Sanctions scupper joint venture of Total and Lukoil

MOSCOW (MRC) -- France’s Total has said its joint venture with Russia’s Lukoil, to explore shale oil in western Siberia, had ground to a halt as a result of western sanctions, reported Financial Times.

The comments by, Total’s chief executive, are the clearest sign that the latest round of sanctions against Russia over Ukraine will put a brake on the Kremlin’s plans to develop the country’s shale oil resources - which had been envisaged as a key driver of new production in the next five to 10 years.

"The Lukoil joint venture is definitely stopped," said Mr de Margerie. "But it hadn’t started so it doesn’t have any impact (on Total)."

The latest set of sanctions announced two weeks ago by the US and EU restrict western financing and technology to various Russian energy projects, including shale. Russia’s shale reserves are enormous, estimated by the US Department of Energy at 75bn barrels.

Total is also developing the USD27bn Yamal liquefied natural gas project with Russian natural gas producer Novatek, and China’s CNPC.

In spite of Novatek being subject to US sanctions, Mr de Margerie said he hoped Yamal could raise financing from western banks "but not in dollars". He added that the Chinese had committed to cover 60% of Yamal’s financing needs.

Mr de Margerie’s comments came as Total used an investor day to announce plans to sell USD10bn worth of assets between 2015 and 2017.

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.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis and Borouge, leading providers of innovative, value-creating plastics solutions, have announced the introduction of several new and upgraded material solutions engineered to enable the automotive industry to achieve greater cost efficiency, higher performance and improved sustainability in vehicle components, reported Borealis on its site.

The new lightweight grades Fibremod WE380HP and Daplen EE058AI are representative of Borealis and Borouge's commitment to offering new and multi-faceted solutions to automotive OEMS around the globe.

In so-called hybrid grades, reinforcing polypropylene (PP) with a combination of glass fibre and mineral filler yields a special performance grade. As one such grade, Fibremod WE380HP is a new hybrid PP compound comprised of 20% glass fibre reinforcement and 10% mineral filler. It is intended for use in both structural and visible automotive parts, such as under-the-bonnet (engine covers, gear housings) and high-end interior applications (window frames, arm rests). As a replacement for other materials, Fibremod WE380HP is a lightweight solution that contributes to lower fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emissions without compromising on visual aesthetics or performance. The grade can bear a high mechanical load, offers excellent processability, outstanding dimensional stability, low warpage, good heat resistance and allows for self-colouring. In addition to this multi-talented new material, other lightweight grades being highlighted at the IZB include the pioneering PP natural fibre grades NJ200AI and NJ201AI, both of which allow for 9% weight savings when compared to a PP-T20.

The recently-launched thermoplastic olefin (TPO) compound Daplen EE058AI is not only lightweight, but also offers tiger stripe-free technology, as does the upgraded Daplen EE189HP. Automotive OEMs continue to seek out materials that help reduce overall vehicle weight in order to improve fuel consumption and fulfil stringent CO2 emissions standards, while still meeting requirements in terms of efficient processing and surface aesthetics. The phenomenon of tiger stripes - the visually recognisable periodic change of surface gloss – is caused by converting processes and is a general problem of all thermoplastic materials, including polyolefins. The newly-developed, tiger stripe-free TPO compound Daplen EE058AI boasts an excellent property profile and is a fitting replacement for conventional T15 and T20 interior materials.

"Borealis and Borouge are attuned to the needs and demands of the automotive industry," says Harald Hammer, Borealis Vice President of Engineering Applications. "We will continue to develop lightweight PP solutions for automotive compounds that not only help our customers and partners achieve broader, long-term sustainability objectives, but also enhance automotive surface aesthetics."

As MRC informed previously, the South American operations of global automotive manufacturers and OEMs are being even better served thanks to increased Borealis activity in the region, principally through the expansion of the plant in Itatiba, near Sao Paulo, Brazil. This EUR45 mln project involves the construction of an additional production building, two state-of-the-art PP compounding extruders, blending and raw material silos, warehouse facilities and a bagging line. In addition, extensive upgrading of utility and water systems is being carried out. With nearly 80% of the construction project concluded, the commissioning and start-up plan has already commenced.

Vienna-based Borealis is a leading producer of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. The firm posted sales of more than USD10 billion in 2013. Borealis is majority-owned by state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co. of Abu Dhabi. IPIC also owns North American ethylene and polyethylene producer Nova Chemicals and Middle Eastern petrochemicals firm Borouge.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals has announced the inauguration of its new Malaysian laboratories for Oil Services and Pigments businesses, as per the company's press release.

The new lab facilities are located in Shah Alam, Malaysia and the opening of the lab facilities signifies Clariant’s commitment to providing innovative technologies and products that respond to the needs of customers both locally and regionally.

The facility includes state-of-the-art equipment, featuring standard and manual testing processes that model global Clariant Oil Services labs in North America, Brazil and the U.K. It also houses formula simulation and performance testing in emulsion, flow assurance, corrosion and scale control technologies. It joins the company’s industry-leading mix of laboratories in one of the world’s key oil and gas regions.

"As the first Center of Excellence for Clariant Oil Services in the the Asia Pacific region, the facility converges expert personnel, equipment and overall capability in Shah Alam, and positions us closer to our customers to drive collaboration with a response time which meets their needs," said Peter Dodgeon, Head of Clariant Oil Services Asia Pacific.

For Clariant’s Pigments Business, its ASEAN Pacific Technical Application Center established in 2005 is being upgraded in capacity to allow the business to provide even more comprehensive and customizable technical services to customers from multiple industries in the South East Asia and Pacific region, such as coatings, paintings, printing, plastics and other specialized applications.

Serving as a new technical center for Clariant Oil Services and Pigments, the lab facilities will strengthen Clariant’s local technical capacity to provide value added services to local and regional customers through sustainable and innovative technologies and product solutions.

"The inauguration of the new lab facilities reaffirms Clariant’s commitment to sustainable development in the South East Asia & Pacific region. We believe in the potential of the region and its prospects for market growth. Clariant aims to grow together and be a reliable partner for the region," commented Francois Bleger, Regional Head of Clariant South East Asia and Pacific.

As MRC wrote previously, this summer, CB&I and Clariant announced that their new Ziegler-Natta (ZN) polypropylene catalyst plant in Louisville, Kentucky, is on schedule to begin production in 2015. The plant is part of a long-term strategic partnership between Clariant’s catalysts business and CB&I’s Lummus Novolen Technology business. Based at Clariant’s largest US production hub, the new facility will combine innovative catalysts jointly developed by both companies with high-capacity output.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yeochun NCC (YNCC) has shut its No.3 naphtha cracker for maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the cracker was shut on September 22, 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located at Yeochun in South Korea, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 450,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 230,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) is likely to shut its I4-No.2 cracker in Thailand for maintenance turnaround in late September 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month. Located at Map ta Phut, Thailand, the cracker has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

We remind that LyondellBasell, the world’s biggest maker of polypropylene plastic, has delayed the start-up of expanded production at its ethylene plant in La Porte, Tex., until later this year. The revised timeline for the newly expanded plant project, which was scheduled to begin production this summer resulted from a delay in the completion of extensive scheduled maintenance at the La Porte plant during the second quarter. The company expects to begin production from its 800 million lb/year La Porte ethylene during this year’s third quarter.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Bayer has appointed investment bank Rothschild to advise on the German drugmaker's plan to list its plastics business, in a deal that could value the unit at about 10 billion euros (USD13 bln), said Reuters.

Bayer's chief executive Marijn Dekkers said last week that the divestment of the MaterialScience unit, which may be rebranded before a listing, will free up money for investment in Bayer's healthcare, veterinary drugs and crop protection businesses.

Rothschild will help to prepare the MaterialScience unit for an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as this time next year or for a spin-off by handing current Bayer shareholders shares in the separate unit, the sources said.

A flotation on the Frankfurt stock exchange may see about a quarter of the shares being listed, one of the people said, adding that a listing in the United States had been discussed but curently seemed rather unlikely despite several peers being based there.

Roughly six months ahead of an IPO Rothschild would help Bayer select two or three global coordinators with large banks such as Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley or Bank of America being well positioned to secure such roles, the sources said.

Bayer also said last week MaterialScience, which has profit margins less than half the average across the Bayer group, would be better placed to obtain funding as an independent company and that an outright sale could not be ruled out if it were to receive an attractive offer.

Investors had long speculated that Bayer could split off MaterialScience, which makes transparent plastics for blu-ray discs and panoramic roofs for luxury cars, as well as chemicals for insulation and padding foams.

With 2013 sales of EUR 11.2 billion, Bayer MaterialScience is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction and the sports and leisure industries. At the end of 2013, Bayer MaterialScience had 30 production sites and employed approximately 14,300 people around the globe. Bayer MaterialScience is a Bayer Group company.
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