Chevron Phillips Chemical in bid to acquire Nova Chemicals

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, a joint venture between Chevron Corp and Phillips 66, has offered to acquire Nova Chemicals Corp for more than USD15 billion including debt, said Reuters.

Chevron Phillips Chemical, one of the world’s top petrochemical producers, would gain scale and expand its footprint through the acquisition of Nova Chemicals, whose expandable polystyrene and resins are used in a range of industries, from construction to packaging.

Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co, the owner of Nova Chemicals, has been exploring a sale of the Canadian plastics maker since the start of the year, and there is no certainty that it will accept the offer from ?Chevron Phillips Chemical, the sources said.

Another bidder for Nova Chemicals may yet emerge, some of the sources added. Mubadala could also decide to keep a stake in Nova Chemicals in a deal, one of the sources added.

The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. Nova Chemicals, Mubadala, Chevron and Phillips 66 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Headquartered in Calgary, Nova Chemicals was founded in 1954. Over the years, it has diversified its business beyond foam packaging and insulation to foam beverage cups and containers.

Nova Chemicals reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of USD271 million in the first three months of 2019, down from USD418 million a year earlier, according to its website.

Abu Dhabi acquired Nova Chemicals for USD500 million in 2009 using its stated-owned International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), saving it from a financing restructuring due to its large debt. Since then, the company’s business has grown rapidly, taking advantage of the shale-driven natural resources boom in North America.
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Indonesian Pertamina and Saudi Aramco extend refinery talks

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indonesian state energy company PT Pertamina said it was extending negotiations with Saudi Aramco on the potential joint development of an oil refinery in the country by another three months, reported Reuters.

That comes after talks were previously extended by six months from last December, with Pertamina on Tuesday reiterating that the two sides had been unable to agree a "valuation" for the refinery, without giving further details.

Pertamina and Aramco in 2016 agreed to negotiate to form a joint venture to build and operate the Cilacap refinery in the province of Central Java.

Pertamina spokeswoman Fajriyah Usman said in a statement on Tuesday that the two companies would extend talks by three months and that they had agreed to hire a financial adviser to help finalise a deal.

The Cilacap refinery is one of six major projects that are part of a push to double Pertamina’s refining capacity to 2 million barrels per day (bpd).

Pertamina officials said in April that if talk with Aramco failed, the Indonesian company would launch the project without a partner to meet an operational target of 2025.

Pertamina is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin (established 1961) and Permina (established 1957). Pertamina is the world's largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

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.
MRC

PE imports to Ukraine up by 11% in Jan-May 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of polyethylene (PE) to the Ukrainian market grew in the first five months of 2019 by 11% year on year to 111,300 tonnes. The high density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main increase in imports, according to MRC's DataScope report.

Last month's PE imports to Ukraine dropped to 21,100 tonnes from 25,100 tonnes in April, shipments of all ethylene polymers decreased. Overall PE imports reached 111,300 tonnes in January-May 2019, compared to 100,300 tonnes a year earlier. HDPE imports increased, whereas imports of other grades of ethylene polymers virtually remained at the 2018 level.

The structure of PE imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.


Last month's HDPE imports fell to 8,700 tonnes from 9,600 tonnes in April, with pipe grade PE accounting for the reduction in shipments. Overall HDPE imports reached 42,000 tonnes in the first five months of 2019, compared to 31,100 tonnes a year earlier.

May imports of low density polyethylene (LDPE) were 5,100 tonnes versus 6,900 tonnes a month earlier. Overall LDPE imports reached 31,600 tonnes over the stated period, which virtually corresponded to the 2018 figure.

Last month's imports of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) were 6,500 tonnes, compared to 7,500 tonnes in April. Overall LLDPE imports rose to 32,000 tonnes in January-May 2019 from 32,000 tonnes a year earlier.

Imports of other PE grades, including ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA), totalled 5,200 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 5,700 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

Chemicals output in Russia grew by 2.8% in Jan-May 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of chemical products rose in April 2019 only by 1% year on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased by 2.8% in the first five months of 2019, according to Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, ethylene accounted for the largest increase in production year on year.

262,000 tonnes of ethylene were produced last month, compared to 263,000 tonnes in April. Thus, 1,318,000 tonnes of this olefin were produced in January-May 2019, up by 4.1% year on year.

May production of benzene was 128,000 tonnes, compared to 121,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 618,000 tonnes in the first five months of 2019, up by 0.9% year on year.

May production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) was 107,000 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) versus 103,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of caustic soda totalled 535,000 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 514,800 tonnes a year earlier.

2,098,000 tonnes of mineral fertilizers (in terms of 100% nutrients) were produced in May versus 2,249,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall, Russian plants produced 10,404,000 tonnes of fertilizers in January-May 2019, up by 1.6% year on year.

Last month's production of polymers in primary form decreased to 713,000 tonnes, up 1.1% from April. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 3,497,000,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by only 0.8% year on year.
MRC

BASF develops climate-friendly methanol production process

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has developed a climate-friendly process for methanol production, which if implemented could eliminate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the entire process – from syngas production to pure methanol, as per the company's press release.

Production of the most basic chemicals is responsible for about 70% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the chemical industries. BASF is developing new technologies to reduce GHG emissions from these processes under its Carbon Management Program.

A team at BASF has now applied to patent an emissions-free methanol production process, marking one of the Carbon Management Program’s first visible successes.

Methanol production begins with syngas, which in a typical plant is produced using steam reformation of natural gas. In this process, steam reacts with methane to produce syngas, which is then pressurised and converted into crude methanol using specialised catalysts. The crude methanol is then purified by distillation.

In BASF’s novel process, syngas is generated by partial oxidation of natural gas, which does not result in CO2 emissions. BASF declined requests for more information regarding the process. It was proven advantageous in a joint study conducted with Linde Engineering. Subsequent methanol synthesis and distillation can be carried out nearly unchanged.

The waste gas streams that arise during methanol synthesis and distillation consist of methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and hydrogen (H2) which can be merged and processed. In BASF’s Oxyfuel process the steams are incinerated with pure oxygen resulting in a small volume of flue gas with maximum CO2 content. The flue gas is then scrubbed using BASF’s OASE gas treatment process for full CO2 recovery.

The recovered CO2 is fed back into the beginning of the process – syngas production. This requires additional H2 which BASF also aims to produce without any carbon dioxide emissions, for example by methane pyrolysis which is also being developed under the Carbon Management Program.

The novel methanol synthesis process is being tested in a pilot plant at BASF’s subsidiary hte (the high throughput experimentation company), in an ongoing project which began in August 2017, according to Maximilian Vicari, Project Manager at BASF’s Intermediates. He added that BASF expects industrial scale production in about ten years.
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