MATHESON.

The ASU and pipeline will be constructed, owned and operated by MATHESON. The ASU distillation columns, often referred to as the ‘cold box,’ will be engineered and manufactured utilizing the technology and facilities of MATHESON’s parent company, Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. (TNSC) in Japan. There have been 7 TNSC cold boxes installed in the US in the past 10 years.

According to the Louisiana Economic Development (LED), over 130 new direct and indirect jobs in Louisiana will be traceable to the MATHESON project. These jobs are in addition to the jobs created by the Sasol expansion project itself.

MATHESON’s ASU complex is scheduled for completion in 2016, while Sasol’s ethane cracker and derivatives complex is scheduled for startup in 2018.

Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It develops and commercialises technologies, including synthetic fuels technologies, and produces different liquid fuels, chemicals and electricity.

MRC

Repsol commercialized phthalate-free PP block copolymers

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Repsol has commercialized phthalate-free polypropylene (PP) block copolymers, according to Packaging Europe.

With this, Repsol offers the possibility of covering customers’ applications in such demanding segments as: injection (buckets, cases, household goods, food preservation and technical parts, among others); extrusion (film and sheet, among others) and non-woven for hygiene applications.

Repsol now offers customers its new line of phthalate-free block copolymers which completes the commercial range of polypropylene grades based on this technology, which was first commercialized in 2009.

As a result of collaboration with leading customers in the "personal care" sector, in 2009 Repsol began the regular commercialization of phthalate-free homopolymer grades for the non-woven hygiene sector, manufactured in its Tarragona plant.

As MRC informed earlier, in June 2014, Mexico's national oil company Pemex announced that it would sell a 7.9% stake in Spanish oil firm Repsol, worth about 2.2 billion euros (USD3.0 billion). The sale ends a long relationship between Pemex and Repsol that had run into trouble in recent years over disagreements on policies ranging from top management to the handling of Repsol's investments in Argentina.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC

PVC imports to Belarus dropped by 10.2% from January to November 2014

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into Belarus decreased by 10.2% over the eleven months of 2014 and totalled 36,600 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope.

November PVC imports to Belarus fell by more than half from October under pressure of seasonal factors and totalled 2,100 tonnes (4,800 tonnes in October). Overall, demand for PVC from local converters dropped to 36,600 tonnes from January to November 2014 versus 40,700 tonnes a year earlier.

Weaker demand for PVC was caused by lower sales of finished products from PVC both in the domestic and foreign markets. Only 23,600 tonnes of shaped and linear articles from PVC were exported during the said period, whereas a year ago this figure was 27,200 tonnes.

German producers with a share of over 50% are the key PVC suppliers to the Belarusian market. However, Russian producers have been recently pushing them actively. In November alone, imports from Russia exceeded 1,500 tonnes. The overall shipments of Russian resin approached 4,000 tonnes.

Anwil, a Polish producers, also accounts for a significant share of the Belarusian market. PVC imports from Poland exceeded 8,400 tonnes over the stated period.
MRC

Al Waha Petrochemicals secures loan locally to refinance an existing Islam

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's Sahara Petrochemical Co said its subsidiary Al Waha Petrochemicals Co had secured 1.96 billion riyals (USD522 million) from two local lenders to refinance an existing Islamic loan, said Reuters.

The previous loan amount wasn't given but the firm said the deal had been signed in 2006 with a number of commercial lenders and two government funds -- the Public Investment Fund and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund -- during the project phase.

The new loan had more favourable pricing and conditions than the existing deal. The facility was provided by Saudi British Bank and Banque Saudi Fransi and lasts until the end of 2026, Sahara said in the statement.

The company also signed a revolving Murabaha-structured facility worth 375 million riyals from Saudi British Bank for one year, which can be renewed yearly to support the working capital and the company's general operations, it said.

Murabaha is a cost-plus sale arrangement which is commonly used in many parts of the Islamic world.

As MRC wrote before, Sahara Petrochemical Co., the Saudi Arabia-based firm which last month announced plans to merge with Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (Sipchem) in the first half of this year, has earned net profit of SR578.7 million in 2013, registering a growth of 183% compared to net profit of SR204.4 million in 2012.

Sahara Petrochemical Co SJSC is a Saudi Arabia-based joint stock company engaged in the chemicals and petrochemicals industry sector. The Company, through its subsidiary, invests in industrial projects in the petrochemical and chemical fields, and owns and implements projects necessary to supply raw materials and utilities. The Company also focuses on the production of propylene, polypropylene, ethylene, polyethylene and other petrochemical and hydrocarbon based products. The Company’s industrial facilities are located at Jubail Industrial City, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Company has one subsidiary, Al Waha Petrochemicals Company (Al Waha). The Company also has investment in its associates, including Sahara and Maaden Petrochemicals Company, Saudi Acrylic Acid Company and Tasnee and Sahara Olefins Company.
MRC