Shin-Etsu Chemical announces plan to make new investments in its cellulose business in Japan and Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.will carry out ?20 billion in facility investments in order to further strengthen its cellulose derivatives business, said the company on its website.

The new investments will be put into effect at two of Shin-Etsu’s cellulose manufacturing bases – Shin-Etsu Chemical’s Naoetsu Plant in Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan and SE Tylose GmbH & Co. KG in Wiesbaden, Germany, a 100%-owned subsidiary of Shin-Etsu Chemical. The investment projects are aimed for completion in mid-2019. By expanding its lineup of cellulose products, Shin-Etsu Chemical will capture the broad demand for cellulose products and aim for the further growth of its cellulose business.

Shin-Etsu Chemical began production of cellulose at its Naoetsu Plant from 1962. Since that time, Shin-Etsu kept on expanding this plant’s production capacity, and at the same time, in 2003, it acquired the cellulose business of Clariant AG (which became SE Tylose), as it continued to expand its cellulose derivatives business. Moreover, in 2016, Shin-Etsu further expanded its cellulose products production capacity when it began production of hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC), a type of cellulose derivative, at a newly constructed manufacturing facility in the State of Louisiana in the United States. At present, Shin-Etsu supplies its various cellulose products to its worldwide customers based on its production system of having tripolar bases in Japan, Europe and the United States.

Cellulose derivatives are water-soluble polymers whose principle raw material is cellulose pulp. Their main applications are in the areas of building construction materials and pharmaceuticals, and they are used as well in a wide range of other fields such as in foods, automobiles, personal care products and civil engineering.
MRC

MOL signs agreement with thyssenkrup for polyol project

MOSCOW (MRC) — Following the announcement made in July about entering into contracts with Evonik and thyssenkrupp to produce propylene oxide, MOL Group has reached the next milestone in its key strategic investment, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The additional agreement signed with thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (Thailand) Ltd will cover technological steps to convert propylene-oxide into polyether polyols and propylene glycols. The contract concerns the purchase of technology licenses, process design packages and front-end engineering design of the production units that convert propylene-oxide into polyether polyols and propylene glycols. Upon completion of the investment MOL Group is expected to become the main polyether polyol and propylene glycol producer in Central Europe.

The thyssenkrupp Polyol technology is based on its state of the art Jet Reactor design, which provides MOL the best available safety, quality, operability, flexibility and productivity. Front-end Engineering including necessary product testing will be delivered from thyssenkrupp’s technology and R&D centre for Oleochemicals in Thailand. The contract also contains a pre-agreement for thyssenkrupp to supply and install the Polyether Polyol plant.

In line with its 2030 strategy, MOL Group will move further along the petrochemical value chain towards semi-commodity and specialty chemicals products, transforming into a leading chemical group in CEE. Polyether polyols, which serve as feedstock for polyurethane foam, were identified as the main direction in MOL’s petrochemical expansion due to their wide applications in the automotive, construction, packaging and furniture industries. Through this key investment MOL will become the only integrated polyol producer in CEE.

Propylene glycols, which constitute an additional product line in the project scope, are propylene oxide derivatives produced by most of the major forward integrated propylene oxide producers. Propylene glycols have a wide range of applications including the production of unsaturated polyester resins (UPR), personal care and pharmaceutical additives and other industrial applications.

By signing this contract, MOL Group has secured all technology licenses and engineering resources for each production unit of the Polyol Project. The contracts previously signed in July concerned the purchase of technology licenses and process design packages for the hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide technology of propylene oxide production.
MRC

AkzoNobel third quarter earnings miss

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel, the Dutch maker of Dulux paint, reported lower-than-expected third-quarter operating earnings of 383 million euros (USD451 million) on Wednesday, citing "headwinds" at its marine coatings business and margin pressures from rising raw material costs, said the company on its website.

It said earnings before interest and taxes for the year would now be about flat from 2016 -- its second warning since saying in July it was on track to meet the goal of 100 million euros in EBIT growth it had promised as part of its rationale for rejecting a 26-billion-euro takeover from PPG Industries in May.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected third-quarter earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) at 432 million euros, down from 442 million euros in the same period a year ago.

Akzo has struggled since refusing PPG's advances, seeing both its CEO and CFO resign for health reasons and saying in September that full-year EBIT would grow by less than 100 million euros after all. "EBIT for 2017 is now expected to be in line with 2016," said new CEO Thierry Vanlancker, citing "adverse foreign exchange, ongoing industry specific headwinds and supply chain disruptions, including the adverse impact of Hurricane Harvey in the US."

Akzo said on Wednesday that two other promises to shareholders -- a superdividend of 1 billion euros before the end of the year and the sale or IPO of its Specialty Chemicals arm by early next year -- are still on track.

MRC

ExxonMobil acquires crude oil terminal to serve Permian Basin production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corporation has announced that it has acquired a crude oil terminal in Wink, Texas from Genesis Energy LP, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The terminal is located in the rapidly growing Delaware Basin, part of Permian Basin - one of the most prolific plays in the United States.

The terminal is strategically positioned to handle Permian Basin crude oil and condensate for transport to Gulf Coast refineries and marine export terminals. The facility is interconnected to the Plains Alpha Crude Connector pipeline system, and is permitted for 100,000 bpd of throughput with the ability to expand.

This acquisition marks ExxonMobil’s first terminal in the Permian Basin to be anchored by the corporation’s newly acquired Delaware Basin acreage, previously announced in January.

As MRC informed earlier, in November 2016, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced it received a contract from ExxonMobil Chemical Company to provide engineering, design and construction management services as part of a new 650 kTa polyethylene facility to be located at ExxonMobil’s Beaumont polyethylene plant.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

Firefighters battle explosion and fire at Chevron refinery in El Segundo

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An explosion and fire rocked the Chevron Refinery in El Segundo on Tuesday night, prompting a call for residents to shelter in place as thick black smoke billowed into the sky, as per FireNewsFeed.

The blast occurred about 10:45 p.m. on the west side of the refinery complex along Grand Avenue near Vista del Mar. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

El Segundo police officers advised residents to shelter in place and close their windows. No evacuations occurred. Vista Del Mar Boulevard was shut down between 45th Street and Grand Avenue, according to the El Segundo Police Department.

Flames reportedly burned some power lines, causing big electrical flashes and sending some of the lines falling to the ground.

Firefighters from El Segundo, Los Angeles city and county, Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach were battling the flames. Television helicopters showed firefighters pouring water and foam onto the flames.

By 11:30 p.m., the fire appeared to be out, but firefighters were continuing to pour water on it.

The flames came close to storage tanks on the Chevron property, but firefighters kept them from spreading.

The Chevron refinery, just south of Los Angeles International Airport, is the largest refinery on the West Coast. It has the capacity to produce 290,000 barrels of gasoline per day. About 150 storage tanks greater than 30 feet in diameter are located on the property, according to its website.

As MRC informed earlier, in July 2016, USD36.8bn expansion of the Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan, the largest investment by private sector oil companies this decade, has been given the go-ahead by Chevron of the US, bucking the trend of delays and cancellations resulting from the slump in crude prices since mid-2014.

Chevron is the second-largest US oil group by production and market capitalisation, after ExxonMobil. Chevron Phillips Chemical (part of Chevron), headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas (north of Houston), US,l is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, piping, and proprietary plastics. Chevron and Phillips 66 each own 50% of Chevron Phillips Chemical.
MRC