INEOS Styrolution strengthens distribution structure in EMEA

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, announces today that a new cooperation has been agreed with Tecnopol in Iberia (Spain, Portugal), as per the company's press release.

In order to be set up for growth in the Iberia region, INEOS Styrolution agreed on a new cooperation with Tecnopol for its standards business in Spain and Portugal. The new agreement is effective as of the beginning of 2019. INEOS Styrolution and Tecnopol are already looking back at a successful cooperation in Italy for the standard and a selected specialty portfolio. The agreement for Iberia covers INEOS Styrolution’s entire standards business (polystyrene and ABS standard polymers).

Alberto Borio and Giancarlo Rizzi, managing directors at Tecnopol, comment: "We are pleased to expand the cooperation with INEOS Styrolution. The company brings a very strong product portfolio to the market and we are looking forward to growing together based on this new agreement as we did in Italy since 2001."

Natasza Bil, Senior Distribution Manager at INEOS Styrolution concludes: "Today’s announcement is an extension to the new distribution structure announced a year ago. The new agreement gives us an optimised access to the market in Spain and Portugal and allows addressing new business opportunities for INEOS Styrolution’s standards polymer business."

The announced changes have no impact on INEOS Styrolution’s specialties business nor do they affect the existing relationships with other distribution partners in the region.

As MRC informed before, in September 2018, Total accepted an offer from INEOS Styrolution, the leading global styrenics supplier, to acquire its polystyrene business in China. It includes in particular two facilities with a production capacity of 200,000 tons per year each, located in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, and in Foshan, Guangdong Province.

INEOS Styrolution is the leading, global styrenics supplier with a focus on styrene monomer, polystyrene, ABS Standard and styrenic specialties. With world-class production facilities and more than 85 years of experience, INEOS Styrolution helps its customers succeed by offering the best possible solution, designed to give them a competitive edge in their markets. The company provides styrenic applications for many everyday products across a broad range of industries, including Automotive, Electronics, Household, Construction, Healthcare, Packaging and Toys/ Sports/ Leisure. In 2017, sales were at 5.3 billion euros. INEOS Styrolution employs approximately 3,300 people and operates 18 production sites in nine countries.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-owned Saudi Aramco has signed an agreement to acquire nine percent of Chinese project Zhejiang Petrochemical, reported Reuters with reference to Saudi state news agency SPA.

The agreement, which formalizes a previously announced plan, came during a visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Beijing.

Zhejiang Petrochemical is controlled by private Chinese chemical group Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group.

Zhejiang Petrochemical is building a refinery and petrochemical complex in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang.

As MRC wrote before, in October 2018, State oil giant Saudi Aramco signed an agreement to invest in a refinery-petrochemical project in eastern China, part of its strategy to expand in downstream operations globally.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco"s value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Specialty chemicals company Lanxess has successfully completed a debottlenecking project resulting in a 15 percent increase in global production capacity of its Additin RC 4000 series of corrosion inhibition additives, as per the company's press release.

The additional capacities are a result of process synergies identified and realized following Lanxess’s 2017 acquisition of Chemtura Corporation, which expanded its lubricant additives portfolio and global production network.

"With Lanxess’s increased footprint from the Chemtura acquisition, we were able to unlock process synergies between our production sites in Mannheim, Germany and West Hill, Canada to increase output of our corrosion inhibitors products to meet market demand and further enhance our global production network," said Martin Saewe, Head of the Lubricant Additives business line in Lanxess’s Additives (ADD) business unit.

"The global corrosion inhibitor market is growing and we have seen increasing demand for Lanxess specialty additives products due to their unique performance and technical advantages relative to other product offerings in the market," Saewe adds. "While we are committed to supply security for our customers, we are also looking toward the future with new product developments in the pipeline to meet new performance requirements and stricter regulations."

Lanxess’ Additin Corrosion Inhibition (CI) product range includes calcium sulfonate, carboxylate, succinic acid, and phosphoric acid-based specialty products. They work by being adsorbed on the polar metal surface to form a water-repellent and protective film that protects against corrosion. Main applications include power transmission oils, industrial oils, metalworking fluids, anti-corrosion oils, and greases.

As MRC reported earlier, Lanxess A.G. is expanding production of high-performance plastics at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site in Germany by building a new compounding facility at the North Rhine-Westphalia site. The Cologne-based specialty chemicals company said Sept. 19 that it was investing a "mid-double-digit million euro" amount in the new facility, which is scheduled to start operation in the second half of 2019.

The Additives (ADD) business unit is part of Lanxess’ Specialty Additives segment, which recorded sales of EUR 1.60 billion in fiscal year 2017.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 9.7 billion in 2017 and with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bayport Polymers LLC (Baystar), the 50/50 joint venture owned by Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc. (TPRI) and Novealis Holdings LLC - itself a joint venture co-owned by Borealis AG and NOVA Chemicals Inc. - held its official groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a new 625,000 metric ton-per-year Borstar polyethylene unit at its production site in Pasadena, Texas, with an anticipated start-up in 2021, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The state-of-the-art Borstar technology, which will be used in North America for the first time, will allow Baystar to produce enhanced polyethylene products for the most demanding applications. Approximately 1,750 jobs will be created during the peak engineering and construction activity.

Baystar is also building a one-million-ton per year steam cracker in Port Arthur, Texas. The new cracker will process ethane, which is abundantly available and competitively priced in the U.S., and will supply feedstock for its existing 400,000-ton-per-year polyethylene units as well as the new Borstar polyethylene unit in Pasadena.

"This new Borstar unit will more than double the site’s capacity and allow Baystar to provide our North American customers with a greater range of high-value-added and resource-efficient products," said Baystar President Diane Chamberlain. "The Port Arthur cracker and the new Borstar unit are tangible evidence of the power of partnership between Total, Borealis and NOVA Chemicals."

Speaking at the ceremony, the three joint venture partners commented: "With the ethane cracker project in Port Arthur now well underway, it is exciting to be here today with our partners Borealis and NOVA Chemicals to start the construction of the polyethylene unit here at Baystar," said Christophe Gerondeau, President and Chief Executive Officer, Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA.

"These two projects are a perfect example of Total’s strategy to expand in petrochemicals where we can leverage cost-advantaged feedstock and capitalize on our integrated platforms such as Port Arthur." "Borealis is very pleased to be bringing our third-generation Borstar technology to the North American market for the first time," said Borealis CEO Alfred Stern. "Baystar will profit from this superior technology, but also from our success in developing and sustaining ambitious joint ventures on a global scale. We are also glad to have found partners who share our commitment to safety at all levels of operations."

"It’s exciting to be here today as Bayport Polymers celebrates this next milestone. We look forward to having Borstar technology available in North America, which allows us to better serve our customers with innovative products that help make everyday life healthier, easier and safer," stated NOVA Chemicals CEO, Todd Karran.

Total and NOVA Chemicals are founding members of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, an alliance of nearly 30 companies from the plastics and consumer goods value chain committed to advance solutions to help end plastic waste in the environment, especially in the ocean. Borealis is a founding member of Project STOP, an initiative that aims to eliminate the leakage of plastics into the environment.

As MRC wrote previously, in June 2018, Bayport Polymers LLC (Bay-Pol), a joint venture of Total and Novealis Holdings LLC - a joint venture of Borealis AG and NOVA Chemicals Inc. - held the official groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a new ethane cracker at the Total Port Arthur Refinery. The new USD1.7-billion ethane cracker is the first project under construction by the recently-formed Bay-Pol joint venture.

In late May 2018, Total S.A., Borealis AG and NOVA Chemicals Corporation announced they had closed a joint venture in petrochemicals on the U.S. Gulf Coast after receiving all required regulatory approvals. The company named Bayport Polymers LLC (“Bay-Pol”) is 50% owned by Total and 50% owned by Novealis Holdings LLC, a joint venture between Borealis and NOVA Chemicals. Diane Chamberlain is appointed President of the new entity.
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