BASF invests in new mobile emissions catalysts production facility in Shanghai to meet customer demand in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -– BASF is investing in a new production facility for mobile emissions catalysts at its Pudong site in Shanghai, China, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new 30,000-square-meter facility will house multiple manufacturing lines, providing a full range of emissions control technologies for heavy-duty and light-duty vehicle manufacturers.

Construction is underway, with start-up planned for the end of 2019. The plant will manufacture innovative catalysts for gasoline and diesel vehicles in the growing Chinese market.

The catalysts will help automotive customers meet more stringent emission control requirements ahead of China Stage 6 implementation in 2020. "BASF is committed to supporting customers in China with state-of-the-art environmental catalysts solutions," said Dr. Stephan Kothrade, President Functions Asia Pacific, President and Chairman Greater China, BASF. "We want to greatly contribute to China’s three-year plan to protect blue skies, with advanced mobile emissions catalysts that meet the strictest environmental regulation requirements in China."

"BASF continues to support strong business growth in China through production capacity and innovation capabilities to meet local customer needs," said Dr. Dirk Demuth, Senior Vice President, Mobile Emissions Catalysts, BASF. "Our new facility in China will enable BASF to support our customers in this growing market. The new facility offers flexibility for future expansion and upgrades to adapt to market requirements in the years ahead."

As MRC informed before, in December 2017, BASF’s Coatings division inaugurated a new automotive coatings plant at its Bangpoo manufacturing site, Samutprakarn province, Thailand. The new plant is the first BASF automotive coatings manufacturing facility in ASEAN, and will produce solventborne and waterborne automotive coatings to meet growing market demand in the region.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Intertape Polymer Group Inc. announced it has successfully commissioned its second water-activated tapes line at the Midland, North Carolina manufacturing facility on time and on budget, said the producer.

With the commissioning, the second line is producing commercial tapes at scale. Water-activated tapes are primarily used in the e-commerce market for carton sealing which can help reduce both pilferage and workforce injury from repetitive motion as well as provide the option for attractive prints on the tape. All amounts in this press release are denominated in US dollars.

"The e-commerce market is the fastest growing segment of our business. Our expansion at Midland enables us to match production with the growth in demand we are experiencing now and anticipate in the future," said Greg Yull, President and CEO of IPG. “The second line leverages the original investment at the facility, which is on track to meeting our after tax internal rate of return threshold of 15%. As such, we anticipate a step function improvement in the return from the second line once it's operating at optimal production. As a result, the second line is an important element of our two-year capital investment plan in which we targeted $80 to $90 million in deployed capital in fiscal 2017 and 2018. Given the growth in e-commerce as a proportion of the retail market, the expansion at Midland, together with our acquisition of protective packaging solutions, strengthens our product bundle for our direct accounts that are leaders in the e-commerce market."

IPG completed construction of the Midland facility in 2017 and commissioned the first line in the fourth quarter of 2017 for total invested capital of approximately USD48 million. The second line, which is a sister line to the first, doubles the capacity of the facility and was installed for total invested capital of $13.4 million with no new construction required. IPG invested in additional water-activated tapes capacity in anticipation of demand. The first line is at capacity so the second line provides new capacity for growth. The footprint of the site and the design of the facility also allow for additional expansion, if necessary, however expansion of the facility itself may be required. In addition to the Midland facility, IPG also produces water-activated tapes at its Menasha, Wisconsin, facility.

Intertape Polymer Group Inc. is a recognized leader in the development, manufacture and sale of a variety of paper- and film-based pressure sensitive and water-activated tapes, polyethylene and specialized polyolefin films, protective packaging, woven coated fabrics and complementary packaging systems for industrial and retail use. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec and Sarasota, Florida, IPG employs approximately 3,500 employees with operations in 29 locations, including 22 manufacturing facilities in North America, two in Asia and one in Europe.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC (Chevron Phillips Chemical) announces that effective February 13, 2019, Carolyn Burke joins the company as senior vice president and chief financial officer, said the company.

She will report to Mark Lashier, president and chief executive officer. Burke previously worked for Dynegy Inc. where she held the position of executive vice president, Strategy and Administration. Burke holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Wellesley College and a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Strategic Planning from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Throughout her career, she has held various positions of increasing responsibility in finance and strategic roles for organizations including J.P. Morgan, NRG Energy Inc., University of Pennsylvania, Yale University and Atlantic Richfield Company (now British Petroleum).

"Carolyn brings deep knowledge and experience in strategy and finance to Chevron Phillips Chemical’s executive leadership team," said Lashier. "Her expertise will serve the company well as we continue to pursue operational excellence, grow our business and deliver value to our stakeholders."

Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, plastic piping and polymer resins. With approximately 5,000 employees, the LLC and its affiliates own USD16.7 billion in assets, including 31 manufacturing and research facilities in seven countries. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC is equally owned indirectly by Chevron Corporation and Phillips 66, and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate stocks rose last week, the Energy Information Administration said Reuters.

Crude inventories rose by 3.6 million barrels in the last week, compared with analysts’ expectations for an increase of 2.7 million barrels.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 1.016 million barrels, EIA said.

Refinery crude runs fell by 865,000 barrels per day, EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates fell by 4.8 percentage points.

Gasoline stocks rose by 408,000 barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for an 826,000-barrel gain.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose unexpectedly by 1.2 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.1 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.

Net U.S. crude imports fell last week by 430,000 barrels per day.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc, owner of the largest and oldest refinery on the US East Coast, is facing another financial crisis just months after emerging from a controversial bankruptcy, according to two sources and a Reuters review of court filings.

PES, which exited bankruptcy in August, saw its cash balance fall to USD87.7 million at the end of 2018, down from USD148 million just three months earlier, a USD61 million decline, according to a post-bankruptcy financial report filed late last month. The company entered bankruptcy roughly a year ago with USD43 million cash on hand, court documents show.

Refineries based on the East Coast suffer from difficult economics due to the cost of shipping crude oil from West Texas or Canada, but PES has had other problems at the plant in South Philadelphia including weak gasoline margins and high debt costs.

The company filed for bankruptcy in January 2018, blaming its woes largely on the costs of complying with the US Renewable Fuel Standard, a 2005 law that requires refiners to either blend biofuels like ethanol into fuel or purchase credits, called RINs, from competitors who do.

PES does not have those blending capabilities, so it has to pay for credits. But a Reuters analysis showed other factors played a role in the bankruptcy, including the withdrawal of more than USD590 million in dividend-style payments from the company by its investor-owners.

After filing for bankruptcy, the company was given a waiver for half of its USD350 million in liabilities related to biofuels credits by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Poor gasoline margins have hurt the company’s bottom line as well. PES’s weak cash position forced the refiner to significantly scale back a planned USD90 million maintenance project that began in January, according to two sources familiar with the plant’s operations. Refiners perform maintenance to keep units operating reliably and safely, protecting themselves from costly unplanned outages.

"I am not surprised that they are economically struggling once again, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon," Christina Simeone, a director at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, said.

In the last three months of 2018, while PES saw its cash balance fall by USD61 million, the compliance credits were trading at multi-year lows.

"They're having financial difficulties when RIN prices dropped 75 percent. It's pretty damming evidence against their bankruptcy claims that the RFS is the primary claim in filing bankruptcy," said Simeone, who authored a report last year that predicted the refinery would close by 2022 due to poor economics. The site has been home to a refinery since 1870.

PES spokeswoman Cherice Corley said the company declined to comment.

US East Coast refiners like PES lack access to cheaper crude that refiners in other parts of the country enjoy, which inflicts greater pain on the region’s industry when margins are low.

Delta Air Lines’ refinery in nearby Trainer, Pennsylvania, lost USD40 million in the fourth quarter. The company is considering selling the plant, sources recently told Reuters.

PES recently secured a USD50 million loan from Bardin Hill Investment Partners, formerly Halcyon Capital Management, one of the plant’s owners, two sources told Reuters. The company still has more USD700 million in long-term debt, most of which comes due in 2022.

Private-equity giant Carlyle Group LP rescued the 330,000 barrel-per-day refinery from closure in 2012, betting they could tap cheap shale oil out of North Dakota and turn a hefty profit.

The bet proved lucrative in the early years, but once the discount on North Dakota’s oil eroded due to better transport options, PES’s bottom line started to suffer.

Carlyle became a minority owner once the company emerged from bankruptcy. Deutsche Bank AG and Bardin Hill are the primary owners now. Bardin Hill did not respond to requests for comment; Deutsche Bank declined to comment.
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