Huajin Chemical resumes HDPE production in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huajin Chemical has brought on-stream its high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the unit on July 9, 2018. The unit was taken off-line for maintenance on June 10, 2018.

Located in Liaoning province, China, the HDPE unit has a production capacity of 330,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, on 14 August 2017, Liaoning Huajin Chemical restarted its polypropylene (PP) unit following an unplanned outage. The unit was shut in end-July 2017 owing to shortage of feedstock. Located in Liaoning province, China, the PP unit has a production capacity of 50,000 mt/year.

Liaoning Huajin Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. was founded in 2003 and is based in China. Liaoning Huajin Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of North Huajin Chemical Industries Co.,Ltd.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals officially broke ground for construction of a state-of-the-art organic peroxide production facility in Tianjin, China, as per CoatingsWorld.

Organic peroxides are essential in the manufacture of a wide range of polymers including PVC and thermoset resins.

The EUR90-million facility, located in the Tianjin Nangang Industrial Zone, will replace the company's existing organic peroxides plant in Tianjin, and supports efforts being made by Chinese authorities to optimize urban planning and produce an industrial upgrade in the country's chemical industry.

Scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2020, it will also provide capacity expansions of between 30 and 70 percent depending on product line, allowing the company to support the growth of its customers.

"Demand for organic peroxide continues to increase in Asia and around the world," said Jack Li, regional sales director, Polymer Chemistry.

Li says end use markets for organic peroxides are growing annually between five and six percent in China, outpacing growth in the rest of the world.

Johan Landfors, executive committee member responsible for Polymer Chemistry, said the company is focusing on improving sustainability at the new site to meet the Chinese government's stringent requirements.

"We are installing an innovative technology to minimize discharge of waste water. New equipment will also streamline our production processes, helping us to reduce our water and energy consumption while removing volatile organic compounds," he added.

Said AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals CEO Werner Fuhrmann: "We have partnered closely with the Tianjin Economic - Technological Development Area to construct a site that not ony meets the needs of the city, but also those of our business, customers and employees. Our company is committed to China and has received strong support from its government agencies to ensure success on this project."

AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals has invested more than EUR180 million over the last three years to better serve its customers in the polymer industry, upgrading technologies, increasing capacity, and repositioning its global manufacturing footprint at sites in Mexico, the Netherlands, Belgium, China, Italy, Brazil and the U.S.

As MRC wrote before, in December 2016, AkzoNobel finalized the acquisition of BASF’s global Industrial Coatings business, which supplies a range of products for industries including construction, domestic appliances, wind energy and commercial transport, strengthening its position as the global number one supplier in coil coatings.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BW LPG, a Singaporean liquefied petroleum gas shipping (LPG) transportation fleet owner, has upped its all-stock proposal to merge with US LPG shipping company Dorian LPG in a move to engage with the latter following an initial refusal, said Compello.

As per the new proposal, BW LPG said that it will issue 2.12 of its shares for each share in the US LPG shipping company. The previous offer was 2.05 shares of BW LPG in exchange of a Dorian share.

The transaction value, like in the earlier offer made in late May, remains to be USD1.1bn.

BW LPG said that the revised proposal, which has been approved unanimously by the company’s board of directors, represents a value of USD8.67 per share of Dorian common stock. On the other hand, the total equity value of the all-stock deal is nearly USD479m.

BW LPG CEO Martin Ackermann said: “By increasing our offer at this time, we are reaffirming BW LPG’s belief that this transaction will deliver significant value to both companies’ stakeholders and that the time to act is now.

“It is evident from our discussions with Dorian shareholders that there is strong support for the companies to engage immediately regarding our proposed combination and capitalize on this compelling opportunity."

BW LPG revealed that it had made several attempts to get into a dialogue with the management team and advisors of Dorian for more than a month over its proposal, but in vain.

In a letter addressing the board of directors of Dorian, Ackermann, wrote that the Singaporean firm is “surprised and disappointed” by the US LPG shipping company’s refusal to engage with it.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - China's ambitious push to use biofuel in cars nationwide by 2020 is in doubt amid concerns about supplies of raw material such as corn, complicated by an escalating trade dispute with Washington, producers and analysts say, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In September last year, the government outlined radical plans to roll out the use of ethanol in gasoline nationally by 2020, in part to digest its huge corn stocks.

State-controlled producers, like China's State Development & Investment Corporation (SDIC), agribusiness COFCO and Jilin Fuel, rushed to draw up plans to invest billions of yuan to double output in the world's largest car market.

But since then, only one major project - SDIC's 300,000 tonnes per year plant in Liaoning province in China's northeast - has received the go-ahead to start construction.

Three big expansion plans by major producers are stalled because the companies haven't got approval from the government, three sources with direct knowledge of the situation say. They declined to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The government has not revised its timeline or commented publicly on a change in policy.

But executives at two producers, three policy experts and market analysts say the drawn-out approval process and project delays suggest Beijing is quietly rethinking its initial plans.

The slowdown comes as a brewing trade dispute with the United States intensifies, raising the threat of further tariffs that could make imports of U.S. corn or ethanol to meet any shortfall in domestic supplies uneconomic.

"The plan was too ambitious and will have a huge impact on the whole industry chain. It was too big a step forward. There might be change to the policy," said Michael Mao, analyst with Zhuochuang, a consultancy based in Shandong province.

The Commerce Ministry, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the National Development & Reform Commission did not respond to requests for comment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - ConocoPhillips moved to bring Venezuelan PDVSA's U.S. refining unit Citgo Petroleum into its legal battles to enforce a USD2 billion arbitration award against the South American country's nationalization of its Venezuelan assets, as said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A U.S. district court judge in Houston ruled Conoco can depose Citgo as preparation for a court case against PDVSA and others over alleged asset transfers in the Caribbean that Conoco claims were designed to frustrate its efforts to obtain payment under an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award.

Citgo declined to comment, citing a policy regarding ongoing litigation. Conoco is pleased with the court's decision, spokesman Daren Beaudo said in a statement. The company has not received any payment from PDVSA for the award and will continue to pursue the matter, he added.

The decision is another blow to the Venezuelan oil company, which has struggled to pay creditors as its oil production has fallen to the lowest level in more than three decades.

Conoco alleges state-run PDVSA transferred crude and fuels stored at the Isla refinery and Bullenbay Terminal in Curacao to Citgo to prevent it from seizing the oil to enforce the ICC award, according to its filing with a U.S. district in Houston.

The court filing portrays active and often successful efforts by PDVSA and its subsidiary to defeat Conoco's bids to seize oil cargoes and other assets. In one case, it claims PDVSA caused Citgo Petroleum to claim ownership of cargoes off Aruba as a way to lift the company's liens, Conoco said in its June filing.

PDVSA also denied court officers access to some ships docked near Curacao and at least one vessel temporarily disabled its GPS transponder to make a getaway, avoiding seizure, the filing said.

Conoco's assets in Venezuela were expropriated in 2007, after the late President Hugo Chavez nationalized several oil projects by forcing their conversion into joint ventures controlled by PDVSA.

Conoco and Exxon Mobil Corp left Venezuela after they were unable to reach agreements with PDVSA.
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