Lorestan Petrochemical to shut down LLDPE plant in Iran for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lorestan Petrochemical is in plans to shut a linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant for maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Iran informed that the plant is likely to be shut in March 2015. The duration of the turnaround could not be ascertained.

Located in Iran, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, it has been more than 50 years that Iran started producing petrochemical products and Iran National Petrochemical Company (NPC) is celebrating its anniversary this year.

Iran, as one of the main energy hubs in the world, with huge oil and gas reserves, is one of the leading producers of petrochemical products in the world.

In 2006, the total consumption of different polymer products was 202 million metric tons and it is estimated this figure reach to 316 million metric ton by 2016. This means only countries with huge feeding materials can be successful on raising production level, and gladly Iran is among one of those countries.

Currently number of active Iranian Petrochemical complexes are 53, with total production capacity of 59 million metric ton, producing range of polymers, chemicals, aromatics & liquid gas, located mainly at Iranian south region, next to Persian Gulf, called Assaluyeh and Mahshahr Special Economic Zones.

At the moment, there are 67 developments projects in the country which are under construction, adding 61 million metric ton on total production and estimated to fully run till 2018.
MRC

Repsol profits triple despite oil price fall

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Repsol SA said its adjusted profit tripled in the fourth quarter as the Spanish company was sheltered from the oil price plunge by higher refining margins and falling financing costs, said the Wall Street Journal.

Repsol said adjusted profit, which excludes gains or losses in the value of inventories and one-off items, rose to EUR370 million (USD420 million) between October and December compared with EUR123 million a year earlier.

Repsol, whose origins lie in refining, spent USD4 billion in recent years modernizing two of its five refineries in Spain, allowing it to produce more refined products and operate at a profit when crude oil was selling above USD100 per barrel. When oil prices went into free fall in recent months, Repsol’s refining margins widened sharply, injecting a further boost.

For the full year, Repsol’s adjusted profit rose 27% to EUR1.71 billion. Oil prices fell 48% over the course of last year, mostly during the second half of the year.

Including inventories and one-offs, Repsol reported a net loss of EUR34 million, compared with a net loss of EUR1.09 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. Sliding oil prices in the quarter led Repsol to lower its valuation of its oil inventory by EUR489 million.

The large loss in the year earlier was mainly a result of charges related to the Argentine government’s expropriation of Repsol’s unit YPF SA. Repsol received USD5 billion in compensation from Argentina for the nationalization last year.

Repsol lowered its net debt by 64% on the year, pushing down the company’s financing costs. Net debt fell as a result of the sale of Repsol’s liquefied natural gas assets to Shell, and compensation it received last year from Argentina.

Repsol had a debt of EUR1.94 billion at the end of the quarter, and it held a cash position of EUR9.84 billion.

The bulk of this cash will go into the EUR8.3 billion takeover of Talisman Energy Inc., announced by Repsol in December as oil prices were in free fall. The closing of the deal, expected during the second quarter, will allow Repsol to roughly double in daily oil production.

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

Arkema launches Polystrand thermoplastic tapes in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- To expand its current offer to the composites industry, Arkema, a France-based chemical manufacturer, is launching the Polystrand range of products in Europe, featuring a full range of glass-reinforced thermoplastic tapes and prepregs, as per the company's press release.

These high performance materials are giving access to lightweight, recyclable and structural composites, for the automotive, transportation, energy, consumer and construction markets.

Arkema is willing to bring ready-to-use materials to Composites molders, such as reactive thermoplastic resin for RTM and Infusion (Elium), structural adhesives for composite-composite and metal-composite assembly (AEC Polymers) and now thermoplastic tapes and prepregs for thermo-compression, thermo-stamping and lamination (Polystrand).

Polystrand tapes are continuous glass fibers impregnated by various polymers, such as polypropylene, polyamides and fluoropolymers. These tapes have outstanding properties in terms of stiffness, strength and impact resistance, as compared to traditional compounds. They can be laminated or laid up ply per ply in the load direction, in order to bring glass fiber properties where they are needed. The X-ply prepregs are similar to impregnated fabrics but present the advantage of higher mechanical performances due to the absence of weave formation. These materials are already used in many applications in North America, for example in the automotive industry to reinforce front ends. Over-molding with short-fiber compound is possible to integrate functions to the composite part or to locally reinforce short-fiber composites. These continuous fiber materials bring endless opportunities to manufacture structural thermoplastic composite parts.

As MRC wrote before, Arkema has recently developed a new grade of Kynar PVDF resin that provides a whole new set of properties for PVDF. Kynar UHM resin has a high flexural modulus, heat deflection temperature, abrasion resistance, tensile strength, pressure capability and, at the same time, offers excellent creep resistance.

Arkema with annual revenue of EUR7.6 billion is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc.
MRC

PVC production in Russia increased by 31% in January 2015

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production exceeded 74,100 tonnes in January 2015, up 31% compared with the same time a year earlier. Such a serious increase in production volumes provided RusVinyl, according to MRC ScanPlast.

January production of unmixed PVC in Russia grew to 74,100 tonnes, compared with 56,600 tonnes in January 2014 and 63,100 tonnes in December 2014. All Russian producers, despite sharp seasonal decline in demand for PVC kept a high level of capacity utilisation. Such a significant increase in production resulted from the increased production volumes at RusVinile - a new production site, which was launched in September last year.

Structure of PVC production over the reported period looked as follows. SayanskKhimPlast in January practically kept the December level of capacity utilisation. January production of suspension PVC (SPVC) at the plant was 24,600 tonnes, compared with 27,600 tonnes in January 2014 and 24,900 tonnes in December 2014.

Bashkir Soda Company (BSC) in January this year increased its capacity utilisation. The company's SPVC production in January was 22,700 tonnes, compared with 19,200 tonnes in January 2014 and 20,900 tonnes in December 2014.


Kaustik (Volgograd) in January 2015 produced 8,400 tonnes of SPVC, while in January and December last year it was 8,100 tonnes and 8,200 tonnes respectively.

RusVinyl (JV SIBUR and SolVin) in January increased capacity utilisation, while in November and December 2014 it had to reduce production volumes because of the technical problems. The producer's resin production in January 2015 was 18,400 tonnes, compared with 9,100 tonnes in December 2014. The main increase occurred for the production of suspension PVC.


MRC

Spot sales of polymers in Ukraine are suspended. The market is paralyzed

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The ban on the foreign currency purchasing, the hryvnya devaluation and the expected increase in import prices in March have paralyzed the Ukrainian polymer market. Sellers have stopped their sales and importers can not buy the currency to pay for contracts, reported MRC analysts.

On 24 February 2015, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) published the NBU Board's Act No.130. This Act came into force yesterday, on 25 February. According to the document, the interbank foreign exchange market is closed this week. Importers have been in no position to buy the currency since then.

Ever since the day before yesterday and yesterday's morning, traders reported the termination of sales of polymers. Material is held at the warehouses, reported MRC analyst Igor Grishchenko. Market players also do not understand what the foreign currency exchange rate will be on Monday, which entails additional risks in case of stocks' sale.

New customs tariffs are another factor in the sales' termination. Sellers are waiting for an increase in the import duty. This is stated in the Law of Ukraine "On Measures to stabilize Ukraine's payment balance in accordance with Art. XII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994". According to the law, the import duty on the entire 39th group of HS will be increased by 5%.

To hold stocks at the warehouses also makes sense because of the expected rise in prices of polymers in foreign markets in March. Higher oil prices have led to an increase in spot prices of aromatic hydrocarbons and monomers in February. As a consequence, market players expect contract prices of polymers to go up.

As reported earlier, the official exchange rate of the dollar against the hryvnya has almost doubled since the beginning of the year and was at UAH 28.3 per USD 1 on 24 February. At the same time, the hryvnya exchange rate against the dollar fell even lower in the interbank market on Tuesday. Bid prices were at UAH 32 per USD 1. Sellers' prices (Ask) were at UAH 33.5 per USD 1.
MRC