ARLANXEO increases prices for its Buna and X_Butyl products globally

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ARLANXEO, one of the world’s leading suppliers of synthetic elastomers, has increased its prices for its Buna and X_Butyl products globally effective May 1, 2018, as per the company's press release.

The price increase is driven by the overall market situation.

ARLANXEO has contacted its customers individually regarding the price increases.

ARLANXEO’s rubber products distributed under the brand names Buna and X_Butyl are used in the tire industry and for several non-tire applications like medical and pharmaceutical, plastic modification, gum or technical rubber goods.

As MRC wrote before, ARLANXEO is expanding its global chloroprene rubber (CR) production at the site in Dormagen, Germany. 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.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The incoming CEO of German chemical giant BASF SE has reportedly confirmed that, unlike path chosen by its U.S. competitors Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co., he has absolutely no plans to break up the company, as per Plasticsnews.

Martin Brudermueller, in a May 3 report by Reuters, has voiced his support for the company’s so-called Verbund, the integrated value chain where a company owns businesses throughout the production process.

“We often hear the Verbund getting criticized for being too rigid. That’s not true,” said Brudermueller who is taking the helm at BASF on May 4.

“If you have everything under one roof, you can coordinate things much better, that is the sense in which we will develop it further. You wouldn’t normally want to sell attractive businesses that are growing,” he told Reuters and other reporters in remarks released late on May 2.

Dow and DuPont merged to become DowDuPont Inc., but plan to separate into three separate companies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Shell Nanhai B.V. (Shell) have announced the official start-up of the second ethylene cracker at their Nanhai petrochemicals complex in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Several linked derivative units have also started up and the remaining units will start up progressively over the next few weeks. These new units were constructed by CNOOC and are owned and operated by the existing CNOOC and Shell Petrochemical Company (CSPC) joint venture.

The new ethylene cracker increases ethylene capacity at the complex by around 1.2 million tonnes per year, more than doubling the capacity of the complex, and benefits from a deep integration with adjacent CNOOC refineries. The new facility will also include a styrene monomer and propylene oxide (SMPO) plant, which will be the largest in China when it begins operations.

"The start-up of the new ethylene cracker and derivatives units is a significant milestone for Shell," Graham van’t Hoff, Executive Vice President for Royal Dutch Shell plc’s global Chemicals business, said. "I would like to thank our partner CNOOC for its excellent project delivery. As the largest single-site ethylene complex in China, CSPC is key to Shell Chemicals’ growth ambitions."

He Zhongwen, Chairman and President of CNOOC Oil & Petrochemicals Co. Ltd, said: "The expansion project demonstrates great synergies between CNOOC’s engineering, construction and management capabilities, and Shell’s advanced technologies in chemicals. It has been recognised by the government as a role model for major industrial projects in China. This shows what we can achieve through effective international partnerships. We can now produce more and better chemical products for the growing domestic market."

The new complex utilises Shell’s proprietary OMEGA, SMPO and polyols technologies to produce ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, propylene oxide and high-quality polyols, as well as advanced technologies for polyolefins, phenol and oxo-alcohols production. It is the first time that Shell’s industry-leading OMEGA and advanced polyols technologies have been applied in China.

With a strong track record of reliable and safe operations, the petrochemicals complex produces olefins and derivative products that are used in a wide range of industrial and consumer products, including household appliances, cars, furniture and computers.

As MRC reported before, in March 2018, Shell EP Middle East Holdings B.V. completed the sale of the entire share capital of Shell Iraq B.V (SIBV), which held its 19.6% stake in the West Qurna 1 oil field, for USD406 million, to a subsidiary of ITOCHU Corporation.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the largest offshore oil & gas producer in China. CNOOC businesses cover the main segments of oil & gas exploration and development, engineering & technical services, refining and marketing, natural gas and power generation, and financial services.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF’s quarterly operating profit edged 2 percent higher, relying again on strong basic petrochemicals and oil businesses to offset a drop in earnings from specialty materials such as vitamins and engineering plastics, as per Reuters.

While first-quarter earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), adjusted for one-offs, of 2.51 billion euros (USD3.01 billion) were in line with market estimates, earnings from more complex and customised products missed expectations.

These businesses, the group’s designated growth drivers, have been squeezed by higher raw materials prices.

BASF has predicted an improvement over the course of the year but Friday’s results could rekindle a debate over its strategy, as the company’s head of technology, Martin Brudermueller, takes over as chief executive later on Friday.

BASF said it was still aiming for an increase of up to 10 percent in group operating profit this year.

On Thursday, it agreed with Solenis to combine their paper and water chemicals businesses, creating an entity with pro-forma sales of 2.4 billion euros (USD2.88 billion).

BASF has embarked on an organisational revamp. It has agreed to spend billions on agricultural seed assets from peer Bayer and it is also planning to merge its oil and gas division with rival DEA and float it on the stock exchange.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- KBR, Inc. has announced that it has been awarded a contract by Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and SABIC as the second Project Management Contractor (PMC) to provide Pre-Front End Engineering Design (Pre-FEED), Front End Engineering Design (FEED) and Program Management Services to develop the world's largest fully integrated Crude Oil to Chemicals (COTC) complex, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The project, which will be located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, will be executed from KBR's Houston, Al-Khobar and Chennai offices and is expected to continue through to the start-up of the facility in 2025.

The COTC complex will be based on advanced refining technologies, innovative process configurations and proven conversion technologies that will create a fully integrated petrochemical complex which maximizes chemicals, further diversifying the petrochemical feedstock mix in the Kingdom.

"We understand the strategic importance of the long term investment that Saudi Aramco and SABIC are undertaking in this project and the pivotal role that KBR will have in the overall success of this important program," said Stuart Bradie, KBR President and CEO. "We are excited to have the opportunity to continue our proud legacy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to deliver such 'giga-projects'."

"Given the rapidly changing economic environment we are faced with today, it has never been more important to create meaningful jobs for the growing Saudi population," said Jay Ibrahim, President of KBR Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. "Through this contract, we will continue our commitment to meeting the objectives of both the In Kingdom local content and Vision 2030 programs."

This award reinforces KBR's position as a market leader in the hydrocarbons industry with a long track record of delivering across all phases of refining and petrochemical mega-projects.

As MRC informed previously, in February 2018, KBR Inc (KBR) was awarded both a license and engineering (LBED) and a proprietary equipment supply contract by Cangzhou Dahua New Materials Co Ltd (CDNM) to build a new polycarbonate plant in Cangzhou City, China. Under the terms of the two contracts, KBR will provide its proprietary PCMAX technology, basic engineering design package and proprietary equipment supply for a 100,000 metric tonnes per annum single train plant in Cangzhou. CDNM intends to expand annual production at a later stage to 200,000 metric tonnes.
MRC