Czech firm Unipetrol to invest USD1 bln over five years

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Czech downstream oil group Unipetrol plans to invest 19 billion crowns (USD976 million) over the next five years under a new strategy to help it return to profit, said Reuters.

Unipetrol said it was now aiming for cumulative earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 25 billion crowns over the next five years. That compares to a combined 8.963 billion crowns from 2008 to 2012.

The company, majority owned by Poland's PKN Orlen, posted net losses in 2011 and last year, hit by a downturn in European markets that has squeezed margins for refiners and left the industry with excess capacity.

Unipetrol plans to direct 45% of its investment to growth-oriented projects and the rest to plant upgrades.

By 2017, Unipetrol wants to have increased the capacity utilisation of its petrochemical steam cracker unit by 13 percentage points and increase sales of petrochemical products by 11%, to 1.4 million tonnes.

In the refining segment, Unipetrol wants to boost internal demand and increase production to 4.1 million tonnes in 2017 from 3.8 million in 2012. It also aims to increase its share of the retail fuel market to 20% by 2017 from 14%.

The company's shares showed little reaction to the plans, rising 0.7%, while Prague's main share index fell 0.7%.

Unipetrol, which made another net loss in the first quarter because of weakness in refining and retail, has already begun restructuring its business. It ended crude processing at a smaller refinery a year ago.

The company is also majority owner of the country's main refinery, Ceska Rafinerska, and has said it would look at boosting its stake if minority shareholder Royal Dutch Shell decides to sell out.

The government said in April that Shell had offered to sell its ownership to the state. Unipetrol has a right of first refusal, but company officials told reporters on Tuesday that no offer had yet been put on the table.

The company wants to boost cash flow and executives said it could use the extra cash to invest more or pay a dividend - something it has not done since 2007, the only time it has in the past 15 years. But it said all options were open and there was no fixed plan to distribute excess cash.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Phillips 66 (PSX) is selling its business in Ireland, including the 71,000 barrel-a-day Whitegate refinery in Cork, the company said Tuesday, according to Wall Street Journal.

Rich Johnson, a spokesman for the U.S. refiner, said in a statement that Phillips 66 has retained Deutsche Bank to market the Ireland assets, which include Ireland's sole oil refinery, its associated wholesale marketing business, and a storage terminal for crude oil and refined products in Bantry Bay.

"Phillips 66 intends to continue operating the assets as usual during the marketing process, which is expected to last for several months," Mr. Johnson said.

Most of Phillips 66's refining capacity is in the U.S. and the company has been focused on growing returns there, aided by access to the country's booming output of inexpensive crude oil from shale formations.

Earlier this year, Larry Ziemba, Phillips 66's executive vice president for refining, project development and procurement, told analysts that the company would be open to selling the Whitegate facility, saying that the refinery is "not sophisticated" and not central to the company's strategy.

At the time Mr. Ziemba also said Phillips 66 would also consider selling its stakes in refineries in Malaysia and Germany. Mr. Johnson said Tuesday that the company is not currently marketing any other assets for sale.

Phillips 66 is a holding company created through the repositioning of ConocoPhillips. The company is engaged in producing natural gas liquids and petrochemicals. Phillips 66 owns 15 refineries with a net crude oil capacity of 2.2 million barrels per day, 10,000 branded marketing outlets, and 15,000 miles (24,000 km) of pipelines. In the United States, the company operates Conoco, Phillips 66 and 76 stations.

mrcplast.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF Coatings, BASF Group’s company specialized in paints and coatings industry, has opened a new training center for automotive refinishing in Cesano Maderno, Italy, reported the company on its site.

The new Refinish Competence Center (RCC) will offer customers an opportunity to learn, practice and fully master the use of BASF's automotive refinish products. Training sessions and workshops have been developed and structured in order to enhance the productivity of bodyshops and to increase their efficiency and competitiveness.

The new training center, with an investment of more than EUR2.7 million and an area of 1,200 square meters, will train on average 800 people a year including technicians and end users yearly.

The new Italian RCC, which expands the BASF’s global Refinish Competence Center network, represents a center of excellence exhibiting some of the most advanced technologies and equipment. It offers two lines specifically devoted to small damage repair, two top-of-the-notch paint booths, a painting mixing station and a state-of-the-art infrared drying system. The layout has been planned according to the standards of the BASF RCC policy. The centers serve as training facility and marketing platform for BASF Coatings refinish brands and the equipment partners.

"The new Refinish Competence Centre has been designed with a strong focus on our customers," added Renato Chiesa, Managing Director of BASF Coatings in Italy. "In the current complex market environment, we believe that our center will offer bodyshops additional tools that will contribute to increase the efficiency level and the profitability of their business."

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, as part of BASF's major innovation investment in China, the company opened the first Innovation Campus Asia Pacific and its new Greater China headquarters at its site in Pudong, Shanghai, in late 2012. The investment amounts to EUR 55 million. With this expansion the company's site will be one of BASF's largest outside of Germany. The further expansion of the facility is also planned.

In the Coatings Division, BASF develops, produces and markets a high-quality range of innovative automotive OEM coatings, automotive refinishes and industrial coatings as well as decorative paints. BASF has significant market positions in the Coatings sector in Europe, North America, South America and the Asia Pacific region. In 2012 t he Coatings Division of the BASF Group achieved global sales of nearly EUR3 billion.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yibin Tianyuan Group is in plans to restart its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant after maintenance, reported Apic-Online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is likely to restart by end of this week. It was shut on May 13, 2013.

Located in Sichuan province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 380,000 tonne per year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, another PVC producer Sinopec Qilu had conducted maintenance works at its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant, which started on April 8, 2013 and ended in the first half of May, 2013.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC is one of the first producers of plastics to the European food industry to have all its food contact declarations updated in line with changes to European Union regulations, three years ahead of the required 2016 deadline, according to the company's press release.

Companies in the food packaging chain using polyolefins - polyethylenes (PE) and polypropylenes (PP) - can now access SABIC’s new food safety and compliance declarations.

These changes are intended to further increase the safety of packaged foods. SABIC has been required to retest all its polyolefins packaging materials to make sure they are compliant with the new testing conditions. SABIC provides hundreds of food contact declarations concerning its European polyolefins portfolio as an important service to its customers.

The new regulations involve more stringent testing on the ways migration from packaging into food is tested. As these new regulations come into force over the next three years, plastics processors and packaging companies will need to seek further assurances on compliance from their materials suppliers.

For PE and PP, SABIC already has assessed all substances regulated with a Specific Migration Limit (SML) under the new conditions (10 days at 60C). Its tests showed that none of its PE or PP materials will be subject to additional restrictions for use in food contact applications.

Food contact legislation in Europe is based on the principle that all substances are forbidden unless they are explicitly allowed. As far as migration from the package to the contents is concerned, there are strict limits on specific migration (SML, relating to individual chemicals) and overall migration (OML, the sum of all specific migrations).

While there is no formal obligation for them to execute migration tests, all manufacturers of plastics raw materials have to provide a Document of Conformity (DoC) to their direct customer, providing confirmation that the material meets the relevant legal requirements. Additionally, they have to disclose the identity of monomers and additives, regulated with a SML and/or QM restriction, as well as the identity of "dual-use" additives, and they have to provide information on restrictions of use if relevant.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, another major global chemical producer BASF has successfully completed the second phase of registration for REACH under EU chemical law. REACH stands for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals and represents a fundamental reorganization of chemical law in Europe.
REACH applies to all substances currently produced in or imported to the EU. This is intended to ensure the safe handling of chemical substances in Europe.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world’s top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world’s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers. SABIC recorded a net profit of SR 24.72 billion (USUSD 6.59 billion) in 2012, down 15,5% year-on-year. Sales revenues for 2012 totaled SR 189 billion (USUSD 50.40 billion). Total assets stood at SR 338 billion (USUSD 90.13 billion) at the end of 2012. SABIC manufactures on a global scale in Saudi Arabia, the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.
MRC