Kenya to extend plastic ban on water, juice bottles

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The government through Environment Cabinet secretary Judi Wakhungu has announced that it will be extending the ban on plastic bags use to plastic bottles in the continued attempts to curb environmental pollution, said Mwakilishi.

The move will require water bottlers and manufacturers of soft drinks and juices to explore alternative packaging materials.

The government gazetted a blanket ban on use of plastic bags two months ago which is scheduled to take effect in September.

"We don’t have a choice. Phase one (of the ban) is the plastic carrier bags and the flat bags. But going forward we will also have to extend this to the plastic bottles because again if you look at most of our drainage they are clogged by the plastic bottles as well," Prof Wakhungu said in an interview.

The gazette notice published in mid-March forced a ban on the use, manufacture and importation of all plastic bags used either for commercial and household purposes beginning September.

However the ban has not been welcomed by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) who described the ban as “illegal and rushed".According to the KAM chief executive Phyllis Wakiaga, a total of 176 plastic manufacturing companies will be closed leading to laying off of more than 60,000 employees.

But Wakhungu dismissed the figure as an "exaggeration," adding that though the government had not established how many will lose their jobs, the ban still stands.
MRC

Kazakhstan and UAE to prepare JV for PE production


MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazakhstan and UAE have agreed to prepare a joint project for polyethylene production, reports the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan, said Iranenergy.

"A memorandum on cooperation between the Unified Chemical Company ltd and Mubadala (UAE) was signed on May 23 2017 in Astana which will prescribe development of the draft project with technical and economic parameters," reads the message.

The Ministry of Energy reminded the official visit of Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, to the United Arabic Emirates took place on January 14-16 2017. In the result of the agreements between the heads of states and Governments the parties initiated negotiations on cooperation in the petrochemical field.

Kanat Bozumbayev, Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan and Suheilo Muhammed al-Mazrui, his colleague from UAE, have conducted a number of negotiations.

"The result of work is the agreement on joint performance of polyethylene production project in Kazakhstan," reads the message.

The industry is going to be based on the territory of the petrochemical zone in Atyrau region, which provides special legal regime, tax, customs and other preferences.
MRC

Borealis to build dedicated automotive

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers, has decided to build a dedicated automotive polypropylene (PP) compounding plant in Taylorsville, Alexander County, North Carolina, said the company on its web-site.

This decision demonstrates the continuing commitment of Borealis to the global automotive industry. Together with Borouge, a joint venture between Borealis and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), we are increasingly well positioned to serve our automotive customers on a global basis. North Carolina has been selected for its strategic location and proximity to the company's customer base, as well as for the business-friendly and supporting environment of the State and the County.

The new facility will help to secure the position of Borealis as a local supplier to automotive OEMs and their Tier partners in North America and serves to strengthen our leading position in Europe, Brazil and China. With this investment, Borealis will step up its capacity, capabilities and support infrastructure, ensuring that its customers in North America receive the same high level of service as in the other regions. "We are very excited to be expanding our automotive business in North America and look forward to working more closely with our customers in the region to deliver our global material innovations locally," says Ken Wiecoreck, President of Borealis Compounds Inc.

The North Carolina plant is scheduled to become commercially operational in early 2019 and will initially produce PP compounds in the Daplen family of PP thermoplastic olefins (TPO) and in the Fibremod range of PP short glass fibre (SGF) reinforced materials. The plant will complement the existing Borealis Automotive Compounding assets located in New Jersey, as well as the current production via tolling partners.

"We are aware that North America is a competitive market with established suppliers, however, we are convinced that our cutting-edge material solutions will continue to help our customers create value through innovation and enable us to grow with them on a global basis," adds Nicholas Kolesch, Head of Automotive Marketing at Borealis.

Borealis and Borouge have established a broad global portfolio of high-end PP TPO and SGF materials capable of solving the automotive industry's most pressing challenges. Some of the latest innovations include new generation materials for part light-weighting through reduced filler content, chemical and mechanical foaming or metal and engineering plastic replacement. Furthermore, the companies have recently introduced advanced products for improved surface aesthetics and paintability, pushing the boundaries for the quality perception of polypropylene applications. At the same time, Borealis and Borouge's material innovations continue to deliver increasingly better mechanical properties and robustness in material processing, helping customers to achieve outstanding part performance and production efficiencies.
MRC

Reliance starts maintenance at PVC plant in Dahej

MOSCow (MRC) -- Private Indian energy major Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has undertaken planned shutdown at polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that the company has commenced turnaround at its plant today and it is expected to remain off-line for around 3 weeks. As per earlier plans, the plant was supposed to shut in mid-May 2017.

Located at Dahej in Gujarat, India, the plant has a production capacity of 315,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in the secon half of April 2016, RIL shut down its PVC plant in Dahej owing to a shortage of water.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company produces polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride and other petrochemical products.
MRC

Moodys reviews SOCAR for downgrade


MOSCOW (MRC) -- Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has today placed on review for downgrade the Ba1 corporate family rating (CFR), Ba1-PD probability of default rating (PDR) and Ba1 senior unsecured notes rating of State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), following the placement of Azerbaijan's rating on review.

"Our decision to place SOCAR's ratings on review for downgrade reflects the fact that it is wholly state-owned, as well as the company's exposure to Azerbaijan's weakening operating and credit environment. Furthermore, there is increasing risk that the government's capacity and willingness to provide extraordinary support to SOCAR may become more limited if stresses in the banking system worsen," says Denis Perevezentsev, Vice President -- Senior Credit Officer at Moody's.

On 19 May, Moody's placed Azerbaijan's Ba1 long-term issuer rating and senior unsecured rating on review for downgrade, prompted by the unexpected announcement of a restructuring plan for the country's largest bank, state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA, Caa3/on review for downgrade), which could imply that Azerbaijan's credit profile is weaker than Moody's had previously expected.
MRC