Novapet eyes maintenance at PET plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Novapet is likely to shut its No.2 polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Spain informed that the plant is expected to be taken off-stream over the period of September - October 2019. The exact date and duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained.

Located in Barbastro, Spain, the plant has a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

NOVAPET is the primary producer of PET resins in the Iberian Peninsula. The company's strategy is aimed at innovation in products and at the integration of services to the packager. The company collaborates continuously with more than 200 clients in 30 countries and 4 continents in its two divisions. The formulation and production of different PET resins, with different applications, and their transformation into preforms, or even into different packaging, constitute for us an integrated activities, which tend to preserve for its customers, all the value of the company's technical innovations.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German chemicals giant BASF warned profit would fall well below forecasts for the second quarter and full year, blaming a global economic slowdown and trade war between the United States and China, reported Reuters.

The maker of petrochemicals, coatings, catalytic converters and foams warned full-year earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) excluding special items would fall up to 30% below 2018 levels, instead of showing modest growth.

Sales are now expected to fall in 2019 rather than rise, the company said.

In a statement, the company cited a hit from a sharp slowdown in the autos sector, while poor weather conditions in North America hurt sales in the agricultural sector.

The trade war has weighed on the agricultural sector and also led to a slowdown in global auto production and sales, which has weighed on BASF's coatings and catalytic converters business.

"To date, the conflicts between the United States and its trading partners, particularly China, have not eased contrary to what was assumed in the BASF Report 2018. In fact, the G20 summit at the end of June has shown that a rapid detente is not to be expected in the second half of 2019," BASF said.

BASF last month said it was still aiming for growth in 2019 operating profit at the lower end of a 1-10% range, even as analysts predicted a decline in full-year earnings.

Second-quarter sales were down 4% to 15.2 billion euros (USD17.04 billion), and earnings before interest and taxes before special items are expected to fall 47% to 1 billion euros. The company is due to report second quarter results on July 25.

Group second-quarter EBIT is expected to tumble 71% to 500 million euros, in part because of an impairment on a natural gas investment on the US Gulf coast, BASF said, without elaborating.

Last month, the company said it is planning to cut 6,000 positions by 2021 as part of a cost reduction plan.

As MRC informed 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.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's overall roduction of polypropylene (PP) rose in the first six months of 2019 by 4% year on year to 732,000 tonnes. Four producers out of seven increased their capacity utilisation, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

Local producers' total PP output dropped to 122,900 tonnes in June from 135,100 tonnes a month earlier, all together, SIBUR Tobolsk, NPP Neftekhimiya and Stavrolen reduced their capacity utilisation. Russia's overall PP production reached 732,100 tonnes in January-June 2019, compared to 704,400 tonnes a year earlier. Four producers out of seven raised their capacity utilisation, with SIBUR Tobolsk and NPP Neftekhimiya accounting for the main increase in production.

The structure of PP production by plants looked the following way over the stated period.

SIBUR Tobolsk reduced its capacity utilisation in June, the plant's total PP output was 41,900 tonnes versus 50,400 tonnes a month earlier. The Tobolsk plant's total PP production reached 249,400 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 11% year on year.

Poliom (Omsk) produced 18,500 tonnes of PP last month, compared to 18,200 tonnes in May. Overall, the Omsk plant produced 108,200 tonnes of PP over the stated period, down by 2% year on year.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim produced 18,600 tonnes of propylene polymers in June versus 18,500 tonnes a month earlier. The Nizhnekamsk plant's overall output of polymer reached 105,900 tonnes in the first six months of 2019, compared to 105,000 tonnes in 2018.

Tomskneftekhim produced 12,400 tonnes of propylene polymers last month versus 13,000 tonnes in May. The Tomsk plant's total PP output reached 74,800 tonnes over the stated period, up 1% year on year.

Ufaorgsintez's total PP production was 11,100 tonnes in June versus 10,600 tonnes a month earlier. The Ufa plant's overall output of polymer reached 66,600 tonnes in January-June 2019, which virtually corresponded to the last year's figure.

NPP Neftekhimiya (Kapotnya) produced 9,600 tonnes last month, compared to 12,800 tonnes in May. The plant's overall output exceeded 71,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 6% year on year.

Stavrolen (LUKOIL) reduced its capacity utilisation in June, the plant's total production of propylene polymers was 10,900 tonnes versus 11,500 tonnes a month earlier. The Budenovsk plant's overall output of propylene polymers dropped in the first six months of 2019 to 56,100 tonnes from 56,900 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has declared a quarterly dividend of USD0.62 per share on its common stock, payable August 5, 2019, as per the company's press release.

The dividend is payable to stockholders of record as of July 26, 2019.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese Corporation has increased July list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) sold in Asia outside China (AOC). The price increase was effective for orders shipped on or after 19 July, 2019, or as contracts otherwise allow, and is incremental to any previously announced increases. Thus, July VAM prices rose by USD50/mt - for AOC.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2018 net sales of USD7.2 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yanlian Petrochemical, has restarted its No. 2 Polypropylene (PP) plant, following an unplanned outage, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China, informed that, the company has resumed operations at the plant on July 22, 2019. The plant was shut owing to technical issues on July 16, 2019.

Located at Shaanxi, China, the No.2 PP plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote ealier, Zhong Tian He Chuang, a joint venture of Sinopec and China Coal Energy Group, brought on-stream its polypropylene (PP) plant following an unplanned outage in end-June, 2019. The unit was shut on June 11, 2019 owing to technical issues. Located at Ordos in Inner Mongolia, China, the plant has a production capacity of 350,000 mt/year.
MRC