Huafon Chemical to construct plans spandex plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huafon Chemical plans to invest CNY4.36bn (USD674m) to construct a 300,000 tonne/year spandex project at Chongqing, said the company.

The project will be implemented in three phases, with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes/year, 150,000 tonnes/year and 100,000 tonnes/year, respectively. Each phase is expected to take two years to complete construction.

Currently in early stage without a detail timeline, the project will focus on high-end products to improve the company’s competitiveness, it said.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF and Huafon Group Co., Ltd. have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to extend their partnership with initiatives to develop the polyurethane, bio-fiber and spandex markets in China. The two companies will work together in the areas of technical exchange, market development, and quality raw material supply.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF says its 420,000-metric ton/year steam cracker in Ludwigshafen, Germany is continuously running and has not caused any interruption of supply to its customers. Earlier, several media outlets reported that unscheduled flaring started on 13 January at the northern part of the Ludwigshafen site and was expected to last until 17 January and that an unspecified unit was shut, which "was not the case", as per the company's letter received by MRC.

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) -- Brenntag, the worldwide market leader in chemical and ingredients distribution, says it has acquired ICL Packed Ltd., the packaged chemicals division of Industrial Chemical Ltd (ICL; Grays, UK), a producer and trader of inorganic chemicals, reported Chemweek.

ICL Packed specializes in distributing packaged chemicals for water treatment.

The acquired business generated sales of about ?11 million (USD15 million) in 2020, Brenntag says. It operates hubs at Selby and West Thurrock, UK, which will transfer to Brenntag. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

“We see a very positive outlook for the water treatment business in the UK over the years to come due to population growth and the increased pressure on environmental quality,” says Steven Terwindt, Brenntag board member and COO of the Brenntag Essentials unit.

ICL Packed has a “broadly diversified customer base and strong product portfolio,” and it “complements our current full-service approach to this important market in the UK,” says Anthony Gerace, managing director/mergers and acquisitions at Brenntag.

The transaction includes a supply agreement between Brenntag and ICL, a large manufacturer of caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, and iron and aluminum coagulants as well as sodium hypochlorite. ICL has production at Grays, Newcastle, Runcorn, Selby, Thurrock, and Widnes, UK, and will retain these facilities.

ICL says it has sales of GBP125 million/year, including ICL Packed, and will continue to distribute bulk chemicals in the UK by road tanker. “This transaction is an important strategic move and will make us stronger and enable us to make the investment required to meet market needs, whilst working closely with Brenntag to ensure that we have the production capacity to serve key elements of their distribution portfolio,” the company says. “We will be manufacturing some of the bulk chemicals to supply their packed business. They will be investing in dedicated storage and loading capabilities at West Thurrock to support this initiative.”

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2020, Brenntag sai it had acquired the operating assets of Suffolk Solutions’ (Suffolk, Virginia) caustic soda distribution business. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Grupa Azoty (Tarnow, Poland) says the first large propylene tank has been installed at its EUR1.5-billion (USD1.82 billion) propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) project at Police, Poland, said Chemweek.

The tank, weighing 585 metric tons, was successfully transported to the construction site in a three-day operation, it says.

The tank will have a storage capacity for up to 1,400 metric tons of propylene and is the first of five that will be used to store product from the PDH unit, for onward supply to the adjacent PP plant. The first propylene tank was built at Gdynia shipyard in Poland, it says.

The scheduled start-up of the Polimery Police project was delayed by three months from the fourth quarter of 2022 into the first quarter of 2023 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Grupa Azoty confirmed in November. Project construction was 32% complete in November, it said at the time. Hyundai Engineering is the general contractor. The complex at Police will include a 437,000-metric tons/year PDH plant, feeding a similar-capacity PP unit.

As per MRC, the scheduled startup of Grupa Azoty’s (Tarnow, Poland) flagship Polimery Police propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) project at Police, Poland, has been delayed to the first quarter of 2023 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic/

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) -- Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd fell as much as 4.7% in early trade on Monday after the Indian conglomerate posted a sharp drop in quarterly revenue from its dominant oil-to-chemicals business, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Reliance, which operates the world’s largest refining complex, said on Friday revenue from its oil-to-chemicals division fell nearly 30% in the three months ended Dec. 31.

Total revenue slid 21% to 1.24 trillion rupees, and the company said its operations and revenue during the period were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reliance, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has built leading consumer-facing businesses in recent years to diversify away from its mainstay energy arm, but a coronavirus-driven slump in fuel demand has weighed on the Mumbai-headquartered group’s recent results.

RIL’s cyclicals business reporting has become opaque, with no disclosures on gross refining margin (GRM) data this time around, BOB Capital Markets said in a note over the weekend.

“We need to see earnings traction to justify the recent surge in stock price as the rally factors in positives from debt reduction. O2C (the oil to chemicals business) earnings growth remains elusive in the current pandemic-led uncertainty,” the brokerage added.

Reliance, which did not share the GRM, announced a reorganisation on Friday, according to which it now houses its oil refining, fuel retailing and petrochemicals operations together.

Reliance shares gained about 5.8% last week in the run-up to the results but were flat for this year after a more than 32% gain last year.

The company raised about USD26 billion last year from investors like Google and Facebook for its digital and retail arms.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2020, RIL released a detailed plan to carve out its oil-to-chemicals business into a separate entity for a potential stake sale. As per the scheme, RIL's O2C assets, including its refining, petrochemicals, fuel retail (majority interest only) and bulk wholesale marketing businesses, along with its assets and liabilities, will be transferred to a new unit. The new unit will include the refining and petrochemical plants and manufacturing assets at RIL's Jamnagar, Dahej, Hazira, Nagothane, Vadodara, Patalganga, Silvassa, Barabanki and Hosiarpur locations.

It will also include all assets relating to RIL's ongoing refinery and petrochemical projects that are being commissioned or near completion, the company said. RIL had officially announced its proposal to transfer its oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business to a separate entity in April.

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.

Reliance Industries is one of the world"s largest producers of polymers. Thus, the company produces among others polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont de Nemours, Inc., Corteva, Inc. and The Chemours Company announced on Friday that they have entered into a binding memorandum of understanding containing a settlement to resolve legal disputes originating from the 2015 spin-off of Chemours from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (EID), said Chemweek.

Cmpanies aimed to establish a cost sharing arrangement and an escrow account to be used to support and manage potential future legacy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) liabilities arising from events prior to 1 July 2015, the day the spin-off was completed.

Chemours filed suit against DuPont in June 2019, alleging DuPont stuck it with environmental liabilities tied to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a bio-persistent PFAS chemical used to produce Teflon. The suit claimed that DuPont vastly underestimated the liabilities assigned to Chemours under the separation agreement and chose a spin-off specifically to maximize the offloading of liabilities.

The agreement replaces the February 2017 PFOA Settlement and subsequent amendment to the Chemours Separation Agreement.

According to the terms of the cost sharing arrangement, Chemours agrees to a 50-50 split with DuPont and Corteva, DuPont’s former agricultural business, of certain qualified expenses over a term not to exceed twenty years or $4 billion of qualified spend and escrow contributions. Under the existing Letter Agreement from 1 June 2019, DuPont and Corteva will each bear 50% of the first USD300 million (up to USD150 million each) and thereafter, DuPont bears 71% and Corteva bears the remaining 29%. DuPont's share of the potential USD2 billion would be approximately USD1.36 billion and Corteva's approximately USD640 million.

The companies also agree to establish a USD1 billion maximum escrow account to address potential future PFAS liabilities. Subject to the terms of the arrangement, contributions to the escrow will be made by Chemours, on one hand, and DuPont and Corteva, on the other hand, annually over an eight-year period. Over such period, Chemours will deposit a total of USD500 million into the account and DuPont and Corteva will deposit an additional USD500 million pursuant to the terms of their existing Letter Agreement. The escrow provides for a one-time replenishment mechanism if the escrow account balance has less than USD700 million at 31 December 2028.

After the term of this arrangement, Chemours' indemnification obligations under the Chemours Separation Agreement would continue unchanged, subject to certain exceptions set forth in the memorandum of understanding. Chemours will waive specified claims, including claims regarding the construct of its 2015 spin-off from EID. DuPont, Corteva and Chemours will dismiss the pending arbitration regarding those claims.

In addition, DuPont, Corteva and Chemours have agreed to resolve the matters in the Ohio multi-district PFOA litigation for USD83 million. DuPont will contribute USD27 million, Corteva will contribute USD27 million and Chemours will contribute USD29 million to the settlement. The agreement resolves approximately 95 pending cases as well as unfiled matters. The case of Travis and Julie Abbott v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company is not included in the settlement and is presently pending appeal. These amounts are not subject to the new cost sharing arrangement.

Ed Breen, DuPont Chairman and CEO; Jim Collins, Corteva CEO and Mark Vergnano, Chemours President and CEO said in a joint statement that the agreement will “provide a measure of security and certainty for each company and our respective shareholders using a transparent process to address and resolve any potential future legacy PFAS matters."

It was erlier reported, DuPont is investing USD400 million in the production capacity of Tyvek nonwoven fabric made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) at its site in Luxembourg. A new building and a third work line at the production site will be constructed. The launch of new facilities is scheduled for 2021.

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.

The DuPont Corporation, founded in the USA in 1802, operates in more than 70 countries. The company produces specialty chemicals, offers goods and services for agriculture, food production, electronics, communications, security and protection, construction, transport and light industry. In Russia, DuPont has 100% control over the DuPont Khimprom plant since 2005, and in 2006 established a joint venture between DuPont - Russian Paints and Russian Paints.
MRC