Wacker expands its presence in India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Munich-based chemical group Wacker is strengthening its presence in India by opening its expanded technical center for silicone products in Amtala near Kolkata, according to the company's press release.

Operated by the joint venture Wacker Metroark Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. (WMC), the enlarged regional competence center now comprises state-of-the-art applications technology and test equipment for silicone products needed in the textiles, personal care and construction industry.

The chemical Group is thus responding to the growing demand for silicone products and the emerging needs of regional customers for technical support and expertise. The investment amounts to around half a million Euro.

Continued growth in the Asian region prompted enlarging the technical center in the north-east of India. The extended center, now spanning about 1,800 square meters and furnished with state-of-the-art equipment, supports silicone customers in the personal care, textile, automotive and construction sector in the development of new products and applications for the region’s markets. This will help Wacker enhance its position as a market and technology leader for high-quality silicone products.

As MRC reported earlier, in 2013, Wacker Chemie AG officially launched its new production plant for ethylene-vinyl-acetate copolymer (EVA) dispersions at its Ulsan site in South Korea. The additional 40,000 tonnes from the second reactor line increases the site's EVA-dispersion capacity to a total of 90,000 tonnes per year. The production capacity of the site, thus, almost doubled, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea.

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiwan's state-run oil refiner CPC Corp. is in plans to shut its No.5 steam cracker for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the cracker is planned to be shut in early May 2014. It is likely to stay off-stream for around three months.

Located in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 500,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 250,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, Taiwan’s state-run oil refiner CPC Corp. will enter into a strategic alliance with Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. The alliance will give CPC an overseas research and development partner for the first time. CPC also hopes to be able to obtain raw materials and patented technologies through Mitsubishi's global trade network to support a plan to tap into the downstream side of the petrochemical business.

CPC Corporation is a state-owned petroleum, natural gas, and gasoline company in Taiwan and is the core of the Taiwanese petrochemicals industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. reported quarterly profits of USD900 million and a record income for the year so far on strong energy and retail revenues, as per Ein News.

The Mumbai-based company’s net profit for the quarter ending Dec. 31 was up just 0.2% from the same period the previous year.

It said that profits for the nine months since the start of its fiscal year last April were a record-high USD2.6 billion.

Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani said profits were kept steady by the company’s oil refining business plus growing retail revenue, which expanded by 38%.

"This quarter demonstrates the outstanding quality of our refining and petrochemical business resources and their ability to deliver credible performance in a period marked by cyclicality and uncertainties," Ambani said.

As MRC informed earlier, in October 2012, Reliance Industries announced its plans to expand capacity at its refineries in the western state of Gujarat. Earlier last year, Reliance had unveiled an USD18 billion investment plan for India over the next five years.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company's polymer production in 2010-11 (polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride) made 4,094 kilo tonnes. Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Beijing hosted a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Zhou Jiping, Chairman of China National Petroleum Corporation, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The meeting participants addressed the issues of Russian natural gas supply to the Chinese market via the eastern route. Both parties are interested in successful completion of the negotiations and looking forward to signing a contract as soon as possible.

The parties noted that the negotiations were progressing as per schedule and the contract would enter into force in accordance with the previously agreed Major Terms – till late 2014.

It was suggested that the contract should be prepared for signing during Russian President's visit to China scheduled for this May.

As MRC wrote before, Gazprom and CNPC agreed on basic terms of long-awaited gas supplies to China in September 2013.

CNPC is the largest state-owned petroleum company in China (the Government holds a 100 % stake) and is one of the world's leading integrated oil and gas production companies.

Gazprom is a global energy company. Its major business lines are geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas, gas condensate and oil, sales of gas as a vehicle fuel as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.
MRC