SOCAR announces terms of starting polypropylene production in Azerbaijan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SOCAR announces production of polypropylene and polyethylene of high density in Sumgait will launch in 2016, said a senior representative of SOCAR (The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan), as per Futtures.


According to the source, the construction of two new plants for the production of polypropylene and polyethylene of high density will complete in 2015.


SOCAR in 2012 signed a contract to build a plant for the production of polypropylene and polyethylene of high density with an annual capacity of 200,000 and 100,000 tons respectively. Construction of these facilities is planned in the Sumgait Chemical Technology Park.


The SOCAR Polimer Company is established for the implementation of these projects. The State Oil Company has already established an enterprise with authorized capital of USD51 million. SOCAR plans to keep its share in this project at 51% and the remaining part will be offered to private companies.


According to the senior representative of SOCAR, currently the work is underway to attract shareholders, and the process of financing the construction of new facilities will be carried out on a shared basis.


SOCAR Vice President for Economic Affairs Suleyman Gasimov earlier said that SOCAR plans to attract up to USD200 million from local banks within creation of polymer production in Azerbaijan. The total volume of anticipated investments in SOCAR Polimer plant in Sumgait Chemical Technology Park amounts to USD500 million.


According to him, nearly 30% of investments in this project will be attracted from shareholders and a large part is planned to attract from banks and through issuing of long-term nominal bonds which will be placed in the country's domestic market.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SP Chemicals is likely to restart a vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant following maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is likely to be restarted in end-September 2013. It was shut on September 3, 2013.

Located in Jiangsu, China, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Formosa Plastics shut down its vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant on September 16, 2013. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month. Located in Mailiao, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 800,000 mt/year.

SP Chemicals, a Singapore-based company is one of the largest ion-membrane chlor-alkali producer and aniline producer in China. The company's products include: aniline, caustic soda, chlorine, chlorobenzene, nitrochlorobenzene, nitrobenzene, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). SP Chemicals plans to invest approximately RMB1.1 billion in facilities for the production of styrene monomer, an intermediate raw chemical used in making polystyrene plastics, protective coatings, polyesters and resins.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell is continuing the supply of styrene monomer to its customers despite having its own supply from Singapore-based joint venture plant Ellba Eastern halted, reported Apic-online with reference to a spokeswoman for Shell.

"Shell has not declared force majeure on its customers. We continue to closely monitor the situation," she said.

Ellba Eastern on Monday declared force majeure on SM supply to its owners Shell and BASF. The plant at Jurong Island can produce 550,000 mt/year of SM and 250,000 mt/year of propylene oxide.

This led BASF, which holds a 50% stake in Ellba Eastern, to declare force majeure on SM supply from Singapore to its customers.

Shell however, has another plant at Jurong Island which can produce 350,000 mt/year of SM and 175,000 mt/year of propylene oxide, allowing it to continue supplying to its customers.

In addition, Shell has other SM production facilities in Asia, including joint ventures in Saudi Arabia and China, providing alternative supply sources.

As MRC informed previously, earlier this year, Royal Dutch Shell took a final investment decision tol increase production capacity at its Singapore petrochemical plant to meet demand for specialized materials used in the automotive and furniture industries. The upgrade will increase the plant's capacity to produce polyols -- industrial chemicals used to make high-quality foams - by more than 100,000 metric tpy to 360,000 tpy. The project is expected to be completed in 2014.

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) -- French oil company Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, has reiterated its hydrocarbon production targets for the medium term, thanks to a strong investment push over the past years which should start to trend down from next year, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In a presentation to investors, Total said it anticipates a strong increase in cash flow from the start-ups of major oil and gas extraction projects, as well as from the restructuring of its downstream businesses -- refining and chemicals, and marketing and services.

The world's fifth largest nonstate oil company by output, Total has embarked upon an ambitious plan to restore profitability for its loss-making refining businesses, at the same time as making a huge investment push to search for new oil and gas, which is now more difficult to find as it is rarer and lodged in remote areas such as deep offshore or off the Arctic circle.

The plans highlight the French group's intensive efforts to maintain and even reinforce its global position, as competition around the world has grown fierce over the past few years against a background of rising costs to produce oil and gas, the race for new hydrocarbon sources to address growing emerging markets' appetite, while facing the decline of crisis-hit Europe.

In the coming months, the group should start-up numerous production projects. The restructuring of refining and chemicals "has begun to bear fruit," as profitability is increasing towards the target of 13% return on average capital employed set for 2015, Total said.

As MRC informed previously, Total intends to invest EUR160m before 2016 to adapt its petrochemical platform in Carling, in the Lorraine region of eastern France, and to restore its competitiveness. The company plans indeed to develop new activities on the platform in the growing markets for hydrocarbon resins (Cray Valley) and for polymers, while shutting down the acutely loss-making steam cracker in the second half of 2015. The Carling plant, which makes petrochemicals such as ethylene and propylene at the site near the German border, employs 350 Total workers as well as sub-contractors. These chemicals are used to make plastics.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Flexible packaging giant Amcor Ltd. is looking to expand in India through another acquisition.
Melbourne, Australia-based Amcor is negotiating with Chennai, India-based Murugappa Group to buy its Tuflex division, which makes flexible packaging, said Plasticsnews.

"We have signed an agreement in July to purchase flexible packaging plant located in Gujarat," said Ralf Wunderlich, president & managing director of Amcor Flexible Asia Pacific, in an email response to questions from Plastics News from his Singapore office.

Amcor is looking for bigger presence in Indian USD30 billion packaging sector, which is growing 12% annually.
"We are looking forward to closing this transaction soon," Wunderlich said.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Amcor acquired Uniglobe Packaging Ltd. last year and before that Alcan Packaging — which included operations in India — in 2009. Amcor has plants in Daman, Chaken and Haridwar, India.

Amcor Limited is an Australian-based multinational packaging company. It operates manufacturing plants in 42 countries. It is the world's largest manufacturer of plastic bottles.
MRC