Alpha Packaging acquires Dutch plant to expand in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US-based Alpha Packaging has acquired a plant in Etten-Leur, the Netherlands, from Graham Packaging Co. as part of its bid to support growth in Europe, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The St. Louis, Missouri-based company said the acquired plant is its second production unit in Europe, “just a few miles” from its existing facility in Roosendaal. The company did not disclose the terms of transaction, which was completed 2 Nov.

The PET and HDPE bottle maker said the new blow-moulding facility would boost its stake in rigid food packaging. Alpha is a blow moulder of bottles and jars for rapidly growing consumer markets, including the nutrition, pharmaceutical, personal care and niche food and beverage categories.

It currently operates ten manufacturing facilities, including eight in North America and is owned by Irving Place Capital, a middle-market private equity firm.

The acquisition, said Jeffrey Kellar, Alpha’s president and chief executive officer, “more than doubles” Alpha’s production capacity in Europe, making it one of the largest single stage blow moulding operations in the region.

Already a packaging supplier to the vitamins, minerals & supplements and personal care markets in Europe, Alpha expects to gain a “strong foothold” in the European food packaging sector with the Etten-Leur facility, which has a grade “AA” certification for the BRC-IoP global standard for packaging and packaging materials.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF TOTAL Petrochemicals LLC has enhanced the production capabilities of its petrochemical complex, located in Port Arthur, Texas, by installing processing and treatment facilities for the import of butylenes and butanes from the Total Port Arthur Refinery, as per the company's press release.

This installation enables BASF TOTAL Petrochemicals to make use of these refinery byproducts to produce higher value propylene. This is another major step in the development of BASF TOTAL Petrochemicals petrochemical complex to optimize operations. The company previously implemented measures enabling the facility to take advantage of lighter, lower cost feed stocks, such as ethane.

"This investment further strengthens the partnership between BASF and Total Petrochemicals, allowing us to continue building supply to meet growing customer demand, while helping the company maintain its competitive position within the petrochemicals industry," said Heather Remley, BASF Senior Vice President, Petrochemicals North America.

"The Port Arthur site is one of the key industrial platforms for Total in the world," remarked Christophe Gerondeau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc. "This investment creates value for both BASF TOTAL Petrochemicals and the Total Port Arthur refinery through industrial synergies."

As MRC informed earlier, within the next five years, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany) plans to invest globally more than EUR200 million in its plastic additives business, approximately half of which in Asia, focusing on capacity expansions and operational excellence. Plastic additives improve product properties such as scratch resistance or light stability, and optimize plastics manufacturing processes. As the leading global supplier of plastic additives with manufacturing assets in all regions, BASF is a major partner to the plastics industry.

BASF TOTAL Petrochemicals LLC is located in Port Arthur, Texas and manufactures a range of chemicals used in hundreds of consumer products. BASF TOTAL is a joint venture partnership between BASF Corporation, 60 percent ownership, and Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, 40 percent ownership.

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 17,500 employees in North America, and had sales of USD16.2 billion in 2016.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering is on track for next year and the national oil giant could be valued at more than USD2 trillion, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman told Reuters in an interview.

The sale of around 5% of Aramco next year is a centrepiece of Vision 2030, an ambitious reform plan to diversify the Saudi economy beyond oil which is championed by Prince Mohammad.

Saudi officials have said domestic and international exchanges such as New York, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong have been looked at for a partial listing of the state-run firm.

A decision on which exchange would secure the offering has still not been made, fuelling market speculation that the IPO could be delayed beyond 2018 or even shelved, amid growing concerns about the feasibility of an international listing.

"We are on track in 2018... but the listing (details) are still under discussion," Prince Mohammad told Reuters in an interview. "It will be IPO-ed in 2018."

The crown prince declined to discuss specific details of the IPO, which could be the biggest in history and is expected to raise as much as USD100 billion.

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2016, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. became one step closer to building their first plant to process crude directly into chemicals, cutting out a link in the production chain from hydrocarbons to the finished products that go into plastics and other consumer goods. The state-owned companies signed an agreement to study such a project to be located in Saudi Arabia. A joint venture is possible if the companies decide to move ahead after the study is completed. Oil companies normally refine crude into transportation fuels including gasoline and diesel and leave byproducts such as naphtha to be processed separately into chemicals.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
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MOSCOW (MRC) — Mexico's finance ministry is looking at ways to "soften" the price impact of gasoline market liberalization next year, as er Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Some independent fuel importers recently have complained about a lack of tax adjustments to reflect the at least 15% increase in recent weeks in international prices of gasoline and diesel, the two main refined products imported by Mexico.

Coldwell said through an interpreter that a tax mechanism will be designed "for softening these prices. This protects the Mexican consumer from abrupt increase in prices." He did not elaborate on the changes. Coldwell said overall energy reform efforts are benefiting Mexico's consumers, bringing wider choices for the first time in gasoline quality and brands.

The market reform ended the monopoly national oil company Pemex once enjoyed in everything from crude production to retail sales, paving way for international oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and ExxonMobil Corp to enter the retail market.

"Before we had only one brand for retail gasoline stations. Now we have 30," Coldwell said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — India's imports of African crude oil in October plunged to their lowest in over four years, with the world's No.3 oil consumer increasingly turning to cheaper supplies from the United States and heavier Middle Eastern grades, ship tracking data showed, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

US crude production has soared more than 14% since mid-2016 to 9.65 MMbpd, altering trade routes as its relatively cheap and light grades become a viable import option for Asian refiners. "Earlier in Asia, West African oil was competing with Middle East grades, but now it has a new competitor: the US," said Ehsan Ul-Haq, director of crude oil and refined products at consultancy Resource Economist.

Surging US crude output has made West Texas Intermediate (WTI)-linked American oil relatively cheap compared with the international benchmark, Brent, which has been propped up by supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

WTI has since October been trading at an average discount of USD6/bbl to Brent. "In the last few months, US oil gave tough competition to the African grades and the price difference (between WTI and Brent) was good enough to cover the freight," said R Ramachandran, head of refineries at Bharat Petroleum Corp.

US crude oil exports to India were unheard of until 2015, when Washington eased tight export restrictions in parallel with its growing output. Rising steadily this year, US oil in October accounted for about 3% of India's overall imports, while the share of African crude fell to about 10.5%, the lowest since November 2012, the ship tracking data in Thomson Reuters Eikon showed.

India's oil imports in October totaled 4.1 MMbpd, a decline of 15% over September, when they hit a monthly record. The imports were also 4.6% lower than a year ago. Of that, around 430,000 bpd came from Africa, the lowest level since March 2013.

Supply disruptions in Nigeria also dented its exports, forcing Indian refiners to seek supplies elsewhere. Last month, the share of the Middle East crude in India's overall imports rose to its highest in about a year, making up almost 70% of all supplies, the data showed, shipping over around 2.8 MMbpd.
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