Material supplier Geon grows in U.S. and Canada with Roscom acquisition

Material supplier Geon grows in U.S. and Canada with Roscom acquisition

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Materials supplier Geon Performance Solutions has acquired Roscom Inc., an ISO 9001:2015–certified PVC compounding facility in Croydon, Pa., said Canplastics.

The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Roscom makes flexible and rigid PVC compounds for both indoor and outdoor applications. In a Dec. 20 news release, Geon CEO Tracy Garrison said that Roscom “is an excellent fit” for Geon.

"This addition represents a key step forward in our strategy," Garrison said. “The Croydon facility and tenured team will enable us to better serve our customers in the Northeastern U.S. and parts of Canada. We intend to maximize the incredible expertise of the Roscom team and look forward to bringing its additional product portfolio to our customers."

Roscom president and chief operating officer Nick Lynch, will remain with the company through the transition as an advisor, the news release also said, and sales and manufacturing operations for both companies will continue as usual through the transition.

Westlake, Ohio-based Geon operates 10 manufacturing plants in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and China, and supplies materials for the appliances, building and construction, electronics, healthcare, transportation, and wire and cable sectors.

As per MRC, Westlake Chemical plans to begin scheduled maintenance works at its cracker at Lake Charles, Louisiana in September. The cracking unit with a capacity of 740,000 tonnes of ethylene per year (Petro 2) will be shut down for maintenance for 60 days starting from September.

Asa per ICIS-MRC Price Report, negotiations on January shipment of Russian polyvinyl chloride (PVC) have started this week. At the same time, both suppliers and buyers were in no hurry to agree on deals for the next month.
Independently of each other, producers began to announce December prices for January shipments. PVC prices continued to decrease on the foreign markets, but this factor has not affected prices in Russia yet. Because of long logistics and "low season", converters do not even think about an import alternative.

MRC

Lotte Chemical to invest USD211mln to expand its ethylene oxide adduct line in South Korea

Lotte Chemical to invest USD211mln to expand its ethylene oxide adduct line in South Korea

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Corp., a petrochemical unit of South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, said Friday it will spend 250 billion won (USD211.4 million) to expand its domestic production line of ethylene oxide adduct (EOA), according to Kemicalinfo.

The expansion of the production line in Daesan, a county in the central South Chungcheong Province, will help boost its EOA production capacity by an annual 150,000 tons to 480,000 tons globally, the company said in a release.

It will also increase the production of high-purity ethylene oxide (HPEO), a main source of EOA, to 250,000 tons, the company said.

EOA is an ethylene-based ingredient used in a chemical agent that reduces water in concrete used for the construction of large structures, such as skyscrapers, piers and dams. The agent reduces the water usage by 30%, which enhances the durability of the concrete.

Lotte Chemical invested 120 billion won in January to expand the EOA production by 100,000 tons at its Yeosu factory on the country’s southern coast.

Currently, the Daesan factory has production capacity of 50,000 tons, with the Yeosu factory touting 230,000 tons and a China-based factory having 50,000 tons.

As MRC informed before, Lotte Chemical shut its naphtha-fed steam cracker in Daesan for an annual maintenance on 15 May, 2021. This cracker with the capacity of 1.1 million mt/year of ethylene and 550,000 mt/year of propylene resumed production on 23 June, 2021.

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 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Lotte Chemical runs two naphtha crackers in South Korea. One cracker is located in Daesan county in Seosan which can produce 1.1 million tonnes per year of ethylene with the other 1.2 million tonnes per year cracker in the southwestern city of Yeosu.
MRC

Francois Fillon joins the board of directors of SIBUR

Francois Fillon joins the board of directors of SIBUR

MOSCOW (MRC) - Former Prime Minister of France, who is also a representative of Russia on the board of directors of Zarubezhneft, Francois Fillon has been nominated and elected to the board of directors of SIBUR Holding, Interfax reports.

The Board of Directors included Fillon in the list of candidates on November 18, but SIBUR announced this simultaneously with the disclosure of the decision of the shareholders' meeting of December 22 on the election of a new board.

In addition, the board of directors includes Anton Ustinov from SOGAZ (head and owner of SG-Invest LLC, which holds 16.54% of the insurer's shares) and Albert Shigabutdinov from TAIF.

Fillon became an independent director. As noted in SIBUR, "Mr. Fillon is not only a top-level manager, but also a consistent supporter of promoting the sustainable development agenda, the importance of recycling and reusing raw materials." SIBUR in its strategy is also guided by the principles of the circular economy. Mr. Fillon's experience, his extensive knowledge of management, economics and business processes will help the company in promoting ESG initiatives, "SIBUR said.

SIBUR's shareholder Kirill Shamalov, independent director Andrei Vernikov (leading researcher in the sector of evolution of socio-economic systems at the Center for Evolutionary Economics of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences), and the deceased Vladimir Razumov left the board of directors, consisting of 12 people.

Otherwise, the council remained unchanged: Ksenia Sosnina, General Director of JSC Ilim Group, Sergey Vasnetsov (previously he worked as Senior Vice President for Strategy at LyondellBasell), Alexey Komissarov (Vice-Rector and Director of the Higher School of Public Administration RANEPA), Head of Gazprom oil Alexander Dyukov, Chairman of the Board of PJSC SIBUR Holding Dmitry Konov, Chairman of the Board of PJSC NOVATEK Leonid Mikhelson, member of the Board of Directors of NOVATEK Gennady Timchenko, Executive Vice President of the Silk Road Fund Wang Dan, and CEO Chemical Department of Sinopec Corporation Li Chengfeng.

Mikhelson, the main shareholder of SIBUR, was re-elected Chairman of the Board. Fillon joined the Audit, Human Resources and Remuneration Committee and the Sustainable Development Committee. Ustinov and Shigabutdinov - to the Committee on Strategy and Investments, Shigabutdinov also to the Committee on Sustainable Development.

Mikhelson owns 31% in SIBUR, Timchenko - 14.45%, shares of Chinese Sinopec and the Silk Road Fund - 8.5%, SOGAZ - 10.625%, current and former top management - 12.325% (of which Shamalov's share is 3 , 3%), as well as TAIF shareholders - 15%. In early December, a number of personnel changes were announced in the management of SIBUR and TAIF.

In October, SIBUR closed the deal to acquire 100% of TAIF JSC, which includes Nizhnekamskneftekhim, Kazanorgsintez and TGK-16.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

SIBUR manufactures and sells petrochemical products on the Russian and international markets in two business segments: olefins and polyolefins (polypropylene, polyethylene, BOPP, etc.), as well as plastics, elastomers and intermediate products (synthetic rubbers, expanded polystyrene, PET, etc.)
MRC

COVID-19 - News digest as of 24.12.2021

1. Crude oil rise on reduced fears of Omicron-induced demand slump

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices bounced in a light-volume session on Thursday on signs that the worst effects of the Omicron variant might be more containable than previously feared, even as countries imposed travel restrictions on surging infection levels, reported Reuters. The oil market has wavered in recent days over how seriously to take the threat of another slump in fuel demand. The Omicron variant is more transmissible than previous coronavirus variants, but early data suggests it causes a milder level of illness. Brent crude futures settled up USD1.56, or 2.1%, at USD76.85 a barrel, the highest close since Nov. 26, and a gain of 4.5% on the week.

MRC

Albert Shigabutdinov joined the Board of Directors of SIBUR

MOSCOW (MRC) - General Director of TAIF Management Company Albert Shigabutdinov joined the board of directors of SIBUR holding, the press service of the company reported.

In addition, the board of directors includes Anton Ustinov from SOGAZ (the head and owner of SG-Invest LLC, which holds 16.54% of the insurer's shares) and former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon. In total, the list of members of the board of directors includes 12 people.

At the board of directors on December 20, Leonid Mikhelson was elected chairman of the board of directors of SIBUR Holding, Alexander Dyukov - deputy chairman of the board of directors of SIBUR Holding.

In early December, a number of personnel changes were announced in the management of SIBUR and TAIF.

In October, SIBUR closed the deal to acquire 100% of TAIF JSC, which includes Nizhnekamskneftekhim, Kazanorgsintez and TGK-16.

SIBUR manufactures and sells petrochemical products on the Russian and international markets in two business segments: olefins and polyolefins (polypropylene, polyethylene, BOPP, etc.), as well as plastics, elastomers and intermediate products (synthetic rubbers, expanded polystyrene, PET, etc.)
MRC