Styron moves into its new North American operations center

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Styron, the global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber, have moved into its improved North America Operations Center, located at 409 Ashman Street in Midland, Michigan, as per the company's press release.

The new office space serves as one central location for more than 40 employees in customer service, feedstocks, finance, purchasing and supply chain for North America. These employees were previously located in five separate buildings in Midland, both inside and outside the Michigan Operations plant site.

"Midland remains Styron’s largest location in the U.S., with 183 employees in Midland, including the 40 employees who are located in the new building on Ashman Street," said Jeff Denton, Vice President of Feedstocks and Corporate Services. "By committing to a larger office space in downtown Midland we hope promote Styron’s culture as an independent company, demonstrate how we’re continuing to invest in the local economy and further build our presence in the Midland community."

As MRC wrote before, Styron had previously announced plans to change the name of all Styron affiliated companies to Trinseo. Some, but not all, of the Styron companies have completed the name change process and are currently known as Trinseo; Styron companies that have not completed this process will continue to do business as Styron until their respective name changes are complete. Styron's operating companies also continue to do business as Styron at this time.

Styron is a leading global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber, dedicated to collaborating with customers to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions. Styron’s technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Styron had approximately USD5.3 billion in net sales in 2013, with 19 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,100 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The overall imports of polyethylene (PE) into Ukraine fell by 27% over the first four months of 2014. Imports of all PE grades decreased with high density polyethylene (HDPE) to account for the largest drop of the total imports, according to MRC DataScope.

April PE imports to Ukraine rose to 17,400 tonnes, while March imports fell to its lowest level over the last few years and totalled about 16,700 tonnes. The overall PE imports to the Ukrainian market slumped to 75,600 tonnes from January to April versus 102,900 tonnes a year earlier. The political instability and national currency devaluation (over 45%) were the main reasons for such a major decline in PE purchasing by Ukrainian companies.

The supplies structure by PE grades over the stated period looks the following way.

Last month's HDPE imports to the Ukrainian market dropped to about 5,400 tonnes from 7,600 tonnes in March. HDPE imports fell over the first four months of the year by 29% year on year to 32,300 tonnes. Imports decreased from all countries-suppliers (Russia, Europe and the Middle East). If PE supplies are consideres with regard to processing technology, then film grade and pipe grade PE account for the most serious reductions im imports.

April imports of low density polyethylene (LDPE) rose to 7,400 tonnes from 5,400 tonnes a year earlier. LDPE imports to Ukraine slumped to 25,100 tonnes from January to April 2014 versus 33,800 tonnes a year earlier. Limited export quotas of the main suppliers - Russian and Azerbaijani producers - affected LDPE imports apart from the factors mentioned previously.

Last month's imports of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) into Ukraine almost reached 4,000 tonnes, while this figure was about 3,000 tonnes in March. The overall LLDPE imports fell over the first four months of 2014 to 15,000 tonnes from 20,000 tonnes a year earlier. Stretch films producers and the Middle East PE accounted for the main fall in imports.

The overall imports of other polymers of ethylene totalled over the said period about 3,200 tonnes, while this figure was 4,000 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - LUKOIL, the second largest Russian oil company, does not exclude a partial resumption of polymers production in July. Full resumption of the production complex is planned be in January 2015, said the press service of the company.

Currently, the company has been actively doing repair work. It is expected that ethylene and propylene capacities will be fully restarted in January 2015.

The company begins to test PP production, using imported propylene from 1 June, 2014, but the real launch of polypropylene complex will be not earlier than in July due to the shortage of propylene in the Russian market.

"The most anticipated for the Russian polymer market will be the start of high density polyethylene (HDPE) production. Stavrolen is the second largest producer in Russia, and a similar accident in 2012 led to very bad consequences in the market: HDPE prices have soared to record levels and exceeded Rb100,000/tonne, including VAT and the delivery in August - September, "- said MRC analyst Sergei Karaychentsev.

"Situation in PP market is quite different. Last year, Russian PP capacities grew twofold on the back of the launch 210,000 tonnes/year PP production at Poliom and 500,000 tonnes/year PP capacities at Tobolsk-Polymer.
New plants by far offset the shortage of PP from Stavrolen, as PP exports from Russia is increasing"- he added.

Commission Caucasian Rostechnadzor completed the investigation over the causes of a fire that occurred on 26 February, 2014 in the gas separation workshop number 2 at ethylene and propylene production at Stavrolen. It was found that the cause of the fire was depressurized aluminum heat exchanger due to the destruction of the corrugated plate left heat exchange section. The commission admitted the actions of the staff of the enterprise during the incident as professional and operational, said the press service of the company.

As previously reported, after a fire in December 2011, the company resumed production of polypropylene in March 2012. Then the damage was estimated at Rb800 m.

"Stavrolen" (part of LUKOIL) is the second largest Russian producer of high density polyethylene (HDPE) after Kazanorgsintez and fifth in terms of production of polypropylene. Stavrolen's production capacities for HDPE and PP production are 300,000 tonnes/year and 120,000 tonnes/year, respectively.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nova Chemicals Corp. debt is trading as if Canada’s largest chemical maker is rated investment grade for the first time in a decade, with projects set to tap cheap US shale gas seen cutting costs and swings in earnings, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Credit-default swaps show the cost to insure debt of Nova against default over five years has dropped 50% since June 2013 to 125 basis points, in line with borrowers rated at the lowest investment-grade of Baa3, according to Moody’s Analytics. Calgary-based Nova is rated Ba1 by Moody’s Investors Service and BB+ by Standard & Poor’s, the highest junk-bond grades for each company.

Nova is in the final stages of securing low-cost ethane, a natural-gas liquid, piped from US shale formations to facilities in Ontario and Alberta -- just south of Canada’s oil sands production region. The projects should stabilize fluctuating earnings and cash flow and eventually boost profit, said David Fisher, a Toronto-based analyst at S&P.

"We expect the conditions for a possible upgrade to be met sometime in 2014," Fisher said by phone on May 23. “What we need to see is the company is well on its way to having the projects fully operational and that there are not going to be any major execution challenges as they ramp up."

As MRC wrote before, Nova Chemicals remains on target for a late-2015 startup for its Polyethylene 1 expansion project in Alberta, expected to add at least 950 million lbs/year of linear low density (LLDPE) production the plant. The Calgary-based company has a current annual LLDPE capacity of 1.48 billion lb/year at the Joffre plant.

Nova, which has USD850 million of debt, hasn’t been rated investment grade by S&P since 2002. S&P raised the company’s outlook to positive on Feb. 14.

Nova Chemical is one of the largest world's petrochemical companies, a manufacturer of polyethylene, styrene polymers, monomers, and many other related products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis AG has developed a portfolio of polypropylene compounds that contain post-consumer recycled content intended for use in interior, exterior and under-the-hood automotive applications, said the producer in its press release.

Developed for Borealis' European customers, the three Daplen grades will enable the automotive industry to fulfill the need for materials with enhanced sustainability while ensuring performance on par with virgin materials, according to the company.

"We see a clear trend towards the use of recyclates together with virgin materials," said Jost Eric Laumeyer, Borealis’ global marketing manager for engineering applications. "Today, answering the call for materials with increased sustainability and increasing resource efficiency is no longer an aspiration but a business imperative for the automotive industry."

Harald Hammer, Borealis vice-president of engineering applications, added: "Thanks to cooperation and the close connection we have established with our partners over the years, we have been able to develop these new Daplen grades".

As MRC wrote before, Borealis AG plans to get the first drops of ethylene flowing by the end of May from a plant expansion in the emirate costing more than USD4 billion.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. Borealis is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, and operates in over 120 countries with around 5,300 employees worldwide.
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