SABIC UK in bid to ramp up competitiveness

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC UK, an affiliate of Saudi Arabia's petrochemical major, plans to cut costs and improve competitiveness in Europe, as per Gazette Live.

SABIC UK Petrochemicals, which has operations on Teesside including the olefins cracker and LDPE (low density polyethylene) plant at Wilton, wants to build a large storage tank at its North Tees site for new feedstocks.

The North Tees site houses SABIC’S major feedstock and product logistics equipment and its aromatics complex.

A spokesperson said: "We are continuously reviewing the competitiveness of our assets worldwide including in Europe and on Teesside. As such, we are in the process of assessing the impact of new and alternative feedstocks on our businesses. It’s too early in the process to say more, but it has to do with alternative feedstocks and improving our competitiveness by becoming more efficient and lowering costs. The restructure on Teesside is also part of the plan to increase competitiveness."

Jacobs, a consultancy acting on SABIC’S behalf, said the plans will "create a more sustainable economic future for Teesside operations" and make the site more efficient. A report to planners says: "Alternative feedstock arrangements are currently available that would improve the sustainability of the business on Teesside, and to take advantage of this opportunity, SABIC must increase their feedstock storage flexibility."

As MRC reported before, in October 2013, the Polymershapes division of Sabic opened a new US branch in Austin, Texas, to give local customers better access to its plastics and associated products.

SABIC UK LTD, based in Redditch, South West Birmingham has been operating in the UK for nearly 35 years. The company have established a very strong position in the polyethylene and polypropylene business with a market share of around 18%.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world’s top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world’s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil giant BP has reported a fall in profits for 2013. Underlying replacement cost profit - which strips out one-off gains and the effect of oil price movements - was USD13.4bn last year, down from USD17.1bn in 2012, said the producer in its press release.

BP said lost income from asset sales, weaker margins on refining and higher exploration write-offs were to blame. For the final three months of last year, BP said underlying replacement cost profit fell to USD2.8bn from USD3.9bn.

The result for the third quarter was just above average analyst forecasts for USD2.7bn. Including the impact of the asset sales and one-off gains, BP said replacement cost profit for the year more than doubled to USD23.7bn compared with USD11.4bn in 2012.

This was largely thanks to the one-off gain from BP's USD17bn sale of its interest in the joint venture TNK-BP, which it sold to Russia's Rosneft.

BP has sold off USD38bn worth of assets since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, helping it to fund compensation payouts.

However, this sell-off has hit production. BP said it expected reported production to be lower in 2014 due to the sales. The oil firm said in October it still plans to sell off a further USD10bn worth of assets by the end of next year.

"Capital discipline is central to BP's strategy; making the right investment choices, sticking to our capital limits, and actively managing our portfolio in pursuit of long term value," said BP chief executive Bob Dudley.

BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, has announced a EUR 35/tonne hike in February's gross market polystyrene (bulk GPPS) price, said the producer in its press-release.

The business division, located in Fribourg, Switzerland, said the premium to HIPS would remain at EUR 105/tonne. The announcement comes in the wake of February's styrene monomer contract having been fixed EUR 17/tonne higher.

As MRC wrote before, Styrolution and Braskem, the largest producer of thermoplastic resins in America and a global leader in biopolymers, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to investigate the formation of a joint venture in Brazil. The proposed 100,000 tonne plant would supply specialty styrenics, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) copolymers, to customers in Brazil and throughout South America.

The Styrolution Group GmbH is a global provider of styrenics , headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. The company is a joint venture between BASF (50%) and INEOS (50%), were merged into the main styrene operations of the two partners. Its main focus is on the production of monomer, polystyrene, styrenic specialties, and ABS. The company offers styrene plastics for a variety of everyday products from different industries , such as automotive, electronics, construction, household, leisure, packaging, medicine and health.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Price offer for imported Asian polystyrene in Russia remained steady, despite the January rise of the dollar against the rouble. At the same time traders do not exclude prices to grow soon, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The range of Asian expandable polystyrene (EPS) in the Russian market was heard at Rb85,000-86,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

The buying activity seasonally remained sluggish. Currently trading companies offer material, which was imported earlier at the lower exchange rate, a source said. Trader also noted that it is difficult to rise price now amid seasonal slowdown in consumer activity.

One of the traders announced increase in prices for Chinese EPS to Rb88,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. However, according to the trader, consumers did not accept this level of prices.

Price offer for PS in the late February is expected to increase because of the growing exchange rate, which is now at USD1 = Rb35,23, whereas at the beginning of January it was USD1 = Rb32,72 (devaluation of 7.6%).

Traders said price offer for Asian EPS for Russian market could rise to Rb89,000-90,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Some market players anticipate prices of Russian EPS to increase in March.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- February brought a slight rise in prices of dioctyl phthalate (DOP) plasticizer in the Russian market. Some producers have announced price increases of Rb1,000/tonne, according to MRC Price report.

Demand for DOP plasticizer remained weak in the Russian market because of seasonal factors. Nevertheless, the Perm producer has already announced an increase of Rb1,000/tonne in February prices of DOP plasticizer from January.

Overall, deals for February shipments of Russian DOP plasticizer were done in the spot market at an average of Rb70,000/tonne FCA, including VAT.

DOP plasticizer (dioctyl phthalate) is used to plasticize vinyl resins (SPVC, EPVC), copolymers of vinyl chloride in the production of cable flexible PVC, artificial leather, rubber products, plastic building materials, packaging films.
MRC