PIC close to signing deal to acquire 45% stake in Opal in India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) is close to signing a deal to acquire 45% of the OpaL chemical factory in India, reported Reuters with reference to a statement of the company's chief executive.

Asaad Al-Saad attributed delays in the completion of the deal to tough Indian laws, but said he was optimistic due to the support of India's government and the strength of its economy.

"We faced many challenges in order to reach an agreement and we aim to get the facilities," said Saad, on the sidelines of an annual petrochemicals industry forum in Dubai. He did not elaborate on the size of the deal.

The olefins factory, ONGC Petro-additions Limited, or OpaL, is currently a joint venture between three Indian companies: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).

PIC, a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), manufactures fertilisers, olefins and aromatics in Kuwait and participates in joint ventures internationally.

As MRC reported before, PIC aims to implement a number of strategic projects by 2030. The Olefins Business Development department works on carrying out the third project of Olefins in line with the PIC's strategy that aims at expanding the field of petrochemicals and enhancing integration with the activities of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. There is now an initial feasibility study on the integration project among the third Olefins factory, the aromatics plant and the Al Zour Refinery, he said, indicating this feasibility study aims at choosing the best alternatives required for the project.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tongsuh Petrochemical has brought on-stream its No.3 acrylonitrile (ACN) plant following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at its plant during last week. The plant was shut for maintenance in mid-October 2015.

Located in Ulsan, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 245,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Tongsuh Petrochemical began commercial production of a new line at its ACN plant in January 2013. Tongsuh added line No.4 at its Ulsan based ACN plant, which will have a production capacity of 245,000 tons per year. Tongsuh had an ACN capacity of 315,000 tons per annum and with the addition of the new ACN line in 2013 reached 560,000 tons per year.

Tongsuh Petrochemical Corp., Ltd. manufactures acrylonitrile, ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid, and ammonium sulfate. The company also offers related derivatives and co-products, such as sodium cyanide, EDTA, acrylamide, and acetonitrile. The company was founded in 1969 and is based in Ulsan, South Korea. Tongsuh Petrochemical Corp., Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Corporation.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A group of scientists at Genomatica and Braskem have announced that they have produced butadiene through a direct, bio-based process in a lab, said Chemicals-technology.

The companies have been producing butadiene in lab scale since June 2015 at Genomatica's innovation centre in San Diego and Campinas. In 2013, both Genomatica and Braskem joined to develop a commercial process for on-purpose production of butadiene from renewable feedstocks.

During the course of their programme, the team at Genomatica and Braskem has successfully developed a microorganism that consumes sugar and converts it to butadiene at lab scale, in two-litre fermenters. Genomatica has been able to recognise 60 possible biological pathways with which a microorganism can make butadiene, theoretically.

"Our joint team has made good use of Genomatica's integrated bioengineering platform to quickly hit a key milestone." The programme further helps to boost intellectual knowledge of Braskem and Genomatica.

Genomatica R&D senior vice-president Nelson Barton said: "Our joint team has made good use of Genomatica's integrated bioengineering platform, including its computational techniques and high-throughput cloning and screening, to quickly hit a key milestone.

"Our 'rational' approach to strain design should enable faster, more predictable scale-up and better economics as we advance the programme."

Butadiene is a used in the production of rubber for tires, electrical appliances, footwear, plastics, asphalt, building materials, and latex and a renewable butadiene expects to lower carbon footprint in the industrial output.

In July, Genomatica partnered with American company Cargill to develop renewable chemicals for industrial applications.

With the partnership, both the companies are expected to produce a cost-effective source of carbohydrate feedstocks, as well as co-location support services to chemical producers, distributors and users.

As MRC informed earlier, Braskem plans to build a new polyethylene (PE) plant at its existing complex in La Porte, Texas.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- -- The Board of Directors of Westlake Chemical Corporation declared on November 20, 2015, a dividend of USD0.1815 per share. The dividend will be payable on December 18, 2015, to stockholders of record on December 4, 2015, said the company on its site.

This is the 45th successive quarterly dividend that Westlake has declared since completing its initial public offering in August 2004.

As MRC informed earlier, Technip has been awarded a contract by Westlake Chemical to provide detailed engineering and procurement services to expand the recovery section of Westlake’s Petro 1 ethylene plant at its complex in Sulphur, Louisiana.

Westlake Chemical Corporation is an international manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and building products with headquarters in Houston, Texas. The company's range of products includes: ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, caustic, VCM, PVC suspension and specialty resins and PVC building products including pipe and specialty components, windows, fence, deck and film.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian officials said Saudi Arabia won't be able to maintain the discounted crude prices offered to refiners in Eastern Europe as the nation toned down its criticism of oil shipments from the biggest OPEC producer, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Saudi Arabia has priced its oil at a six-year low for Europe after starting to ship crude to traditional Russian markets, such as Poland.

The discounted crude "is a temporary situation and it won't work for a long period," Nikolay Tokarev, CEO of Russia’s state-run oil pipeline operator, Transneft, said in an interview on Friday.

Oil executives in Russia, which ships almost 70% of its crude to Europe, last month criticized Saudi Arabia’s strategy even before it dropped its December price for the northwest of the continent to lowest since February 2009. Still, while the Russian central bank warned last week that increased competition from the Middle East may create economic risks, Energy Minister Alexander Novak was more sanguine on Friday.

"If more or less one oil cargo is added or drops off, there’s no need to turn it into a sensation," Novak told reporters in Moscow.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in March 2015, US oil and gas major ExxonMobil asked the Russian government to reimburse taxes worth "several billion roubles" it says it overpaid on a project in the far east of Russia.
MRC