Polyplastics to increase equity in TOPAS Advanced Polymers to 51%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polyplastics Co., Ltd. announces the decision to increase the level of its equity participation in TOPAS Advanced Polymers GmbH (TAP), a company jointly operated with Daicel Corporation, to 51% from the current 45% stake, as per Plastemart.

As a result, TAP will become a subsidiary under Polyplastics Group management. The aim of this maneuver is to generate synergy with business fields other than the production and sales of cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) currently advanced by TAP, as well as to align with business development in Europe and North America, thereby bolstering the caliber of overall group-wide collaboration.

In positioning COC as its fifth core business arm, Polyplastics will be seeking further business expansion on the strength of seamless integration of COC, conventionally advanced as an independent organization under the New Business Development Division, with its existing core business segments. The actual increase in the Polyplastics equity share of TAP was slated to become effective this April 1, on provision of clearance with competition law regulatory authorities in Germany and other related nations.

As MRC informed before, in early September 2016, Polyplastics Co., Ltd. reached agreement with Teijin Limited for a move, under which WinTech Polymer Ltd., a producer of thermoplastic polyester resin, acquired all WinTech Polymer shares then owned by Teijin, effective last September 30. Pursuant to this stock acquisition, WinTech Polymer became a wholly owned subsidiary of Polyplastics, while carrying on all of its existing business operations in their current status.

The Polyplastics Group, as a top supplier of engineering plastics whose Fuji Plant in Japan; Dafa Plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan; and Nantong Plant in mainlandChina have a combined yearly compound production capacity of 150,000 tons, will continue to make every effort to provide customers with a stable supply of products in the aim of further increasing customer satisfaction.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CB&I announced it has been awarded a contract valued at approximately USD40 million by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) to provide engineering, procurement and construction for an ethane cracking furnace expansion project at DuPont's Sabine River Works ethylene plant in Orange, Texas, as per company's press release.

The new cracking furnace will have an ethylene capacity of 200 million pounds per year. The facility will utilize CB&I's SRT (Short Residence Time) pyrolysis heater technology. CB&I was previously awarded a contract for the ethylene technology license, engineering and supply of the new furnace, which was fabricated at CB&I's facility in Thailand.

"This award adds to CB&I's winning streak of ethylene projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast," said Luke V. Scorsone, Executive Vice President of CB&I's Fabrication Services operating group. "CB&I's ability to deliver single-source supply of every phase of this project – from concept to mechanical completion – provides DuPont with a cost-effective, low-risk solution as they expand their ethylene copolymers capacity to meet market demand."

As MRC informed earlier, in a Sept. 16, 2014, DuPont said it would invest more than USD100 million on a series of projects to be completed between 2014-18, all of which were aimed at increasing ethylene copolymers capacity at its Texas manufacturing sites.

CB&Iis a leading provider of technology and infrastructure for the energy industry. With over 125 years of experience and the expertise of more than 40,000 employees, CB&I provides reliable solutions to our customers around the world while maintaining a relentless focus on safety and an uncompromising standard of quality.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PT Intim Perkasa Nigeria Ltd., a subsidiary of PT Intim Perkasa, Jakarta, has indicated interest in building a refinery in Nigeria, said Ogj.

The proposed 10,000-b/sd modular refinery would be built in Nigeria’s state of Akwa Ibom, Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) said.

While NNPC did not disclose further details of the planned refinery, the state-owned company did confirm the project comes as part of the Nigerian federal government’s initiative to expand the country’s existing refining capacity through the use of modularly constructed refineries.

NNPC and its greenfield refinery department, which specializes in new refinery projects, would provide professional support to the proposed project in line with the government’s policy on modular refinery construction, said Maikanti Baru, NNPC’s managing director.

"On our end, we have embarked on [an] ambitious plan to fast-track programs to restore our capacity utilization from 30% to a minimum of 90% in the next 24 months," Baru said. NNPC continues to work on securing financing as well as technical expertise from third parties to help bolster the 445,000-b/sd combined capacity of its three refineries, Baru added.

Given Nigeria’s projected population increase by 2025, the country will require more than 40 million l./day of fuel to meet domestic demand, about only 50% of which NNPC’s existing three refineries currently would be able to supply, Baru said.

Announcement of PT Intim Perkasa’s proposed modular refinery follows a series of recent initiatives by NNPC to aggressively advance its rehabilitation-and-expansion program at Nigeria’s state-owned refineries in order to meet the country’s domestic demand for fuels and curb its reliance on foreign imports.

As part of its proposed USD500-million rehabilitation program, NNPC in April 2016 launched a tender inviting bids from investors to become financial and technical joint venture partners for the phased modernization of its four refineries, which in addition to PHRC’s two refineries, include Warri Refining & Petrochemcial Co. Ltd.’s 125,000-b/sd refinery in Delta State and Kaduna Refining & Petrochemical Co. Ltd.’s 110,000-b/sd refinery in Kaduna State.

The overall program calls for restructuring the refineries to operate as incorporated JVs, with NNPC holding 51% interest and its potential partner 49% interest. If selected, partners will agree to fund, rehabilitate, and jointly operate the refineries with NNPC for a defined period, and in return, receive all offtake and marketing rights to refined products to be sold primarily in the Nigerian market until each partner recovers its investment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dairen Chemical Corporation is likely to shut a vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant at Jurong Island, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Singapore informed that the company has scheduled maintenance at the unit in July 2017. The plant is expected to be shut in mid-July 2017 for a period of around 30 days.

Located in Jurong Island, Singapore, the plant has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, increased its list and off-list selling prices for vinyl actate monomer (VAM). The price increases below was effective April 1, 2017 or as contracts otherwise allow, and were incremental to any previously announced increases. Thus, VAM prices rose, as follows:

- by EUR100/mt - for Europe;
- by USD200/mt - for South America and Mexico;
- by USD0.05/lb - for USA and Canada;
- by USD200/mt - for Middle East and Africa.

Vinyl acetate is an organic compound. A colorless liquid with a pungent odor, it is the precursor to polyvinyl acetate, an important polymer in industry. It is a feedstock for the production of ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- OAO NGK Slavneft subsidiary JSC Slavneft-Yaroslavnefteorgsintez (Slavneft-Yanos) has started a new unit for production of group III base oils at its 15 million-tonne/year refinery in Yaroslavl, Russia, said OGJ.

Designed to produce four types of high-tech base oils, the new 100,000-tpy unit will receive feedstock from an associated hydrocracker for production of high-quality synthetic motor oils, two types of which have not previously been produced in Russia, Slavneft Yanos said.

Requiring a final investment of 5.5 billion rubles to complete, the new unit will enable the refinery to replace up to 40% of finished products currently imported into the domestic market, according to the operator.

Alongside commissioning of the group III base oils unit, other projects to be executed at the Yaroslavl refinery—Russia’s fourth largest—during 2017 involve ongoing implementation of an environment project to build a hydrogen sulfide utilization unit as well as projects to improve operating efficiency, including conversion of process furnaces to run on natural gas as well as replacement of Atmospheric Vacuum Distillation Unit 4’s furnace, according to PJSC Gazprom Neft, which jointly owns NGK Slavneft with 50-50 partner PJSC Rosneft Oil Co.

By yearend 2017, Slavneft Yanos also plans to complete a feasibility study and select technology for a proposed oil residue refining plant at the refinery, Gazprom Neft said in its 2016 annual report to investors.
MRC