Stora Enso inaugurates its new polyethylene coating plant at Beihai Mill in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Around 170 guests attended the official inauguration of the new polyethylene (PE) coating plant at the consumer board mill in Beihai, China, as per the company's press-release.

Stora Enso has invested EUR 31 million in the PE coating plant, following its establishment in the Guangxi region in China as a response to increasing demand on the market. The plant has an annual capacity of 80 000 tonnes of PE coated products. PE coated board is suitable for products that require barrier against moisture, such as paper cups and food service packaging.

"We are delighted to announce the official opening of the PE coating line at the Stora Enso consumer board mill in Beihai, China. This is yet another important milestone to support our customers in meeting growing consumer demand for high-quality, safe and renewable consumer board packaging in China and the Asia Pacific region," says Karl-Henrik Sundstrom, CEO of Stora Enso.

The PE coating plant will enhance Stora Enso’s strategy for profitable growth as well as the company’s competitiveness by enabling short lead-times and full quality control for PE coated prime Food Service Board (FSB). It will also further enhance Stora Enso’s transformation into a global renewable materials growth company.

Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wooden constructions and paper on global markets. Our aim is to replace fossil-based materials by innovating and developing new products and services based on wood and other renewable materials. We employ some 25 000 people in more than 35 countries, and our sales in 2016 were EUR 9.8 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — A global deal to cut oil production could be extended beyond 2018, Pavel Fedorov, first vice-president of Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft said on Monday, presenting the company's strategy through to 2022, as per Reuters.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other large oil producers led by Russia agreed last month to extend the deal to curb output until the end of 2018 with a possibility of reviewing it in June. "On the whole ... this OPEC agreement obviously will affect our short-term targets, all the more so I don't rule out it could be extended," Fedorov said.

The new strategy announced in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, not far from the place Rosneft started drilling its first exploration off shore well, envisages that Rosneft will focus on value creation at its existing assets, a company official said on Monday. According to the company's official, the new strategy will add as much as 420 B roubles to the free cash flow, including 180 B from upstream segment.

The new financial plan is based on average oil price of USD47/bbl. Fedorov said that production of liquids, which usually means crude oil and gas condensate, was seen reaching 250 MMt by 2022 from slightly below that level in 2019.

Rosneft, in which BP owns a 19.75% stake, has been actively amassing assets at home and abroad. Last year it bought Russian oil producer Bashneft for 330 B roubles (USD5.6 B), while earlier this year the company jointly with partners closed their USD12.9 B purchase of Indian refiner Essar Oil.

Igor Sechin, Chief Executive Officer and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Monday the company had started exploration drilling at a Black Sea deposit. Rosneft has plans to jointly develop the Val Shatskogo (Shatsky Ridge) oilfield with Italy's Eni.

Fedorov also said the company's total investments were seen at 950 B roubles (USD16.2 B) in 2018 and rising further to over 1 T roubles in 2019, not taking into account Rosneft's stakes in its joint ventures
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — Japanese refiners Idemitsu Kosan and Showa Shell Sekiyu will combine management of their key businesses, an Idemitsu spokesman said on Tuesday, pursuing a merger bitterly opposed by a core investor—Idemitsu's founding family, as per Reuters.

Japan's second- and fourth-biggest refiners will form an office next spring with a staff of about 300 to manage crude oil purchases, refining and sales, seeking to cut costs by 30 B yen (USD266 MM) over 3 yr, Idemitsu spokesman Akitaka Yoshino said, confirming a Nikkei newspaper report.

The cost-cut target was raised from a forecast of at least 25 B yen when the companies said they would start integrating operations. A spokeswoman at Showa Shell confirmed the plans. About two-and-a-half years after Idemitsu announced it was buying nearly a third of Showa Shell as part of a takeover, the companies are still trying to complete the marriage while Japan's refining market goes through the biggest shakeup in its history.

This week the family of Idemitsu's founder said it had raised its stake in Idemitsu in the clan's latest gambit to halt the merger plans, after having their holdings diluted by a new share sale earlier this year. "The merger with Showa Shell is the best option for us. Our policy won't change," Idemitsu chief executive officer Takashi Tsukioka said in an interview in the Nikkei. Company spokesman Yoshino confirmed the comments.

"Our No.1 wish is to try to gain understanding from the founding family on the creation of 30 B yen of cost synergies, but we have not gained their understanding yet," Yoshino said. A spokeswoman for the family said it could not immediately comment.

In a rare public corporate battle, the founding family and the Idemitsu board have been in dispute through court and shareholder actions. The family, led by Shosuke Idemitsu, has said Idemitsu and Shell are too different for any merger to work, while the board says the combination is necessary to compete in Japan's shrinking oil products market.

JXTG Holdings, the dominant player in a country where a falling population is using ever more efficient vehicles, was formed this April out of the merger of JX and TonenGeneral, with government encouragement. Idemitsu shares were 3% higher by the morning close of trading, while Showa Shell was up 1.1%. JXTG shares were up 2.2% and the Nikkei 225 average was down slightly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik has invested in the startup HPNow ApS through its venture capital unit and now holds a minority stake in the company, which is headquartered in Copenhagen (Denmark), as per the company's press-release.

HPNow has developed a technology for producing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in a fully automatic system using water, air, and an electric current. The transaction took place in the context of a Series A round of financing. The parties have agreed not to disclose the amount of the investment. Evonik will be represented by a seat on the company’s supervisory board. “HPNow can facilitate a breakthrough in the electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide,” says Bernhard Mohr, head of Venture Capital at Evonik. "Evonik possesses a great deal of expertise and extensive experience in the hydrogen peroxide business, so we’re an ideal match for HPNow."

With an annual capacity of more than 950,000 metric tons and 13 production plants, Evonik is one of the world’s largest producers of hydrogen peroxide. The HPNow technology solution enables low concentration H2O2 production on demand, directly at the intended point of use, and using only electricity, water and air as feedstock. The system is based on a modular generator in which a proprietary electrocatalytic cell is used to produce hydrogen peroxide from water and oxygen in a single step. "This patented technology offers the possibility of cost-efficient provision of hydrogen peroxide as needed, directly at the customer’s point of use,” says Michael Traxler, head of Evonik’s Active Oxygens Business Line. "The investment supports our strategy of supplying our customers with tailored system solutions."

HPNow’s technology will permit the use of H2O2 in applications where transport and storage issues have so far restricted the use of the material, for example in various areas of agriculture. HPNow plans to use the capital to further scale up and commercialize its technology. "In Evonik we’ve gained a strategic investor with extensive experience in innovative technologies connected with hydrogen peroxide as well as expertise in tapping new markets," says Ziv Gottesfeld, co-founder and CEO of HPNow. "We very much look forward to working with them in bringing our on-site hydrogen peroxide generation solutions to new markets and customers."

As part of its venture capital activities, Evonik plans to invest a total of EUR100 million in promising start-ups with innovative technologies and in leading specialized venture capital funds. Regional focus is Europe, North America and Asia. Evonik currently holds stakes in more than twenty start-ups and specialized funds.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos said repairs to Britain’s Forties crude pipeline were underway on Wednesday, after a crack was found that closed the pipeline on Dec. 11., reported Reuters.

The pipeline normally carries around 450,000 bpd of Forties crude to Britain, along with a third of the UK’s total offshore natural gas output.

Ineos has a timescale of two to four weeks for the repairs starting from Dec. 11.

The firm has a preferred option for the repairs which it is currently working through and has had some parts specially fabricated in case it needs to try different options, it said.

As MRC informed before, in November 2017, Ineos completed its acquisition of the Forties Pipeline System (FPS) and associated pipelines and facilities from BP. The 235-mile pipeline system links 85 North Sea oil and gas assets to the UK mainland and the Ineos site in Grangemouth, Scotland, delivering almost 40% of the UK’s North Sea oil and gas production.

Ineos Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
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