LANXESS acquires Brazilian biocide manufacturer

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LANXESS has acquired Brazilian biocide manufacturer Itibanyl Produtos Especiais Ltda (IPEL) to further expand its global biocide production network, said the company.

Both companies signed an agreement to this effect on Thursday November 28, 2019. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction is still subject to the approval of the responsible antitrust authorities and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

IPEL, with about 100 employees, had sales in the lower double-digit million euro range in 2018. Financial details were not disclosed.

IPEL is focused on biocides and specialty chemicals for the paint and coating industry. Biocides protect materials from infestation, destruction and decay caused by microorganisms. With the acquisition, LANXESS’ material protection products business is reinforcing its global presence and will be in a position to serve its South American customers from a local production facility, the company said. The business was previously represented with production facilities in Europe, the US and Asia.

As MRC informed earlier, LANXESS envisages an extensive range of potential applications for blow-molded components made from technical plastics in automobiles.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 7.2 billion in 2018. The company currently has about 15,500 employees in 33 countries and is represented at 60 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. LANXESS is listed in the leading sustainability indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World and Europe) and FTSE4Good.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire broke out on Wednesday at an oil refinery operated by oil producer Gazprom Neft in the Russian region of Omsk, the RIA news agency cited emergency services as saying, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

According to RIA Novosti, which cite sources in emergency services, the fire occurred in a butylene tank. Its area was 150 square meters. The fire was assigned the third difficulty level.

"A minor fire in the tank capacity removed for repair was liquidated at 16:49 (Omsk time)," the press service said. There are no injuries. The company continues to operate normally, the incident did not affect the production program of the plant.

The atmosphere of the atmosphere is monitored by a mobile laboratory at the Omsk Oil Refinery.

As MRC informed earlier, Gazprom Neft and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have entered into a Framework Agreement on Strategic Cooperation. The companies will explore opportunities for implementing joint projects in the upstream and downstream sectors, as well as in information technologies, artificial intelligence, and other areas.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (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) -- Shell Singapore is due to restart its naphtha cracker in Bukom Island this week following a two months maintenance shutdown since the beginning of October 2019, reported CommoPlast.

Thus, this cracker was taken off-stream for the turnaround on 1 October 2019.

The cracker is able to produce 960,000 tons/year of ethylene and 550,000 tons/year of propylene.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2019, Mammoet safely completed a critical lift at Shell’s Pennsylvania Chemicals Project in Potter Township, utilizing its MSG80 to hoist a 2,000 ton quench tower into position. The facility is the first major US project of its kind to be built outside of the Gulf Coast region in 20 years. Once operational, the facility will boast an ethane cracker and three polyethylene units, and is expected to employ up to 600 employees.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian energy group Cosan Ltd said its subsidiary Raizen is taking part in the bidding round organized by state-run oil company Petrobras for the sale of refineries in the country, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Cosan’s chief financial officer Marcelo Martins told analysts and investors that Raizen is still evaluating the possibility of buying a refinery from Petrobras and said that the return required would be quite high for the risk.

As MRC informed earlier, Shell and Cosan have reached an agreement to strengthen the Raizen JV in Brazil, through a change in its contractual structure. The partners have agreed to remove the mutual time-bound buyout options included in the original JV, signed in June 2011, and in doing so have transformed Raizen from a temporary to a permanent JV.

As MRC wrote before, in mid-October 2019, Royal Dutch Shell Plc restarted the hydrocracker at its 225,300 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery. The 40,000 bpd hydrocracker was shut on Sept. 9 for a planned month-long overhaul. A longer than expected restart of the unit stretched the outage to six weeks, the sources said.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (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) -- AkzoNobel has repurchased 312,000 of its own ordinary shares in the period from November 25, 2019 up to and including November 29, 2019, at an average price of EUR87.39 per share, said the company.

The consideration of the repurchase was EUR27.27 million.

This is part of a repurchase program announced on February 13, 2019. The total number of shares repurchased under this program to date is 29,954,819 ordinary shares for a total consideration of EUR2,378.57 million.

AkzoNobel intends to repurchase common shares up to a value of EUR2.5 billion as part of a total €6.5 billion being distributed to shareholders following the sale of the Specialty Chemicals business. The share buyback is due to be completed by the end of 2019.

In accordance with regulations, AkzoNobel will inform the market about the progress made in the execution of this program through weekly updates and at share buyback overview page.

As it was written before, AkzoNobel finalized the acquisition of BASF’s global Industrial Coatings business, which supplies a range of products for industries including construction, domestic appliances, wind energy and commercial transport, strengthening its position as the global number one supplier in coil coatings.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF would expand the capacity of ethylene oxide and ethylene oxide derivatives at its Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium. The total investment adds about 400 000 tpy to BASF’s production capacity for the corresponding products with an expected investment amount exceeding EUR500 million.

Ethylene is a feedstock for producing polyethylene (PE).

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.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people. Established in 1992 and specializing in sustainable water-based and advanced eco-friendly products, Mapaero operates a production facility in France and has around 140 employees.
MRC