Henkel concludes five-year plastic waste reduction bond

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German consumer goods company Henkel has successfully completed a plastic waste reduction bond, said Packaging-gateway.

The five-year, USD70m bond is a private placement with Japanese insurance companies Dai-ichi Life and Dai-ichi Frontier Life. Proceeds from this bond will help finance key projects and activities under Henkel’s sustainability actions.

It also emphasises the company’s commitment to enhance a circular economy and reduce plastic waste. In March this year, Henkel enhanced its sustainability commitment to make 100% of Henkel’s packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. It also planned to reduce the amount of fossil-based virgin plastics by 50%.

Henkel CFO Marco Swoboda said: "Sustainability is not only firmly embedded in our strategic framework for the future but also increasingly relevant for investors and the financial market. "We are proud to be the first corporate issuer of a plastic waste reduction bond, once more demonstrating our ability to conclude innovative sustainable investment instruments at attractive terms.

"By linking financing concepts to our plastic waste reduction initiatives, the finance team shows its continuous commitment to actively contributing to our sustainability agenda." Multinational investment bank and financial services holding company HSBC served as the Green Structuring advisor and lead manager in relation to the transaction.

In April this year, Henkel unveiled new Persil 4in1 DISCS detergent packaging, which now contains 50% postconsumer recycled polypropylene (r-PP) obtained from discarded household plastics.

As MRC informed earlier, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (Dusseldorf, Germany) announced that Henkel Adhesives Technologies has officially inaugurated its new production facility in Kurkumbh, India.

Henkel are also partnering with Borealis and plastics solutions company Borouge to develop flexible packaging solutions for detergents containing both virgin polyethylene (PE) and high amounts of post-consumer recyclate (PCR) in efforts to increase sustainability.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

Oman receives FDI approval for refining project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CBH Inc. official source announced that the company will invest in the Sultanate of Oman in the construction of a Low Sulfur Fuel Oil Refinery, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The LSFO refinery aims to serve the growing shipping needs for IMO complaint cleaner fuel for shipping propulsion.

The planned capacity is 300,000 bpd in phases.

The location of the refinery is open to the Arabian sea outside the Straight of Hurmoz. The natural depth of the port area qualifies it to receive large ships with deep keel.

The refining process is based on a unique Canadian technology with proven results in turning poor quality fuel into cleaner and higher grades.

The CBH official said: “CBH Inc. are delighted to cooperate with the Government of Oman to invest in the LSFO refinery. Oman is one of the best located on the world map for such investment. We have great confidence that our decision is a strategically sound one”. He added: “The people of Oman are highly educated, young, and hard working. The country is resourceful and safe”. Oman also enjoys high political and economic stability for almost fifty years.

The project satisfies the strict investment criterion of CBH based on focused investment strategy, with safe, secure, and high returns. Such refinery is a niche investment that considers the challenges facing the oil and gas industry and focus mainly on market demand. Such demand is led by international law and the viability of the global logistics business.

The total investment is USD1.5 billion. The expected ROI is 22% per year. The structured investment is based on a global fund based in London, UK and open to interested investors.

As MRC wrote before, plans to build a new gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Oman between the government and Shell have been thrown into doubt by the global economic downturn, the sultanate's oil minister Mohammed AL-Rumhy told S&P Global in late June.

We remind that in July 2017, Orpic, the Sultanate’s refining and petrochemicals flagship, announced plans to establish a worldwide network of offices to support the marketing of the huge quantities of polymers that will be produced when its Liwa Plastics mega venture comes on stream in 2020.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 595,170 tonnes in the first five month of 2020, up by 10% year on year. Deliveries of all ethylene polymers, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), rose partially because of an increase in capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

Taiwan CPC seeks gasoline in a rare move after unit shutdown

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiwan’s CPC Corp is seeking gasoline for the first time in many years following an unexpected shutdown of a secondary unit in its Talin refinery, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to sources.

The unit which processes compounds into a high octane gasoline component is expected to resume production by end July after it was shut around mid-June due to mechanical glitch.

This has prompted CPC to seek 300,000 barrels of 95-octane gasoline for July 15-31 arrival at Kaohsiung through a tender which closes on July 1.

CPC typically exports gasoline to Asia and does not import the fuel under normal circumstances.

The refinery and petrochemical maker operates two refineries, one in Talin and another in Taoyuan, Taiwan, which have a combined capacity of over 500,000 barrels per day (bpd).

As MRC reported earlier, Taiwan's CPC Corporation is restarting its No. 4 naphtha-fed steam cracker July 6 after being shut last week. The company unexpectedly shut is No. 4 cracker due to technical glitches on 2 July, 2020. Based in Linyuan, Taiwan, the cracker is able to produce 380,000 tons/year of ethylene and 193,000 tons/year of propylene. Initially, the shutdown period was slated for around 7 days.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 595,170 tonnes in the first five month of 2020, up by 10% year on year. Deliveries of all ethylene polymers, except for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), rose partially because of an increase in capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 457,930 tonnes in January-May 2020 (calculated by the formula production minus export plus import). Deliveris of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

CPC Corporation, Taiwan, is engaged in the exploration, production, refining, procurement, transportation, storage, and marketing of oil and gas. The company provides fuel oil, including automotive unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel, low-sulfur fuel oil, marine distillate fuels, marine residual fuels, and aviation fuel; petrochemicals, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, para-xylene, and ortho-xylene; liquefied petroleum gas products comprising liquefied petroleum gas, propane, butane, and a propane/butane mixture; lubricants, motor oil, industrial oil, grease, and marilube oil; SNC products, including petroleum ether, naphtha, toluene, xylene, crude octene, methyl alcohol, normal paraffin, viscosity-graded asphalt cement, and sulfur; and natural gas.
MRC

Thyssenkrupp to build PET plant in Turkey

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German machine engineering company Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions said it has won an order from Turkish packaging producer Koksan Pet Packaging Ind Co to build a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Gaziantep, in the southeast of the country, said the company.

Thyssenkrupp will supervise the construction and commissioning of the plant and provide the main equipment, engineering works, licence and staff training, the German company said in a statement.

The plant will be built next to an existing production site built by Thyssenkrupp back in 2013. The two facilities are expected to have a production capacity of 432,000 tonnes of PET resin per year. The plant will use the Melt-To-Resin (MTR) process patented by Thyssenkrupp's subsidiary Uhde Inventa Fischer to produce various grades of resin.

Completion and commissioning are planned for 2022. The value of the contract remained undisclosed.

The investment is expected to help Koksan reinforce its local and regional market position. The PET will be supplied to the local market and to countries of the Middle East, CIS, the US, Europe, and Africa regions.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, May estimated PET consumption in Russia amounted to 70,170 tonnes, which corresponds to the level of consumption last year (70,450 tonnes). In total for the period January - May of this year, the estimated PET consumption in the Russian Federation amounted to 304,310 tonnes of material. This is 3% lower than the same indicator in 2019.

Koksan, established in 1968, produces PET jars, PET preforms, PET sheets, PE closures and PET resin.
MRC

Plastics and polymers trade fair will be in Shenzhen, China, in April 2021

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The 34th edition of ChinaPlas has been rescheduled to April 13-16, 2021, at a new venue: the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center in that southern Chinese city, adjacent to Hong Kong, said Recyclingtoday.

The event’s organizer says this will be the first time for ChinaPlas to be held in Shenzhen. Starting in 2021, the trade fair will alternate between Shenzhen (odd years) and its traditional home of Shanghai (even years).

Organizer Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd. held a press conference in late June 23, using online video conferencing tools to interact with more than 100 Chinese and international media representatives.

"Shenzhen combines China’s enormous market potential and its unique geographic advantages, and the upcoming ChinaPlas will help to position the plastics and rubber industries to seize new growth opportunities," stated Ada Leung, general manager of Adsale.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area is "the most concentrated region for plastics processing in China," according to Adsale. Plastic products output within the nine cities in the region reached 11.17 million metric tons in 2019, representing more than 13.6 percent of the national total.

In addition to Adsale, other organizations involved in organizing ChinaPlas include Beijing Yazhan Exhibition Services Ltd., the China National Light Industry Council - China Plastics Processing Industry Association, the China Plastics Machinery Industry Association, the Guangdong Plastics Industry Association, the Shenzhen Polymer Industry Association and Messe Dusseldorf China Ltd.

As MRC informed earlier, Russia's output of chemical products rose by 4.4% year on year in May 2020 . Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 5.4% in the first five months of 2020. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the output in January-May. Production of benzene was 110,000 tonnes in May 2020, which equalled the figure a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 615,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 1.7% year on year.

MRC