Koch Industries rides U.S. shale boom with PetroLogistics buy

MOSCOW (MRC) - A Koch Industries Inc unit will take PetroLogistics LP (PDH.N) private in a deal worth USD2.1 billion, including debt, gaining control of a plant that can convert cheap U.S. shale gas into propylene, a key petrochemical used to make plastics, said Reuters.

PetroLogistics' propane dehydrogenation plant produces about 1.45 billion pounds of propylene per year. Propylene is also used to make paints, coatings, building materials, clothing, automotive parts and packaging, among other things.

The unit, Flint Hills Resources LLC, a refining, chemicals and biofuels company, will also buy all of the membership interests in PetroLogistics general partner PetroLogistics GP LLC.

A number of companies, including Dow Chemical Co (DOW.N), Enterprise Products Partners LP and BASF SE, are building plants in the United States to convert natural gas into propylene. Natural gas is about three times cheaper in the United States than in Europe, thanks to the shale boom, giving U.S. petrochemical companies a significant advantage over their oil-dependent European rivals. Propylene has traditionally been made from the oil distillate naphtha, but cheap shale is gaining importance as a feedstock.

Flint Hills Resources LLC operates as a refining, chemicals, and bio-fuels company. The company offers petrochemicals products such as ethanol, aromatics, intermediates and EPS, olefins, and polymers. The company is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Flint Hills Resources LLC operates as a subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc. Koch, with annual revenue of USD115 billion, was the second-largest private company in the United States in 2013, according to Forbes.

PetroLogistics LP is a major producer of propylene and is the only independent dedicated propylene producer in the United States. PetroLogistics LP owns and operates the world’s largest propane dehydrogenation facility, based on production capacity, located in the vicinity of the Houston Ship Channel.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Building Products will invest USD24 million to expand PVC pipe production in Newbern, Tenn, said Plasticsnews.

Royal and Tennessee officials announced the project May 22. Royal recently converted the Newbern operation to PVC pipe from vinyl siding production. The boost in pipe production will create 85 new jobs in Dyer County.

"The Newbern location provided our PVC pipe business with an opportunity to establish a manufacturing presence near growth markets in the southern United States and take advantage of western Tennessee’s strength as a transportation and distribution center," noted Paul Czachor, Royal’s vice president and general manager of pipe and fittings, in a news release.

Czachor said Newbern employees have experience with building products and vinyl extrusion which will help smooth the way for transition to extruding PVC pipe.

Royal’s other PVC pipe plants are in Woodbridge, Ontario, where it is headquartered, and in Abbottsford, British Columbia. The Abbotsford location’s involvement with pipe dates back to 1913, when it began making clay pipe.
Royal did not disclose where it relocated vinyl profile production from Newbern. In 2011 it expanded its profile product offerings and production capacity by acquiring the Columbus, Ohio, siding business of Crane Group.
Tennessee Economic and Community Development, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the city of Newbern and Dyer County are assisting Royal’s pipe project. Royal is a division of Axiall Corp. of Atlanta.

As MRC wrote before, Axiall Corp. is considering building a USD3 billion ethane cracker and chemical plant somewhere in Louisiana. The Atlanta-based chemical manufacturer says it could make a decision sometime early next year. Axiall would invest USD1 billion of its own money, while an unnamed partner would put in USD2 billion.

Axiall Corporation is a leading integrated chemicals and building products company. It is an international manufacturer of chlor-alkali and derivatives, chlorovinyls and aromatics products including chlorine, caustic soda, vinyl chloride monomer, chlorinated solvents, calcium hypochlorite, ethylene dichloride, muriatic acid, phosgene derivatives, polyvinyl chloride, vinyl compounds, acetone, cumene and phenol. It also manufactures vinyl-based building and home improvement products, including window and door profiles, mouldings, siding, pipe and pipe fittings, and decking. Axiall, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, has manufacturing facilities located throughout North America and in Asia to provide industry-leading materials and services to customers.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik Industries has inaugurated a new building to house precipitated silica applied technology for tire and rubber at its Wesseling site near Cologne, reported the company on its site.

In so doing, the leading specialty chemicals company has added applied technology to the world’s largest facility for precipitated silica production and research. Evonik invested an amount in the low tens of millions of euros in the new building.

A combination of precipitated silica and sulfur-functional silanes produced for the tire and rubber industry enables tire manufactures to reduce their products’ rolling resistance and improve their wet-grip. This can reduce fuel consumption by up to 8% in comparison to conventional tires.

Evonik supplies precipitated silica to the tire industry globally from Wesseling where silica production and research were previously located. Thus it made sense to re-locate application engineering to the Wesseling site.

Innovative products for the rubber industry are being developed and tested in the new 2,500 square meter building. Strict quality control, which is standardized worldwide, is applied to several thousand mixtures annually.

To be closer to its worldwide customers and provide them with first-class products, Evonik has undertaken a robust worldwide capacity expansion. In March 2014, it opened an expanded precipitated silica facility in Thailand; in May 2013, it initiated planning for a new facility in Brazil; and it will begin operations later this year in an expanded facility in Chester, Pennsylvania, USA.

As MRC wrote previously, Evonik’s global silica production capacity will increase by approximately 30% over its 2010 capacity by the end of 2014.

Moreover, as part of the company's strategic portfolio expansion, Evonik has recently announced its plans to launch a new generation of PVC plasticizers. Apart from its product lines expansion, the company will also develop a new brand of products. Thus, Evonik is broadening its range of sustainable plasticizers.

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2013 more than 33,500 employees generated sales of around EUR12.7 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of about EUR2.0 billion.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- KBR was awarded a contract for project management consultancy (PMC) services for the construction of the advanced oil processing complex, as part of the major renovation program of the largest operating refinery in Russia owned by JSC Gazprom, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The refinery is located in Omsk, Western Siberia, Russia.

KBR will provide PMC services for three new process units and offsites and utilities construction beginning with the front end engineering and design phase and continuing through EPC, commissioning and start-up.

The PMC will be executed by KBR’s London and Russian offices.

"KBR appreciates Gazprom Neft’s confidence in our ability to deliver PMC services for this very important refinery renovation program in Omsk," said Roy Oelking, president of KBR's hydrocarbons business. "This project reinforces KBR’s position in Russia and as a leading contractor for complex project execution in remote locations."

Expected revenue from the contract will be included in the second quarter 2014 backlog of unfilled orders for the Hydrocarbons segment. The contract value was not disclosed.

As MRC informed before, in early 2014, Shell and Gazprom Neft kicked off pilot shale oil exploration under their joint venture partnership in Siberia.

We also remind that in July 2013, Gazprom Neft signed an agreement with France-based Total to form a joint venture to produce and sell modified bitumen and bitumen emulsions on the Russian market.

Gazprom Neft, is the fourth largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about 96% of its shares. The company is registered and headquartered in St. Petersburg after central offices were relocated from Moscow in 2011.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world’s biggest chemical maker, plans to increase spending on research and development this year and is adding six laboratories in Asia and the US, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Half of the research activities at Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF will take place outside Europe by 2020, up from 28% now, board member Andreas Kreimeyer said at a press conference at the company’s headquarters. It spent EUR1.8 billion (USD2.5 billion) on research last year, he said.

The R&D drive will help BASF reach a goal of generating a quarter of its sales from products that are less than 10 years old by the end of the decade. The chemical company posted 8 billion euros in revenue, equivalent to 11% of total sales, from products that were less than five years old in 2013, it said at Tuesday's conference.

"In absolute terms we lead the field in the chemical industry with our research and development expenditures," Kreimeyer said. The company aims to spend about 3% of its sales, excluding an oil and gas unit, on research every year, he said.

BASF has established research cooperation in California with the universities of California in Berkeley and Los Angeles as well as Stanford University that focuses on biosciences and new inorganic materials for the energy, electronics and renewable resources industries, Kreimeyer said.

Seven universities in China, Japan and South Korea are involved in a research initiative with BASF to explore products for the automotive, construction, water and wind-energy industries, the executive said.

As MRC wrote before, BASF has launched two new MasterTop topcoats for decorative and industrial applications which can be used in public rooms such as education, office and healthcare facilities as well as in industrial environments.

BASF is the largest diversified chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year.
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