Federal judge puts end to PES explosion insurance bounty squabble

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The federal judge overseeing Philadelphia Energy Solutions’ bankruptcy proceedings on Friday resolved a fight between two sets of lenders over which of them has first dibs on the potential USD1.25 billion in insurance proceeds for a June 2019 explosion and fire at its Girard Point refinery, reported Reuters.

US Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross found that ICBC Standard Bank and Cortland Capital Market Services each hold a perfected security interest in the proceeds of the policy, which includes USD1 billion in property damage coverage and USD250 million in business insurance (BI) coverage.

As MRC wrote before, a June fire at the 335,000 barrel-per-day PES refinery led the company to file for bankruptcy and shut the plant over the summer, laying off more than 1,000 workers and ending long-standing ties with dozens of businesses. The refinery endured years of financial trouble, hurt by poor access to US crude oil production and heavy costs of complying with federal laws on blending biofuels with gasoline. The PES plan to exit bankruptcy includes a USD240 million sale of the refinery to a real estate developer, Hilco Redevelopment Partners, which is expected to use the site largely for warehousing. Los Angeles developer, Industrial Realty Group, was selected as a backup buyer.

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

Danaflex will use recycled film by 2025

MOSCOW (MRC) - Danaflex (Tatarstan) will produce only fully recyclable film by 2025, RBK reports.

The marketing director of the Danaflex group of companies, Evgeny Bantukov, told RBC Tatarstan that the company was preparing to launch industrial production of packaging films that could be 100% recycled.

According to him, the company also developed a biodegradable film: based on petroleum products and organic granules. However, in the first case, the film decomposes into small fractions, and the world community has come to the conclusion that the so-called microplastic is unsafe for the environment, said Bantukov. In the second case, a product with a high cost was obtained. Therefore, it was decided to start the production of 100% recyclable films. "For us and for the industry, this is a breakthrough. For a long time it was believed that it was practically impossible," said Bantukov.

Danaflex is the main supplier from among the Tatarstan companies, from which about 70% of the total packaging material is purchased. Individual and group packaging for sweets and a laminate film for packing mayonnaise, sauces and jams are purchased from a Tatarstan manufacturer.

Earlier it was reported that Danaflex (Tatarstan) in February launched the production of IML labels for food and non-food products. Danaflex has created a product that meets the most important requirement of the time - recycling, as the product and packaging are made of mono-raw materials. It is with this that the general trend of the transition of other types of marking (self-adhesive, dry label, direct printing, etc.) to the IML label is associated.

1.6 million tons of waste are generated annually in Tatarstan, of which about 10% is sent for recycling. Moreover, landfills for waste storage are 80% full. In Russia, the figure is about 7%.

Danaflex Group of Companies was founded in 2001. The main activity is the production of flexible packaging materials for various industries. The group positions itself as the largest manufacturer of packaging materials. The structure of the group of companies includes four production facilities: CJSC Danaflex, LLC Danaflex-Nano, LLC Danaflex-Alabuga and DGPack s.r.o (in the Czech Republic). In 2018, the group's revenue amounted to 12.1 billion rubles.
MRC

Imports of injection moulding PET chips increased by 37% in January in Ukraine

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of bottle grade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Ukraine grew by 37% year on year to 12,500 tonnes in January from 9,100 tonnes a year earlier. PET imports in the country reached 9,400 tonnes in December 2019, according to MRC DataScope.

Deliveries of Chinese bottle grade PET to the Ukrainian market fell to the two times in January amounted to 3,100 tonnes compared to 7,000 tonnes in January last year. Imports were at 4,700 tonnes in December 2019.

The share of imports from China in the total volume amounted to 50% in January against 77% in January 2019. The key suppliers of injection moulding Chinese PET chips to the Ukrainian market were producers Dragon, China Resources Chemicals and Yisheng Petrochemical.
Nevertheless, the import of injection moulding PET chips from Lithuania by Neo Group grew four times in January compared to the same period last year and reached the maximum value of the last ten years - 7,300 tonnes. This figure was 1,800 tonnes in January 2019. In December last year, the volume of external supplies from Lithuania to Ukraine was at the level of 3,800 tonnes.

The total volume of Lithuanian PET imports to the country increased to 59% in January 2020 against 40% in December last year. In January 2019, the share of imports was at about 20%.

The main buyers of Lithuanian bottled PET were Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine Limited and Retal.
MRC

SIBUR Board of Directors may remain in full force

MOSCOW (MRC) - The board of directors of SIBUR Holding can be reelected in full force, TASS reports citing the holding’s message.

The company's board of directors nominated candidates for the board of directors, all of them are current members of the board.

The decision to elect members of the board of directors will be made at the annual general meeting of shareholders of the holding, the date of which will be determined at a meeting on April 2.

SIBUR’s board of directors includes 12 people - the head of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson, member of the board of directors of Novatek Gennady Timchenko, chairman of the board of Sibur Holding Dmitry Konov, president of Ladoga Management Kirill Shamalov, general director of Gazprom Neft Alexander Dyukov, Wang Dan, Executive Vice President of the Silk Road Fund, Li Chengfeng, Vice President and Head of Sinopec Chemical Division, Vladimir Razumov, Member of the Board of Directors of Sibur Holding, Independent Director of O'Brien Peter Lloyd, Member of the Board of Directors of Euro Chemist Sergey Vasnetsov, member of the Association of Independent Directors Andrei Vernikov, as well as vice-rector of the Presidential Academy of RANEPA, director of the Higher School of Public Administration at the RANEPA, ex-minister of the Moscow government Alexey Komissarov.

The main shareholder of the company is the head of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson (48.5%), Gennady Timchenko owns 17%, Kirill Shamalov - 3.9% of the shares. 10% are at the disposal of Sinopec and the Silk Road Fund, 10.6% of the shares are controlled by the current and former management of the company.

It was previously reported that SIBUR's net profit to RAS standards amounted to 111.911 billion rubles, an increase of 3.2%. Revenue decreased by 4.8% to 462.95 billion rubles. Last year, the company received revenue under IFRS in the amount of 531.3 billion rubles. Net profit grew by 27.6% to 141.4 billion rubles.

SIBUR is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemical company, operating at 26 production sites located in various regions of the Russian Federation. SIBUR sells products to more than 1.4 thousand consumers in the fuel and energy complex, the automotive industry, construction, production of consumer goods, chemical and other industries in 75 countries of the world.
MRC

SIBUR Holding will allocate 34.3 billion rubles for the payment of dividends for 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) - The board of directors of SIBUR Holding recommended that the annual meeting of shareholders send 34.333 billion rubles to dividends for 2019, the company said.

"Direct 34.3 billion rubles for dividends to shareholders of PJSC SIBUR Holding based on the results of 2019. Taking into account the previously paid dividends for the six months of the reporting year 2019 in the amount of 16.7 billion rubles, pay dividends in cash in the amount of 8.06 rubles per ordinary share, which is 17.5 billion rubles. ", - said in a statement. The board of directors also determined the date of the annual meeting of shareholders - April 2.

At a press conference in February, the Chairman of the Board of SIBUR Holding Dmitry Konov told reporters that SIBUR will adhere to the dividend policy regarding the payment of dividends for 2019, which implies payment of at least 35% of adjusted earnings under IFRS. Also, according to the chairman of the board, ZapSibNeftekhim is increasing production volumes: 200 thousand tons of polypropylene per year will be sent to the domestic market, up to 300 thousand tons of polypropylene will be exported.

At the same time, the Holding does not consider the possibility of an IPO (initial public offering) in 2020 against the background of the current market situation. The shareholders do plan to carry out this operation, but there is no point in doing it this year, ”said Dmitry Konov, chairman of the company’s board, earlier.

He stressed that we are talking about reducing the cost of petrochemical products caused by tensions in US-China trade relations. In addition, there is uncertainty in the market due to the spread of coronavirus in China. The possibility of the initial placement of the company's securities became known back in July 2018.

It was previously reported that SIBUR's net profit to RAS standards amounted to 111.911 billion rubles, an increase of 3.2%. Revenue decreased by 4.8% to 462.95 billion rubles. Last year, the company received revenue under IFRS in the amount of 531.3 billion rubles. Net profit grew by 27.6% to 141.4 billion rubles.

SIBUR is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemical company, operating at 26 production sites located in various regions of the Russian Federation. SIBUR sells products to more than 1.4 thousand consumers in the fuel and energy complex, the automotive industry, construction, production of consumer goods, chemical and other industries in 75 countries of the world.
MRC