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MOSCOW (MRC) -- PKN Orlen S.A. ("Company") hereby informs that on 30 November 2018 it submitted to the European Commission a draft notification for concentration ("Notification"), together with the draft outline of remedies areas, regarding the planned taking capital control over Grupa Lotos S.A. headquartered in Gdansk ("Grupa Lotos") by PKN Orlen S.A. ("Transaction"), said Biznes.pap.
Notification, submitted today by the Company, initiates the process of the arrangement of its final version with the European Commission. After submitting the final notification by the Company, the European Commission will formally start the concentration investigation.
Notification includes, apart from the description of the parties and Transaction assumptions, description of parties activity on the certain markets and presents preliminary arguments on the influence of the Transaction on the competitiveness on that markets. There has been enclosed a set of internal documents of both companies, that should allow the European Commission to verify the accuracy of the attached arguments.
Orlen – which in September moved up to 100%-ownership in Unipetrol, giving it sole control of all Czech oil refining – said in late May that it was aiming to finalise the acquisition of Lotos in the third quarter of 2019.
The company said it planned to buy 33% of Lotos shares from the State Treasury and to later increase its stake in the refiner to up to 66% based on a mandatory tender offer.
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PKN Orlen submitted to EC notification regarding taking control over Grupa Lotos
Evonik appoints new managers to its segments’ boards
MOSCOW (MRC) -- Johann-Caspar Gammelin, currently Chairman of the Board of Management of Evonik Performance Materials GmbH, will take over as Chairman of the Board of Management of Evonik Nutrition and Care GmbH from Dr. Reiner Beste, effective April 1, 2019, as per the company's press release.
On this date Dr. Beste, as new Regional President, will assume responsibility for bringing together the two regions Asia Pacific North and Asia Pacific South. "The attractive growth markets in Asia are of special importance to Evonik", says Christian Kullmann, Chairman of the Executive Board of Evonik. "With Reiner Beste, our aim is to strengthen the growth of our numerous businesses there."
The successor to Mr. Gammelin as Chairman of the Board of Management of Evonik Performance Materials GmbH will be Dr. Joachim Dahm.
Together with Mr. Gammelin and Dr. Dahm, in future, Dr. Claus Rettig, as Chairman of Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH, and Gregor Hetzke, as Chairman of Evonik Technology and Infrastructure GmbH, will participate in the meetings of the Executive Board.
Dr. Rainer Fretzen will join the Board of Management of Evonik Technology and Infrastructure, taking over the position of Chairman from Gregor Hetzke on September 1, 2019. From that time on, Dr. Fretzen will therefore participate in Executive Board meetings.
As MRC reported earlier, in April 2017, half a year after the announcement of the 2030 strategy, MOL Group reached an important milestone in its industrial transformational journey. The license agreements signed with Evonik and thyssenkrupp, will enable MOL to produce propylene oxide, a key component for the production of polyether polyols. MOL intends to become a significant producer of polyether polyols, high-value intermediates for products applied in the automotive, packaging and furniture industries.
Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world.
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Qatar to withdraw from OPEC and focus on gas exports
MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatar said on Monday it was quitting OPEC from January 2019 but would attend the oil exporter group’s meeting this week, saying the decision meant Doha could focus on cementing its position as the world’s top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, reported Reuters.
Doha, one of the smallest oil producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is locked in a diplomatic dispute with the group’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia but said the move to leave OPEC was not driven by politics.
Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad al-Kaabi told a news conference that Qatar, which he said been a member of OPEC for 57 years, would still attend the group’s meeting on Thursday and Friday this week, and would abide by its commitments.
"Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from OPEC effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to OPEC this morning," the minister said.
"For me to put efforts and resources and time in an organization that we are a very small player in and I don’t have a say in what happens ... practically it does not work, so for us it’s better to focus on our big growth potential," he said.
One OPEC source told Reuters the decision was more symbolic than anything else. "They are not a big producer, but have played a big part in it’s (OPEC) history," the source said.
Qatar has oil output of only 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared with the 11 million bpd produced by Saudi Arabia, the group’s biggest oil producer and world’s biggest exporter.
But Doha is an influential player in the global LNG market with annual production of 77 million tonnes per year, based on its huge reserves of the fuel in the Gulf.
Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects, said Qatar’s withdrawal “doesn’t affect OPEC’s ability to influence as Qatar was a very small player."
OPEC and its allies, including Russia, are expected to agree on a supply cut at this week’s meeting in a bid to support crude prices that have slid almost 30 percent since October.
Oil prices surged about 5 percent on Monday after the United States and China agreed to a 90-day truce in their trade war, but Brent crude is still trading at around USD62 a barrel, well below October’s peak of more than USD86.
Al-Kaabi, who is heading Qatar’s OPEC delegation, said the decision was not political but related to the country’s long-term strategy and plans to develop its gas industry and increase LNG output to 110 million tonnes by 2024.
OPEC members, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and fellow Arab states Bahrain and Egypt, have imposed a political and economic boycott on Qatar since June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha denies the charges and says the boycott aims to impinge on its sovereignty.
"A lot of people will politicize it," Al-Kaabi said. "I assure you this purely was a decision on what’s right for Qatar long term. It’s a strategy decision."
"We will make a big splash in the oil and gas business soon," he said.
He said Qatar Petroleum planned to raise its production capability from 4.8 million barrels oil equivalent per day to 6.5 million barrels in the next decade. Doha also plans to build the largest ethane cracker in the Middle East.
As MRC wrote before, in October 2018, Qatar Petroleum (QP), the world’s top supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG), announced further increase in the capacity of Qatar’s LNG expansion project, by adding a fourth liquefaction train, to raise the country's liquefied natural gas capacity to 110 million t/y.
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Total Corbion PLA starts-up its 75,000 tonnes per year bioplastics plant
The plant has successfully produced Luminy® PLA resins. This bioplastic provides a valuable contribution towards the circular economy being 100% renewable and biodegradable and offering multiple environmentally-friendly waste solutions.
The new facility will produce a broad range of Luminy® PLA resins from renewable, non-GMO sugarcane sourced locally in Thailand: from standard PLA to innovative, high heat PLA and PDLA1 with unique properties. The products will meet customers’ needs in a wide range of markets notably packaging, consumer goods, 3D printing, fibers and automotive and are specifically optimized for extrusion, thermoforming, injection molding and fiber spinning processes.
At the end of their useful life, PLA products can be mechanically or chemically recycled, or in some cases composted and returned to the soil as fertilizer.
Total Corbion PLA will leverage on the integration with its lactide plant, the monomer required for the production of PLA, that has simultaneously been expanded to 100,000 tonnes per year production capacity. Furthermore, the 1,000 tonnes per year PLA pilot plant, which has been operational since the end of 2017, is located on the same site and will be used for product development.
The start-up marks a major milestone for both the joint venture and the bioplastics market. With this additional 75,000 tonnes per year facility, the global production of PLA bioplastics will increase by almost 50% to 240,000 tonnes per year. PLA is a fast-growing polymer market with an estimated annual growth rate of 10% to 15%.
"The start-up of this state-of-the-art plant establishes Total Corbion PLA as a world-scale PLA bioplastic producer, ideally located to serve growing markets from Asia Pacific to Europe and the Americas” says Stephane Dion, CEO of the company. “The subsequent increase in global PLA capacity will enable manufacturers and brand owners to move into the circular economy and produce biobased products with lower carbon footprints and multiple end of life options."
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Davis-Standard buys thermoforming equipment maker TSL
MOSCOW (MRC) -- Extrusion machinery maker Davis-Standard LLC has acquired Thermoforming Systems LLC (TSL), a manufacturer of thermoforming equipment for the North American food packaging industry, said Canplastics.
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
“TSL is the market leader in thermoforming equipment technology for high volume packaging and we are excited to welcome their dedicated team to Davis-Standard today,” said Jim Murphy, president and CEO Pawcatuck, Conn.-based Davis-Standard President and CEO.
Yakima, Wash.-based TSL will continue to operate as a standalone company, Murphy added.
The acquisition is the second big purchase for Davis-Standard this year. In June, the company bought Brampton Engineering, a Brampton, Ont.-based maker of blown film technology.
Davis-Standard designs, develops, and distributes extrusion and converting technology. The company employs more than 1,300 workers, and has manufacturing and technical facilities in the U.S., China, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Canada, and the UK.
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