FPG budgets NT$18.2bln to expand Ningbo plant in China

(cens.com) -- Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) will set aside NT$18.24 billion, or about US$610 million, to expand production of a petrochemical park in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, China.

An industry insider predicted the Ningbo plant, after completion in 2012, will add approximately NT$8 billion in after-tax earnings to the group's overall annual earnings.

Thanks to rising prices of its major products such as PE (polyethylene), PVC (polyvinyl chloride), AN (acrylonitrile), and MMA (methacrylate), FPG is expected to see after-tax earnings exceed NT$7 per share in 2010.

Due to price hikes of major petrochemical products and strong domestic demand in China, the FPG's Ningbo production complex will see after-tax earnings hit a historic high of 20 billion renminbi, or about NT$92 billion, in 2010.

Backed by earnings from the Ningbo plant plus the earnings registered by the group's major subsidiaries in China, including Formosa Plastics Corp., Nan Ya Plastics Corp. and Formosa Chemical & Fibre Corp., the group is expected to score more than 2.8 billion renminbi in 2010, for a historic high.

In addition to rising earnings from the petrochemical plant in Ningbo and electronics plant in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, Nan Ya Plastics will also see increased earnings in China as its No. 2 polyester plant in Kunshan will begin mass production sometime in March 2011.

MRC

(ogj) -- Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (Sipchem) announced earlier this month that affiliate International Polymers Co. has awarded the engineering design, procurement, and construction work for an ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) plant to G.S. Engineering & Construction Corp., South Korea.

The 200,000-tonne/year plant will produce EVA and low-density polyethylene at the industrial complex in Jubail Industrial City. The plant is to start operation in second-quarter 2013 and cost an estimated 3 billion Saudi riyals ($800 million).

The Saudi Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals said the announcement has allocated the main ethane feedstock for the project to be cracked and treated to ethylene by one SABIC company and vinyl acetate monomer, as secondary feedstock, to be supplied by International Vinyl Co., a Sipchem affiliate.

International Polymers was founded in 2009 with Sipchem owning 75% and Hanwha Chemicals-Korea owning 25%.

MRC

(indiainfoline) -- The Iran National Petrochemical Company director said that ┬2b in participation bonds for petrochemical projects will soon be offered.

Ramezan Oladi added that $4 billion has been allocated to one of the largest petrochemical projects in Iran, the Damavand Petrochemical Complex in Assaluyeh.

The report added that the purpose of building this complex is to supply sideline services for the phase two petrochemical projects at the Pars Special Economic & Energy Zone.

MRC

(Bloomberg) -- Gazprombank cut its stake in OAO Sibur Holding, Russia's largest petrochemical producer, to 0.02 percent, the Moscow-based lender said today in a regulatory filing, without providing more details.

Last week, Gazprombank said Leonid Mikhelson, a billionaire shareholder and chief of gas producer OAO Novatek, bought 25 percent of Sibur and was in talks to buy the remaining shares. Sibur's value is 225 billion rubles ($7.4 billion), excluding debt, the lender said.

Gazprombank, in which the state gas-export monopoly OAO Gazprom holds less than 50 percent, has said it is selling non- financial assets to improve its business structure.

MRC

(Bloomberg) -- China Petrochemical Corp., the nation's largest refiner, said oil processing volume may rise 39 percent in 2010 compared with five years earlier as refining capacity expanded to meet surging fuel demand.

Refining rates may increase to 212 million metric tons, or 4.26 million barrels a day, from 153 million tons, Sinopec Group, as China Petrochemical is known, said in an e-mailed statement today. Processing capacity may climb 39 percent to 224 million tons by the year-end, making the group the world's second-biggest refiner, according to the statement.

Oil-product sales may rise 42 percent from five years earlier to 149 million tons as the number of Sinopec service stations increases to 29,200, the refiner said.

Sinopec Group's domestic crude production rose 8 percent from five years earlier to 42.56 million tons, while natural-gas output doubled to 12.3 billion cubic meters. Ethylene output surged 67 percent to 9.19 million tons, the parent of Hong Kong- listed China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. said in the statement.

MRC