Sonoco expands ClearGuard flexible packaging line

МОSCOW (MRC) -- Sonoco Products Company SON has expanded its ClearGuard portfolio of flexible packaging to include pouches for liquid or more viscous products, said the company on its website.

This latest development will help exceed barrier and shelf-life requirements for a variety of product categories and can also endure the high pressure and high temperatures involved in the retort process.

In Apr 2017, Sonoco launched its ClearGuard packaging, which comes with a transparent look and can be used as a substitute to aluminum foil or metalized films. ClearGuard provides transparency of products to customers without compromising the quality. It offers several additional benefits to brands and consumers, including exceptional laminating with superior flex crack resistance and durability, printing, including matte and gloss finish options, and a competitive value to other clear or opaque film alternatives.

This new ClearGuard liquid pouch optionis able to withstand the rigors of hot fill and retort cooking processes. Sonoco's ClearGuard packaging will be on display at the Global Pouch Forum in Miami.

As MRC wrote before, Sonoco commenced commercial production of rigid plastic containers for personal care products at its new USD15 million plant, located in the Beauty and Home Care campus in New Albany, Ohio.

Founded in 1899, Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective
packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services. With annualized net sales of approximately USD4.8 billion, the Company has 20,000 employees working in more than 300 operations in 33 countries, serving some of the world’s best known brands in some 85 nations.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Malaysia's Petronas is set to auction one of its crude grades on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, according to sources familiar with the matter, making the state-owned company the first to sell a non-Middle East oil on the trading platform, said Thestar.

Petronas has plans to offer September loadings of its Kimanis crude grade next month, the industry sources said. DME documents—updated in June and posted on the exchange's website—indicate Petronas trading arm Petco is looking to sell the Kimanis grade over the Dubai platform, although without providing any details on volumes or timing.

Petronas and DME did not respond to queries on the matter.

The move comes amid rising Kimanis crude output, with the August loadings of the grade expected to rise to a record 12 cargoes of 600,000 bbl each. Rising Kimanis production and an overall global surplus has pressured primary sellers of the grade, including Petronas, Royal Dutch Shell, Murphy Oil, ConocoPhillips, Petroleum Brunei and Pertamina.

Kimanis premiums plunged to their lowest in nearly two years at around $1.50/bbl to dated Brent in April, underscoring the difficulties sellers face in the current market.

"Kimanis needs to find new homes ... It's good to find new buyers apart from the usual end-users," a trading source who markets the grade said about Petronas' DME plans.

In a DME auction, potential buyers—who have to be pre-approved by the seller—will have two minutes to place bids after the company offering a cargo has set a minimum price.

"The auction does not mean a better price, but you get to set a floor price. So if you get better than the floor price, it's a good thing," said a source involved in the auction who is not approved to discuss the matter publicly.

Four cargoes of Middle East crude have been auctioned on the DME since January 2016. DME charges a 1.5 cent/bbl fee for cargoes sold via auction.

Kimanis is one of the largest Malaysian crude output streams. The Malaysian crude price mechanism introduced in 2014 was revised in January to add Kimanis to a benchmark formula based on the Labuan, Miri Light and Kikeh grades.

As MRC informed earlier, Petronas is looking to grow "aggressively" in specialty chemicals to meet demand in new regional markets and profit from higher margins.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total has just completed an industrial scale test run, following a series of pilot plant trials, demonstrating the feasibility of sustainable incorporation of about 20% of post-consumer recycled polystyrene within virgin polystyrene (PS), as per the company's press release.

The trial, which was carried out on an existing production asset, successfully led to product with properties equivalent to virgin polymer.

"Polystyrene is one of the easiest polymers to recycle," explains Jean Viallefont, Vice President Polymer Europe. "Our success highlights that polystyrene, which naturally provides outstanding performance for various applications, will be a significant contributor to the Circular Economy. It is unquestionably an innovative way to enlarge the accessible market for recycled PS and to convert a large volume of post-consumer waste."

Based on this encouraging result, Total is launching new developments to manage contamination of recycled streams. The objective is to create a robust process in order to handle complex polystyrene waste streams that can be implemented on our different existing production lines.

As MRC wrote before, in 2015, Total said in a permit application to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) that its proposed new ethane cracker near the company's refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, was being designed to have a capacity of 1 million tpy.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, has announced that it will increase the price for emulsions sold in Europe, said the producer in its press release.

Effective July 1, 2017, or as contracts otherwise allow, the following price increases will apply:

- EVA - EUR75/tonne;
- VAM Homopolymers (PVAC) - EUR75/tonne;
- VAM Copolymers - EUR75/tonne;
- Pure Acrylics - EUR180/tonne.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese last increased prices of EVA emulsions in Europe on 1 April 2017, as follows:

- EVA - EUR75/tonne;
- VAM Homopolymers (PVAC) - EUR75/tonne;
- VAM Copolymers - EUR75/tonne;
- Pure Acrylics - EUR120/tonne;
- Styrene Acrylics - EUR120/tonne.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,300 employees worldwide and had 2016 net sales of USD5.4 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - The largest petrochemical plant in Ukraine, Karpatneftekhim (Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region), resumed operation on 9 June after five years of shutdown, the company's press service said.

The whole production complex will be put into operation in the middle of June, and in July it should reach full capacity - 250,000 tonnes of ethylene in annual equivalent.

"Preparatory work started in February this year and was held in all production facilities. The raw material for processing is straight-run gasoline," - said Karpatneftekhim.

The launch of production after five years of the shutdown took place due to the introduction in Ukraine of the world practice of taxing petrochemical raw materials, the company said earlier.

The Tax Code of Ukraine expanded the list of raw materials subject to a zero excise tax rate in the case of further processing in December 2016. Liquefied gases and butane were added to straight-run gasoline and diesel fuel. By Resolution No. 229 of 26 April, 2017, the government determined for the Karpatneftekhim quota for the supply of raw materials: Liquefied gas - 1070 mln liters per year; straight gasoline - 1 170 mln liters per year; diesel fuel - 985 mln liters per year.

The processing of each of these volumes can ensure the production of 250,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.

Karpatneftekhim declares a zero probability of misuse of raw materials, supplied on preferential terms.

Karpatneftekhim (Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region) is the largest producer of polymers in Ukraine. Company produces polyolefins (ethylene and propylene), polyethylene, chlorine, caustic soda and polyvinyl chloride. Capacities of the enterprise allow to produce annually 300,000 tonnes of ethylene, 100,000 tonnes of HDPE, 180,000 tonnes of caustic soda and 300,000 tonnes of PVC.
MRC