BASF launches new Acrodur binder for automotive lightweight composites

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's largest petrochemical major, is launching a new binder - Acrodur Power 2750 X, according to the company's press release.

The product is designed for the production of natural fiber composites for automotive lightweight applications such as interior car door panels or shelves. As a low-emission alternative to formaldehyde-based reactive resins, Acrodur Power 2750 X gives natural fiber composites high mechanical stability. At the same time, the product offers thermoplastic processability and, unlike traditional thermoplastic binders based on polypropylene, it allows the use of up to 75 percent natural fibers in lightweight components.

"Due to the use of Acrodur Power 2750 X, natural fiber components are up to 40% lighter than conventional plastic products. This results in cars that consume less fuel and have fewer carbon emissions," explains Claus Dallner, Head of Marketing for Dispersions for Fiber Bonding at BASF.

The water-based binder Acrodur Power 2750 X is a health-compatible alternative to conventional formaldehyde-based reactive resins: neither during processing nor as part of the final product does it release any organic substances. This offers greater safety at work for the user, who no longer needs to invest in exhaust air treatment systems. In addition to this, the binder helps to improve the ambient air quality inside cars.

"With its novel Acrodur Power 2750 X product BASF offers the automotive and component-supplying industry an innovative, environmentally-friendly solution that preserves resources and helps reduce the weight and costs of natural fiber composites," underlines Vice President Jurgen Pfister, responsible for the dispersions business of BASF for adhesives and fiber bonding in Europe. "As a strong development partner in the value chain, equipped with a comprehensive portfolio and far-reaching technical expertise, we help customers all over the world to differentiate from their competitors."

The low-emission Acrodur binders are used to reinforce natural fiber composites before these can be processed into molded components. They are also used for the production of high quality lightweight applications in the furniture and automotive industry. Due to their 3D plasticity, the binders help create attractive design options with a natural fiber look and feel.

As MRC wrote before, at this year’s Cosmetagora exhibition, BASF presented two new personal care solutions inspired by life: the anti-aging face care concept "Beautiful Faces" and "Color Trends 2016" - a trend-driven collection of effect pigments.

BASF is the largest diversified chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. shook off the chill of sanctions and continued to snap up drilling rights in Russia last year, giving it more exploration holdings in Vladimir Putin’s backyard than in the U.S., said Bloomberg.

Taking the long view, Exxon boosted its Russian holdings to 63.7 million acres in 2014 from 11.4 million at the end of 2014, according to data from U.S. regulatory filings. That dwarfs the 14.6 million acres of rights Exxon holds in the U.S., which until last year was its largest exploration prospect.

While U.S. and European Union sanctions against Russia forced Exxon to shut down an Arctic drilling project in October, the producer is staking claims to areas that could yield tens of billions of barrels in coming decades. The bet on Russia follows a string of drilling failures elsewhere and spending cuts that will likely be addressed in Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson’s investor meeting Wednesday.

Sanctions to punish Russia for supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine and for the annexation of Crimea prohibit companies based in the U.S. and EU from probing Russia’s deep-sea, shale and Arctic fields. They don’t bar activities such as seismic surveying or acquiring drilling rights, opening an avenue for Exxon's bold campaign.

The producer, based in Irving, Texas, added drilling rights in the Laptev and Chukchi seas last year to holdings it already had in the Kara and Black seas under joint-venture agreements with state-controlled OAO Rosneft, the filings showed. The exploration rights have various expiration dates spanning from 2017 to 2023.

Geologists have no estimate of how much oil is trapped beneath the acreage Exxon amassed. In 2012, Russian officials said the resources were so vast that they would require new airports to be built to handle thousands of roughnecks and scores of offshore platforms to manage crude production. The Kara and Black sea assets alone will cost as much as USD350 billion to develop, Igor Sechin, the Rosneft chairman who was deputy prime minister at the time, said in April 2012.

Tillerson is scheduled to brief a gathering of investors and analysts on the company’s growth outlook at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Exxon signed the agreements to acquire more acreage in May, said Patrick McGinn, a company spokesman. That was about two months after the Russian annexation of Crimea that spurred U.S. and EU leaders to escalate sanctions.

The company’s fourth-quarter output tumbled to a 15-year low, and its shares lost 8.7 percent of their value in 2014, the steepest annual decline since 2009. The U.S. oil explorer’s willingness to expand in Russia when western governments are working to isolate President Putin’s regime may indicate it expects sanctions to be short-lived, said Timothy Ash, chief economist for emerging markets at Standard Bank Plc in London.

Worldwide, Exxon’s exploration failure rate worsened last year to 39 percent from 33 percent in 2013. The company had so-called dry holes, or wells that failed to locate commercially viable amounts of oil or gas, in two-thirds of the regions in which it operates. Of the seven exploratory dry holes Exxon drilled in 2014, four were in the U.S. The company’s costs to extract a barrel of crude from the ground rose 9.3 percent last year to a global average of USD12.55.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.

MOSCOW (MRC) - Crimean Titan, the largest in the CIS countries producer of titanium dioxide, in February increased the price of the pigment of its own production by UAH14,500-16,000/tonne, including VAT, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The reason for the price increase was the devaluation of the hryvnya. The producer adjusted its prices two times in February. Back in January, the company announced its price for large buyers at UAH28,500/tonne FCA Armiansk, including VAT, for the brand CRIMEA TiOx-220. The price offer for titanium dioxide under the brand CRIMEA TiOx-280 was at UAH29,000/tonne FCA Armiansk, including VAT.

Initially, prices were increased to UAH35,000/tonne FCA Armiansk, including VAT, for the brand CRIMEA TiOx-220.
Later in February, the company announced a new benchmark price. Because of the new wave of hryvnya devaluation, prices for Ukrainian customers increased to UAH43,000/tonne FCA Armiansk, including VAT, for the brand CRIMEA TiOx-220 and UAH45,000/tonne FCA Armiansk, including VAT, for the brand CRIMEA TiOx-280.

The new restrictions from NBU are intended to stabilise the hryvnya. Some market players in Ukraine expect that price for Crimean titanium dioxide will drop in the case of appreciation of the hryvnya, but it should not be expected prices to return to the previous level.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to Kazakhstan dropped to about 850 tonnes in January 2015, down five times compared with January 2014, according to MRC DataScope.

Peak of external supplies of unmixed PVC in Kazakhstan occurred for September 2014, after which PVC imports gradually began to decline.
In January this year, PVC imports in the country dropped to the level of 850 tonnes, while in January 2014 PVC imports were 4,300 tonnes, and in December 2014 - 1,200 tonnes. Such a serious decline in PVC imports in Kazakhstan is explained by a fall in demand for finished products from local producers and the complete cessation of further re-imports of resin in Russia.
Some local converters reported that in recent months the demand for their finished PVC products declined in times. Due to a serious devaluation of the rouble Russian goods are cheaper than Kazakh ones on average by 40%, with the greatest competition from Russian converters felt in the northern regions of Kazakhstan, bordering Russia.

The main suppliers of PVC in the local market were producers from China, with their share in January 2015 made 100%.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Meghna Group of Bangladesh and PM Group of Thailand have joined hands to set up a polypropylene (PP) factory that will support packaging industries at home and abroad, reported GV.

The factory will be the first of its kind in Bangladesh as polypropylene consumers, including garment exporters, now meet their demand by imports.

PM Group will invest around USD 150 million, equivalent to around Tk 1,170 crore, to set up the plant at Meghnaghat in Narayanganj. Both sides signed a deal in Bangkok last week. However, the shareholding issue has not been finalised yet.

"Half of the products will be exported," Mostafa Kamal, chairman of Meghna Group, told The Daily Star.

Apparel exporters will be benefitted, as it will reduce costs of using biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP).

Meghna Group has 32 companies. The local conglomerate has an annual turnover of USD 2 billion and asset worth USD 1 billion, while PM Group is a private firm valued at more than USD 2 billion.

Meghna wanted to sell all the products from the new factory in the local market, but PM Group wants to export half the products to enjoy the facility of generalised system of preferences (GSP) given to Bangladesh by the European Union.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in November 2014, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, laid the foundation of USD509.58 million (Rs.3150 Crore) polypropylene plant at IndianOil’s Paradip Refinery project complex. Addressing the gathering, Mr. Pradhan described the project as a dawn of new era for the industrial development.
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