BCI Minerals gets USD450M NAIF loan approval for Mardie Salt & Potash Project

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BCI Minerals Limited (BCI, Perth, Australia) has announced that the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) Board has made an investment decision to approve a loan facility the Mardie Salt & Potash Project, subject to certain conditions, said Chemweek.

The NAIF loan facility is for a total of 450 million AUD to be used for construction and ramp-up of the Mardie Project and associated financing fees and costs and would account for a significant proportion of the full Mardie development funding requirement.

BCI’s Managing Director Alwyn Vorster said the loan “recognizes the potential long-term benefits which Mardie will bring to the region, including new port infrastructure available to third party users. Importantly, the loan will also provide significant momentum for BCI to secure the remaining debt and equity funding components required for Mardie’s development fees and costs."

The NAIF loan approval is subject conditions, including BCI demonstrating meaningful progress with the Mardie Project by 31 March 2021 (or such later date agreed with NAIF), facility documents being entered into between the parties and satisfaction of conditions to funding.

The Mardie Project, located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, involves construction of large ponds and crystallizers over a 100-square kilometer area, two process plants and a new port facility for export of salt, sulfate of potash (SOP) and other products. Mardie aims to export 4.4 million metric tons/year of high-purity salt and 120,000 mt/year of SOP via solar evaporation.

As MRC informed previously, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to BP"s latest long-term energy outlook issued in September 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic kicks the world economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the shift to cleaner fuels.

Earlier last year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40% in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world"s major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

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

According to MRC"s DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Umicore (Brussels, Belgium) says that Denis Goffaux will be the company’s new executive vice president/recycling from 1 April 2021, following the decision of Stephan Csoma, the company’s current executive vice president/recycling, to retire on 31 March, reported Chemweek.

Goffaux, currently Umicore’s executive vice president/energy and surface technologies, will be succeeded by Ralph Kiessling, currently the company’s executive vice president/catalysis, effective 1 March, and Bart Sap will succeed Kiessling on the same date, the company says.

The company’s other management board functions remain unchanged, Umicore says.

As MRC informed earlier, Umicore's net profits for the first half of 2020 fell by 38%, to EUR91 million (USD107 million) from EUR148 million in the same period of the previous year. Sales declined by approximately 4% year on year (YOY), to EUR1.57 billion, beating analysts' consensus estimate by 8.1%. Adjusted EBIT and adjusted EBITDA increased slightly compared with the first half of 2019, to EUR243 million - beating analysts' estimates by 8.5% - and EUR376 million, respectively, the company said. The company's performance was hurt by the impact of COVID-19, especially on the automotive industry, which affected mostly its catalysis, and energy and surface technologies businesses. The strong performance posted by Umicore’s recycling business was not able to offset the overall impact of COVID-19.

Polypropylene (PP) is one of the main feedstocks for the production of automotive interior parts.

According to MRC"s DataScope report, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Coatings company Hempel (Lyngby, Denmark) has announced a new strategy that targets a doubling of the company’s sales by 2025. Hempel says it intends to achieve the target through refocused geographical priorities, focused segment leadership positions, and M&A, as well as an acceleration of sustainability, innovation, and digitalization activities, said Chemweek.

Hempel generated revenue of EUR1.5 billion (USD1.8 billion) in 2019, an increase of 14%. "When the world closed down in 2020 and global operations including ours were challenged, we sped up our strategy process,” says Hempel president and CEO Lars Petersson. “Now we have laid the foundation for not only doubling our revenue but also for significantly increasing our positive impact for our customers, partners, and employees. We will build leadership positions and invest in our core segments and put sustainability at the heart of how we do business."

Hempel expects 50% of the intended revenue growth to come from M&A but says the strategy also has a clear-cut emphasis on organic growth through building market leadership positions in specific areas of its four segments: decorative, marine, infrastructure, and energy. Hempel says that 2.5 percentage points of its 14% revenue growth in 2019 was organic.

"By 2025, we expect more than 50% of our revenue to come from sub-segments and geographies where we have a leading position, compared to less than 10% today," the company says.

Hempel needs to refocus geographically, because "we have been spread too thin and too shallow and therefore we focus our business by exiting some geographies by own operation and strengthening others," according to Petersson. “Alongside that we know that our customers need suppliers with end-to-end solutions and a deep knowledge and impact on the market,” he says. The company has started a transformation of how it sells and develops by building stronger partnerships with a number of customers "to truly understand their needs, future challenges, and to co-create differentiated solutions," Petersson says.

The new strategy’s sustainability goals include being carbon neutral in Hempel’s own operations by 2025 and also reducing the carbon footprint of its customers. The company has committed to science-based targets and will launch a sustainability framework in February 2021.

"Putting sustainability at the heart of how we do business will drive change both within Hempel and across our value chain through our products and services. We see sustainability as a key enabler for growth, by helping our customers reach their sustainability targets. Our target to double in size in the next five years makes our commitment to sustainability even more important, and we are ready to make some bold decisions as we accelerate," says Petersson.

As MRC informed previously, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to BP"s latest long-term energy outlook issued in September 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic kicks the world economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the shift to cleaner fuels.

Earlier last year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40% in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsu-bishi Chemical Corp. (MCC) said it will set up a new pilot facility for carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, according to Apic-online.

MCC, with support from the Industrial Technology Center of Fukai Prefecture and leveraging technological synergy within the MCC Group, recently established technology that enables "highly efficient" manufacturing of "extremely high-quality" CFRTP, MCC noted.

In the future, MCC will market the product as a new series in its Kyron thermoplastic composite brand and offer it to the Japanese CFRTP market, which until now has relied mainly on imports.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2020, MCC acquired a ‘greenfield’ property at a large integrated site on the Mississippi River in Geismar, Louisiana, the US. It also plans to advance its feasibility study for the design and construction of a 350,000mt Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) plant, which will be based on its proprietary ALPHA technology. Currently, the project is in the early engineering stage and the final investment decision (FiD) is expected to take place in early 2022. If the project gets approval, the plant would commence production in 2025.

The main application, consuming approximately 75% MMA, is in the production of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used to produce methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MBS), used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production reached 891,200 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020, down by 0.3% year on year. However, two producers managed to increase their PVC output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China is expected to lead the Asia and Oceania’s refinery capacity growth, contributing around 71% of the region’s total capacity growth by 2024. China is likely to add 2.6 MMbpd of refinery capacity by 2024, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The company’s report, ‘Refining Industry Outlook in Asia and Oceania to 2024 - Capacity and Capital Expenditure Outlook with Details of All Operating and Planned Refineries,’ reveals that refining capacity in Asia and Oceania is expected to increase by 3.6 MMbpd from 37.0 MMbpd in 2019 to 40.6 MMbpd in 2024 at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 1.9 percent. Out of Asia and Oceania’s total capacity additions, 2.0 MMbpd is expected to come from new-build planned projects, while the remaining 1.6 MMbpd is likely to come from the expansions of active/operational projects.

Adithya Rekha, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Out of China’s total refinery capacity additions of 2.6 MMbpd by 2024, 1.2 MMbpd is likely to come from expansion of active projects and the rest 1.4 MMbpd is expected to be contributed by new-build projects by 2024. Among the refineries in China, Dayushan Island, Yulong, and Jieyang are the major refineries, accounting for most of the capacity additions in the country with a combined total of 1.2 MMbpd by 2024.”

GlobalData expects India to occupy the second place in terms of refinery capacity additions in Asia and Oceania by 2024. India is expected to contribute about 21% of Asia and Oceania’s refinery capacity growth, adding about 748 MMbpd by 2024. Among the refineries in India, Barmer and Nagapattinam II refineries account for most of the capacity additions with 180 MMbpd each by 2024.

Rekha concludes: “Thailand will be the third-highest country in Asia and Oceania to add about 125 thousand bpd by 2024 from the expansion of Sriracha I refinery.”

As MRC wrote before, China's crude oil throughput in November 2020 rose 3.2% on year, setting a record high on a daily basis, as a huge private refiner started trials of a new refining unit and state-owned refineries raised processing rates to meet annual targets. The country processed 58.35 million tonnes of crude in November, equivalent to 14.2 MMbpd, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on 15 December, 2020. That exceeded the October record of 14.09 MMbpd. January-November throughput was 614.41 MMt, or 13.39 MMbpd, up 3.1% from the same period in 2019. Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp in early November started a 200,000 bpd crude unit, in addition to its existing 400,000 bpd refining capacity in eastern China.

We remind that in January 2020, Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co Ltd, one of two new major refineries built in China in 2019, started up the remaining units in the first phase of its refinery and petrochemical complex. The complex is situated in east China’s Zhoushan city. The company, 51% owned by private chemical group Zhejiang Rongsheng Holdings, said it ha started test production at ethylene, aromatics and other downstream facilities, without giving further details.

Zhejiang Petrochemical started a first 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude processing unit in late May, 2019, following on from the start of a 400,000-bpd refinery owned by another private chemical major Hengli Petrochemical. The newly started units at Zhejiang Petrochemical should include a second 200,000-bpd crude unit, a 1.2 million tonnes per year (tpy) ethylene unit and a 2 million tpy paraxylene unit, according to several industry sources with knowledge of the plant’s operations.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC