Sunpor to take off-stream EPS plant in Austria

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sunpor is in plans to shut its expandable polystyrene (EPS) plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Austria informed that the plant will be shut off during the weekend to coincide with the forthcoming festive season when demand is lackluster. The plant is likely to remain off-stream till the first week of January 2015.

Located in Polten, Austria, the plant has a production capacity of 80,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, Styron Hong Kong, an affiliate of Styron, the global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber, shut down its polystyrene (PS) plant in Hong Kong for a one-month maintenance turnaround in September 2014. Located in Hong Kong, the plant has a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.

We remind that EPS imports to the Russian domestic market had decreased by 11% by early November. Local companies shipped 52,700 tonnes of polymer from January to October 2014. Chinese EPS with the share of almost 65% accounted for the bulk of supplies. The overall imports from China exceeded 34,00 tonnes over the first ten months of the year . The largest direct importers are Meta-Service, Koros and DV Group.
MRC

МOSCOW (MRC) -- Morgan Stanley’s deal to sell its oil merchant business to Rosneft is set to expire on Saturday, underscoring the latest difficulties facing Russia’s state oil champion and potentially returning the unit to the auction block, said Financial Times.

The agreement announced last December, before Russia’s incursion in Ukraine and subsequent EU and US sanctions, was a way for the Wall Street bank to dispose of a business that was in the regulatory spotlight.

For Rosneft, one of the world’s biggest oil producers, the deal was a way to add about 100 seasoned traders and a global portfolio of storage, shipping and supply agreements.

But the political landscape changed after the crisis in Ukraine. In April, the US imposed sanctions on Igor Sechin, Rosneft’s chief executive and a close associate of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president. It later expanded the measures to Russia’s oil and gas industry, including Rosneft itself. By October, Morgan Stanley warned the sale was in peril.
Although the deal is not directly targeted by the sanctions, it will expire on December 20 if it has not gained the necessary regulatory endorsements. This includes approval from the powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an inter-governmental group whose members include the secretary of defence.

The sanctions imposed on Rosneft have also restricted its ability to raise money in dollars. Analysts and traders say that makes the Morgan Stanley business unviable for the Russian group. This is because oil trading is highly capital intensive and relies heavily on access to bank funding.

Potential bidders are yet to show their hands. One investor said it made no sense to make an approach before December 20 because this would risk legal action for attempting to break up the original deal.

However, the business is expected to attract interest given that oil markets have moved into contango, the situation where spot prices are lower than those for delivery at a later date. That provides better trading opportunities. At the same time, lower oil prices have also cut financing costs.

Wall Street banks’ involvement in physical commodities has attracted greater scrutiny in Washington. Last month, the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations grilled commodities executives from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase on their work in traditionally commercial businesses such as shipping and storing oil.

Rosneft became the world's biggest listed oil producer in March after the USD55 billion acquisition of Anglo-Russian oil firm TNK-BP. Its oil output accounts for over 40% of the total in Russia, the global leader in crude production.

Rosneft has amassed assets abroad in the past few years, including refineries in Germany and Italy, but has bought no significant assets in the United States. Rosneft has an oil trading division in Geneva, which helps supply its refining assets in Europe.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ferro Corporation has announced that it has completed the sale of the majority of the assets of its Polymer Additives business to Polymer Additives, Inc., a wholly owned portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital, LLC, for approximately USD154 million in cash, subject to customary working capital and other purchase price adjustments, reported the company on its site.

Assets included in the transaction are the company’s four plants in the United States, its manufacturing operation in Newport, United Kingdom, certain assets at the Company’s former Baton Rouge, Louisiana plant and its polymer additives research and development lab in Independence, Ohio. The sold US manufacturing sites are located in the following communities: Bridgeport, New Jersey; Cleveland, Ohio; Fort Worth, Texas; Walton Hills, Ohio.

The company estimates that cash proceeds, net of cash income taxes and fees, from the sale will be approximately USD143 million, which it plans to use primarily to repay debt under its revolving credit facility and to fund strategic growth opportunities. The asset sale closed concurrently with the signing of the asset purchase agreement.

Excluded from this transaction are the company’s Europe-based Polymer Additives assets, including the Antwerp, Belgium dibenzoates manufacturing assets, and related Polymer Additives European headquarters and lab facilities. These assets are currently being marketed.

Peter Thomas, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ferro, said, "The transaction announced today marks a further step in our plan to harvest the value of assets that are no longer core to our growth strategy and focus resources on our Performance Materials product lines. Earlier this year, we completed the sale of our Specialty Plastics business for USD91 million, and we remain committed to the marketing process for our European Polymer Additives assets. Our strategic vision is to become the premier global functional coatings and color solutions company, building on our core competencies in glass and color technologies. These divestitures align our portfolio with that vision and provide liquidity for strategic growth activities. We believe that continued focus on our core businesses will allow us to deliver increased cash flow and greater shareholder value."

As MRC reported previously, in early December, Ferro Corporation announced today that it has completed the acquisition of tile coating manufacturer Vetriceramici S.p.A. for EUR83 million (approximately USD104 million), subject to customary working capital and other purchase price adjustments .

H.I.G.is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with more than USD17 billion of equity capital under management.

Ferro Corporation is a leading global supplier of technology-based performance materials, including glass-based coatings, pigments and colors, and polishing materials. Ferro products are sold into the building and construction, automotive, appliances, electronics, household furnishings, and industrial products markets. Headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, the company has approximately 4,190 employees globally.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical has plans to build a state-of-the-art polyethylene (PE) pilot plant at its research and technology facility in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new pilot plant will incorporate Chevron Phillips Chemical’s proprietary MarTECH loop slurry process for polyethylene production and MarTECH ADL (advanced dual loop) technology, a proprietary dual loop process enabling production of bimodal polyethylene resins for advanced applications.

The premier testing site will provide leading-edge polyethylene research, including new catalyst and polymer development, as well as polymer performance enhancements. The construction is scheduled to begin in 2015.

"As a global producer of polyethylene, we strive to support our customers with the latest technological advances and process improvements through the efforts of our research and development personnel," said Don Lycette, vice president of research and technology for Chevron Phillips Chemical.

All MarTECH technology delivers reliable, high-reactor throughput while minimizing capital expense, operating costs and environmental impact, and it is utilized by numerous commercial reactor facilities worldwide.

Completion of the new pilot plant is expected in 2017.

As MRC informed earlier, in July 2014, Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) received approval from its board of directors and obtained an environmental permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to expand normal alpha olefins (NAO) production capacity at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas. This investment will provide an additional 100,000 tpy of capacity. Construction completion is anticipated in July, 2015.

Chevron Phillips Chemica, headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas (north of Houston), US,l is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, piping, and proprietary plastics. Chevron and Phillips 66 each own 50% of Chevron Phillips Chemical.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Malaysia's state oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has chosen technology from US-listed LyondellBasell for a 900-tonne a year polypropylene (PP) plant in its USD27 billion refinery and petrochemical integrated development (Rapid) project, reported Reuters.

The plant's engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) phase is scheduled to start in November 2015 and mechanical operations will begin in July 2018.

As MRC wrote before, in August 2014, Malaysia's Petronas awarded several major contracts for its Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) project, which comprises the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) complex and associated facilities.

Petronas said the recent awards included an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract to Toyo Engineering Corp. for the steam cracker complex.

A consortium of CTCI Corp., Chiyoda Corp., Synerlitz Sdn Bhd and MIE Industrial Sdn Bhd will handle the EPCC work for the residue fluid catalytic cracking units, the liquefied petroleum gas treating unit, propylene recovery unit and caustic neutralization units.

Sinopec Engineering Group received EPCC contracts for the crude distillation, atmospheric residue desulphurization and hydrogen collection and distribution units.

Polypropylenes are used in everything from automotive to household products.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
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