Borealis prepares for Borouge 3 start up

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrian petrochemical company Borealis has begun preparations for the start of Borouge 3 in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, reported Apic-online with reference to Borealis CEO Mark Garrett's statement at the K fair international plastics and rubber fair in Dusseldorf, Germany.

"We have begun preparations for the start up of Borouge 3 like air testing and drying of units. The different units will start up in a staggered way through 2014," he said.

Borouge 3, includes an 1.5 million mt/year ethane cracker, three polyethylene (PE) units with a capacity of 1.43 million mt/year and two polypropylene (PP) with a capacity of 960,000 mt/year.

The Borealis CEO added that the cracker will start before the polyolefins unit. "We will have shipments of ethylene to balance the usage. We can also balance usage within our Borouge system," he added. He did not specify the exact start up dates.

The existing capacity of Borouge 1 and 2 is 2.1 million mt/year of ethylene, 1.14 million mt/year of PE, 860,000 mt/year of PP and an olefins conversion unit with a capacity of 752,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote earlier, in 2012, Borealis and Borouge combined their expertise to serve the automotive market by introducing a new grade of polypropylene (PP) specified for use in lightweight bumper applications for two new Renault automotive platforms.

Borouge is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil company and Borealis.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexico's state-owned oil and gas company Pemex expects petrochemical production to rise 25% to 10 million tpy if sweeping energy policy overhaul measures are approved, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Pemex wrote on its official Twitter page that output would increase from its current 8 million tpy with the reform, which is expected later this year.

The reform would allow more private sector participation within the petrochemical sector and the broader downstream industry, which analysts have said is a prime target for growth.

The reform was proposed in August by President Enrique Pena Nieto, who is looking to spur economic growth in Mexico by attracting billions of dollars in investments and improve competitiveness in the country by lowering energy prices for manufacturers.

Though Mexico has the world's fourth biggest reserves of shale gas, crude oil production has fallen for nearly a decade due to a model in which Mexico pays foreign companies to drill wells and provide other services.

Under Nieto's plan, new constitutional and contractual arrangements could potentially reverse that decline.

As MRC reported earlier, Pemex and Mexichem have recently entered into a joint venture, which will enable greater competitiveness of the domestic petrochemical industry in the global market through the integration of a new company, which will create value to the chlorine-vinyl chain. The joint venture includes a cash investment and assets contribution up to the amount of USD518 million, of which PEMEX will participate with USD228 million in assets while Mexichem will contribute with both, USD90 million in assets and USD200 million in cash in order to modernize the Pajaritos complex.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world"s second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- GS Caltex has opened a chemical plant in the Czech Republic to increase its supply of compounded resin in Europe, as per GV.

The plant is built on a 40,000 square meters land at an industrial complex in Karvina (370 km east of Prague), according to the firm, South Korea’s second-largest oil refiner.

It said the plant can produce 30,000 tons of compounded resin, a functional plastic widely used in manufacturing cars and electronics products, per year. The company added its annual supply of the product will reach 190,000 tons worldwide.

"The completion of the plant has allowed us to take a meaningful step in the compounded resin market in Europe as an international manufacturer," said GS Caltex Vice Chairman and CEO Huh Jin-soo at the ceremony held on the site to celebrate the establishment of the plant.

This is the first time that a Korean enterprise is running a plant with a capacity to manufacture 30,000 tons of compounded resin, according to the firm.

It said it will sell its polymer compounds to the Korean companies operating in the region. They include the country’s two biggest automakers - Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors - and the electronics giant Samsung Electronics.

"We also plan to expand our sales to other global enterprises such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen in the near future," GS Caltex said.

The firm said it will increase the amount of annual production at the Karvina plant to 50,000 tons by 2016. It also said the plant is anticipated to have annual sales of 1 billion won (USD 94.1 million) in 2017.

GS Caltex sold 6,000 tons of the compounded resin in Europe last year. The total size of the regional market in the same time period was 12,000 tons.

With the new plant, the firm said it anticipates increasing annual production of compounded resin to 240,000 tons by 2016 worldwide.

As MRC reported previously, CB&I was recently awarded a contract by GS Caltex for the license, basic engineering and catalyst supply for a new paraxylene (PX) unit to be built in Yeosu, Korea. The unit will use the BP paraxylene technology, exclusively licensed by CB&I, and will have a world-scale design capacity. Start-up is expected in 2016.

GS Caltex has been producing compounded resin domestically as well as overseas. Its domestic plants include the ones at the industrial complex in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province and Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province. In Langfang, China, it operates a plant with an annual production capacity of 40,000 tons. The plant in Heibei Province has supplied polymer compounds to China and neighboring nations such as Russia, Taiwan and Thailand. It also has another Chinese unit in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Dow Chemical Co reported lower-than-expected quarterly results due to weak earnings at its performance materials unit and said it expects to raise USD3 billion to USD4 billion from asset sales, said Reuters.

The company is looking to sell its epoxy, commodity chlorine derivatives and European construction materials businesses, which together contribute about USD6 billion to annual sales.

Dow Chemical and rival DuPont are shifting focus to production of seeds and pesticides, where sales have been booming, and are shedding businesses that are more exposed to swings in commodity prices.

The performance materials unit, which makes epoxy, engineered plastics and polyurethane foams, reported a 36% fall in third-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).

"In performance materials, we are still facing significant headwinds and so that's why you see us increasing that divestiture target to USD3-4 billion," spokeswoman Rebecca Bentley said.

"We are taking very aggressive actions within (epoxy as well as portions of the company's chlorine business) right now to improve profitability but we are also stating very clearly that a transaction is likely," she said.

Dow Chemical did not outline a time frame for the new asset sales target. The largest U.S. chemical maker by sales has divested non-core businesses representing about USD8 billion in revenue since 2009.

The company sold its polypropylene licensing and catalyst business to smaller rival W.R. Grace & Co (GRA.N) for USD500 million this month as a part of its earlier plan to sell non-core assets worth about USD1.5 billion by 2014.

Lower earnings at the performance materials unit offset gains in the agriculture and plastics business, leading the company to report lower-than-expected results for the first time this year.

As MRC wrote before, Dow Elastomers, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, will begin the production of AFFINITY GA Polyolefin Elastomers (POEs) for hot melt adhesives in Tarragona, Spain. This is a milestone for Dow, as it is the first time the production of AFFINITY GA POEs will take place in Europe.

Dow Chemical's net income rose 20% to USD594 million, or 49 cents per share, also helped by its packaging, coatings and infrastructure and electronics businesses. Adjusted profit was 50 cents per share, missing the average analyst estimate of 54 cents per share. Revenue rose 1 percent to USD13.73 billion. Analysts on average had expected USD13.99 billion.


mrcpast.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF continues to design differentiated products in high-value applications, and optimize the global production network. BASF will invest EUR250 million in the next four years in its production network as well as in research and development, said the company in its press release.

Approximately 650 positions globally will be reduced by 2017. "The measures we are undertaking will make us more responsive to market and customer needs. We also continue to significantly invest in innovation as the leading pigment supplier," said Dr. Markus Kramer, President of the Dispersions & Pigments division.

BASF will optimize its global production network for pigments. The major measures include the closure of the Paisley plant in Scotland and the restructuring of the Huningue plant in France. In addition, BASF is examining strategic options for the site in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The planned investments in the production network will further strengthen the production footprint in Asia Pacific, the fastest-growing market. This also includes the start-up and expansion of a plant for high-performance pigments at BASF’s wholly-owned production site in Nanjing , China, and the expansion of the BASF pigments plant in Ulsan, Korea.

"The future global production network will enable us to reliably and efficiently supply our partners from a competitive base," added Kramer. Further measures to improve the competitiveness of the Performance Products segment continue to be analyzed.

As MRC wrote previously, in mid-September, SIBUR, a leading Russian gas processing and petrochemicals company, and the German chemicals giant BASF signed a long-term cooperation memorandum to supply additives used for polymer production and processing at SIBUR’s production facilities. The deal provides for supplies of additives used to produce polypropylene, polyethylene, synthetic rubbers, thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), and ABS plastics at SIBUR's production facilities, with BASF ensuring also technical support.

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