PP imports to Belarus up by 7.8% in Q1 2017

March PP imports into Belarus grew to 9,400 tonnes from 6,300 tonnes a month earlier, local companies significantly increased their purchasing of injection moulding propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and statistical propylene copolymer (PP random copolymer). Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 22,000 tonnes in January-March 2017, compared to 20,400 tonnes a year earlier. Demand for all PP grades increased, but propylene copolymer accounted for the greatest growth.

The supply structure by PP grades looked the following way over the stated period.

March imports of homopolymer PP to the Belarusian market rose to 6,300 tonnes from 4,200 tonnes a month earlier, with injection moulding homopolymer PP accounting for the main increase in shipments. Overall shipments of homopolymer PP reached 14,700 tonnes in the first three months of 2017 versus 14,100 tonnes a year earlier. Russian producers, with the share of 85% of the total shipments, were the key suppliers.

March imports of propylene copolymers into Belarus grew to 3,100 tonnes from 1,700 tonnes a month earlier. The largest producer of injection moulding packaging raised its purchasing of injection moulding PP random copolymer in Russia. Thus, overall imports of propylene copolymers exceeded 7,200 tonnes in January-March 2017, whereas this figure was 6,200 tonnes a year earlier. Russian producers, with the share of about 73%, were also the main suppliers of propylene copolymers.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos has announced that it has agreed to acquire the Dong Oil & Gas Business from DONG Energy A/S for an unconditional payment of USD1.05bn, plus a contingent payment of USD 150 million related to the Fredericia stabilisation plant and a contingent payment of up to USD 100 million subject to the development of the Rosebank field, as per the company's press release.

In acquiring the entire DONG Oil & Gas Business, the deal positions Ineos as a top ten company in the North Sea and the biggest privately owned exploration and production business operating in this energy basin.

DONG Energy’s Oil & Gas business brings with it a good mix of long life and development fields, producing an average of 100,000 boepd (in 2016) in the North Sea, with around 570 million boe of commercial and potential oil and gas reserves in Denmark, Norway and the UK (West of Shetland).

Jim Ratcliffe, INEOS chairman says,"DONG Energy's Oil & Gas Business is a natural fit for INEOS as we continue to expand our Upstream interests. This business is very important to us at this stage of our growth plans and we are delighted with the expertise that comes with it. We have been successful in our petro-chemical businesses, focussing on operating our assets safely, efficiently and reliably and we intend to do the same with our oil & gas assets. We are keen on further growth and already see lots of opportunity within this impressive portfolio when it transfers to Ineos".

On completion, 440 people will transfer to Ineos, working across a portfolio of production, development, exploration and appraisal assets in Denmark, Norway and UK (West of Shetland). The business will form part of Ineos Upstream, a business division of the INEOS Group of Companies.

The strong portfolio of assets is built around three world class fields; Ormen Lange is the largest field in the DONG portfolio and the second largest gas field in Norwegian waters, Laggan-Tormore is a new gas field West of Shetland which came on-stream early 2016 and Syd Arne is a large oil field in Denmark. Along with the existing production the portfolio also features several large scale oil & gas developments in Denmark, Norway and UK (West of Shetland).

This transaction will enable Ineos to significantly expand its trading and shipping activities making it a major trader in the sector.

The acquisition and transfer of ownership is targeted to complete within Q3 2017, subject to the receipt of regulatory and other third party approvals. The Business will be acquired by the Ineos Industries business division.

As MRC informed before, in September 2016, Ineos Enterprises completed the sale of Ineos Styrenics, its Expandable Polystyrene Business (EPS), to Synthos S.A. for EUR80m. The sale of the Styrenics business includes manufacturing sites at Wingles and Ribecourt in Northern France and Breda in the Netherlands.

Ineos Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC

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

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

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