Dow Q2 sales and profits soar

Dow Q2 sales and profits soar

MOSCOW (MRC) - Dow Inc's second-quarter profit doubled from the previous quarter on the back of rising polymer prices, demand and declining inventories, the company said.

Prices were up 16% from the prior period and volumes were up 1%, boosted by increased demand in the infrastructure, industrial and personal care markets.

Net operating income increased in the first quarter by USD2.06 billion, or USD2.72 per share, from USD1.02 billion, or USD1.36 per share, to USD2.06 billion in the third quarter.

Earlier it was reported that Dow Chemical, one of the largest US petrochemical companies, on 19 July began the process of restarting production at its cracker No.7 in Freeport (Freeport, TX, USA) after a technological disruption earlier this month.

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 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.

Dow Chemical is an American diversified chemical company headquartered in Midland, Michigan. It is a major manufacturer of polymer products, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene and synthetic rubbers. The company produces more than five thousand products at 188 production facilities in 37 countries.
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AkzoNobel to reduce supply chain emissions by 42% by 2030

AkzoNobel to reduce supply chain emissions by 42% by 2030

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel’s target is to reduce carbon emissions for the whole value chain by 42% by 2030 (baseline 2020). This will apply to the company’s own operations, as well as its partners, such as customers and suppliers, as per the company's press release.

Currently being officially validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the target will further sharpen and accelerate the company’s vision for its own People. Planet. Paint. approach to sustainable business, which was launched in 2019.

AkzoNobel has become the first paints and coatings company to follow up on its commitment to setting science-based sustainability targets by announcing carbon reduction targets for the full value chain. The company has aligned its own sustainability ambitions with the Paris agreement, which aims to limit global warming and ensure that global temperature rise does not exceed 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.

“Setting a target like this really matters,” says AkzoNobel CEO, Thierry Vanlancker. “It’s a clear signal that we’re preparing to mobilize our teams globally and take stronger action to tackle climate change. We need to act fast and focus on collaboration and innovation. When push comes to shove, there are those who contribute towards a zero carbon future and those who don't. We’re determined to do all we can and set the example by being the frontrunner in our industry.”

AkzoNobel has already taken great strides forward with its People. Planet. Paint. approach and is forging ahead of target on two key environmental ambitions – halving its own carbon emissions and having 100% renewable electricity in the company’s operations by 2030. To highlight this strong progress, it was recently announced that AkzoNobel would operate only on renewable electricity in Europe by 2022.

As MRC wrote before, AkzoNobel has strengthened its paints business and footprint in Spain by completing the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Spanish decorative paints maker Titan Paints for an undisclosed fee in March, 2021.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in March 2021 by 5.4% year on year. Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 6.7% in the first moths months of 2021.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, AkzoNobel is active in over 150 countries and employ around 33,000 people who deliver the high-performance products and services customers expect.
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SIBUR-Khimprom intends to expand its customer base in Russia by shipping styrene in road tank cars

SIBUR-Khimprom intends to expand its customer base in Russia by shipping styrene in road tank cars

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR-Khimprom (Perm) plans to expand its presence in the Russian petrochemical market by delivering styrene monomer (SM) by road from Perm, reported Business Class.

Traditionally, SIBUR-Khimprom ships SM to customers in rail tank cars. Shipments by road will allow the company to meet the needs of customers who require small quantities of material.

"The shipment of styrene by road tank cars is necessary, first of all, for small enterprises with moderate consumption of SM in production, which do not have their own storage facilities. We fill a railway tank car with 66 cubic meters of products, and a car tank holds no more than 22 cubic meters, such volumes are of interest to many small- and medium-sized enterprises, "said Oleg Gryaznov, SIBUR-Khimprom's leading engineer.

According to the calculations of SIBUR-Khimprom experts, SM shipments by road will allow the company to increase the number of customers at the expense of the Central and Volga regions, where it will be profitable to deliver material by road from Perm, as well as by concluding small-scale deals with small businesses.

At present, the commissioning works at SIBUR-Khimprom, which will allow to start shipments of styrene by road tank cars, have already been fully completed.

The idea to ship SM by road was approved by the investment committee and implemented within two years. According to experts, its implementation will allow the plant to increase its sales of SM by 2,500-3,000 tonnes per year.

Commissioning works started at the beginning of 2021. The first SM shipment in a road tank car took place in May 2021.

As MRC reported earlier, SIBUR-Khimprom also produces dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP) - a special eco-friendly phthalate-free PVC plasticizer for general use in the amount of up to 100,000 tonnes per year. The final investment decision on the construction of a DOTP line at SIBUR's site in Perm was made in April 2017, and production was launched in the second quarter of 2019.

SM is the main feedstock for the production of polystyrene (PS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics totalled 236,110 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, up by 27% year on year (172,360 tonnes). May estimated consumption in the country was 48,880 tonnes, up by 66% year on year.

OAO SIBUR Holding is the largest petrochemical company in Russia and Eastern Europe with full coverage of the industry cycle from gas processing, production of monomers, plastics and synthetic rubbers to plastics processing.
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Gazprom neftekhim Salavat shut PE production

Gazprom neftekhim Salavat shut PE production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gazprom neftekhim Salavat (Salavat, Bashkortostan) shut down its polyethylene (PE) production for a scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's customers said Gazprom neftekhim Salavat took off-stream it low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) production capacities for a scheduled maintenance on 20 July. The outage will be quite long and will last for 30 days. The plants' production capacities are 45,000 and 120,000 tonnes per year, respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's total HDPE production reached 11,400 tonnes in May, compared to 10,200 tonnes in April. Thus, the Salavat plant's overall production of this PE grade totalled 48,900 tonnes in January-May 2021, down by 8% year on year.

OAO "Gazprom neftekhim Salavat" (formerly OAO "Salavatnefteorgsintez") is one of the leading petrochemical companies in Russia, carrying out a full cycle of processing hydrocarbon material. The list of products manufactured by the plant includes more than 140 items, including 76 grades of the main products: gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, fuel oil, toluene, solvent, liquefied gases, benzene, styrene, ethylbenzene, butyl alcohols, phthalic anhydride and plasticizers, polyethylene, polystyrenes, silica gels and zeolite catalysts, corrosion inhibitors, elemental sulfur, ammonia and urea, glycols and amines, a wide range of household products made of plastics, surfactants and much more.
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COVID-19 - News digest as of 22.07.2021

1. Crude oil rises over 4% despite higher US inventories

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices rose more than 4% Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session as improved risk appetite provided support despite data showing an unexpected rise in US oil inventories, reported Reuters. Brent crude futures rose USD2.88, or 4.2%, to settle at USD72.23 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose USD3.1, or 4.6%, to settle at USD70.30 a barrel. Futures are rebounding after dropping around 7% on Monday, following a deal by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together known as OPEC+, to boost supply by 400,000 barrels per day from August through December. The sell-off was exacerbated by fears that a rise in cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in major markets like the United States, Britain and Japan would affect demand.

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