ARLANXEO to expand production capacities for chloroprene rubber

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ARLANXEO, one of the world’s leading suppliers of synthetic elastomers, is expanding its global chloroprene rubber (CR) production at the site in Dormagen, Germany, as per the company's press release.

The production capacity there will be increased to as much as 70,000 tons per year overall that will be available to the market already during the first quarter of 2019. ARLANXEO is investing an upper single-digit million in the expansion project overall.

"The strong global demand for our chloroprene rubbers will continue in the coming years," said Stefan Rittmann, head of the ARLANXEO business line that produces CR and Managing Director of ARLANXEO Deutschland GmbH. Demand for chloroprene rubbers is growing by about four percent per year, particularly in Asia and especially in Greater China. Products with special properties are in particularly strong demand worldwide. "At the same time, this expansion represents a clear commitment to our biggest German site, Dormagen, from which we serve the global demand," explained Rittmann.

The capacity expansion will be undertaken from Q2 2018. Within the expansion a production line will be renewed and equipped with new reactors, having a higher capacity. This ensures ARLANXEO to optimize its existing processes and make its production processes more flexible.

ARLANXEO produces and markets its chloroprene rubbers under the Baypren and Baypren ALX brands. They are used, for example, in the production of cable sheathing, belts, conveyor belts and wetsuits, as well as in adhesive applications, and feature high weather, UV and oil resistance. Chloroprene rubbers are products of ARLANXEO’s High Performance Elastomers business unit.

As MRC reported earlier, in September 2017, ARLANXEO presented its product portfolio for adhesive applications and innovative solutions for the industry at last year’s FEICA, the most important European trade fair and conference for the adhesives industry.

ARLANXEO was established in April 2016 as a joint venture of Lanxess - a world-leading specialty chemicals company based in Cologne, Germany - and Saudi Aramco - a major global energy and chemicals enterprise headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The two partners each hold a 50-percent interest in the joint venture. The business operations of ARLANXEO are assigned to the High Performance Elastomers and Tire & Specialty Rubbers business units. As MRC wrote before, in September 2015, Lanxess was in talks to put its main synthetic rubber business into a joint venture with petrochemicals group Ineos. Lanxess also held talks with Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and Russia's NKNK and Sibur.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Abu Dhabi National Oil Co said on Tuesday it had signed a three-year agreement with Lotte Chemical Titan, one of the largest polyolefin producers in southeast Asia, to sell the Malaysian firm up to 1 million tonnes of naphtha annually, reported Reuters.

"With this agreement we are implementing a new approach toward our sales of naphtha," said Abdulla Salem al-Dhaheri, ADNOC's director for marketing, sales and trading.

"Previously we have sold the product on shorter-term, one-year contracts. By switching to a three-year contract we are capturing long-term market access and securing offtake."

ADNOC produces over 12 million tonnes of naphtha annually.

As MRC informed before, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is planning to increase its crude refining capacity in UAE by at least 60% and triple its petrochemical production as part of its future growth strategy, its chief executive officer said in Abu Dhabi last week. "This proposed expansion will create a single largest integrated refining and chemical site in the world in Ruwais in the UAE," said then Dr Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber speaking at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum. "Once complete we will convert almost 20 per cent of our crude into chemicals, diversifying our range of higher value products and providing a natural hedge to oil price movements." He also said hydrocarbons will continue to play a vital role to meet global energy demand despite increase in the diversity of energy mix.
MRC

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of Belarus, November 2017 PE imports to Belarus decreased to 9,100 tonnes from 10,300 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers of high density polyethylene (HDPE) further reduced their shipments. Overall PE imports reached 112,400 tonnes in January-November 2017, compared to 118,100 tonnes a year earlier. Demand for low density polyethylene (LDPE) and HDPE increased, whereas linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) imports decreased.

The structure of PE imports to Belarus by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

November 2017 LDPE imports to Belarus grew to 3,600 tonnes from 3,200 tonnes a month earlier. Local companies slightly increased their PE purchasing in Russia. Overall imports of this PE grade to Belarus totalled 33,500 tonnes in January-November 2017, compared to 27,100 tonnes a year earlier.

November 2017 LLDPE imports were 1,400 tonnes versus 1,800 tonnes a month earlier, local companies reduced their purchasing of Middle Eastern butene grade PE. Thus, overall LLDPE imports to Belarus exceeded 33,100 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2017, whereas this figure was 49,300 tonnes a year earlier.

November HDPE imports fell to 4,000 tonnes from 5,300 tonnes a month earlier. Local companies had to reduce their PE purchasing from Russian producers because of export restrictions. Thus, HDPE imports totalled 45,800 tonnes in January-November 2017, up by 9.7% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian oil major, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), witnessed a massive blast in its refinery at Panipat, Haryana, as per Apic-online.

A domestic source informed that the blast took place in the Naphtha Cracker of the refinery on Monday afternoon. One contractual employee of IOCL was reportedly killed in the accident while 5 others were injured.

An investigation by technical team is underway to understand the cause of the accident.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - India's oil ministry is pushing for a cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel in the upcoming 2018/19 budget to cushion the impact of rising oil prices on its vast consumer base, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces elections in key states later this year, and a nationwide election in early 2019, has faced pressure over a rise in retail prices of petrol and diesel to a record level. India has the highest retail prices of petrol and diesel among South Asian nations as taxes account for about 40-50 percent of the pump prices. A litre of petrol costs 72.23 rupees (USD1.13) while diesel is sold at 63.01 rupees. Petrol and diesel account for about half of India's refined fuel consumption.

"We can only recommend. It is up to the finance ministry to take a decision," a senior oil ministry official said.

A cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel in the budget, due to be unveiled on Feb. 1, would pose challenges as the government is struggling to tackle a widening fiscal gap amid falling tax revenues due to the implementation of a goods and services tax (GST) regime from July. In 2016/17, the petroleum sector contributed around $81 billion, about a third of total revenue receipts, for federal and state finances. India raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up federal finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax last October by 2 rupees a litre. Sources said the ministry has also sought inclusion of petrol, diesel, jet fuel and natural gas in the GST to help companies claim tax credits against the tax paid on the purchase of equipment meant to produce refined fuel.

"We cannot claim input tax credit for almost 70 percent of our volumes ... So usually we lose out about 1.5 billion rupees quarterly on that," J. Ramaswamy, head of finance at Hindustan Petroleum Corp, said.

The oil ministry officials said the addition of refined products in GST will help reduce retail prices even if the government levies a charge on top of its highest GST rate of 28 percent. The ministry has also sought federal support for laying fuel and gas pipelines in the northeast of the country to give the region a boost. Economic development in India has largely been concentrated in the western and southern states that have better infrastructure and more accessible energy supplies. State-controlled India Oil has sought government support for laying a 650-kilometre (404 mile) fuel pipeline in the northeast, costing 13 billion rupees, as the project is economically unviable due to low fuel demand in the region, one of the sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
MRC