BASF plans switch to registered shares

March 18 (yourpetrochemicalnews) -- BASF SE plans to convert its bearer shares to registered shares. A proposal to this effect will be put to the shareholders at the Annual Meeting of BASF SE on April 29, 2010. Registered shares offer benefits for shareholders and the company. They facilitate even better and more direct communication with shareholders and meet the wishes of many shareholders for easy registering and issuance of proxies for the Annual Meeting. The conversion will also generate savings, for example through the sending of invitations to the Annual Meeting directly to shareholders. Unless they object, owners of registered shares will have their name and number of shares entered in the company's share register.

The conversion will not have any affect on the legal position of shareholders recorded in the share register. Their stake in the company remains unchanged and their rights as shareholders will not be affected. Nor will the switch to registered shares limit or complicate the purchase or sale of BASF shares for shareholders. If the annual meeting approves the proposal, the conversion of the 918.5 million BASF shares will take place on August 2, 2010.

Shareholders will be informed by their custodian banks about the upcoming conversion of bearer shares and entry in the share register.

MRCMRC Reference

BASF. The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PS - 9.1% (GPPS - 5.9%, ABS - 11.4%, EPS - 10.6%).

Annual sales growth in Russia over the 5 years:
PS - 15%.

Imports by polymers processing technologies:
foaming;
injection molding.

Indian firm demands review of PET import measures

March 18 (fibre2fashion) -- The European Commission has received a request for a partial interim review pursuant on protection against subsidised imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from countries not members of the European Community.

The request was lodged by Vacmet Packagings (India) Private Limited, an exporting producer from India. The review is limited in scope to the examination of subsidisation as far as the applicant is concerned.

The product under review is polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film originating in India, currently falling within CN codes ex 3920 62 19 and ex 3920 62 90.

The measures currently in force are a definitive countervailing duty imposed by Council Regulation on imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film originating in India, as amended by a Council Regulation (EC) No 15/2009.

Regulation (EC) No 367/2006 extended the countervailing duty to imports of polyethylene terephthlate (PET) film consigned from Brazil and consigned from Israel whether declared as originating in Brazil or Israel or not, with the exception of certain companies specified in Article 1(3) of that Regulation.

The applicant has provided prima facie evidence that the circumstances with regard to subsidisation on the basis of which measures were established have changed significantly and that these changes are of lasting nature.

The applicant alleges that the continued imposition of the measure on imports of the product under review at its current level is no longer necessary to offset the countervailable subsidisation.

The applicant has provided sufficient evidence that its subsidy amount has decreased well below the duty rate currently applicable to it. This reduction in the overall subsidy level is mainly due to a significant drop in the benefits availed of under the Duty Entitlement Passbook Scheme (DEPB).

MRC

Turkey's Petkim to invest in Izmir and grow further

March 17 (hurriyetdailynews) -- Petkim aims high with its plans to invest $5 billion in the next three years. Currently, the company's top priority is to establish a refinery in its Aliaga complex located in the Aegean city of Izmir. Petkim earned a positive environmental assessment from the authorities, and now it is expecting to have the refinery license in the first half of this year.

Petkim Petrokimya Holding, Turkey's biggest chemicals maker, aims to invest $5 billion within the next three years.

A big portion of the $5 billion will be spent on establishing a refinery in Petkim's Aliaga complex located in the Aegean city of Izmir, Hayati Ozturk, managing director of Petkim, told members of the press at a meeting held Tuesday to announce the company's 2009 financial results and 2010 targets.

"The refinery we are planning to establish is the most important investment of Socar&Turcas. It is expected to cost $4 billion," said Ozturk speaking to journalists in the Istanbul meeting. Petkim will use its own equity to meet 35 percent to 40 percent of the cost of the refinery. The rest will be met through a project funding.

Petkim is currently waiting for a license to build the refinery. The construction of the refinery will start once Petkim receives its license from the Energy Market Regulatory Authority, or EPDK. Petkim's refinery carries an additional importance due to the fact that, when it begins operating, it will end the reliance on Turkey's sole naphtha refiner Tupras, Ozturk said.

"Our main goal is to use the latest technology in this refinery," said Ozturk. ⌠The refinery, which will be built on 135 hectares, is expected to be completed by 2014," he said.

Petkim's capacity use at its facilities will rise to 96 percent this year from 91 percent in 2009, Ozturk said. The company will make 3.1 million tons of chemicals this year from 3 million tons in 2009, he added.

⌠We got a positive environmental assessment report from authorities, and now we expect to have the refinery license in the first half of this year, said Batu Aksoy, a Petkim board member. ⌠We want to complete it by 2014 with the world's fastest technology.

The plant, with a refining capacity of 10 million tons of crude annually, will mainly produce naphtha, Kenan Yavuz, chief executive officer of Socar-Turcas, the parent company, said at the same news conference. It will supply 2 million tons of raw materials a year by 2014 for Petkim and 8 million tons of ⌠non-gasoline fuels for the local market and for export, he said. ⌠This project will provide the integration of refinery, the petrochemical industry, energy and logistics," said Yavuz, who is also a board member for Petkim. With the new investment, he said, "by 2018 we aim to make our local market share reach 40 percent."

The new refinery, which will be built on the Petkim peninsula, will provide employment to 10,000 people.

Socar&Turcas Enerji, a partnership of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, fuel retailer Turcas Petrolculuk and the Aksoy family, bought 51 percent of Petkim from the Turkish government for $2.04 billion in 2008.

Petkim plans to turn its Izmir site on Turkey's west coast into an industrial zone similar to Singapore's Jurong Island, Yavuz said in an interview before the news conference, according to Bloomberg.

⌠We are receiving great interest from chemicals producers all over the world to come and produce chemicals using raw materials to be supplied by Petkim, he said. ⌠They will make end-products at our site. Petkim is holding talks with the Singapore government to get the ⌠know-how for the project, he said.

A $2 billion joint venture in Iran to access cheaper raw materials is still at the feasibility stage, he said. The venture would produce 300,000 tons a year of suspension polyvinyl chloride, or S-PVC, a plastic used in food containers and water pipes, and 195,000 tons of caustic soda, used in production of pulp and paper as well as soap. A similar venture may be considered in Egypt, Yavuz said.

MRC


Polypropylene prices rising in Russia

MOSCOW (MRC) - In mid-March prices for Russian PP-homo varied within the range of RUB51.000-54.000/mt - according to MRC Price Report.

The tight Russian polypropylene market resulted in further growth of prices. In March, raffia prices moved at RUB51.000-52.500/mt, including VAT. Sufficient volumes of Turkmen polypropylene have been delivered to the market this week.

Demand for injection moulding PP became much stronger. Prices climbed at RUB53.000-54.000/mt, including VAT. Market players are afraid that the suspension of production at Kapotnya and Ufa at the end of April - beginning of May might seriously affect the market balance.

MRC

For more detailed information, see Russia Weekly Price Report.

Leistritz testing dryer-less PET sheet extrusion

March 17 (plasticstoday) -- Extrusion machinery supplier Leistritz has set up two of its MAXX twin-screw extrusion systems, and related auxiliary equipment, in its Somerville, NJ lab to process undried PET and directly extrude it in sheet form. Leistritz says only that the result is a quality product with "dramatically less energy consumption."

In most production environments, PET resin typically is dried separately before being processed on a single-screw extruder. The ZSE-27 and ZSE-50 extruders that are being fed undried PET pellets or regrind have multi-stage vacuum venting to minimize or avoid hydrolysis. The extruders have a gear pump, screen changer, and flexible-lip sheet die attached, which feeds the 3-roll stack that cools and forms the PET sheet.

Leistritz says the ZSE-MAXX series, with increased torque capabilities and a 1:66 OD/ID ratio, is especially well suited to PET processes that are torque-, heat-, and shear-sensitive. The series also has an improved barrel cooling design that benefits PET processing.

MRC