HDPE production in Russia rose by 13% from January to March 2015

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The output of high density polyethylene (HDPE) in Russia dropped over the first three months of 2015 by 13% year on year and totalled about 213,300 tonnes. The decrease in production was largely caused by a long shutdown of Stavrolen, according to MRC DataScope report.

March HDPE production in Russia was about 70,300 tonnes, which slightly exceeded the February figure - about 70,000 tonnes. Russian producers, particularly, Kazanorgsintez and Nizhnekamskneftekhim, maintained high capacity utilisation this year, but this factor could not compensate for the long outage at Russia' second largest HDPE producer - Stavrolen. The overall production of this polyethylene (PE) grade dropped to 213,300 tonnes from 245,200 tonnes a year earlier.

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

Kazanorgsintez, Russia's largest PE producer, was forced to reduce its capacity utilisation in the second half of March because of the failure at one of its units, as a consequence, the plant's HDPE production was about 44,100 versus 45,200 tonnes in February. The plant's overall HDPE production totalled over 134,000 tonnes in the first three months of 2015 versus 132,400 tonnes in the same period of 2014.

Nizhnekamskneftehim produced about 18,700 tonnes of HDPE last month versus 17,200 tonnes a month earlier. The plant's overall HDPE production totalled about 54,700 tonnes over the stated period compared to 38,300 tonnes a year earlier.

In March, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat virtually maintained the February level of HDPE production - about 7,600 tonnes. The plant's overall output of HDPE totalled 24,600 tonnes from January to March 2015, down by 8% year on year.

As reported earlier, Stavrolen was forced to shut down its PE production because of an accident at its ethylene unit on 26 February 2014. It took just over a year to resume the plant's ethylene and PE production, which was launched on 7 April 2015 after a long shutdown. However, the company's customers said the plant still could not reach 100% of capacity utilisation.

MRC

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

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is planned to be shut in end-July 2015. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located at Nanjing in China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, on March 26, 2015, Sinopec Cangzhou Petrochemical has shut its refinery for maintenance turnaround. It is planned to remain off-stream for around two months. Located at Cangzhou in Hebei province of China, the plant has a production capacity of 2.5 million mt/year.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical companies with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its refining and ethylene capacity ranks No.2 and No.4 globally. The Company has 30,000 sales and distribution networks of oil products and chemical products, its service stations are now ranked third largest in the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian energy and petrochemicals group Sibur has announced the first logo change in its 20-year history, the new design featuring its name in an updated font style, said the company in its press relelase.

Previously, the company had two logo design versions, using either the Sibur name or a stylised Latin S and a tree leaf located in a triangular with the name in the same font.

The key concept idea behind the new logo is an icebreaker, which reflects the company’s ambition to keep moving forward despite all the obstacles, according to a 21 April press release.

"Any brand evolution is the story of the company’s changes and achievements. Established 20 years ago, Sibur has since then grown into the industry leader steadily pursuing its line," said Oleg Makarov, Sibur’s managing director.

The logo is the first stage of a rebranding campaign covering all aspects of Sibur’s corporate style. This is a phased process scheduled for the next two to three years.

As MRC informed earlier, this year, SIBUR has added new advanced polypropylene (PP) grades to its product mix. The grades are included into the production plans of the Company's facilities and are already available to customers.

Sibur is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes, and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. As of 30 June 2014, SIBUR operated 26 production sites located all over Russia, had over 1,400 large customers engaged in the energy, chemical, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, construction and other industries in approximately 70 countries worldwide and employed over 26,000 personnel.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemicals giant DuPont Co. said first-quarter profit declined from the previous year, as revenues dropped amid adverse currency and decreased volumes, as per company's press release.

The company now expects higher-than-previously estimated negative currency impact in 2015, and as a result sees full year earnings at the low end of its prior outlook.

Ellen Kullman, DuPont Chair and CEO, said, "DuPont delivered volume and margin improvements in the majority of our post-spin segments through intense focus on innovation, disciplined execution and ongoing efficiency improvements and cost reduction, even in the midst of challenging currency and market environments. We expect performance in the remainder of the year to build on this momentum, driven by new product sales and benefits from our accelerated operational redesign.

Attributable net income dropped to USD1.03 billion or USD1.13 per share from USD1.44 billion or USD1.54 per share reported in the prior year.

Including a USD0.25 per share negative currency impact, operating earnings were USD1.34 per share, while it totaled USD1.58 per share in the prior year. On average, 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of USD1.31 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Cost reductions from operational redesign contributed USD0.10 per share to operating earnings. In 2015, total cost savings are expected to increase to around USD0.40 per share. Net sales fell to USD9.172 billion from USD10.128 billion in the prior year. Analysts expected revenues of USD9.41 billion.

The company attributed the sales drop to a 6 percent impact from currency, portfolio changes of 2 percent and expected near-term industry-wide challenges in Agriculture and Performance Chemicals.

Sales declined in the Agriculture business to USD3.94 billion from USD4.39 billion. Operating earnings decreased 21 percent, as improved product mix in Pioneer, pricing actions taken in parts of Europe and Asia and productivity improvements were more than offset by adverse currency, decreased volumes from expected reduction in global corn planted area, lower insecticide demand in Latin America and timing of seed shipments.

As MRC informed earlier, DuPont Crop Protection (DuPont) announced an agreement with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui) for DuPont to sell its global Kocide and ManKocide copper fungicide business assets to Mitsui.

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in July, 1802. The company manufactures a wide range of chemical products, leading extensive innovative research in this field. The company is the inventor of many unique plastics and other materials, including neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, Mylar, Tyvek, etc. DuPont was the developer and main producer of Freon used in the production of refrigeration equipment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Several petrochemical crackers in Europe were undergoing maintenance in March and April, which somewhat limited prompt demand for feedstocks naphtha and LPG, said Plastemart.

Among plants still undergoing unplanned maintenance this week are OMV's Schwechat cracker in Austria, Versalis's Dunkirk cracker in France, Shell's Moerdijk cracker in the Netherlands, and Total's Feluy cracker in France cracker. The plants still undergoing planned maintenance are Total's Antwerp cracker in Belgium, Total's Feyzin cracker in France, and Dow's Terneuzen cracker in the Netherlands.

Dow begun scheduled maintenance at one of its Terneuzen crackers in the Netherlands in early March. The maintenance, expected to last until late April, is taking place at the site's largest cracker, Terneuzen 3, which has an ethylene capacity of 680,000 tpa. Turkish major Petkim was heard to be restarting its Aliaga cracker this week after a power trip halted production last week, while Repsol's Puertollano cracker in Spain restarted last week.
MRC