Marathon Petroleum and Andeavor merger closer to final approvals

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marathon Petroleum Corp. and Andeavor announced that the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 has expired in connection with the proposed transaction whereby MPC would acquire all of Andeavor's outstanding shares, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The parties have also received the necessary regulatory clearance by the Canadian Commissioner of Competition pursuant to the Competition Act (Canada).

Together, these matters satisfy certain conditions for the closing of the proposed merger.

The transaction is still expected to close in the second half of 2018, and remains subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Andeavor shareholders of the proposed merger, approval by MPC shareholders of the new MPC shares to be issued in connection with the transaction, and the receipt of other required regulatory approvals.
MRC

Venezuela declining crude exports squeeze Indian refiners

MOSCOW (MRC) - Venezuela's crude shipments to India, its third largest export market, fell 21 percent in the first half of the year, according to internal documents from state-run PDVSA, adding to supply troubles for Indian refiners as they are increasingly pressed to diversify oil imports, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Venezuela's production decline to a 30-year low and export woes stemming from mismanagement, lack of investment and payment delays are affecting almost all of the OPEC-nation's customers.

But the impact on India is notable and comes as its refiners are now preparing for a "drastic reduction to zero" of oil imports from U.S.-sanctioned Iran.

Last week, PDVSA officials met with executives from India's Reliance Industries and Russia's Rosneft, which owns a majority stake in India-based Nayara Energy, to discuss trade issues, the state-run company said.

The talks focused on how to remedy export delays, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Venezuela sent almost 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy crude to India in the first half of the year, a 21 percent drop versus the 355,500 bpd shipped in the same period of 2017, according to PDVSA trade documents.

The decline is the second steepest after the United States, which has suffered a drop of about 30 percent in crude imports from Venezuela this year, the documents seen by Reuters show.
MRC

Mitsubishi Chemical restarts cracker as scheduled

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical Corp said on 3 July it will restart its 539,000 tonnes per year naphtha cracker as scheduled following planned maintenance, reported Reuters.

The maintenance on the cracker, which has been shut since May 9, was set to be finished on Tuesday, a company spokesman said.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in December 2017, Ube Industries, JSR Corp. and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC) received European Commission (EC) approval for the planned integration of their acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) subsidiaries.

Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.
MRC

Sipchem polybutylene plant commences operations

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) announced that the Polybutylene Terephthalate Plant (PBT), owned by Sipchem Chemical Company, an affiliate of Sipchem, commenced commercial operations, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The plant is located in Jubail Industrial City. The PBT plant performance tests were completed successfully ensuring efficiency, capacity and product quality. The financial impact of full commercial operations will be reflected in the company financial results as of the third quarter of 2018.

The total production capacity of the PBT Plant is 63,000 MT/year. PBT is a high specialty thermal engineering polymer used in many applications, such as for car manufacturing, electrical/electronic products, and engineering plastic.

On this occasion, Eng. Ahmad Al-Ohali, Chief Executive Officer of Sipchem, commented that the commercial operation of the PBT plant, the first of its kind in the Middle East, is an important step in Sipchem expansion and growth strategy. The addition of the PBT plant will allow Sipchem to further realize the benefit of its integrated package of products and will strengthen the added value chain.

The PBT plant uses Butanediol produced by International Diol Company (IDC), an affiliate of Sipchem, as a feed material for producing the PBT.

Sipchem owns 100% of the capital of Sipchem Chemical Company.

As MRC informed before, in March 2018, Sipchem said it was planning to resume proposed merger talks with Sahara Petrochemical 2260.SE in a deal that could create a 14.7 billion riyals (USD3.9 bln) chemicals company. The two companies called off a planned merger in 2014, citing an inadequate regulatory framework in the kingdom for the collapse.
MRC

Covestro launches flagship store on Alibaba

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Covestro has started a cooperation with Chinese internet giant Alibaba. As of 23 April 2018, the company offers its polymer materials in a flagship store on 1688.com, an online platform of Alibaba, as per GV.

The platform is the biggest online business-to-business marketplace in China. Under the link covestrochina.1688.com, polycarbonate as well as pre-products for polyurethane foams, coatings and adhesives will become available. With a maximum quantity order, the flagship store is more tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized customers. Therefore, transactions will be of relatively small volume. As a start, Covestro will offer around 50 products on the Chinese online platform. The second wave of products to launch is already in planning. The company announced that new forms of online commerce will contribute up to EUR 1 billion in accumulated sales until end of 2019.

"Digitalisation rapidly changes customer needs and preferences and offers new business opportunities, especially in the fast growing Chinese economy," said Dr. Markus Steilemann, Chief Commercial Officer and future CEO of Covestro. "For us, China plays a more and more important role not only in terms of market size but also with regard to innovation in relevant markets and technologies. With the launch of an online store on Alibaba we follow our strategy by innovating our business models in close cooperation with our customers."

"We want to make the customer experience more convenient and efficient. Particularly in a market like China, which is at the forefront of digitalisation, we need to be where the customers are and will be. 1688.com is that place," added Xiaobin Zhong, Head of Commercial Operations for the Coatings, Adhesives and Specialties business of Covestro in the Asia Pacific region.

As MRC reported earlier, on 1 September, 2015, Bayer MaterialScience became known as Covestro. The plans for the carve-out of Bayer MaterialScience were announced in September 2014.

Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc.
MRC