LyondellBasell Board authorizes quarterly dividend

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, one of the world's largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies, has announced that its Supervisory Board has authorized the company's Management Board to declare a dividend of USD0.90 per share, as per the company's press release.

The dividend will be paid December 12, 2017 to shareholders of record December 5, 2017 with an ex-dividend date of December 4, 2017.

As MRC informed before, in August 2016, LyondellBasell made the final investment decision to build a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant on the US Gulf Coast. The plant will have an annual capacity of 1.1 billion pounds (500,000 metric tons) and will be the first commercial plant to employ LyondellBasell's new proprietary Hyperzone PE technology. The start-up of the new plant is scheduled for the middle of 2019.

LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies. The company manufactures products at 57 sites in 18 countries. LyondellBasell products and technologies are used to make items that improve the quality of life for people around the world including packaging, electronics, automotive parts, home furnishings, construction materials and biofuels.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's imports of polypropylene (PP) in January-October remained practically at the level of the same period in 2016 and reached 144,400 tonnes. At the same time there was seen a decrease in the imports of some PP grades, according to a MRC's DataScope report.

October imports of PP into Russia increased to 20,700 tonnes against 15,100 in September, the increase accounted only for homopolymer PP raffia grade and PP block copolymers. In general, imports of PP into Russia totalled 144,400 tonnes in January-October 2017, compared with 144,200 tonnes year on year. The reduction in external supplies was seen only for homopolymer PP and PP random copolymers, while imports of PP block copolymers and other propylene copolymers, on the contrary, increased.

Overall, the structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

October imports of homopolymer PP increased to 7,500 tonnes against 3,600 tonnes a month earlier, shipments of homopolymer PP raffia from Central Asia increased significantly. Overall imports of this PP grade reached 48,200 tonnes in the first ten months of 2017, compared to 64,500 a year earlier.

October imports of PP block copolymers in Russia increased to about 5,200 tonnes against 3,700 tonnes in September. Local companies increased purchasing of PP block copolymers for non-pressure pipes extrusion in Europe. Imports of PP block copolymers into Russia reached 37,800 tonnes in January-October 2017, compared to 26,800 tonnes a year earlier.


Imports of PP random copolymer in October rose to 3,800 tonnes against 3,700 tonnes a month earlier, amid good demand and tight supply from Russian producers local producers increased purchasing of PP for pressure pipes and blow moulding production. Total imports of PP random copolymers in Russia were 26,800 tonnes in January - October 2017, compared with 28,600 tonnes year on year.

Imports of other propylene polymers for the reported period increased to about 31,600 tonnes compared with 24,200 tonnes in the same time a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The state has set the goal that future development of Azerbaijan should be connected with the development of industry. So, the country attracts significant amount of public investment in industrial sectors that are of strategic importance for republic, reported Azernews.

Creation of industrial cluster, a regional concentration of related industries in a particular location, is one of these measures, which can attract all the key players from both home and abroad. Such clusters are actively established in many cities around the world.

The first industrial clusters in Azerbaijan will appear in Sumgayit and Balakhani settlement.

The clusters will be formed around the SOCAR Polymer petrochemical complex in the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park and the Balakhani landfill for the disposal of solid domestic waste, the director of the Research Institute of Economic Reforms, Vilayat Veliyev, told journalists on November 13.

"With the advent of clusters in Azerbaijan, a new stage in the development of industry will begin," he added.

Director of the Institute noted that, in particular, SOCAR Polymer will produce about 200 types of raw materials and semi-finished products on the basis of which small and medium-sized enterprises will be able to produce a large number of goods - from household appliances to complex machinery and machines.

"The creation of clusters will provide an opportunity for small and medium-sized businesses to unite around SOCAR Polymer and the Balakhani landfill for solid domestic waste utilization, and create their own production chain based on raw materials produced at these enterprises," Veliyev said.

He added that at present the government is working on the formation of a legal basis for the creation of industrial clusters, in connection with which various studies have been conducted and foreign experience has been studied.

The total cost of the SOCAR Polymer project is USD750 million. In the first quarter of 2018, it is planned to put into operation a plant for the production of polypropylene (PP), and in the third quarter - a polyethylene (PE) plant. At the first stage, the production capacity will amount to 120,000 tons of PE and 180,000 tons of PP. By 2021, the total capacity can reach 570,000 tons of products. The petrochemical complex will sell its products both inside the country and abroad - in Turkey, Europe and CIS countries.

The Balakhani landfill for solid domestic waste utilization was established in the 1960s, and since 2009 it has been transferred to the balance of Temir Seher OJSC. Since that time, the implementation of the project on integrated waste management in Baku jointly with the World Bank, which allowed the activities of the landfill to be brought into line with international standards, has been launched.

As MRC wrote previously, in March 2017, SOCAR GPC, a gas-processing project of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), selected UNIPOL PE Technology licensed by Univation Technologies for use in its world-scale 600KTA polyethylene plant to be built in Garadagh, Azerbaijan. This project represents the first UNIPOL PE Process licensed in Azerbaijan and by SOCAR. The new polyethylene facility will take advantage of the flexibility of the UNIPOL PE Process to manufacture conventional and advanced polyethylene products covering a broad range of both high-density polyethylene (HDPE), including best-in-class HDPE injection molding grades, as well as linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) resin grades.

SOCAR GPC also selected Univation’s XCAT Metallocene Polyethylene Technology for the manufacture of advanced metallocene film structures suitable for high-performance food packaging, stretch-wrap, heavy-duty sack and specialized multi-layer applications. Production output from this new PE plant will be focused on satisfying growing polyethylene demand in both domestic and European markets in a wide range of goods.

SOCAR Polymer is a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). The entity was formed at the end of 2013 to run investments at the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park, a production park which intends to become a chemical hub in central Asia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Steady demand for a high-performance polyamide resin used in automotive, consumer, and electronics products is prompting DowDuPont to invest in a new production line at its Mechelen, Belgium plant to boost capacity of DuPont Zytel HTN, reported PowderBulkSolids.

"We continue to invest in our compounding capacity across regions to ensure we can meet the strong growth in demand for highly engineered specialty polymers such as PPAs," Richard Mayo, global business director for DowDuPont Transportation & Advanced Polymers, said in a statement. "Investing in this compounding capacity expansion, coupled with recent investments made in Germany and China, demonstrates the traction for our innovative materials and solutions tailored to meet the evolving and often challenging requirements of our customers, wherever they are in the world."

The Zytel HTN PPA grades, part of the Zytel HTN high-performance polyamide resin portfolio, offers chemical resistance, retention of properties when exposed to moisture, and high-temperature performance, the company said.

DowDuPont expects the new production line to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2017.

As MRC informed before, on 31 August 2017, Dow Chemical Co and DuPont successfully completed their planned USD130 billion merger to form DowDuPont.

Bringing together the complementary, innovative portfolios and pipelines of Dow and DuPont, DowDuPont is comprised of three strong divisions and intends to separate into three independent, publicly traded companies. Each division and intended company will lead its respective industry through productive, science-based innovation to meet the needs of customers and help solve global challenges.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia exported more than 5.2 MMbpd of crude oil and condensate and more than 2.4 MMbpd of petroleum products in 2016, mostly to countries in Europe, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Exports of crude oil and petroleum products represented nearly 70% of total Russian petroleum liquids production in 2016. Russia’s oil and natural gas industry is a key component of Russia’s economy, with revenues from oil and natural gas activities—including exports—making up 36% of Russia’s federal budget revenues.

Crude oil trade is important to both Russia and Europe: about 70% of Russia’s crude oil exports in 2016 went to European countries, particularly the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Belarus. Similarly, Russian imports provided more than one-third of the total crude oil imported to European members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Outside of Europe, China was the largest recipient of Russia’s 2016 crude oil exports, receiving 953,000 bpd, or about 18%, of Russia’s total crude oil exports. Russia was the largest supplier of crude oil to China in 2016, surpassing Saudi Arabia for the first time on an annual basis.

Russian crude oil exports to China have grown steadily since 2010. Russia exports crude oil to China using the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline and pipeline connections through Kazakhstan. Russian ESPO-grade crude oil exported from Russia’s Pacific port of Kozmino can reach Chinese ports quicker than crude oil shipped from the Middle East, allowing Russian crude oil to be shipped in smaller volumes and with more flexible scheduling.

In 2016, more than 80% of Russia’s crude oil and condensate exports were seaborne. However, regardless of the ultimate mode of transport, most of Russia’s crude oil exports must traverse Transneft’s pipeline system, either as a direct route to reach bordering countries or to reach Russian ports. Russia’s state-owned Transneft holds a near-monopoly over Russia’s pipeline network, although some smaller volumes of exports are shipped by rail and on vessels that load at independently owned terminals.

Russia also exports sizeable volumes of petroleum products. According to Eastern Bloc Energy, Russia exported about 1.3 MMbpd of fuel oil, 990,000 bpd of diesel, and 120,000 bpd of gasoline in 2016. It exported smaller volumes of liquefied petroleum gas (75,000 bpd) during the same year, according to Clipper Data. Product exports have grown significantly over the past several years and are expected to continue to grow as Russian refineries add capacity to produce more high-quality products.
MRC