Poland's PKN seeks full control of Czech unit Unipetrol

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Poland’s biggest oil refiner PKN Orlen PKN.WA launched a voluntary tender offer to buy the remaining shares in its Czech downstream oil group Unipetrol (UNPE.PR) to take full control and delist it from the Prague bourse, Reuters.

The Polish group said in a statement on Wednesday it was offering 380 crowns per share for Unipetrol, in which it holds 62.9 percent, a premium to Tuesday’s close and near record levels seen in the past month.

Unipetrol has been on an upswing in the past few years thanks to firming refining and petrochemical margins that have boosted profits to the strongest levels since PKN Orlen acquired the company in 2005, leading to the renewal of dividend payouts.

But PKN Orlen has had frosty relations with Unipetrol’s minority shareholders who have challenged decisions and sought bigger dividends because the company is debt-free.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian ESPO Blend oil exports to China via the Skovorodino-Mohe pipeline are expected to jump by 57% to 6.7 MMt in the first quarter of 2018 compared with the previous three months, sources familiar with the loading schedule told Reuters on Friday.

Russia has become China’s top supplier of oil with total deliveries exceeding 1 MMbpd as part of its policy to boost ties with the Asia-Pacific amid a political stand-off with the West.

Earlier this week, Urals crude differentials in northwest Europe rose to the highest level since August 2013 in response to concerns over supplies of the grade for loading in January because of Russian plans to boost overland oil exports to China in 2018.

Russia will supply 28.3 MMt of oil to China via the Skovorodino-Mohe pipeline in 2018 as part of an inter-governmental agreement, up from 16.5 MMt seen for 2017.

Sources said that Urals and Siberian Light oil exports from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk are seen unchanged, at 8.5 MMt in January-March.

Exports and transit of Urals oil from the Baltic Sea ports are seen declining to 19.1 MMt in the first quarter from 19.6 MMt in October–December, according to the sources.

They also said that Russian companies will likely further trim their seaborne Urals exports as Moscow has agreed to extend its oil production cuts until the end of 2018 as part of a global deal.

"I do not believe that the westward schedule will be fully completed," a trader said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) announced its advanced process control (APC) at the Bashneft oil refining complex (part of Rosneft Oil Company) has demonstrated high efficiency, paying for itself in the first year of operation, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Honeywell Profit Controller and Profit SensorPro allowed the Bashneft refineries to significantly increase the output of target products, decrease energy usage, improve the stability of their quality indicators and the overall plant operational efficiency. The APC software solutions are elements of the innovative Honeywell Profit Optimization Suite.

Profit Controller is software for multivariable technological process control based on a predictive model. The system contains the optimal set of algorithms for automatic control, using the data of the technological process and virtual analyzers as input signals, and allows users to track the quality of the products and the profitability of production in real time. Profit SensorPro is the auxiliary software that performs the function of virtual analyzers. In real time it calculates the quality indicators based on the measurable parameters (temperature, pressure, raw material consumption, etc.). This enables users to control the quality of products online without waiting, for example, for a manual sampling and laboratory analysis.

Tests and the pilot implementation of the system were conducted beginning in 2013 and were rolled out at several other facilities since that time. Currently, five advanced process control systems are in operation at the Bashneft oil refining complex.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Oligomers announced it had made the Final Investment Decision (FID) to build a new world scale, low viscosity Polyalphaolefin (PAO) unit on the INEOS site at Chocolate Bayou, TX, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This unit will have a capacity of 120 Mmtpy and become the world’s largest single PAO train. The plant is scheduled to start-up in 3Q 2019.

The new PAO unit will obtain its feedstock from the adjacent Linear Alpha Olefin (LAO) plant, which is currently under construction at the same site. This investment represents a major step forward in the ambitious growth plans for the INEOS Oligomers PAO business, complementing existing units in La Porte, TX and Feluy, Belgium.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Italmatch Chemicals has acquired Detrex Corporation, an American company headquartered in Cleveland (Ohio) and specialized, through its subsidiary The Elco Corporation, in the production of high performance lubricant additives, for industrial applications and high purity hydrochloric acid, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The acquisition is coherent with the internationalization process undertaken by the Group in the last years, with a particular focus on the American market, and confirms the aim of expanding and broadening current production portfolio.

The transaction follows the recent acquisition of Sudamfos do Brasil, a leading Brazilian distribution company, specialized in marketing of phosphonates, phosphates and other special chemical products and approximately one year after the acquisition of Compass Chemical International, a chemical company independent of North America, leader in the production and marketing of special additives for water and oil & gas treatment.

Italmatch Chemicals is a global specialty chemical group with leadership in the production and marketing of performance additives for industrial lubricants, water & process treatment, oil & gas, and plastics.
MRC