SIBUR reduced export prices of expandable polystyrene

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiyo Petrochemical is in plans to shut its styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance next year, reported Apic-online.

The company has planned a maintenance turnaround at the plant in September 2014. The shutdown is expected to remain in force for around 30 days. The plant is currently operating at full production capacity levels.

Located at Ube in Japan, the SM plant has a production capacity of 370,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, another Japanese petrochemical producer - Taiyo Vinyl Corp., a subsidiary of Tosoh Group, is in plans to shut its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant located at Osaka in Japan for maintenance. The PVC plant has a production capacity of 170,000 mt/year and is likely to be shut for a maintenance turnaround in July 2014 for a period of about one month.

Taiyo Vinyl Corporation, a subsidiary of Tosoh Group, is one of Japan's largest manufacturers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The plant in Chiba is one of the company's key assests, which supplies 50% of its products to the domestic market. The company also produces PVC at the plants in Yokkaichi and Osaka with the annual capacity of 310,000 and 150,000 tonnes, respectively.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- OpenGate Capital, a global private buyout firm, has signed an exclusivity agreement with Belgian chemicals leader, Solvay S.A. to acquire Benvic, a leading PVC compounder with three manufacturing plants in Europe, according to the company's statement.

This project is subject to applicable information/consultation procedures with employee representatives and regulatory approvals. The sale is expected to be completed by the first half of 2014.

Under the Benvic brand name, the business develops, produces and markets high quality innovative PVC based thermoplastic solutions in the form of powders and compounds that are utilized across a wide range of end-applications including building and construction, automotive and aerospace, cabling, pharmaceutical, packaging and fluid transport.

Andrew Nikou, OpenGate Capital’s founder, Managing Partner and CEO stated, "Benvic would be a strategic complement to OpenGate Capital’s portfolio in Europe. The project would be in line with our strategy to develop our presence in the global PVC industry after having acquired Profialis from Tessenderlo Group in January of 2013, a leading European PVC profiles manufacturer. Profialis and Benvic would have a total annual production capacity of more than 200,000 tonnes and close to USD330 million in consolidated annual revenues. This is another testament to the merits of our firm’s investment strategy to build and operate businesses in diverse and global markets."

As MRC informed previously, Braskem, the largest polymer producer in the Americas and the world leader in biopolymers, has recently announced the execution of an agreement with Grupo Solvay for the acquisition of 70.59% of the total and voting capital of Solvay Indupa, which produces PVC and caustic soda and owns two integrated industrial facilities in Brazil and Argentina.

Benvic operates across Europe from its manufacturing facilities in France, Italy and Spain. The business employs over 200 people with annual revenues of USD220 million.

OpenGate Capital is a global private buyout firm specializing in the acquisition and operation of businesses seeking revitalization through growth and operational improvements. Established in 2005, OpenGate Capital is headquartered in Los Angeles, California and maintains offices in Paris, France and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical has restarted its acrylonitrile (ACN) plant, said Apic-online.

A source in China informed that the plant resumed operations on December 25, 2013. It was shut on November 20, 2013 for maintenance turnaround.

Located in Shanghai, China , the plant has a production capacity of 130,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, Top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp won initial approval last month from China's top economic planner for a plan to build a USD10-billion refinery and petrochemical complex in Shanghai.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical companies with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its refining and ethylene capacity ranks No.2 and No.4 globally. The Company has 30,000 sales and distribution networks of oil products and chemical products, its service stations are now ranked third largest in the world.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- French company Total has announced Qatar Petroleum International has taken a 15% interest in its subsidiary, Total Exploration & Production Congo, said Upstreamonline.

The original agreement was signed in May this year, which will see Total transfer a stake in the company to QPI.

The USD1.6 billion increase in Total E&P Congo’s capital will consolidate its financial capacity as the company progresses the Moho Nord deep offshore project.

Total chief executive Christophe de Margerie said this was an important milestone.

“This builds on Total’s already well-established partnership with Qatar and at the same time strengthens our commitment to the development of the Congolese petroleum industry," he said.

As MRC wrote before, Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, 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. Total 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.

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.

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