Petrobras in trouble as bribe allegations start to stick

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras continues to increase as Brazilian investigators question its purchase of US refinery. Its acquisition of Texas refinery is claimed to involve bribery, which resulted in huge losses for the company, said Businessfinancenews.

Brazilian regulators stated that their investigation has revealed that Petrobras accepted bribes of USD15 million to acquire Pasadena Refinery. According to the regulators, State Run Company’s acquisition could either be nullified or compensation could be sought for the losses incurred. Furthermore, the Belgium Trading company that paid the bribes could face hardships in Brazil and in US also.

In a press conference at Curitiba, the prosecutor Carlos Lima stated that the selling company had paid bribes. Due to such corruption, a decisive action should be taken. In response, Petrobras stated that it is trying to retain and fix the damaged incurred due to illicit and illegal activities. Moreover, the oil company has already conducted its internal audit to determine any deficiencies, and reports are forwarded to concerned authorities.

Petrobras acquired 50% stake in Pasadena refinery, which had a capacity of 100,000 barrels per day in 2005. Later, it acquired the remaining stake in the refinery in 2012 for USD1.2 billion. First finger was pointed on the company in 2012 when a hint of overpriced deal came to light. Company chairman was Dilma Rousseff, who is the current President of Brazil.

According to TCU, Brazil’s audit court, the refinery purchase resulted in company losses of USD792 million. The initial investigation associated with Pasadena refinery also played the beginning stone role in the Mega Corruption Scandal involving the company.

With a new topic of investigation for Petrobras, its future appears highly uncertain in terms of debt load and poor financial health. The situation could get worse for the corruption involved company if the bribe allegations are proved, deal is cancelled or compensation is sought. Likewise, any other investigation that may initiate in the future could make things worse for it. Hence, investors should not expect positivity from the company in the near future.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spanish ABS maker Elix Polymers has announced it has introduced a new generation of natural fibre reinforced ABS, said Plasticsnews.

The new Elix Eco ABS-NF thermoplastic is suited for injection moulding applications and specific extrusion processes, says Elix. The company states applications for the material include the automotive and furniture sectors.

Properties of the new ABS include high stiffness, heat resistance, low moulding shrinkage ratios, low emissions and weight reduction when compared to glass fibre reinforced ABS, states Elix. Machines should not need modifying to process the material.

David Castaneda, operations director of Elix, said: "We believe that this new material offers a range of sustainability benefits that meet current industry trends. At the same time, it underlines Elix Polymers’ commitment to the establishment of a more environmentally sustainable product portfolio and establishes our company’s position as a leading supplier of eco-friendly ABS materials."

The material was aided in its development by EEA and Norway Grants. The EEA Grants and Norway Grants represent the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to reducing economic and social disparities and to strengthening bilateral relations with 16 EU countries in Central and Southern Europe and the Baltics.

Elix highlights it is the first time a European ABS producer has been given a European grant for a project to investigate new sustainable ABS materials and composites.

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2015, ELIX Polymers introduced the new range of high heat ABS grades with very low emissions and high flowability. This latest innovative product development meets the stringent requirements of the automotive industry and is suitable for all interior and exterior applications.

ELIX Polymers is one of the most important manufacturers of ABS resins and derivatives in Europe, with 40 years of experience in engineering plastics and an installed capacity of 180,000/year from their plant in Tarragona (Spain) to the world. The operation starts in 1975, when the Tarragona ABS and SAN production plant was inaugurated.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian Oil is planning to expand capacity at its naphtha cracker in Panipat by 2019, the executive director of the refiner's petrochemical division told news agency Reuters.

The expansion would increase capacity of the cracker in northern India from about 850,000 tpy to 1.2 million tpy by 2019, the report says. It would cost about half-a-billion dollars, S Mitra said at a condensate and naphtha forum in Singapore.

"Demand in (India) for polymers is growing," said Mitra, adding that baout 90% of the polymers that Indian Oil produces is for domestic use.

However, it is unlikely that Indian Oil would build a brand-new naphtha cracker in India in the short-term because of challenges related to obtaining naphtha from one single refinery.

The Panipat cracker currently needs over 2 million tpy of naphtha feedstock. It takes that feedstock from several nearby refineries, including Indian Oil's Mathura and Haldia plants. This will continue even after the Panipat cracker's expansion, Mitra said.

Indian Oil, India's top refiner by capacity, exports an average of 800,000 tpy of naphtha through various ports including Dahej, Haldia and Chennai.

As MRC reported earlier, India's largest refiner and oil marketing company Indian Oil Corporation's Rs 34,555-crore 15 million tonnes per annum Paradip Refinery has been commissioned in phases from March 2015 onwards.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell’s cracker at Moerdijk in the Netherlands remains off line following a small compressor fire in a compressor on Nov. 11, said Chemanager-online.

The oil and petrochemical group so far has not disclosed when the facility with capacity to produce 900,000 t/y of ethylene, 500,000 t/y of propylene and 115,000 t/y of butadiene will go back on stream but market insiders predict that it will be down at least until the beginning of December. Shell has not declared force majeure.

This is the second outage of the cracker in the recent past. Taken off line in October 2014, due to a fire, the facility only returned to production in mid-July of this year. The SM/PO plant at the same site owned by Shell’s Ellba joint venture with BASF, went down in June 2014 and customers have been on allocation since then. According to reports, the plant will come back on line by the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

In a scathing report on the Ellba incident, the Dutch safety board said Shell, which operates the Moerdik site, did not follow internal procedures, did not learn sufficient lessons from previous incidents and made incorrect assumptions about basic chemical reactions.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has been recognized as one of the world’s most innovative companies, with a ranking in the Thomson Reuters 2015 Top 100 Global Innovator, said the producer on its site.

The methodology uses a scientific, unbiased approach to identify the organizations that are dedicated to innovation, committed to protecting patent rights globally, and whose inventions have worldwide influence.

As MRC reported before, in early July 2015, Solvay and INEOS announce the start-up of their Joint Venture INOVYN, a world-class competitive player in chlorovinyls, following European Commission approval

Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. The company has diversified into two major sectors of activity: chemicals and plastics. Solvay supplies over 1500 products across 35 brands of high-performance polymers пїЅ fluoropolymers, fluoroelastomers, fluorinated fluids, semi-aromatic polyamides, sulfone polymers, aromatic ultra polymers, high-barrier polymers and cross-linked high-performance compounds.
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