Styron raises August PS prices in Asia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Styron (Hong Kong) Limited, an affiliate of Styron, the global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber, and its affiliate companies in Asia Pacific have announced price increases for all polystyrene (PS) grades, reported the company on its site.

Effective immediately, or as existing contract terms allow, the prices for the products listed below will increase as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) - by USD30/tonne;
- STYRON and STYRON A-TECH high-impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by USD30/tonne.

"The price increase responds to the rising costs associated with the manufacturing of polystyrene grades in Asia Pacific," said Samer Al Jabi, Global Product Manager for Polystyrene.

As MRC wrote before, in July, Styron (Hong Kong) Limited and its affiliate companies in Asia Pacific increased prices for all polystyrene (PS) grades, as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) - by USD20tonne;
- STYRON and STYRON A-TECH high-impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by USD20/tonne.

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 revenue in 2013, with 19 manufacturing sites around the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos Compounds and Doeflex Compounding have received the green light for the merger of their polyvinyl chloride (PVC) compounding businesses from the European Commission, reported Ineos on its site.

The combined business, once completed, will create a leading PVC compound manufacturer, with a turnover in excess of EUR200m and production sites in the UK, Sweden and Switzerland.

The deal was first announced in May 2014 and represents a "strategic opportunity" and likely to support the growth of both companies, they said.

The combined business will be run by an integrated management team from both parties and will be known as Ineos Compounds.

The companies will, however, continue to run their businesses separately until the completion of the merger, which is expected to take place on 1 September 2014.

As MRC informed previuosly, in May 2014, Ineos Group Holdings Ltd. and Solvay SA (SOLB), Europe’s two biggest makers of polyvinyl chloride, won European Union approval for a 4.3 billion-euro (USD6 billion) joint venture of their PVC units after agreeing to sell plants. Ineos and Solvay won’t close their deal until they have a binding agreement with a purchaser approved by EU regulators.

The venture, announced last year, would allow the companies to cut costs in areas from transport to marketing and raise profitability amid a European industry suffering from inflated raw material and energy costs. The PVC market is facing overcapacity and weak demand in Europe, prompting companies in the labor-intensive industry to explore deals. Solvay has said it plans to exit the PVC venture at a later stage.

Ineos Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Scheduled maintenance works and a serious reduction in imports, particularly from the United States allowed the Russian producers to increase contract prices of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) significantly, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

SayanskKhimPlast, Russia's largest suspension PVC (SPVC) producer, shut its capacities on almost monthly turnaround in the end of last week. Bashkir Soda Company and Kaustik Volgograd will shut their capacities for the turnaround in September - October.

A high level of export prices in the USA led to a drop in import volumes several times. All of these factors allowed the Russian producers to achieve increase in August contract prices on average by Rb4,000/tonne. Contracts for August delivery of Russian PVC were done in the range of Rb53,000-56,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Deals were mainly done for the supply of resin by Bashkir Soda Company and Kaustik Volgograd, while August contracts for SayanskKhimPlast resin were few because of scheduled maintenances.

At the same time, some converters said they had managed to agree contracts for July-September last month at the level of July contract prices. Significant hike in contract prices did not lead to buying activity improvement last week.
Local converters were in no hurry to buy PVC in the spot market.

Deals for August delivery of Chinese acetylene K65 PVC were mainly done in the range of Rb48,500-49,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Supply of Chinese acetylene K70 PVC has been tight since the second half of July, with price offers in the spot market reach Rb52,000-52,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

Contract prices for Russian PVC for September will be affected by the reduced rate of import duty. As it was previously reported, Sochi Eurasian Economic Commission on 23, June adopted a decision to reduce the import duty for SPVC from current 10% to 6.5%, effective from 1, September.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ConocoPhillips, the U.S. third largest integrated energy company, is selling a 50-percent stake in its joint venture with Russia’s Rosneft called Polar Lights, an official representative of the company told ITAR-TASS .

The representative said ConocoPhillips had put its stake in the JV for sale as a non-strategic asset in the company’s global portfolio. He did not say however whether any company had demonstrated interest to this asset.
No comment has come from Russia’s Rosneft.

According to earlier reports, ConocoPhillips said in July it was ready to observe sanctions imposed by the U.S. authorities against a number of Russian individuals and companies. In the mean time, the company did not say then how the sanctions might impact its business in Russia and its joint project with Russia’s Rosneft. In the recent years, ConocoPhillips has dramatically decreased its investments in Russia. The company operates no fields. ConocoPhillips (COP) sold its 30% stake in a Russian joint venture to co-owner OAO Lukoil.

Set up in 1992, Polar Lights is active in the Ardalin oil fields in the far northern Timan-Pechora basin. Initially, its recoverable oil reserves were estimated at 16 million tonnes. But Polar Lights is ranked a spent project, with oil production going down. Whereas in 2010, its oil output was about 761,000 tonnes, in 2012 it dropped to 567,000 tonnes. The mass media reported in February 2014 that the U.S. company was planning to market its share in this asset.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, has stopped increasing its stake in Russia's second-largest gas producer OAO Novatek since the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and is bracing for the possible impact of tougher international sanctions against the nation, said The Wall Street Journal.

The oil major, which posted Wednesday a 12% drop in its second-quarter adjusted net profit, will review the sanctions and discuss them with its partners in Russian projects at the end of August, said Chief Financial Officer Patrick de la Chevardiere.

The European Union's sanctions for the first time target sectors of Russia's economy, including its state-controlled banks and its oil industry. The moves remain tightly focused because the EU wants to give President Vladimir Putin a chance to stop his alleged support of rebel groups in eastern Ukraine.

Like other energy giants, Russia is a crucial market for Total, which expects the biggest share of its oil and gas outputting to come from the country by 2020. BP warned investors that the sanctions could weigh on its future earnings while its second-quarter profits were boosted by its stake in the Russia government-controlled oil group OAO Rosneft.

As MRC wrote before, Total is preparing a three-year, company-wide plan to cut costs after second-quarter profit fell 12% amid record-low production and a slump in refining margins. As the biggest refiner in western Europe, where it operates eight plants, Total has been hurt by lower crude-processing margins caused by overcapacity.

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.
MRC