PTT Group records net loss for Q4 2014

МОSCOW (MRC) -- Thailand’s PTT Group recorded a net loss of THB 26.6 bn (USD816.6 mln) in Q4 2014 and took an impairment charge of THB 36.7 bn on assets owned by its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP), said Interfaxenergy.

The results marked a downturn for PTT, after posting net profits in Q3 2014 and Q4 2013.

The NOC’s gas sales revenue edged up by 0.5% from Q3 to THB 141.2 billion in Q4, because of an increase from its PTT LNG unit, which runs the Map Ta Phut terminal.

PTTEP’s impairment came from its Australasian unit, which dropped plans for the Cash Maple FLNG plant offshore Australia, and from the effect of the oil price on the Marina Oil Sands project in Canada (formerly known as the KKD project).

As MRC reported earlier, last year, Indonesian state-owned energy company Pertamina signed an agreement to purchase petrochemical products from Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical. The agreement serves as a pre-marketing strategy for Pertamina and PTT’s joint Indonesian petrochemical business. Under the agreement, PTT will deliver at least 5,000 tonnes of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) products each month to Pertamina for sale in Indonesia.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

Wacker joins "Together for Sustainability" initiative

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker aims to strengthen its commitment to sustainable business practices in the supply chain, reported the company on is site.

To this end, the company now joined the "Together for Sustainability" (TfS) initiative. Established in 2011, the project is targeted on implementing a standardized global program for responsible procurement of goods and services in the chemical industry and improving the ecological and social standards of suppliers. After AkzoNobel, Arkema, BASF, Bayer, Clariant, DSM, Evonik Industries, Henkel, Lanxess, Merck and Solvay, Wacker is the twelfth company to become a TfS member.

The initiative is based on established principles such as those sub-scribed to by United Nations Global Compact and Responsible Care, the chemical industry’s sustainability initiative. Together, the TfS members organize supplier evaluations using questionnaire analyses and audits. Thus, the suppliers’ sustainability performance is assessed by independent auditing bodies based on criteria tailored for the chemical industry. Aspects that are evaluated range from the environment, health and safety, labor and human rights to ethical company management. The audits include on-site checks, for example of production sites and office buildings.

The sustainability information obtained from the supplier assessments is made available to all TfS members via a web-based platform. This avoids individual, company-specific check programs and reduces bureaucracy for suppliers and customers.

"By joining 'Together for Sustainability,' Wacker will be able to improve the sustainability of the entire supply chain," says Dr. Erk Thorsten Heyen, head of Raw Materials Procurement. "This also greatly simplifies matters for the suppliers, because they no longer have to provide proof of sustainable practice separately for each individual customer."

As MRC wrote previously, in 2013, Wacker Chemie AG officially launched its new production plant for ethylene-vinyl-acetate copolymer (EVA) dispersions at its Ulsan site in South Korea. The additional 40,000 tonnes from the second reactor line increases the site's EVA-dispersion capacity to a total of 90,000 tonnes per year. The production capacity of the site has, thus, almost doubled, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea.

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

LDPE production in Russia rose by 2% in January 2015

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last month's production of low density polyethylene (LDPE) in Russia increased by 2% year on year. All producers, except for Kazanorgsintez, increased their LDPE production, according to MRC ScanPlast.

January LDPEl production in Russia totalled 60,600 tonnes versus 59,700 tonnes over the same period a year earlier and 57,100 tonnes in December 2014. All local producers, with the only exception of Kazanorgsintez, raised their output. Angarsk Polymer Plant accounted for the largest increase in capacity utilisation.

The LDPE production structure by plants looks the following way over the stated period.


Angarsk PP increased its LDPE production to 6,600 tonnes last month from 5,500 tonnes in January 2014 and 5,400 tonnes in December 2014.

Tomskneftekhim, Ufaorgsintez and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat showed a less significant increase in their output in January. The overall LDPE production at these plants totalled 22,100 tonnes, 8,700 tonnes and 3,600 tonnes, respectively, while in January 2014 the plants produced 22,000 tonnes, 8,300 tonnes and 3,500 tonnes, respectively.

Kazanorgsintez, Russia's largest polyethylene producer, produced 19,800 tonnes of LDPE in January versus 20,400 tonnes in January 2014 and 16,600 tonnes in December 2014.

MRC

Chevron says plans to give up Romania shale gas project

MOSCOW (MRC) - Chevron Corp said it will give up shale gas exploration plans in Romania, after an assessment showed the Black Sea state does not compete favourably with other investment opportunities, said Reuters.

Energy firms have been attracted by estimates of massive shale gas reserves in Poland and Romania. Last month, the U.S. energy major took a similar decision to discontinue its operations in Poland.

"Chevron intends to pursue relinquishment of its interest in these (Romanian) concessions in 2015," Kent Robertson of Chevron said in an email to Reuters.

"This is a business decision which is a result of Chevron's overall assessment that this project in Romania does not currently compete favourably with other investment opportunities in our global portfolio."

Chevron Phillips Chemica, headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas (north of Houston), US,l is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, piping, and proprietary plastics. Chevron and Phillips 66 each own 50% of Chevron Phillips Chemical.
MRC

Braskem CEO says Petrobras crisis threatens its production -paper

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem SA, Latin America's largest petrochemical company, may halt production at most of its plants in March if it fails to extend a supply agreement with oil company and key shareholder Petrobras , Braskem's CEO said in a newspaper interview, reported Reuters.

Braskem's plants in Sao Paulo, Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul are dependent on naphtha supply and may need to interrupt production, said CEO Carlos Fadigas. The move would be a potentially heavy blow to Brazil's beleaguered economy at a time when it is being undermined in part by a corruption scandal at state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as Petrobras is formally known.

The Odebrecht Group, which controls Braskem, also supplies construction and engineering, shipping and other services to Petrobras. Executives from Odebrecht and other major construction and engineering firms have been caught up in the Petrobras corruption probe that has forced Petrobras to suspend payments as well as its work with some companies.

Petrobras owns 37% of Braskem and is Odebrecht's principal partner in the company.

Braskem's and Petrobras' naphtha supply agreement, worth about 9 billion reais (USD3.2 billion) a year, expires at the end of the month. Naphtha accounts for more than two-thirds of Braskem's costs, according to the O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

"I don't know what happens next. When we discussed renewing the contract in the past, Petrobras said it would not deliver any naphtha without an agreement," Fadigas told Estado in the interview.

Braskem already froze investments worth 1 billion reais due to the uncertain naphtha supply, Fadigas said. Long-term deals with potential clients have also been postponed.

As MRC informed before, Braskem plans to build a new polyethylene (PE) plant at its existing complex in La Porte, Texas. The new plant will manufacture ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), making it the first time for Braskem to produce UHMWPE outside of its home base in Brazil. Construction on the plant began in the third quarter of 2014, with completion expected in the first half of 2016.

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).
MRC