Total offers 3.1% compensation increase, bonus to employees in France

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French oil and gas major Total SA has offered a 3.1 percent increase in compensation plus an exceptional 1,500-euro bonus to all employees in France, reported Reuters with reference to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said.

Pouyanne said on Twitter that the offer was made to unions, taking into account the company’s good results in 2018.

Total held its annual salary negotiation with unions on Tuesday.

Around 32 percent of the company’s 98,000 employees were in France as of the end of December 2017, according to company documents.

The increase and bonus measure comes after a week-long strike in November over pay and bonuses by hard-left union CGT. The protest disrupted production and distribution at Total’s refineries and fuel depots in France.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday urged companies that are able to do so to offer an exceptional bonus to their employees to boost purchasing power, as part of measures to appease the so-called yellow vests protests that have rocked France in the past weeks.

Several French companies including media and telecom groups Orange, Publicis, Iliad and Altice announced employee bonuses on Tuesday, while bosses of major banks agreed to freeze the fees they charge households next year in a show of support for Macron’s plan.

As MRC informed before, in December 2017, Total inaugurated the new units at its Antwerp integrated refining & petrochemicals platform, which have progressively started up in the previous few months.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

M. Holland signs North American distribution agreement with Borealis

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thermoplastic resins distributor M. Holland Co. is now the North American distributor of polypropylene (PP) from Borealis’ new PP compounding facility in Taylorsville, N.C., as well as imported PP, polyethylene, and Queo polyolefin plastomers and elastomers, as per Canplastics.

M. Holland is headquartered in Northbrook, Ill., and Borealis is based out of Vienna, Austria.

The Queo polyolefin plastomers and elastomers are described as well-suited for automotive, appliances, general molding, and non-healthcare packaging applications.

"Our business development group at is ideally positioned to support Borealis’ market strategies in North America,” Ed Holland, M. Holland president and CEO, said in a statement. “Borealis has a wide range of best-in-class materials that will greatly enhance our product offering for our clients."
MRC

Vietnamese Nghi Son refinery begins commercial production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vietnam’s Nghi Son oil refinery has officially begun commercial production following months of tests, reported Reuters with reference to the owner of the refinery.

Commercial production had begun from Nov. 14, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC said in a statement, while a source at the refinery told Reuters the refinery was operating smoothly.

The USD9 billion refinery is 35.1 percent owned by Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Co, 35.1 percent by Kuwait Petroleum, 25.1 percent by PetroVietnam and 4.7 percent by Mitsui Chemicals Inc.

The 200,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Nghi Son refinery, 260 km (160 miles) south of Hanoi, offered its first gasoline export cargo in September after receiving approval from the government to begin exporting fuel products.

Nghi Son and the 130,000-bpd Dung Quat refinery, which began production in 2009, are together expected to meet about 70 percent of Vietnam’s refined oil product demand.

As MRC informed previously, Vietnam's second oil refinery, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical, was ready for start-up on Feb. 28, 2018, its parent firm Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, or PetroVietnam said in February 2018. The USD9 billion plant, co-owned by Kuwait Petroleum Europe BV and Japanese firms Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsui Chemicals , is designed to help Vietnam cope with a shortage of refined oil products.
MRC

LyondellBasell and union begin contract talks at Houston oil refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries and a United Steelworkers (USW) local union began talks last Thursday for a new contract for 485 workers at the company’s Houston oil refinery, one day after employees rallied outside that plant over a lack of negotiations, reported Reuters with reference to the company and union.

Marcos Velez, USW International representative, said the union was expecting the company to propose cuts, without elaborating on the type of reductions expected.

"The union and the company have met and while the union remains committed to reaching a deal, the company’s initial proposals are concessionary and far from acceptable to the union," Velez said.

The contract between LyondellBasell and USW local 13-227 expires on Feb. 1.

The agreement on local issues will be combined with a national contract to be negotiated in January between USW International representatives and Shell Oil Co, the US arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which is the lead company for refinery and chemical plant owners.

The national agreement sets the pattern for pay, benefits and health and safety issues that must be incorporated in the contracts at each location where USW members work.

The national agreement also expires on Feb. 1.

As MRC wrote previously, in August 2016, LyondellBasell made the final investment decision to build a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant on the US Gulf Coast. The plant will have an annual capacity of 1.1 billion pounds (500,000 metric tons) and will be the first commercial plant to employ LyondellBasell's new proprietary Hyperzone PE technology. The start-up of the new plant is scheduled for 2019.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

European PP for CIS markets fell in December, but not proportionally to propylene price reduction

MOSCOW (MRC) -- December contract price of propylene in Europe was settled down by EUR100/tonne from November. Taking it into account, all European producers announced a decrease in export prices of polypropylene (PP) for deliveries to the markets of the CIS countries in December. But price cuts are not proportional to the fall in monomer prices, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Negotiations over December prices of European PP began last week. All market participants reported the desire of producers to limit the decline in export prices of propylene polymers to a value less than the decline in monomer prices. In fact, we are talking about lowering prices by only EUR40-60/tonne.

December deals for homopolymer PP were agreed in the range of EUR1,125-1,180/tonne FCA, down on average by EUR60/tonne from November. Some producers still had significant restrictions on this month's shipments.

Deals for block propylene copolymers (PP block copolymers) were done in the range of EUR1,210-1,270/tonne FCA, while in November deals were done in the range of EUR1,250-1,310/tonne FCA.
MRC