Daesan cracker brought on-stream by Hanwha Total

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hanwha Total Petrochemical has restarted its Deasan cracker following a maintenance and debottlenecking exercise, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the company has resumed operations at the cracker on June 10, 2019. The cracker was shut for maintenance and expansion in end-March, 2019.

Following the expansion, the ethylene capacity has been increased by 310,000 MT and propylene capacity by 120,000 MT.

Located at Daesan in South Korea, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 1.09 million mt/year and propylene capacity of 640,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, Hanwha Total Petrochemical is investing approximately USD500m to further expand its Daesan integrated refining and petrochemical complex in South Korea. The company operates as a 50/50 joint venture (JV) between Total and Hanwha. The planned investment is expected to increase annual polypropylene capacity by almost 60% to 1.1 million tonnes and ethylene capacity by 10% to 1.5 million tonnes by the end of 2020.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Volgograd Kaustik, Russia's fourth largest polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer, resumed its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production capacities after a scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The company's customers said that the producer on 11 June began PVC production after almost a month of shutdown. The plant was shut down for the turnaround on 15 May. The plant's PVC production capacity is 90,000 tonnes/year.

It is also worth noting that next shutdowns for maintenance at Russian PVC plants are scheduled from July.
SayanskKhimPlast and Bashkir Soda Company, which annual capacities are 350,000 tonnes and 240,000 tonnes, respectively, will take off-stream their production capacities for maintenance.

PVC production at Volgograd Kaustik was launched in December 1972 with the assistance of the Japanese firm Kureh's specialists. Nikokhim Group is one of the leaders of the Russian chemical industry, the main production assets of which are located in the southern industrial hub of Volgograd.

The holding company includes: JSC Kaustik is the principal plant of the group, manufactures basic products - caustic soda, chloroparaffins, synthetic hydrochloric acid, chlorine trademark, polyvinyl chloride, sodium hypochlorite, etc .; CJSC NikoMag - production of anti-icing materials, magnesium chloride, magnesium oxide and hydroxide; Zirax, Ltd. - production of high-purity reagents for various industries and JSC Poligran - the production of plastic compounds and rigid PVC compounds.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) from Russia totalled 77,300 tonnes in January-May 2019, up by 42% year on year, whereas imports decreased by 18% year on year to 7,900 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Russian producers maintained fairly high volumes of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) exports, but export sales have declined since May. Last month's exports of Russian SPVC (excluding shipments to the Customs Union) were 12,800 tonnes, compared to 17,300 tonnes in April. Thus, overall exports of resin from Russia totalled 77,300 tonnes in the first five months of 2019, compared to 54,500 tonnes a year earlier. Some producers significantly reduced their exports in June under the pressure of stronger demand from the domestic market and scheduled shutdowns for maintenance at a number of production capacities.

Indian buyers were the main foreign importers of Russian resin this year. Overall sales of resin were 41,700 tonnes over the stated period.

Sufficient supply of PVC from domestic producers, even given high exports, and weak demand from converters led to lower imports, although foreign purchases have still increased for the past two months. May SPVC imports were 2,800 tonnes, compared to 3,200 tonnes a month earlier. And overall imports totalled slightly over 7,900 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 9,700 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, has announced that it commenced a "modified Dutch Auction" tender offer to purchase up to 37,000,000 of its issued and outstanding ordinary shares, as per the company's press release.

The outstanding ordinary shares will be purchased par value EUR0.04 per share, or such lesser number of Shares as are properly tendered and not properly withdrawn, at a price that is the lesser of a price not greater than USD88.00 nor less than USD77.00 per Share, and a price that equals 110% of the Daily VWAP on the expiration date of the tender offer, to the seller in cash, less any applicable withholding taxes and without interest.

If the Final Price Cap is determined to be less than USD77.00 per Share, which is the low end of the price range in the tender offer, the Company will not purchase any Shares tendered, unless it decides, in its sole discretion, to amend or extend the offer in accordance with applicable law. The tender offer is made in accordance with the terms and subject to the conditions described in the offer to purchase, the related letter of transmittal and other related materials, as each may be amended or supplemented from time to time. The "Daily VWAP" is the daily per share volume-weighted average price for Shares on the New York Stock Exchange, as defined in more detail in the offer to purchase.

The closing price of the Shares on the New York Stock Exchange on June 7, 2019, the last full trading day before the commencement of the tender offer, was USD79.22 per Share. The tender offer is scheduled to expire at one minute after 11:59 P.M., New York City time, on July 8, 2019, unless the offer is extended or terminated. The Company will determine the final Daily VWAP promptly after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 8, 2019, unless the offer is extended or terminated, and will announce the final Daily VWAP, and the corresponding Final Price Cap, no later than 4:30 p.m., New York City time, on such date.

The Company believes that the repurchase of Shares pursuant to the tender offer is consistent with its long-term goal of allocating capital to maximize value for its shareholders and other stakeholders. The offer also provides a mechanism for completing the Company's authorized share repurchase program more rapidly than would be possible through open market repurchases. The Company believes that the modified Dutch auction tender offer provides its shareholders with the opportunity to tender all or a portion of their Shares, and thereby receive a return of some or all of their investment in the Company, if they so elect.

The tender offer is not contingent upon any minimum number of Shares being tendered. However, the tender offer is subject to a number of other terms and conditions, which are described in detail in the offer to purchase. Specific instructions and a complete explanation of the terms and conditions of the tender offer are contained in the offer to purchase, the related letter of transmittal and other related materials, which will be mailed to shareholders of record promptly after commencement of the tender offer.

None of the Company, the members of its Board of Directors, the dealer managers, the information agent or the depositary makes any recommendation as to whether any shareholder should participate or refrain from participating in the tender offer or as to the purchase price or purchase prices at which shareholders may choose to tender their Shares in the tender offer.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cameroon’s 42,000-barrel-per-day Sonara oil refinery will be shut for a year following a fire earlier this month, a spokesman for the ministry of commerce told Reuters.

Operations came to a halt at the country’s only refinery in Limbe this month after a storage tank exploded.

Sonara produces 20 percent of Cameroon’s gasoline demand, the rest of which is imported, said ministry spokesman Eric Epoune. It also supplies to other countries in the region, including Nigeria, Togo and Ghana, according to its website.

Epoune said extra imports will cover the shortfall and that a fuel shortage will be avoided.

As MRC wrote before, in early June 2019, Cameroon’s state oil refinery declared force majeure after a storage tank exploded overnight, causing a fire that shut down output at its main refinery in Limbe but caused no deaths.
MRC