PTTGC announces dissolution of Auria Biochemicals

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) has announced that Auria Biochemicals Co., a joint venture of PTTGC and Myriant Corp., will be dissolved, as per Apic-online.

On 12 Apr. 2018, at a general meeting of Auria shareholders, a resolution was passed to dissolve the joint venture, which was established in 2013 to conduct research and development of bio-based chemicals in order to enhance Myriant's technology. Myriant is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PTTGC.

PTTGC said the decision was based on low crude oil prices and "unfavorable" conditions for applying intellectual
property on bio-based succinic acid in South East Asia making it not feasible to invest in commercial production.

As MRC wrote before, PTTGC restarted LLDPE plant on 3 April, 2016, following a maintenance turnaround. The plant was shut for maintenance in early-March 2016. Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the LLDPE plant has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) has launched a new thermoforming grade called Luban HP1151K that will increase both productivity and the overall performance of transparent thermoformed cups, trays and containers, as per the company's press release.

The new PolyPropylene thermoforming grade is based on Milliken's nucleating innovation Hyperform HPN-600ei.

Orpic’s Luban HP1151K combines high clarity and aesthetics with a new level of superior dimensional stability for thermoformed products. Luban HP1151K is based on the latest technology available to offer the food packaging and household storage solutions industries a new benchmark in pure, high quality PP.

Apart from being able to increase the number of articles that can be produced, the high quality finished products provide good stacking performance. It also offers a broad processing window that opens up distinct product quality and consistency advantages plus the all-important productivity benefits for converters.

Additionally, the grade delivers optimal environmental and handling-related advantages associated with using lightweight PP compared to other materials.

Gilles Rochas, General Manager - Polymer, Orpic says, "The product has a good resin base and tests conducted so far have been successful. Luban HP1151K reduces haze in the product and increases clarity and gloss. We are confident that upon introduction of Luban HP1151K, this high quality product will offer Oman and the international packaging customers an opportunity to reduce their cycle times and achieve better results through less wastage whilst offering all-round productivity improvements."

Hyperform HPN-600ei also offers good organoleptics with no contamination risk making Luban HP1151K suitable for food applications.

As MRC informed before, Orpic plans to raise capacity of its PP plant to 340,000 tpa of high quality PP from 200,000 tpa.

Orpic (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) is one of the leading companies in Oman and has two refineries in that country, in Sohar and Muscat. ORPIC is owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and Oman Oil Company SAOC, the trading company created by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman for managing investments in the energy sector.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The contract price of propylene in Europe was agreed by EUR25/tonne higher than in April, but most European producers announced a roll-over of April export prices of polypropylene (PP) for May shipments to the CIS markets, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

In some cases, however, prices went up by EUR30/tonne from April.

Negotiations over May prices of European PP have been actively conducted this week, some deals will be agreed only next week. All market participants reported the roll-over of April export prices of propylene polymers for this month, except for two producers, which increased their prices of homopolymers of propylene (homopolymer PP) by EUR30/tonne from April.

Deals for May shipments of homopolymer PP were discussed in the range of EUR1,120-1,155/tonne FCA, whereas April deals were negotiated in the range of EUR1,090-1,155/tonne FCA. Some producers have already had restrictions for export of injection moulding homopolymer PP for two months.

Deals for block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) were discussed in the range of EUR1,210-1,250/tonne FCA, which corresponded to April prices.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema has successfully brought on stream new Kynar PVDF capacities in its Calvert-City plant in the United States, as per the company's press release.

With this 20% increase in its US production capacities, Arkema will further support its customers’ strong demand in the region.

Through this investment and following the successful start-up of a similar expansion at its Changshu, China plant in 2017, Arkema, which operates fluoropolymer production facilities on the three major continents - Europe, North America, and Asia, further consolidates its world-leading position in PVDF.

This new capacity, which has been brought online ahead of schedule, will enable the Group to support its customers’ growth in America, particularly in emerging applications such as water filtration and in traditional markets such as the chemical process industry and high performance cables (automobile, fiber optics, oil industry).

This expansion also supports Arkema’s ambition to accelerate the development of its advanced materials, one of the key pillars of its future growth.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2017, Arkema completed the sale to INEOS of its 50% stake in Oxochimie, their oxo alcohols manufacturing joint venture, and of the associated business.

Arkema is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd's earnings fell in the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 mainly due to margin squeeze and foreign exchange (forex) loss, as per Thestar.

It announced on Monday that its earnings fell 28.6% to RM244.19mil from RM342.15mil a year ago. Its profit before tax decreased by RM86.5mil to RM300mil mainly due to the margin squeeze and forex loss.

Its revenue by 15.7% to RM2.214bil from RM1.914bil due to an increase in sales volume compared with a year ago which had a statutory routine turnaround.

"Average plant utilisation was 83% compared to 58% in corresponding quarter. For Q12017, this was mainly due to statutory routine plant turnaround for cracker 2 and other downstream plants in Malaysia.

Lotte said feedstock price increased from end 2017, while product price subsequently picked up with lagging effect.

Foreign exchange loss of RM44.6mil arose as a result of the revaluation of the group's US dollar IPO funds against the ringgit held for Indonesia project capital injection as a result of the strengthening of the ringgit against the US$ in Q1 2018.

This forex loss was partially offset by forex gain of RM34.9mil from operations in Q1 2018.

Earnings per share were 10.74 sen per share compared with 19.80 sen.

MRC