LyondellBasell prices public offering of guaranteed notes

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries N.V. has announced that LYB International Finance II B.V., its wholly-owned subsidiary, priced a public offering of EUR500 million aggregate principal amount of 0.875% Guaranteed Notes due 2026 and EUR500 million aggregate principal amount of 1.625% Guaranteed Notes due 2031, as per the company's press release.

The Notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by LyondellBasell. The Offering is expected to close on September 17, 2019, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The net proceeds of the Offering are expected to be used to repay the USD1,000 million of indebtedness outstanding under LyondellBasell's USD4,000 million three-year term loan facility and a portion of LyondellBasell's outstanding short-term debt, including commercial paper.

Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch are acting as the joint book-running managers for the Offering.

The Offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement that was previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As MRC informed before, in February 2019, LyondellBasell, the world’s largest licensor of polyolefin technologies, announced HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL) selected LyondellBasell’s fifth-generation Spheripol polypropylene (PP) process technology for a 500 KT per year plant in Bathinda, India.

Besides, in April 2019, LyondellBasell announced that PetroChina will use the LyondellBasell Hostalen "Advanced Cascade Process" (Hostalen ACP) technology to produce 1,100,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) capacity. Licensor selection has been done by China HuanQiu Contracting & Engineering Co., Ltd. (HQC), a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroChina. The low-pressure slurry process technology will be used for a 300,000-m.t./yr HDPE unit to be built in Korla City, Xinjiang Province, a 400,000-m.t./yr plant in Jieyang City, Guangdong Province and a 400,000-m.t./yr plant in Yulin City, Shaanxi Province in the P.R. China.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik has expanded its production capacity for the high-purity C13 alcohol isotridecanol (ITDA) at the Marl Chemical Park, said the company.

This will enable the specialty chemicals group to continue to build on its position as one of the world's most important manufacturers of this product, and to grow with its customers. Due to the outstanding technical properties and high effectiveness of ITDA, global demand has been growing for years.
The high-purity C13 alcohol is an important intermediate product in the production of surface-active substances (so-called surfactants). They are used, for example, in high-quality industrial applications such as cleaning and lubricants. Another application of ITDA is in the form of special esters, found in high-quality paints and lacquer resins.
"ITDA is a real petrochemical specialty. With this quality, which contains almost 100 percent C13 alcohols, we offer our customers a particularly high-quality product," says Hinnerk G. Becker, Market Segment Manager for Specialties at Evonik Performance Intermediates. "In line with our motto 'Chemistry4People®', we offer ITDA, as with all petrochemical specialties, a reliable partnership of equals for both existing and new customers, enhanced by modern digital business and cooperation opportunities".
The optimization of the production-Verbund from the raw material side to the customer's value chain: this is one of Evonik's special areas of expertise. And this is also the basis for this expansion. As a result, Evonik is now in a better position to meet the increased demand for this specific product and to support its customers' growth strategies - not just selectively, but consistently and reliably.

This is also ensured by the sustainable and complete integration of the corresponding raw material flows into the C4 Verbund at the Marl and Antwerp sites. In the spirit of the motto "Chemistry4People®: we create the future of C4Chemistry together with our customers", Evonik is responding, in good time, to changing market conditions and increased customer requirements.

Evonik is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. The focus on more specialty businesses, customer-oriented innovative prowess and a trustful and performance-oriented corporate culture form the heart of Evonik’s corporate strategy. They are the lever for profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company. Evonik benefits specifically from its customer proximity and leading market positions. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2018, the enterprise with more than 32,000 employees generated sales of €13.3 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of €2.15 billion from continuing operations.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals, is likely to shut its naphtha cracker, for a maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan, informed that, the company has planned to take its cracker off-stream, in July 2020, for a period of around a month. The exact date of the shutdown, could not be ascertained.

Located in Osaka, Japan, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 450,000 mt/year and a propylene capacity of 280,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, the company last conducted a turnaround at this cracker from mid-June, 2018, to 11-22 August, 2018.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), a leading company in the coordination of planning, purchasing and supply of water and electricity across the UAE, has signed a water purchase agreement, with ACWA Power, a leading Saudi-based developer, investor and operator of power generation and desalinated water plants, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The deal will enable the development of over 900,000 cubic meters per day desalination facility in Taweelah – sufficient to meet the demand of water for over 350,000 households. Approximately 45 KM north of Abu Dhabi city, the project will use reverse osmosis technology to desalinate seawater and will be one of the largest, most cost and energy efficient plants in the world.

The new Taweelah reverse osmosis desalination plant sets new benchmarks for its size, efficiency and cost of water produced. Supplying 909,200m3/day, it will be 44% larger than the world’s current largest reverse osmosis plant of 624,000m3/day. A major driver for the adoption of reverse osmosis instead of thermal desalination is the higher energy efficiency it offers. This plant redefines efficiency benchmarks with record low energy consumption of less than 3kWh per cubic meter. The contribution from around 50 MW of onsite solar generation will further boost the plants green credentials.

Once completed, the Taweelah plant will contribute to the UAE’s vision in reducing the carbon dioxide emissions, significantly reducing gas consumption by decoupling power and water production for the winter and summer seasons.

Othman Al Ali, CEO of EWEC, said: "We are delighted to launch this new initiative, which will help meet future water demand for the UAE. The choice of Reverse Osmosis sea water desalination technology will play a critical part in significantly reducing water production costs, contributing to our goals to build a more sustainable and efficient water and energy sector in the UAE. The project will also help save material fuel costs across the sector, given the flexibility that the technology provides."

The plant will be developed on a build, own and operate basis with the engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the water plant undertaken by a joint venture of ABENGOA and PowerChina. ACWA Power owns a 40 percent stake in the project company formed “Independent Water Producers” to be responsible for the RO Plant. The remaining 60 percent stake is owned by Mubadala Investments Company and Abu Dhabi Power Corporation. Once the project is complete, EWEC will be the off-taker for the water output produced by the project over a 30-year period. The plant is scheduled to commence full commercial operations in Q4 2022.

Paddy Padmanathan, President and CEO of ACWA Power said: “Our decision to bid for the Taweelah RO plant project demonstrates our confidence in EWEC as a reliable partner and confirms our commitment to contribute to the development of the United Arab Emirates by increasing our participation in the power generation and water desalination sectors. Through the Taweelah RO plant project and the enabling environment provided by Abu Dhabi, we are proud to be setting new global bench marks in both the cost of desalinated water and the energy consumed in producing that water."
MRC