Brazil oil workers join pension reform protests with strike action

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil workers at state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA have begun a 24-hour strike in eight Brazilian states as part of nationwide protests against a government proposal to reform pensions, reported Reuters with reference to umbrella union group FUP's statement.

The pension reforms, aimed at restoring public finances and reviving a flagging economy, are fiercely opposed by some sectors of society for raising the minimum retirement age and workers’ contributions.

The union’s strikes of the kind announced on Friday rarely affect output because of the use of contingency teams.

Workers at nine refineries, including Reduc in Rio de Janeiro state and Paulinia in Sao Paulo state, were participating in the strike, which also affected a Petrobras port terminal in Pernambuco and a fertilizer plant in Bahia, FUP said.

On the Campos basin in Rio de Janeiro, workers were keeping operations to a minimum, it added.

In Rio de Janeiro, where the oil company is headquartered, the police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators and free roads near the port area, Globo TV reported.

In Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, public transport was disrupted as subway workers adhered to the strike, affecting train schedules and closing some stations, local media reported.

Sao Paulo will host the inaugural game of the Copa America soccer tournament, which Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is expected to attend in the evening. A special plan is in place to make sure fans arrive to the stadium, according to the city’s transport department.

Roadblocks and demonstrations in streets and highways in and around Sao Paulo, including burning tires close to the city’s international airport, have been reported.

As well as seeking to block changes in public sector pensions, the oil workers were protesting against “the privatization of the Petrobras system,” FUP said, referring to the oil company’s sales of assets to reduce debt.

As MRC wrote previously, in late October 2017, Petrobras’s minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica was excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette last week. The decree prevents Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced this year. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- India has said that, from Sunday, it will impose tariffs on 28 US products, including almonds and apples, reported BBC.

The new duties, some as high as 70%, are in response to Washington's refusal to exempt Delhi from higher taxes on steel and aluminium imports.

Earlier this month, US President Trump also announced the US was withdrawing India's preferential trade treatment.
Tariffs of up to 120% were announced by India in June last year, but trade talks had delayed their implementation.

In an announcement on Friday, India's Ministry of Finance said the decision was in the "public interest".
An earlier list had also listed a 29th item - artemia, a type of shrimp - but this was removed.

US-India bilateral trade was worth USD142bn in 2018, a sevenfold increase since 2001, according to US figures.

But USD5.6n worth of Indian exports - previously duty-free in the US - will be hit now the country has lost preferential treatment under America's Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).

Media captionSujitha Rajendrababu tells the BBC how getting a job at a car factory has changed her life
The move is the latest push by the Trump administration to redress what it considers to be unfair trading relationships with other countries.

Tensions have since been rising between the two countries. Last year, India retaliated against US tariff hikes on aluminium and steel by raising its own import duties on a range of goods.

President Trump has also threatened to impose sanctions if India purchases oil from Iran and if it goes ahead with plans to buy Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles.

The latest tariffs from India come just days before country's Foreign Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, is due to meet his US counterpart, Mike Pompeo, at a G20 summit in Japan. Mr Trump and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi are also expected to hold talks.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant announced a new flat-profile molecular-sieve desiccant, ADP Plate, along with an expanded line of Dri-Card laminated-film desiccant cards. Both products are FDA compliant, said the company.

Developed by the Clariant Healthcare Packaging business line, the new products are being unveiled at the Clariant Chemicals (China) Ltd. Booth (N5D30) at the 2019 CPhI China trade show, held June 18-20 at Shanghai’s New International Exposition Centre (SNIEC).

Flat-profile desiccant cards are needed for package moisture control when pouch-style desiccant sachets do not fit (e.g. in flat packages/packets), in food or other products where package surfaces are flat, or in scoopable/mixable powder products, where desiccant sachets can be difficult to see and to separate out of powder stirred into a beverage.

New ADP Plate desiccants offer very high moisture protection for medical and diagnostic devices, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical powders, and other package ingredients that require a very dry package environment. They feature injection-molded plastic cards embedded with highly adsorbent molecular sieve desiccant. Available in a standard 85 mm x 53 mm x 1.6 mm size or in custom sizes, these low-profile cards fit neatly into flat packages and reduce significantly the risk of desiccant leakage. This format also offers unique branding options, enabling customers to specify custom colors or messages that can be applied using ink-free laser markings during the manufacturing process.

The company’s expanded line of Dri-Card desiccants, which are comprised of calcium chloride desiccant laminated between colorful, bright orange film layers, offer another flat-profile option for moisture-controlled packages containing powdered, confectionary, and food products. They are available in five standard sizes from 25 mm x 50 mm up to 85 mm x 85 mm, as well as custom sizes.

"For the applications like sports nutrition powders, food and spice powders, and any especially flat packages, the expanded flat profile desiccant options can help customers improve their packaging and product appeal,” says Mark Florez, Head of Product Development and Application for Clariant Healthcare Packaging in North America. “In powdered products, ADP Plate and Dri-Card can help support organic claims by preventing clumping without the use of non-organic anti-agglomerates and anti-caking agents.” Florez adds that both products are manufactured in pharmaceutical desiccant plants that meet the applicable GMP requirements.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2017, Clariant was awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. Ltd. to develop a new propane dehydrogenation unit in cooperation with CB&I. The project includes the license and engineering design of the unit, which is to be built in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The main U.S. refining industry association said it sued to block the Trump administration’s effort to expand sales of higher ethanol blends of gasoline, arguing the move exceeded the administration’s authority, said Reuters.

The legal challenge from the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) association escalated a battle between the oil and corn industries over the nation’s biofuel policy, which requires refiners to blend biofuels like corn-based ethanol into their gasoline, often at great expense.

President Donald Trump had directed the Environmental Protection Agency to lift a summertime ban on the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol, called E15, in an effort to help farmers suffering from the U.S. trade war with China. The EPA unveiled its rule doing so on May 31.

The summertime E15 ban had been implemented during the Obama administration to reduce smog emissions, but Trump’s EPA said E15’s impact on air quality was similar to that of E10, which could already be sold year-round.

The tension over the policy move reflects how Trump has struggled to please both Big Oil and Big Agriculture, two critical constituencies in the Republican president’s 2020 re-election bid.

AFPM asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review the EPA’s rule, in papers filed on Monday, said Diana Cronan, a spokeswoman for the group.

AFPM has one month to provide the court with the outline of its case, she said.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan wants to make reducing the glut of plastic waste in the oceans a priority at the Group of 20 summit it is hosting this month as governments around the world crack down on such pollution, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Images of plastic debris-strewn beaches and dead animals with stomachs full of plastic have sparked outrage, with many countries, including more than two dozen in Africa, banning plastic bags outright.

The EU has voted to outlaw 10 single-use plastic items, including straws, forks and knives, by 2021. It has also set targets for all plastic packaging, the top source of plastic waste, to be recyclable by 2030.

Such moves are setting up a showdown with the oil industry, which is pouring billions into new facilities to produce more plastic and other petrochemical products, particularly in Asia.

Refiners such as India’s Reliance Industries and China’s Sinopec are seeking new revenue sources as electric cars become more popular and gasoline and diesel demand slows.

“If the world goes the direction of European targets, some markets can go from high growth to low growth or no growth. Profits could suffer,” said Jeff Brown, president of energy consultancy FGE in Singapore.

Tackling plastic pollution has been less of a priority in Asia, which is the world’s biggest producer of the material - and its waste.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, which is hosting the G20 summit, says he wants his country to lead the world in reducing marine plastic trash, including developing biodegradables and other innovations.

The June 28-29 meeting in Osaka, assembling 20 major economies, including China, Brazil, France and the United States, won’t yield an agreement on targets or concrete steps, two officials involved in preparations told Reuters, speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

A more likely outcome is for G20 environment ministers, gathering this weekend in the mountain town of Karuizawa, to propose ways to enact a vaguely worded “action plan” on marine plastic waste introduced at the 2017 summit in Germany.
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