Avient acquires UK-based Magna Colours

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Avient, formerly PolyOne, expands its sustainable solutions portfolio with the acquisition of Magna Colours, according to Seeking Alpha.

Founded in 1978 and based in Barnsley, U.K., Magna is a developer of next-gen water-based ink technology that provides innovative and high-performance solutions.

The MagnaColours materials will join Avient's existing specialty inks portfolio, besides prominent brands such as Wilflex and Rutland.

"Magna represents an important investment in sustainable solutions, as brand owners seek alternatives to legacy technologies," said Robert M. Patterson, Chairman, President and CEO, Avient Corporation.

Avient expects its inks portfolio to grow as the coronavirus crisis is becoming less of a threat to economic and social activities, it added.

As MRC reported previously, in January 2021, Avient Corporation announced the official opening of its new CycleWorks facility in Pogliano, Italy. The new lab and plant will conduct chemistry testing and evaluations to help customers meet the challenge of plastics recycling and advance the goal of a circular economy. The demonstration plant mimics real-world recycling conditions in a research environment, said Avient.

On 1 July 2020, PolyOne and Clariant Masterbatches joined together as Avient, a company focused on specialised and sustainable material solutions with projected 2020 pro forma revenues of approximately USD 3.7 billion. Avient has approximately 9,100 employees and is certified ACC Responsible Care and a founding member of the AEPW.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Effective immediately, Clariant will increase the prices of its additives by up to 25%, said the company.

The adjustments will be applied globally to all wax additives, performance polymers, halogen-free flame retardants, stabilizers and other performance additives.

The move is necessary due to the cumulative impact of continued raw material cost increases, challenges in the availability of raw materials, and rapid rises in energy and freight costs.

Clariant's additives provide performance and processing advantages to a wide variety of markets, including plastics, coatings & inks, and consumer.

As per MRC, Clariant, a specialty chemicals major, is selling its pigments business to a consortium consisting of pigment maker Heubach Group (Langelsheim, Germany) and private investment firm SK Capital (South Korea). The combined business will operate under the Heubach name and create a leading global pigments business with annual sales of more than EUR 900 million (USD1.09 billion).

According to MRC's ScanPlast, the total estimated PET consumption in Russia increased in January-April 2021 by 13% compared to the same period a year earlier and amounted to 263,660 tonnes. 78.3% of the increase in consumption falls on the share of bottled PET granulate due to the virtual absence of exports and an increase in the volume of imports. In April, the total estimated consumption amounted to 80,150 tonnes, which is 34% more than in the same month last year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- OPEC and its allies appear in striking distance of a deal on production quotas, discussing proposals that call for an output increase of about 2 million b/d from August to December to meet recovering global oil demand, three sources told S&P Global.

If agreed, the OPEC+ alliance's collective production cuts would shrink by about one-third by the end of the year to about 3.76 million b/d, from July's 5.76 million b/d.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the deal was not yet finalized and that Saudi Arabia was seeking some flexibility to rescind all, or part of the output increases, if Washington and Tehran revive the nuclear deal that relieves sanctions on Iran's oil exports.

An advisory technical committee met June 29 to review the latest forecasts devised by the OPEC secretariat, the base case of which sees oil demand rising 6 million b/d in 2021, with world economic growth at 5.5%.

According to the analysis, which was seen by Platts, if OPEC+ countries hold production levels flat through the rest of the year, global oil demand would exceed supply by 1.6 million b/d in Q3 and 2.2 million b/d in Q4.

Ministers are also considering whether to extend the OPEC+ supply cooperation accord beyond its April expiry to the end of 2022, delegates said.

We remind that as MRC informed earlier, Indian refiners, anticipating a lifting of US sanctions, plan to make space for the resumption of Iranian imports by reducing spot crude oil purchases in the second half of the year. The world"s third-largest oil consumer and importer halted imports from Tehran in 2019 after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 accord and re-imposed sanctions on the OPEC producer over its disputed nuclear programme.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant and India Glycols Limited (IGL), a leading company in the manufacturing of green technology-based chemicals, announced the creation of their 51-49% joint venture for renewable ethylene oxide (EO) derivatives after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals, said the company.

The joint venture will operate under the name Clariant IGL Specialty Chemicals Private Limited. "The successful closing of this joint venture strengthens our core portfolio and makes Clariant one of the leaders in green ethylene oxide derivatives. As part of our strategy, we are committed to adding value through sustainability. Our partnership with India Glycols will make us one of the leading surfactant suppliers in India, with a focus on renewable solutions for home and personal care”, said Conrad Keijzer, CEO of Clariant.

Originally announced in March 2021, the joint venture is now effective and combines IGL’s renewable bio-ethylene oxide derivatives business, which includes a multipurpose production facility including an alkoxylation plant located in Kashipur, Uttarakhand (India), with Clariant’s local Industrial and Consumer Specialties business in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. This combination is to become one of the leaders in green ethylene oxide derivatives and be a leading supplier of these renewable materials to the rapidly growing consumer care market in India and neighboring countries.

Clariant will fully consolidate the joint venture as of July 1, 2021 and expects an incremental addition to the top-line of the Business Area Care Chemicals in the range of around CHF 50 million for the FY 2021. “I am very pleased with the swift manner in which both parties were able to obtain all necessary regulatory approvals. This allows us to now move ahead and leverage IGL’s position as the largest manufacturer of green EO in the world in a value-generating combination with Clariant", commented U.S. Bhartia, Chairman of India Glycols Limited.

Christian Vang, Global Head of Clariant’s Business Unit Industrial & Consumer Specialties, added: "We experience a growing demand among our customers for home and personal care applications based on renewables. With the joint venture officially established, we will press ahead to fulfill this with innovative, sustainable and high-quality solutions based on the unique capabilities of both partners."

The joint venture will be led by Nitin Sharma, currently Head of Clariant’s Industrial and Consumer Specialties business in South Asia, who added: “Profitable growth through sustainability is the key target for all of us in this newly formed company. The entire team will work together to leverage the contributions made by both partners to the joint venture into innovative solutions that serve the growing markets around us.” Mr. U.S. Bhartia acts as the joint venture’s Chairman.

Clariant IGL Specialty Chemicals Private Limited has approximately 200 employees. It markets Clariant’s entire range of Industrial and Consumer Specialties products in the previously mentioned countries, while all other global markets are served by Clariant. To support production, India Glycols has agreed to a long-term supply agreement for ethylene oxide made from bio-ethanol as well as further utilities.

As per MRC, Clariant, a specialty chemicals major, is selling its pigments business to a consortium consisting of pigment maker Heubach Group (Langelsheim, Germany) and private investment firm SK Capital (South Korea). The combined business will operate under the Heubach name and create a leading global pigments business with annual sales of more than EUR 900 million (USD1.09 billion).

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil's Beaumont, Texas refinery is operating at about 60% of its 369,024-bpd capacity as a lockout of union workers nears the end of its ninth week, said sources familiar with plant operations, said Reuters.

Exxon spokeswoman Julie King said operations at the Beaumont refinery are normal. Exxon is operating the refinery with temporary workers, including managers, engineers and refinery unit operators hired after the lockout began.

Reducing production is a routine step refineries take during labor disputes. Several refineries reduced production by 50% during strikes in 2015.

As it was written earlier, Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) restarted the small crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 502,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery on Thursday, following a month of work. An Exxon spokeswoman declined to discuss the status of specific units at the Baton Rouge refinery. The 90,000-bpd PSLA-8 CDU was shut on May 18 for planned maintenance scheduled to last at least 30 days, the sources said.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.

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