AOC hikes EMEA resin, vinyl ester prices on rising raw material costs, logistics

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AOC (Collierville, Tennessee) has announced price rises with immediate effect, or as contracts allow, for its entire epoxy vinyl ester (EVE) and unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) portfolio sold in the EAME region, citing continued increases in raw materials, logistics, and packaging costs, reported Chemweek.

Prices for its EVE products have been hiked by EUR450/metric ton (USD544/metric ton), with its UPR product portfolio prices rising by EUR350/metric ton. “The pricing of styrene, maleic anhydride, liquid epoxy resin, and other key raw materials has seen continued increases over the past months following outages across the globe and force majeure declarations in Europe,” says Fons Harbers, EAME vice president/marketing and sales at AOC. “Also, logistics and packaging costs have been increasing steadily. This leaves us no choice but to raise the prices of our products as a result,” he says.

AOC raised its prices mid-February this year for the same products, for similar reasons, following previous increases announced in January 2021 and December 2020.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2020, AOC, Kaprain and Spolchemie announced they had reached agreement on AOC acquiring the Unsaturated Polyester Resin (UPR) manufacturing operations located at the Spolchemie site in Usti nad Labem (Czech Republic). This footprint extension will allow AOC to further improve service and logistics to its customers in Central/ Eastern Europe as well as in Germany, and will make new products (e.g. based on recycled PET) available for customers around Europe.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, overall estimated PET consumption in Russia was 71,830 tonnes in December 2020, up by 8% year on year. Russia's PET consumption in all sectors (injection moulding, fibers/filaments, films) exceeded the level of 2019 by 17%, totalling 717,310 tonnes.
MRC

Four Petrobras board members to leave after CEO change

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petrobras said late on Tuesday that four of its board members would leave at the end of their terms, requesting not to be reappointed after President Jair Bolsonaro decided to replace the company’s chief executive, reported Reuters.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, disclosed messages from the board members in a securities filing stating their reasons for effectively resigning.

After complaining about high fuel prices, Bolsonaro has appointed Joaquim Silva e Luna, a retired military officer who had been running the Itaipu hydroelectric dam on the border with Paraguay, to replace Chief Executive Roberto Castello Branco.

The move revived old concerns over government interference in Petrobras and its fuel pricing policy, as has happened under previous administrations.

Branco will officially step down at a shareholders meeting, whose date has yet to be set. The four board members would also step down at that time.

Two of the board members said they could not accept reappointment because of personal reasons, while another said his term was being “interrupted unexpectedly” without explanation.

A fourth board member said that he would not continue because of “upper management changes,” which he said weren’t in-line with best management practices.

As MRC informed before, Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras is seeking 800 million reais (USD152 million) in compensation from engineering group Odebrecht in arbitration proceedings over its alleged violation of the shareholders agreement in petrochemical company Braskem.

We remind that Petrobras may need more than a year to divest its stake in Braskem, said Andrea Almeida, Petrobras CFO, in early July, 2020. She said during the company"s recent webinar that Petrobras plans to give more time for potential investors to make offers for the company"s assets, including for its refineries and stakes at its petrochemical and fuel distribution affiliates. The divestment of Petrobras"s stake in Braskem in 2020 would be desirable but "might not be possible" as the COVID-19 pandemic has changed market conditions, she said. The company plans to close part of its refinery sales in 2021. In December, Roberto Castello Branco, CEO of Petrobras, said that he wants to sell the company"s stake in Braskem within a year. Petrobras owns 32.15% of Braskem.

We also remind that Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia. And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker. The project, announced in 2013, had been on Braskem"s back burner for several years.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC

HEXPOL acquires leading Spanish Wire & Cable Compounder

MOSCOW (MRC) -- HEXPOL has acquired 100% of VICOM 2002 S.L., a Spanish Polymer Compounder active in the interesting and growing product segment “wire and cable”, reported CISION.

VICOM’s turnover 2020 amounted to some 30 MEUR, is profitable and employs some 30 people in its production facility in Barcelona.

“Through the acquisition of VICOM, we strengthen our position in Southern Europe in a segment favored by the global electrification trend. The company has high competence and capacity and fits well into our current business structure”

The acquisition is expected to bring a lower positive profit contribution. We will immediately start the integration of VICOM into our current structure.

“This is another step in expanding and strengthening the HEXPOL group through an acquisition within our core Polymer Compounding business. VICOM will, through its competence and capacity, fit very well into the HEXPOL group and strengthen our position on a growing market”

The acquisition is funded by a combination of cash at hand and existing bank facilities. VICOM will be consolidated by HEXPOL from 1 March 2021.

As MRC informed before, in December 2019, polymer compounder Hexpol TPE, which has UK operations in Manchester, launched a new range of materials intended for cable sheathing applications in such sectors are telecommunications and electricity delivery.

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.

HEXPOL is a world-leading polymers group with strong global positions in advanced polymer compounds (Compounding), gaskets for plate heat exchangers (Gaskets), and plastic and rubber materials for truck and castor wheel applications (Wheels). Customers are primarily systems suppliers to the global automotive and engineering industry, construction industry, the energy, oil and gas sector, medical equipment manufacturers and OEM manufacturers of plate heat exchangers and forklifts. The Group is organised in two business areas, HEXPOL Compounding and HEXPOL Engineered Products. The HEXPOL Group’s sales in 2020 amounted to 13,424 MSEK. The HEXPOL Group has approximately 4,600 employees in fourteen countries.
MRC

Kerry leads second-day slate at global energy conference

MOSCOW (MRC) -- U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will headline the second day of the world's largest oil and gas conference, along with Big Oil executives trying to make the case for their importance even as panelists at CERAWeek focus on how the industry will aim to reduce carbon emissions, said Reuters.

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the transition to renewable fuels and electrification of key elements of energy use. Global majors have been playing catch-up, responding to demands from investors to reduce production of fuels that contribute to global warming.

Kerry will try to address how the United States will reclaim its position as a global leader on climate change. President Joseph Biden, who appointed Kerry, is bringing the nation back into the Paris Climate Agreement which is aimed at reducing emissions.

Biden, in his first weeks as president, cancelled a presidential permit that would have allowed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, and is taking steps to limit new oil and gas development.

Some oil industry executives have criticised those moves, and several will also speak on Tuesday, including the CEOs of U.S. majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp. CERAWeek was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic which stopped billions of people from traveling and wiped out one-fifth of worldwide demand for fuel.

As MRC wrote before, ExxonMobil's recent operational shutdowns include polyethylene (PE) facilities amid power outages prompted by the deep freeze that has enveloped the US Gulf Coast. "This event has caused widespread power outages across Texas and Louisiana" Feb. 15," the letter, dated Feb. 16, said. "As a consequence, several ExxonMobil Chemical operations have experienced loss of power and other key utilities, impacting our ability to resume full operations." ExxonMobil operates three PE units in Mont Belvieu, Texas, with combined capacity of 880,000 mt/year, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

Exxon is among many petrochemical producers that shut Feb. 14 and subsequent days because of sustained extreme sub-freezing temperatures in the region. ExxonMobil previously confirmed Feb. 16 that the company had shut all refining and chemical operations at its Baytown and Beaumont, Texas, complexes. Ethylene produced at Baytown feeds the Mont Belvieu PE operations.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world"s oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

North American weekly chemical rail depressed by USGC outages

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemical railcar traffic in North America remained depressed last week as US Gulf Coast chemical producers attempted to restart following freeze-related shutdowns, reported Chemweek.

During the week ended 27 February, volume totaled 40,696 carloads, up 15.4% from the previous week, but down 15.3% year-over-year (YOY), according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

On a four-week basis, volume was down 9.4% from 2020 and 6.4% from 2019 (chart). For the year to date, volume was down 1.9% from 2020 and 0.1% from 2019.

Chemical railcar traffic in the United States contributed 27,768 carloads to the total, down 18.4% YOY and up 16.4% from the previous week. For the year to date, US chemical railcar traffic is down 3.1%.

Canadian chemical rail traffic totaled 12,142 carloads, down 7.3% YOY and up 15.9% from the previous week. For the year to date, Canadian chemical railcar traffic is up 1.5%.

Chemical railcar traffic in Mexico totaled 786 carloads, a YOY decrease of 18.5% and a sequential decrease of 14.3%. For the year to date, Mexican chemical railcar traffic is down 2.3%.

As MRC informed before, Chemical rail traffic in North America closed January strong, pushing year-to-date volume up 5.7% from 2020 and 5.5% from 2019. During the week ended 30 January, volume totaled 48,312 carloads, up 5.2% from the previous week and up 4.4% year-over-year (YOY), according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). On a four-week basis, volume increased 5.6% from 2020 and 3.7% from 2019.

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.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC