Lanxess increased prices for nitrile-butadiene rubber

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The High Performance Elastomers (HPE) business unit of specialty chemicals group Lanxess has increased its prices for nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) globally effective November 1, 2013, reported the company on its site.

The price adjustment per metric ton for NBR is EUR60 for specialties and EUR100 for standard qualities. In Dollar markets the adjustment per metric ton is USD150 for specialties and USD200 for standard qualities.

This adjustment is unavoidable because the costs for raw materials have risen significantly.

Marketed under the Lanxess brand names Perbunan, Krynac and Baymod N, the rubber grade NBR is used for seals, hoses in hydraulic and pneumatic applications or blankets for rolls.

The HPE business unit is part of Lanxess’ Performance Polymers segment, which recorded sales of EUR 5.18 billion in fiscal 2012.

As MRC informed previously, Lanxess has recently developed a new polyester material grade based on polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The new material grade - Pocan TP 555-001 - is excellently suited to manufacturing housings, sockets and other components for light-emitting diodes (LED). What makes the product unique is its excellent light reflection, which hardly declines at all over time, and its high heat stability. Besides, it is reinforced with glass fibers and contains special additives.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR9.1 billion in 2012 and roughly 17,400 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 50 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The global automotive plastics revenue is expected to grow from USD21,617 mln in 2012 to USD46,112 mln by 2018 at an estimated CAGR of 13.4% from 2013 to 2018, as per Plastemart with reference to MarketsandMarkets.

In 2012, Asia-Pacific was leading in the automotive plastics consumption volume by 50.5%, followed by Europe (28%), North America (11.3%), and rest of the world (10.1%). Among these regions polypropylene leads consumption by 37%, followed by polyurethanes (PU) (17.3%), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) (12.3%), composites (11.5%), high density polyethylene (HDPE) (10.8%), polycarbonates (PC) (6.8%), and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) (4.4%), due to their easy forming properties and their availability at cheaper price than other materials.

The automotive plastics are among one of the widely preferred alternatives for light-weighting of automobile as they offer enhanced properties such as superior impact strength, easy mold-ability, improved aesthetics, and reduced weight as compared to conventional automotive components such as High speed steel (HSS) and Aluminum. The increasing demand of passenger cars and the supply to fulfill the same in Asia-Pacific is one of the main drivers for increasing consumption of automotive plastics globally.

As MRC wrote earlier, BASF opens new center in Thailand for Asian growing automotive market. BASF has set up a new Coatings Technical Competence Center ASEAN in Bangkok, Thailand. This new facility supports technical and laboratory activities mainly in motorcycle coatings including technology transfer, product development, performance testing, color design and development, and houses a sales and marketing team as well as a technical service team of more than 20 professionals, all catering to motorcycle manufacturers in the ASEAN region.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Plans by Mexican state-run oil monopoly Pemex to build a new USD10 billion refinery in the eastern state of Hidalgo do not appear in the company's updated five-year business plan, but a Pemex spokesperson said on Saturday that the project has not been formally cancelled, said Reuters.

While some local media was reporting that the refinery project had been cancelled, Pemex said it had not made any such announcement.

"We have not said the project is being terminated," said a Pemex spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with company policy.

To date, only a wall enclosing the perimeter of the project has been completed at Tula, 51 miles (82 km) north of Mexico City.

In September, Pemex announced a USD3.5 billion expansion of the existing refinery at Tula, the country's second biggest, near the planned the location for the new refinery. The existing Tula refinery can process 325,000 bpd.

Pemex's updated 184-page business plan was issued on Friday and details projects from the company's four subsidiaries from 2014 through 2018.

The plan does note that gasoline projects at Pemex's Tula and Salamanca refineries "will suffer major deviations due to disagreements over the allocation process and poor contractor performance," but does not further detail the plans for the Tula refinery.

As MRC wrote before, Pemex) said one person was killed while five others suffered injuries on Tuesday afternoon when an explosion rocked its crude oil refinery in the state of Hidalgo. The incident took place at the Miguel Hidalgo refinery which is situated in the town of Tula.

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, polypropylene, polystyrene.MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron has as expected finally signed on the dotted line for its USD10 billion deal with Ukraine for the Olesska shale production sharing agreement, said Upstreamonline.

Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and Chevron regional president James Johnson were on hand for the signing at the presidential palace in Kiev.

Yanukovych said that the deal - along with a similar USD10 billion pact inked with Shell in January for the eastern Yuzivska block - would introduce modern technologies and experience to Ukraine as well as strengthen its energy security.

"Implementation of large-scale projects with Shell and Chevron will have let Ukraine satisfy its gas needs completely and, under the optimistic scenario, export energy resources by 2020," he said in remarks posted the Ukrainian presidency website.

Chevron had initially agreed with the Ukrainian government in May 2012 on a 50-year licence for the acreage in western Ukraine, but wrangling over regional approvals has slowed the deal’s progress.

In August, deputies in the Ivano-Frankovsk region rejected the original terms of the licence before agreeing to amended terms a month later that granted regional authorities a 10% slice of state revenues from Olesska.

Last month, deputies in the Lviv region also accepted the new PSA, clearing the final hurdle for the agreement to be signed.

Ukraine's State Geological Service estimates the reserves of gas-rich Olesska could total between 800 billion and 1.5 trillion cubic metres.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese has informed employee delegates in Roussillon, France, and work council in Tarragona, Spain, of contemplated closures of the Roussillon acetic anhydride facility and the vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) production unit in Tarragona, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Celanese announced on May 22, 2013, that it wanted to find credible buyer for both properties, with the primary focus on industrial candidates.

The company said it placed great effort in identifying credible buyers that could ensure sustainable operations, retain employees and meet the financial criteria defined by the company to ensure successful future operations of the VAM production unit in Tarragona and the acetic anhydride plant in Roussillon.

To date, no credible buyers have been identified and no offers for acquiring these facilities were made.

Therefore, Celanese said it will begin discussions concerning the possible closure of both the acetic anhydride facility in Roussillon and the VAM production unit in Tarragona. This action is initiated to safeguard the competitiveness of the Celanese acetyl business.

The need for these contemplated projects emerged from an assessment of Celanese’s overall corporate strategy, which included an assessment of the company’s global manufacturing facilities. Specifically, in support of the company’s acetyl portfolio, the manufacturing footprint strategy favors integrated production sites that provide critical economies of scale.

Celanese subsidiaries that operte these facilities expect to soon begin the consultation process with local employee representatives to mitigate the social impact of the closures to the best possible extent.

As MRC wrote before, Celanese and Mitsui & Co. have agreed to form a 50-50 joint venture for a previously announced project to produce methanol at Celanese's integrated chemical plant at Clear Lake, TX.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications.
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