Celanese raises February VAM prices in Europe, Middle East and Americas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, will increase list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) sold in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, as per the company's press release.

The price increases below will be effective February 1, 2018, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced increases.

Thus, VAM prices will be raised, as follows:

- by EUR50/mt - for Europe and the Middle East;
- by USD0.05/lb - for USA and Canada;
- by USD100/mt - for Mexico and South America.

As MRC wrote previously, Celanese Corporation last increased its list and off-list selling VAM prices in Europe on 1 January, 2018. The price increase was EUR100 per tonne. Besides, the company raised January VAM prices in The Middle East and Africa, as stated below:

- for Asia outside China - by USD100 per tonne;
- for China - by CNY300 per tonne;
- for Middle East and Africa - by USD100/tonne.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,300 employees worldwide and had 2016 net sales of USD5.4 billion.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant in India has established its eminence in the speciality chemicals sector, with its presence in the country for more than 50 years, said Worldofchemicals.

Clariant in India is living the “Make in India” mantra and has built a manufacturing hub for both exports and domestic markets. It comprises 11 production sites spread across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

Clariant in India aims for accelerated growth in the Indian market through the six business units that are: masterbatches, pigments, additives, industrial & consumer specialities, catalysts and functional minerals. Clariant has inaugurated its healthcare packaging production facility in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, India.

“Clariant is ambitious in India and we look to create a material and profitable speciality chemical business through our new greenfield plant for healthcare packaging. While this plant may not fall in the speciality chemicals category in the traditional sense, but it is certainly a differentiated product offering. In India, business line medical specialities have grown over the past few years and this facility will give us clear edge against the competition,” said Adnan Ahmad, region head, Clariant in India.

“Our new greenfield healthcare packaging production plant, technology-wise is ‘state-of-the-art’. It is the first and so far, the only ISO-8 cleanroom facility in the group and particularly in emerging markets of the world. The facility will offer Desiccants and link our customers to Clariant's global packaging design capabilities. Pharmaceutical regulatory compliance and consistent quality is the hallmark of our offerings to the customers,” added Ketan Premani, India head of business unit - medical specialities.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Progress continues on the company’s Lake Charles cracker complex project, which the company estimates is 81% complete, with capital expenditure standing at USD8.8bn, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The project is proceeding on time and remains within the current budget guidance of USD11.13bn.

The complex is likely to be the last investment by Sasol at that scale for some time, after a USD2bn upward revision to the Lake Charles budget in mid-2016 on the back of labour costs and delays was compounded by an additional $130m increase due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey. The company said in November 2017 that it is to focus on projects with a price tag of between USD500m and USD1bn for the foreseeable future until it has built a sufficient track record on successfully executing lower-budget projects.

Recent US tax reforms are likely to boost returns from the project. South African petrochemicals group Sasol expects half-year profit to lift as much as 6% on the back of higher crude oil prices, the firm said on Tuesday

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices rose on Tuesday, lifted by healthy economic growth as well as the ongoing supply restraint by a group of exporters around OPEC and Russia, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Spot Brent crude futures were at USD69.33 at 0148 GMT, up 30 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last close, not far off the Jan. 15 three-year high of USD70.37 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $63.90 a barrel, up 33 cents, or 0.5 percent, from their last settlement. WTI hit its highest since December 2014 on Jan. 16 at USD64.89 a barrel.

Traders said oil markets were generally well supported by healthy economic growth and supply curbs by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia, which began in January last year and are set to hold throughout 2018.

The "economic outlook and seasonally colder weather has led to firmer oil demand growth, facilitating the continuation of a fall in oil inventories towards OPEC's recent five-year average target," BNP Paribas said in a note. "The outlook for 2018 is roughly balanced for most of the year, but inventories are set to rise in Q4'18," the French bank said, adding that it has hiked its 2018 oil price forecasts by $10 a barrel and expects WTI to average $60 a barrel and Brent USD65.

For the long-term outlook, investors are preparing for large-scale changes in oil demand coming from the rise of electric vehicles. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said this week in a note to investors that "we see peak oil demand by 2030 on electric vehicles ... Electric vehicles will have replaced conventional (vehicles) by 2050." The bank also said that "when gasoline demand peaks by 2025 (and total oil by 2030), refinery utilization rates may decline permanently and refining margins suffer heavily."
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- W R Grace & Co (GRA) said that it has contracted to license its Unipol PP process technology to PDH Polska SA for a new facility in Police, Poland. With a capacity of 400 kilotons per year, the polypropylene (PP) line is expected to begin operations in 2022, said Worldofchemicals.

The PDH Polska operation is a subsidiary of Grupa Azoty SA of Tarnow, Poland, a leader in the manufacture of nitrogen fertilizers and compounds, engineering plastics, organic and inorganic chemicals, and other chemical products.

Grace's gas-phase Unipol PP process technology provides the most advanced and broadest range of PP homopolymers and copolymers in the industry. As the simplest of all PP process technologies, with fewer moving parts and less equipment than any alternative, its reliable, stable, and predictable operation leads to lower capital, operating, and maintenance costs.

“As we expand our capabilities into PP production, we do so with a technology that has demonstrated success in making both leading commodity and superior speciality grades. This is in line with our track record of meeting the expectations of our customers,” said Andrzej Niewinski, president of the board, PDH Polska SA.

“Grace is proud to partner with Grupa Azoty and continue our record of service to customers in Europe. The broad product capability and unparalleled flexibility of the Unipol PP process will enable them to deliver the resins that are in highest demand from their customers,” added Al Beninati, president of Grace’s speciality catalysts business segment.
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