Arkema completes acquisition of ArrMaz for undisclosed fee

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema reaches another milestone in its journey of growth in specialties with the planned acquisition of ArrMaz, said the company.

With USD290 million sales, 18% EBITDA margin and around 2.5% of capex to sales, ArrMaz is a US-based leader in specialty surfactants for crop nutrition, mining and infrastructure.

The acquisition of this profitable, resilient and low capital intensive business is fully in line with Arkema’s long-term ambition to achieve over 80% of sales in specialties by 2023. ArrMaz will be integrated in Performance Additives, one of the three strong pillars which will drive growth of the High Performance Materials division, along with Adhesives and Technical Polymers.

ArrMaz offers tailored and sustainable solutions for the specific and ever-changing needs of its customers in a variety of industrial markets. Thanks to its formulation expertise and well-established leadership positions, ArrMaz has forged long-term relationships with major industrial customers, leaders in their own fields, to support their development.

Leader in several attractive niche markets, ArrMaz’s growth is driven by sustainable trends such as limited natural resources, a growing world population, and development of new energy sources.

In the crop nutrition market, ArrMaz offers innovative additives that enhance the efficiency and quality of fertilizer production and distribution while promoting responsible farming.

In the mining market, it offers a wide range of additives to help optimize grade recovery and process performance in mining operations, thereby enabling the most environmentally sound practices.

Moreover, in the infrastructure market, ArrMaz supplies additives that help improve road longevity, quality and recyclability.

ArrMaz has built an extensive commercial presence in North America, South America, Asia and in the fast growing regions of the Middle East and Africa, where it recently opened state-of-the-art facilities. It employs 400 employees and operates 9 manufacturing sites around the world.

Combined with Arkema’s strong expertise in formulation and specialty surfactants, this acquisition will join two organizations that are highly complementary in terms of geography as well as commercial and technological capabilities. Arkema will thus be well positioned to accelerate its growth in legacy markets and to enter new segments (additives for nutrients, lithium extraction and oil & gas process aids), with an expectation of delivering above-GDP growth.

In March 2017, Arkema completed the sale to INEOS of its 50% stake in Oxochimie, their oxo alcohols manufacturing joint venture, and of the associated business.

Arkema is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) is teaming up with Alpla Packaging to build a recycling plant for plastic waste in Rayong with an initial budget of 1 billion baht, said Bangkokpost.

The recycling plant is at Rayong's Asia Industrial Estate. Construction has begun and is to be completed in the next 18 months.

President and chief executive Supattanapong Punmeechaow said PTTGC is negotiating investment details with Alpla and the agreement will be announced soon.

Alpla is an Austrian recycling company that runs a local unit for plastic packaging solutions in Prachin Buri.

"The recycling plant will process single-use plastic waste, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene (PE), which are materials used for plastic packaging for bottles, straws and bags," Mr Supattanapong said. The plant will have a production capacity of 50,000 tonnes a year in the first phase. Some 35,000 tonnes will be from recycling PET products and 15,000 tonnes from PE.

Mr Supattanapong said the plant will be the first recycling plant that meets European standards. He said PTTGC is positioning the recycling plant for waste management of plastic waste in food packaging and consumer products, following global trends and international policy geared towards reducing plastic to preserve the environment.

"We will export our recycled products overseas, to countries where recycled products for food, drink and consumer goods are allowed," Mr Supattanapong said. "In Thailand, regulations prevent the use of recycled packages for edible goods. The government should promote this use of recycled products in the near future."

He said Thailand has a great deal of single-use plastic waste in both landfills and offshore areas that are unmanaged and PTTGC wants to deal with the problem.

The company aims to reduce single-use plastic to zero in the next five years and focus on bioplastics to reproduce packaging products. Bernd Wachter, Alpla's managing director, said Thailand is a high-potential country for a new recycling plant because the population is large.

"Alpla expects to expand new cooperation with Thai companies and state authorities in the near future," Mr Wachter said. Alpla will support PTTGC's integrated plastic recycling plant, which will have the capability to produce quality recycled plastic resin.

The recycling plant is a part of the circular economy principle, which has become a priority for state authorities and companies aiming to preserve natural resources and the environment.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An explosion on an LPG tanker killed an Italian crew member and injured 15 others at the port of Aliaga in Turkey’s western Izmir province but work at the petrochemical plant has continued, reported Reuters with reference to its operator's statement.

The vessel was anchored at harbour at Petkim petrochemical plant operated by the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR.

Italian crew member Roberto Montegurdia died in the incident, Aliaga province’s sub-Governor Erhan Gunay told reporters. All injured personnel had been discharged from hospital, SOCAR later said.

"At Petkim Pier 5 around 23:20 (2020 GMT), a fire broke out due to an unspecified reason during the connection to the Italian flagged Synzania for the filling of liquid hydrocarbons," Petkim said in a statement.

"As a result of the immediate intervention of our teams, the fire was extinguished and cooling work on the ship is continuing," it added.

SOCAR said an investigation into the fire was ongoing. Operations at the Petkim plant and SOCAR’s STAR refinery were continuing, it said.

"Neither Petkim, nor STAR were closed for investigation. All facilities at Petkim continue operating as usually. The vessel on which the accident happened does not belong to SOCAR," SOCAR said in a statement.

As MRC informed before, in February 2019, Turkish subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR completed the integration of STAR refinery and Petkim petrochemical complex. The opening ceremony of the STAR oil refinery took place on October 19, 2018 in Izmir, Turkey. The total refining capacity of the refinery is 10 million tons, and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is the main supplier of crude for the refinery. The refinery will significantly reduce the dependence of Turkey on imports of petrochemical products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), has brought on-stream its polypropylene (PP) plant in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source, informed, that the company has recently resumed operations at the plant following a turnaround. The plant was shut for maintenance in mid-April, 2019.

Located in Mangalore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, the plant has a PP production capacity of 440,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in June 2015, MRPL successfully commenced commercial production of PP from its polypropylene plant as part of its phase-III refinery expansion and upgradation project in Mangaluru. The plant has a capacity to produce 4,40,000 tonnes of PP per annum. Feedstock for the PP plant - polymer grade propylene - is being produced from upstream petrochemical fluidised catalytic cracking unit of the refinery. Technology provider for the PP plant is Novolen of Germany. The plant has been engineered and constructed by Engineers India Ltd.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), is an oil refinery at Mangalore and is a subsidiary of ONGC, set up in 1993. The refinery is located at Katipalla, north from centre of Mangalore city. The refinery was established after displacing five villages of Bala, Kalavar, Kuthetoor, Katipalla, and Adyapadi.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) is in plans to undertake a planned shutdown at its low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the company is likely to start turnaround at the plant on July 7, 2019. The plant is expected to remain shut for around 3 weeks.

Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the LDPE plant has a production capacity of 345,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, PTT started commercial operations at its new 400,000 mt/year metallocene C6 linear low density polyethylene plant (MLLDPE) at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, in the first quarter of 2018.

Previously, PTT had a total capacity of 800,000 mt/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE), 345,000 mt/year of LDPE and 400,000 mt/year of LLDPE at the same site.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC