Braskem appoints a new Chief Financial and Investor Relations officer

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem has announced that Mario Augusto da Silva is its new Chief Financial and Investor Relations Officer, succeeding Marcela Drehmer, according to the company's press release.

The change is a natural part of the process of renewing leaderships and planned succession that characterizes the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology (TEO). The main pillars of Braskem's financial management, which include a firm commitment to financial discipline and supporting the growth plan, remain the Company's key priorities.

Awarded a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Salvador (Unifacs) in Bahia in 1998, Mario Augusto da Silva has extensive knowledge of the petrochemical industry and Braskem, where he began working while the Company was still being formed company, in 2001, where he stayed until 2005, when he left to pursue his MBA at Harvard Business School (concluded in 2007).

Upon returning, he became chief financial officer at Construtora Norberto Odebrecht. Later, he served as chief financial officer at the companies Odebrecht Oleo & Gas and Odebrecht Infraestrutura - America Latina, where he worked until recently.

Marcela Drehmer, after having served three years as chief financial officer of Braskem, will assume the new challenge of serving as chief financial officer of Odebrecht S/A, replacing Felipe Jens, who will become the new leader of Odebrecht Properties. While she was at the helm of Braskem's financial department, the company obtained investment grade ratings from the three major rating agencies: S&P, Moody's and Fitch.

In recent months, Braskem has been strengthening its focus on reducing the level of financial leverage and maintaining its long debt profile, which will remain the priorities of the incoming administration.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, biopolymer producer Braskem has recently expanded its distribution agreement with German bioplastics manufacturer FKuR beyond Europe to include the United States and Canada.

Braskem is the leading producer of thermoplastic resins in Latin America and the US, following its purchase of polypropylene assets of Dow Chemical. The company serves 70% of Brazilian demand in PP, PE and PVC resins, but foreign resin imports have gained Brazilian market share in recent years. Brazil's annual consumption of PP is estimated at 1.4 million tons this year. Braskem has been a target of criticism by plastics processors over its perceived dominance of the resins market. Brazil's import tariff on foreign PP is 14%, but could increase. Brazil's federal government raised the import tariff on PE in late 2012 from 14-20%.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF will increase its global capacities for producing the chemical intermediate 1,4 butanediol (BDO) and the BDO derivative - polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF) within the coming two years, according to the company's press release.

BASF’s annual BDO capacity will rise from 535,000 to 650,000 metric tons, its annual PolyTHF capacity from 250,000 to 350,000 metric tons. With respect to PolyTHF, BASF had already announced a capacity increase from 185,000 to 250,000 metric tons per year in August 2012.

The company continuously expands its production capacities by implementing measures to boost efficiency and improve its infrastructure, as per the statement. These measures include, in particular, investments in the double-digit million euro range to increase capacity for BDO operations at BASF’s Geismar, Louisiana, site, and for PolyTHF operations at the Caojing, China, site.

Part of the announced capacity increase will be a BDO and a PolyTHF plant located at Korla, China. As recently announced these plants will be built by two joint venture companies established by BASF and Xinjiang Markor Chemical Industry Co. Ltd. The plants will be capable of manufacturing annually 100,000 metric tons of BDO and 50,000 metric tons of PolyTHF. They are expected to begin operations in 2015. The companies intend to supply these high-quality products to their customers in the Chinese market.

PolyTHF, which is used to make elastic spandex fibres for a variety of textiles, serves as a chemical building block for thermoplastic polyurethanes and BDO is used to produce technical plastics, polyurethanes, solvents, electronic chemicals and elastic fibres.

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. BASF produces BDO with an annual capacity of 535,000 tonnes at its sites in Germany, China, Japan and Malaysia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shanxi Coking Co. Ltd., has signed a license agreement for UNIPOL polypropylene (PP) process technology with Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology LLC, a wholly owned Subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, reported Dow on its site.

Shanxi Coking is the 14th UNIPOL PP technology licensee to sign in China since 2006. The 400,000 tpa plant is expected to start up in 2015 and will produce homopolymers, random copolymers and impact copolymers. The plant will be located in Hongdong City in the Shanxi Province.

Based in Hongdong County, Shanxi Province, China, Shanxi Coking is a subsidiary of Shanxi Coking Coal Group (SCCG), one of the largest coal coking enterprises in the Shanxi province.

As MRC informed previously, Dow UNIPOL polypropylene technology is gaining popularity in China. Thus, last year another Chinese chemical producer Jiutai Energy signed a license agreement with Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology, a wholly owned Subsidiary of Dow for a 350,000 tpa methanol-to-olefin based PP plant. Jiutai licensed UNIPOL PP process technology to produce homopolymers, random copolymers and impact copolymers.

Polypropylene is a versatile plastic used in packaging, durable goods, automotive parts, non-wovens, fibers and consumer applications.

The UNIPOL PP process for polypropylene is a comprehensive technology and services package with established worldwide success. It combines product and catalyst know-how with leading gas-phase process technology and technology transfer expertise. Resins produced by UNIPOL polypropylene technology from Dow account for 17% of global polypropylene output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Board of Royal Dutch Shell plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, has announced that Ben van Beurden will succeed Peter Voser as Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 January 2014, reported the company on its site.

Peter Voser will leave Shell at the end of March 2014, marking the end of 29 years with the company.

Van Beurden, 55, has been Downstream Director since January 2013.

"I am delighted to announce Ben van Beurden as the next Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell," said Chairman Jorma Ollila. "Ben has deep knowledge of the industry and proven executive experience across a range of Shell businesses. Ben will continue to drive and further develop the strategic agenda that we have set out, to generate competitive returns for our shareholders."

"Van Beurden’s selection came after a comprehensive assessment and review of internal and external candidates led by the Board Nomination and Succession Committee," Chairman Jorma OllilaOllila added.

Van Beurden joined the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies in 1983 and has held a number of technical and commercial roles in both the upstream and downstream businesses. He has worked in The Netherlands, Africa, Malaysia, USA and, most recently, the UK.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Royal Dutch Shell Plc increased its first-quarter earnings on new projects and refining. Earnings excluding one-time items and inventory changes rose 3% to USD7.5 billion from a year ago.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- UK supermajor BP said it will start pulling some staff from Egypt as unrest in the North African nation escalated following the military's ousting of president Mohammed Mursi, said Upstreamonline.

In a statement, BP said that "as a precautionary measure, we will be withdrawing a number of non-essential expatriate staff, contractors and families on a temporary basis".

It added that all staff were safe and that its local oil and gas production had not been affected. "This decision was taken after reviewing guidance from governments and our own monitoring of the situation on the ground," the statement said. It added: "Around 40 essential expatriate staff remain and our office in Cairo is open."

BP is the first major operator to reduce its ranks in the strife-hit country, a sign of the broader impact of the political crisis.

A Shell spokesman told Dow Jones that it does not comment on specific security issues but that it is "following the situation in Egypt closely" and that "the safety and security of our staff is our top priority". As MRC wrote before, Chevron is in advanced talks to sell most of its downstream assets in Egypt and Pakistan in a sale that could be valued at around USD300 million. The company is conducting separate sale processes for its assets in both countries, the sources said in the report.

Houston-based Apache, one of the top operator's in Egypt, also said it does not comment on security measures but stressed that "nothing has materially changed" due to the unrest. Drilling and production activities "continue unabated", a spokesman told Upstream, adding that Apache's Egypt operations are located in remote areas away from the centres of unrest.

Tensions mounted in Egypt on Friday as security forces opened fire and launched tear gas at Mursi supporters, reportedly killing at least one person and injuring several others.

The US State Department has advised all Americans living in Egypt to leave the country, and has reportedly advised non-essential US diplomats to leave as well.

Mursi, Egypt's first democratically elected leader, and his top aides were placed under house arrest on Wednesday. Egypt's army also declared a state of emergency in areas bordering the Suez shipping route following an airport attack by Islamists.

The unrest has pushed oil prices higher.
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