Solvay Ventures finalises agreement to sell MultiMechanics to Siemens

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay Ventures, the Venture Capital fund of Solvay, announces the acquisition of its portfolio company, MultiMechanics, by Siemens, said the company.

The integration of MultiMechanics virtual testing software, TRUE MultiscaleTM technology, into Siemens’ Simcenter 3D is a new step for the automotive and aerospace industry to adopt advanced materials for a cleaner mobility.

Solvay is a world leader in metal replacement materials. Solvay Ventures led the investment in MultiMechanics in 2017, to support co-founders Flavio Souza and Leandro Castro in their business development, taking an active role as an investor, and as a strategic partner. “The strategic partnership with Solvay was key to the success of the company. Working hand-in-hand with its Composite Materials division for many years enabled MultiMechanics to improve materials, tailor them to market needs and bring them to the Solvay network,” said Flavio Souza, CTO of MultiMechanics.

The multi-year partnership with MultiMechanics enables to accelerate the development of Solvay’s pipeline of high performance polymer and composite materials for the aerospace and automotive industry while decreasing development costs drastically. “The accuracy and speed afforded by MultiMechanics modeling and simulation software, and its efficient integration with commonly used commercial finite element software packages is changing the way we develop new materials and interact with our customers,” said Mike Blair, Executive Vice President Research and Innovation, Composite Materials GBU at Solvay.

The integration with Siemens brings another level of capability, unlocking the potential of the technology and its applicability. “Leveraging Solvay to create value for our portfolio companies is at the core of our investment strategy. While investing in the next materials frontier, we hope to generate synergies that will benefit all stakeholders: entrepreneurs, investors and the ecosystem,” said Coppelia Marincovic and Matt Jones, with the Solvay Ventures team.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- US crude oil production in September rose to a new record of 12.46 million barrels per day (bpd) from 12.397 million bpd in August, reported Reuters with reference to the US government's statement in a monthly report.

The United States has become the world’s largest oil producer as technological advances have increased production from shale formations.

Oil output in Texas rose 72,000 bpd in September, while production in North Dakota and the Gulf of Mexico fell during the month. Production also climbed in Oklahoma and Alaska.

US gasoline demand fell 652,000 bpd in the month to 9.2 million bpd. US demand for distillate fuels, including diesel, fell 87,000 bpd to 3.9 million bpd, according to the report.

Meanwhile, monthly gross natural gas production in the lower 48 U.S. states rose to an all-time high of 104.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in September from the prior record of 104.2 bcfd in August, according to the EIA’s 914 report.

In Texas, the biggest gas producing state, output increased 1% to a fresh record high of 29 bcfd in September.

In Pennsylvania, the second-biggest gas-producing state, output rose 0.1% to a record 19.24 bcfd in September from the prior all-time high of 19.22 bcfd in August.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Global oil refiners have upgraded processing units and adjusted operations to raise output of low-sulfur residual fuels and marine gasoil (MGO) to prepare for stricter shipping fuel standards that kick in on Jan. 1, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules prohibit ships from using fuels containing more than 0.5% sulfur, compared with 3.5% through the end of December, unless they are equipped with exhaust-cleaning “scrubbers”. The shipping industry consumes about 4 million barrels per day (bpd) of marine bunker fuels, and the rule changes will impact more than 50,000 merchant ships globally, opening a significant new market for fuel producers.

The world’s largest refiner, Sinopec Corp has started very low-sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) output at 10 refineries in China. The company plans total VLSFO capacity of 10 million tonnes a year (about 180,000 bpd) by 2020 and build a fleet of 100 barges over the next three years to supply cleaner fuels to ships.

PetroChina (0857.HK) has targeted 4 million tonnes of VLSFO in 2020, while Total (TOTF.PA) plans to supply marine fuel in a joint venture with China’s Zhejiang Energy.

China Marine Bunker, known as Chimbusco, secured at least 4 million tonnes of VLSFO for the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first two quarters of 2020, and has started to supply all major Chinese ports from bonded storage.

At SK Energy’s largest refinery in South Korea, engineers are rushing to complete a new processing unit ahead of schedule. The unit of SK Innovation started supplying MGO from October and is building a vacuum residue desulphurization (VRDS) unit that can produce 40,000 bpd of low sulfur fuel oil due online in March or April.

Japan’s second-biggest refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co is increasing capacity for LSFO, but is also relying on blending to produce IMO2020 compliant bunker fuel. In Japan, Fuji Oil Co Ltd (5017.T), Cosmo Energy Holdings Co Ltd (5021.T) and Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd (5019.T) began shipping IMO-compliant fuels in October.

As MRC wrote earlier, in mid-September 2019, SIBUR Holding (SIBUR) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) signed a framework cooperation agreement to produce SEBS (styrene, ethylene and butylene-based block copolymers). SEBS is a pelletised modifier for thermoplastics used to impart elasticity to plastic materials or as a primary polymer to produce elastic components. SEBS boasts excellent durability and is leveraged across a variety of industries such as plastics and bitumen modification, adhesives, modification compounds, and toys. Under the agreement, SIBUR and Sinopec will establish a 50/50 joint venture (JV) in Russia to produce at least 20 ktpa of SEBS.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Residents of four Texas communities menaced by a petrochemical fire began returning to their homes on Friday after authorities declared the blaze contained, said an official for Jefferson County, and as federal and state investigators began scouring for clues to its origin, reported Reuters.

The blaze at the TPC Group petrochemical plant in Port Neches, Texas, was contained by firefighters and the threat of further explosions greatly reduced, said country official Allison Getz.

It began with a fiery blast early on Wednesday morning that injured three workers, blew locked doors off their hinges and was felt in communities far from the site. The plant makes chemicals used in production of synthetic rubber, resins and an octane-boosting component of gasoline.

Pollution regulators US Environmental Protection Agency and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are conducting a joint investigation, a commission spokesman said. US Chemical Safety Board, a federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents, also is probing the blast.

Twenty federal and state agencies were in Port Neches to deal with the fire and explosion, Getz said. Some are trying to determine the cause and others were assisting with emergency response.

The county’s top executive, Judge Jeff Branick, lifted an evacuation order requiring as many as 60,000 people to leave their homes in all or parts of four south east Texas communities after meeting with fire chiefs and local mayors on Friday morning.

"What we were waiting was for the fire to be contained," Getz said in a telephone interview. "Once we got word that the fire was contained the county judge felt it was safe to lift the order."

Branick ordered a mandatory evacuation after a secondary explosion Wednesday afternoon lifted a chemical distillation tower hundreds of feet into the air. Officials worried if nearby storage tanks containing volatile butane and butadiene caught fire, they could lead to larger explosions endangering residents.

Law firm Provost, Umphrey separately said it had sued TPC claiming the blast damaged residents’ properties and disrupted area businesses.

A TPC spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment about the lawsuit.

Located adjacent to the Sabine Neches River, which is part of the Sabine Neches Waterway, TPC's Port Neches plant can produce more than 900 million lb (426,000 mt) of butadiene and raffinate a year, according to the company's website. The source familiar with company operations said the site has two butadiene lines with capacities of 166,000 mt/year and 260,000 mt/year. The MTBE unit at this site produces up to 400,000 mt/year.

Butadiene is one of the feedstocks for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Asia, the falling prices of feedstocks for ABS production have been pushing prices of material down in the Russian market. LG Chem's import prices for November quantities were as follows for Russian buyers: natural ABS - at USD1,400-1,420/tonne FOB Korea, black ABS - at USD1,610-1,630/tonne FOB Korea, white ABS - at USD1,640-1,660/tonne FOB Korea. December prices may drop by another USD30-50/tonn.
Natural grades of Korean ABS went down to Rb138,000-143,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in the domestic market in mid-November, whereas black ABS was offered at Rb156,000-160,000/tonne and white ABS - at Rb158,000-163,000/tonne CPT Moscow , including VAT.

Headquartered in Houston, TPC was acquired in 2012 by private equity groups First Reserve and SK Capital.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company has recently announced its plan to invest in an alkoxylation facility on the US Gulf Coast, according to Kemicalinfo.

Upon completion, this new facility will support global growth in Dow’s core end-markets related to infrastructure and home and personal care, as well as additional end-markets where Dow continues to strengthen its position for the TRITON, TERGITOL, ECOSURF and CARBOWAX SENTRY brands, the company stated in a press release.

"We continue to see strong demand, well ahead of global GDP, across multiple consumers, industrial and manufacturing sectors," said Ester Baiget, Business President for Dow Industrial Solutions. "These investments will build on Dow’s recent US Gulf Coast investments; they will expand production capacity and enable Dow to meet customer and value chain needs for alkoxylate products."

The new alkoxylation facility is expected to come online by the end of 2021. This expansion is in addition to various incremental debottlenecking projects being conducted across Dow’s global alkoxylation production units. These projects will support growing customer demand across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

As MRC reported before, Dow Chemical's propylene dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Freeport, Texas, was offline in October - November, 2019, for a turnaround, said US olefin market participants. Sources said the PDH unit went offline for scheduled maintenance September 26, and the work was expected to last 45-60 days. Originally, sources expected the turnaround to begin in early September, but then learned it had been delayed.

Propylene is a feedstock for the production of polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PP production rose to about 1,163,200 tonnes in the first ten months of 2018, up by 1.3% year on year. Three producers out of seven reduced the capacity utilisation.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
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