SKC plans to spin-off chem business

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SKC Co. has received board of directors' approval to vertically spin-off its chemical business and sell a 49% interest in the new separate entity to Petrochemical Industries Co. (PIC) of Kuwait, said Apic-online.

In addition, the parties have signed an agreement to form a propylene oxide (PO) joint venture. The new joint venture company, which SKC and PIC agreed will be valued at USD1.195-billion, will include a 45% stake in SKC Evonik Peroxide Korea.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

"SKC has a strategy to achieve an annual production target of 1-million tons of PO," PIC noted. "SKC believes this joint venture will facilitate the exploration of future opportunities and is an important step towards its strategy."

PIC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC), said the transaction will "enhance" its capacity in downstream derivatives and is an "important" step towards achieving KPC's 2040 petrochemical strategy.

As MRC informed earlier, SKC, a chemical manufacturing subsidiary of SK Group, has agreed with Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) of Kuwait to set up a 1.45 trillion won chemical joint venture.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iraq’s oil ministry said it was still in talks with U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil over a major deal to improve the country’s southern oil infrastructure, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

An agreement with Britain’s BP and Italy’s Eni was not part of the USD53 billion, 30-year mega-project. It covered the building of two seabed oil pipelines for exports through the Gulf, the ministry said.

Reuters on Thursday cited five senior Iraqi oil officials as saying that Iraq was close to reaching a deal with BP and Eni for an export pipeline project that was initially planned as part of the mega-deal with ExxonMobil.

“The ministry affirms that its negotiations with U.S. company ExxonMobil are ongoing,” the ministry said in a statement.

“...Not reaching an agreement or signing a deal between both parties does not mean the end of negotiations or the ‘exclusion’ of ExxonMobil from the project as reported by news agencies citing officials they did not name.”

The deal with Eni and BP was limited to the two seabed oil pipelines, it said. Large strategic projects required more time to research, negotiate, and study, it added.

The southern mega-deal involves several projects including developing oil fields, expanding storage, transport, and export infrastructure, and building byproduct gas treatment units.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Motiva Enterprises returned two crude distillation units (CDUs) back to normal operations at its 607,000 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the nation’s largest, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Motiva restarted the 80,000 bpd VPS-2 CDU on Sunday and restored production to full on the 195,000 bpd VPS-4 CDU on Saturday after clearing water from the fuel gas lines supplying the units, the sources said.

In an unsigned statement, Motiva declined comment.

As MRC informed earlier, Motiva Enterprises plans to shut the big crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the nation’s largest, by Sept. 5 for a 60-day overhaul.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- W. R. Grace & Co. has licensed its Unipol PP (polypropylene) process technology to Datong Coal Mine Group Co. for a new PP plant in Datong, China, as per Apic-online.

The 430,000-t/y PP unit, which will also utilize Grace's Consista catalysts, is scheduled to be completed in 2022. Cost of the project was not given.

"We are excited to partner with Grace and invest in the Unipol PP process technology," noted Kuanqiang Jia, chairman of Olefin Branch Co. "This technology enables us to efficiently produce a broad range of products for our customers and keep up with increasing demands for non-phthalate resins in the region."

The Unipol process technology, along with the Consista catalysts, will permit Datong Coal to produce more than 200 resin grades.

As MRC informed earlier, W. R. Grace & Co. completed the USD416 million acquisition of the Polyolefin Catalysts business of Albemarle Corporation.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Angarsk Polymers Plant has resumed its low density polyethylene (LDPE) production after scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

According to the enterprise’s customers, Angarsk ZP completely resumed LDPE production on 12 August after a lengthy scheduled maintenance works, and began the first polymer shipments. The scheduled shutdown started on 22 June and was initially planned to last for one month. The plant's annual production capacity is about 75,000 tonnes.

It is also worth noting that next shutdowns for maintenance at Russian plants are scheduled for September.
Tomskneftekhim and Kazanorgsintez will stop their capacities.

Angarsk Polymer Plant (controlled by Rosneft through OOO Neft-Aktiv) is the only petrochemical full-cycle plant in Eastern Siberia. The bulk of the produced ethylene is used by the plant for the production of LDPE, styrene monomer (SM) and polystyrene (PS). Straight-run gasoline and hydrocarbon gases, mainly produced by OAO Angarskaya NHK, are the feedstocks for the plant.

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