Wacker to cut 1,000 jobs by 2022

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker Chemie will cut 1,000 jobs by the end of 2022 to save costs and prepare for a “harsher competitive environment”, said the company.

Munich-based chemical group Wacker Chemie AG has begun its “Shaping the Future” restructuring plan by announcing 1,000 jobs will be lost by the end of 2022 as it aims to save EUR250 million per year.

The company announced around 800 posts will be culled at German sites with administrative staff and people working in indirect and non-operational roles those at risk.

As far as possible, the job cuts will be realized through retirement, partial retirement schemes or termination agreements, Wacker said, emphasizing it wants to avoid redundancies among its manufacturing staff.

Chief human resources officer Christian Hartel said he was confident “good and fair solutions” could be negotiated with employee representatives. Wacker employs around 14,500 people worldwide, 10,000 of whom are based in Germany.

Wacker boss Rudolf Staudigl said the company “is preparing itself to take a tougher pace in the competition both in the polysilicon business and in our chemical divisions”.

Annual figures for 2019 published by Wacker last month indicated heavy losses after write-downs related to the company’s polysilicon division.

According to preliminary figures, published earlier, Wacker posted a net loss and negative earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in 2019. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell sharply and sales fell 1%.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2019, following a construction phase lasting 20 months, Wacker Chemie AG brought a new spray dryer for the production of dispersible polymer powders on stream in Ulsan, South Korea. The plant is part of an ongoing site expansion aimed at boosting the company’s production capacity for dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in Asia.

We also remind that in 2013, Wacker launched a new EVA production plant - with an additional 40,000 tonnes annually - at its Ulsan site in South Korea back in February. The production capacity of the site has, thus, almost doubled then, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea - thereby solidifying the company's global leading position in this segment.

According to MRC's DataScope report, in December last year, EVA imports to Russia decreased by 4.1% to 3.6 thousand tonnes from 3.76 thousand tonnes in December of the previous year, and by the end of 2019, imports of this type of ethylene copolymer in the Russian Federation decreased by 17.8% - to 39.55 thousand tonnes (48.09 thousand tonnes in January-December 2018).

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Board of Directors of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) has elected Kim Ann Mink as a director according to the company's press release.

Dr. Mink is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Innophos Holdings, Inc., a leading international producer of performance-critical and nutritional functional ingredients, with applications in food, health and industrial specialties markets.

"We are pleased to welcome Kim Ann to Eastman’s Board of Directors. Having spent the majority of her career in specialty materials, Kim Ann brings invaluable experience and technical expertise to Eastman," said Mark Costa, Board Chair and CEO. "Her proven leadership and deep understanding of key end markets will enhance our Board’s continued direction of our innovation-driven growth strategy as an outperforming specialty company."

Dr. Mink, 58, joined Innophos in 2015 from the Dow Chemical Company where she served most recently as business president of Elastomers, Electrical and Telecommunications. Prior to joining Dow Chemical in 2009, she had previously served for more than 20 years at the Rohm and Haas Company (which was acquired by Dow Chemical) where she held roles of increasing responsibility, including corporate vice president and general manager for the Ion Exchange Resins business.

Dr. Mink received a bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Hamilton College and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Duke University. She is a graduate of the Management Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

As MRC reported earlier, in 2016, Eastman Chemical's chief executive Mark Costa announced that the company wanted to reduce its surplus ethylene and commodity intermediates, but did not intend to sell its cracker in Longview, Texas.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

Eastman is a global specialty chemical company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With a portfolio of specialty businesses, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. Its market-driven approaches take advantage of world-class technology platforms and leading positions in attractive end-markets such as transportation, building and construction and consumables. Eastman focuses on creating consistent, superior value for all stakeholders. As a globally diverse company, Eastman serves customers in more than 100 countries and had 2017 revenues of approximately USD9.5 billion. The company is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA and employs approximately 14,500 people around the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asia's largest oil and gas firm PetroChina resumed construction of its oil refinery and petrochemical project in southern Chinese province of Guangdong, as the number of new coronavirus cases fell for a second straight day, reported Reuters.

In an attempt to curb the spread of the virus, China had extended Lunar New Year holidays and asked companies to put workers returning from their hometown into a 14-day quarantine.

With workers and machineries gradually in place, the USD10 billion refinery project in Jieyang city is expected to fully restart construction by end-February, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The project is scheduled to be fully completed by June 2022, with the launch of an oil refining section by end-2021 and chemical section in March 2022.

The new coronavirus has caused 2,004 deaths in China and infected more than 74,000 people, while measures to contain it have paralysed the economy and the supply chains it feeds.

As MRC wrote previously, Sichuan Petrochemical (part of PetroChina) undertook an emergency shutdown at its naphtha cracker in Sichuan province of China on July 11, 2018 owing to a gas leak at its natural gas supply pipeline. Further details on duration of the outage could not be ascertained. Located at Sichuan province of China, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 800,000 mt/year.

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.

PetroChina Company Limited, is a Chinese oil and gas company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A catalytic reformer was shut on Sunday night at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 211,270-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Convent, Louisiana, after a brief fire, reported Rueters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The reformer has the capacity to process 40,000 bpd of feedstock, according to Refinitiv Eikon.

Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said the fire was quickly extinguished and there were no injuries.

Fisher also said Shell is investigating the cause of the fire.

He declined to discuss the status of individual units at the refinery, but said, "We will bring our units back on line only when it is safe to do so."

As MRC wrote before, Royal Dutch Shell Plc restarted the hydrocracker at its 225,300 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery in mid-October 2019. 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.

We also remind that operations were stable on 13 September 2019 at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 340,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) joint-venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas, after the upper Houston Ship Channel was closed by protesters from Greenpeace USA. The Deer Park refinery is a 50-50 joint-venture between Shell and Mexico’s national oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). Shell is the managing partner of the joint-venture. Shell has three crackers at Deer Park site with a combined ethylene capacity of 1,67 mln per year and petrochemical plants.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

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) -- Phillips 66 took the gasoline-making FCCU at its Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey, offline at midnight EST last Thursday due to a leak, reported S&P Global with reference to a source familiar to refinery operations.

There was no timeline for the restart.

As MRC wrote before, US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
MRC