INEOS Oxide announces Chocolate Bayou as the location for its new EO investment in the USA.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Oxide confirms its new 1.2 billion lb (circa 520 kt) Ethylene Oxide (EO) unit and associated downstream Ethylene Oxide Derivatives (EOD) is to be built at INEOS’ Chocolate Bayou manufacturing works south of Houston on the Gulf of Mexico coast, said the company.

Chocolate Bayou is currently host to two Olefins crackers, two Polypropylene units and two Cogen facilities operated by INEOS O&P USA. A new Linear Alpha Olefins unit and associated downstream Poly Alpha Olefins unit are also currently under construction at the site by INEOS Oligomers.

The selection of Chocolate Bayou to host the new EO & EOD facility will reinforce on-site integration to the benefit of both the crackers and the derivative assets. The availability of additional land close to the unit will also enable interested third-parties to co-locate and consume EO by pipeline.

As MRC informed earlier, Ineos Oxide announced that following a detailed study it is moving forward with the next stage of its project to construct an Ethylene Oxide (EO) and Ethylene Oxide Derivatives (EOD) facility on the U.S. Gulf Coast. It is planned that the asset will be operational in 2022.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Investment banks are scrambling to re-pitch to advise Saudi Aramco on a possible initial public offering, sources familiar with the matter said, with Saudi Arabia’s energy minister confirming plans for the listing to proceed in 2020 or 2021, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

“Bankers previously involved in the IPO are pushing for meetings with Aramco,” one of the sources said. “There is some shifting in terms of what roles the banks might have if IPO talks go ahead.” JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and HSBC were picked to play a leading role in the world’s biggest ever IPO when the plan was first announced in 2016. Boutique investment banks Moelis & Co and Evercore were also hired by Aramco as independent advisers. But plans for a domestic and international listing were later postponed.

The Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih, who also chairs Aramco, said on Tuesday the company was ready to start working on the long-awaited listing, adding it could happen in 2020-2021. “The IPO process was never fully suspended,” al-Falih said.

“We have always been clear that the IPO will happen in the 2020-2021 timeframe. We have never stopped talking about the IPO.” Al-Falih pointed to Aramco’s USD69.1 billion acquisition of a 70 percent stake in petrochemicals firm Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) along with a recent USD12 billion bonds sale as the main reason for the IPO delay.

“Now that all of these issues have been cleared, we are ready to start planning for the IPO,” he said. Al-Falih confirmed the same timeline that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MbS, provided on June 16 when he said the government remained fully committed to the IPO project, expecting it to take place between 2020 and early 2021.

MbS’s comments triggered a series of approaches by international investment banks who wanted to be in the driving seat, one of the sources said. The IPO is a centerpiece of the crown prince’s plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil.

“It is a catch 22 situation,” another source said. “After the statement by the Crown Prince, banks have been rushing to Aramco to pitch." As part of their client coverage, investment banks frequently discuss listing options with Aramco, but no formal IPO process is underway, a third source said.

Bloomberg earlier reported on Tuesday that Saudi Aramco recently held talks with a group of investment banks to discuss roles in its potential initial public offering, citing people familiar with the matter.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gasoline exports from Europe to the U.S. East Coast rose sharply in early July after a fire at a major refinery in Philadelphia left a supply shortage in the densely populated region, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions’ (PES) 335,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) oil refining complex, the largest and oldest on the U.S. East Coast, is set to permanently shut down after it was hit by a devastating fire on June 21.

Benchmark U.S. gasoline refining margins gained over 16% since the fire at the plant which supplies around 55,000 bpd of gasoline to the region, according to consultancy Energy Aspects.

As a result, the economics for shipping gasoline from Europe to the U.S. East Coast improved significantly in recent days, traders said. A sharp rise in tanker freight rates is, however, weighing on the arbitrage, the traders said.

Around 18 tankers carrying a gasoline cargo of 37,000 tonnes, totaling 666,000 tonnes, or 5.62 million barrels, have been booked out of Europe on the transatlantic route in the first 10 days of July, according to shipping data obtained by Reuters.

Refinitiv Eikon data shows that Europe sent 1.3 million tonnes of gasoline to the U.S. East Coast, also known as PADD 1, throughout the entire month of June, and 1.4 million tonnes in May.

Europe has traditionally supplied large volumes of gasoline to the U.S. East Coast, but the flow on the transatlantic route decreased in recent years as U.S. domestic production rose.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ascend Performance Materials announced growth plans - including new specialty polymers initiatives, capacity expansions and global developments - at a pre-K 2019 press conference in late June in Antwerp, Belgium, as per the company's press release.

Representatives of Ascend, the largest fully integrated producer of polyamide 66 resin, also touted sustainability efforts.

Among the company’s new products are high-heat and long-chain polyamides, an inherently antimicrobial polymer for fiber production, expanded recycled-content offerings and additional flame-retardant grades of its Vydyne PA66.

Scott Rook, senior vice president of Ascend’s commercial divisions, also discussed expansion plans.

"We have always been focused on meeting our customers’ needs," Rook said. "Our adiponitrile expansions will keep pace with increasing demand for PA66 and support our growing specialty polymers and chemicals businesses. We are developing new products to help our customers meet new challenges." Ascend recently announced progress on a 90kt ADN expansion plan at its facility in Decatur, Alabama.

The company continues to expand globally, adding technical capabilities in Europe and Asia to develop solutions with customers in the regions. Ascend began operating its first production facility outside the US after purchasing a compounder in Tilburg, Netherlands, last year.

"We continue to invest in local resources to be closer to our customers. We have reorganized our regional teams and expanded our supply chain to address the increasing global demand," Rook said.

Ascend is also intent on reducing its environmental footprint. The company’s 2018 sustainability report highlighted energy and emissions reductions, and Rook reiterated the company’s commitment to sustainability.

"We are in advanced discussions to implement co-generation units at our Decatur plant, and we’ve expanded our recycled-content product portfolio. We have an obligation to our employees, their families, our neighbors and our customers to use resources responsibly and add value where we can," Rook said.

As MRC wrote previously, in May 2016, Ascend Performance Materials said it had put plans to build a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant on hold because of market conditions. The two-train project at Chocolate Bayou, TX, with a combined capacity of more than 1 million m.t./year of propylene, was expected to become the largest such facility in the United States and cost an estimated USD1.2 billion. It has already been delayed once from the original onstream date of 2016 to mid-2019. Ascend is expected to use the UOP Oleflex PDH technology.

Ascend Performance Materials is a global leader in the production of Nylon 6,6.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has announced a further consolidation of its global acetate manufacturing operations by initiating the shutdown of its manufacturing facility in Ocotlan, Jalisco, Mexico, as per the company's press release.

The consolidation is designed to strengthen the company's competitive position, reduce fixed costs and align future production capacities with anticipated industry demand.

Previously in June of 2018, Celanese announced it would discontinue the production of acetate tow at the Ocotlan facility. Today, Celanese is announcing that it will also discontinue the production of acetate flake at the Ocotlan site, essentially ceasing all manufacturing operations at the facility by October 31, 2019.

Marcel van Amerongen, Vice President of Celanese's Acetate Tow business, stated: "With China manufacturers completing plans for expanding acetate flake capacity in 2020, demands for imported flake will be reduced significantly. This, in combination with our ability to source additional volumes from our Narrows, Virginia facility, supports our decision to completely shut down our Ocotlan facility. This decision allows Celanese to further optimize cost and footprint as part of the long-term strategy for our acetate business to maintain its competitive position in the marketplace."

The company will continue to serve its global acetate tow customers via its wholly owned facilities in Lanaken, Belgium, and Narrows, Virginia, USA, as well as through the company's acetate tow joint venture partners in China.

Celanese has taken steps to strengthen its competitive position in the acetate tow market by lowering raw materials cost, reducing fixed costs and aligning with anticipated industry demand trends, such as optimizing production across all acetate tow manufacturing locations, as well as having made significant capital investments in the company's manufacturing operations.

Van Amerongen concluded: "This was an extremely difficult decision given the impact to our employees and the local community, and we are dedicated to making this transition as smooth as possible. All impacted employees will be eligible for a comprehensive package of benefits which includes outplacement assistance, generous severance pay and other benefits intended to help individuals and families make a successful transition to the next phase of life. Today's action is not a reflection of the quality of work performed by our employees at the Ocotlan site or the ongoing work performed by our employees in other acetate production sites, but instead the result of the critical evaluation of all strategic options to ensure the continued success of our acetate tow business."

Financial details regarding this action will be disclosed in upcoming periodic reports as required by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

As MRC informed before, Celanese Corporatio has increase May list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) sold in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Outside China (AOC). The price increases below were effective for orders shipped on or after 24 April, 2019, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced increases. Thus, VAM prices rose, as follows:

- by EUR100/mt - for Europe, the Middle East & Africa;
- 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 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2017 net sales of USD6.1 billion.
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