Successful start-up of Perstorp new major Oxo investment in Sweden

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Production of key raw materials for Perstorp’s innovative general purpose PVC plasticizers, Valeraldehyde and 2-propylheptanol, and associated chemicals at a major extension to Perstorp’s main plant in Stenugsund, Sweden has begun on time. Prime material is being produced soon after start-up, said the company in its press release.

With the conclusion of its largest plant investment ever, Perstorp has boosted its total Oxo capacity by 150,000 tonnes per year and become one of the few fully integrated suppliers of plasticizers. This improved production position, in combination with logistics centres in several countries, now provides Perstorp customers with improved access to market-leading high performance, sustainable and cost effective plasticizers.

Perstorp also has a strategically important position in the synthetic lubricants segment as a supplier of key intermediates and specialized products. With the new Oxo plant, the company will additionally offer n-valeric acid, with unique properties for lubricant formulators and as a pharmaceutical intermediate. Furthermore, Perstorp will offer the market the C10 alcohol 2-PH as a raw material for surfactants, adhesives and lubricants, as well as for plasticizers.

Perstorp offers two ranges of general purpose plasticizers: Emoltene 100 and Pevalen. Emoltene 100 (Di-Propyl Heptyl Phthalate), a C10 plasticizer is designed for outdoor durable applications where flexibility and durability are key to meet the toughest conditions required in cables, wires and roofing membranes.

Pevalen is an innovative non-phthalate plasticizer especially created to meet the safety and performance requirements of indoor PVC applications such as flooring and coated fabrics. It provides unbeatable softness and UV stability.

As MRC wrote before, Perstorp this year is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its broad Capa portfolio, which comprises grades with varying molecular weights and levels of functionality.

Perstorp is one of the world leaders in various sectors of the specialty chemicals market, it's pioneer in formalin chemistry, plastics and surface materials. Perstorp was founded in 1881 and is controlled by PAI partners,a major European private equity company. The company has around 1,500 employees in with 22 production plants in Europe, Asia and North America.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, the global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe have announced price increases for all polystyrene (PS) and copolymer grades, as per the company's statement.

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

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS), STYRON and STYRON A-TECH high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by EUR195/tonne;
- MAGNUM ABS and TYRIL SAN resins - by EUR155/tonne.

Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo has completed the name change process for most legal entities around the world. Some Styron companies are still completing this process and will continue to do business as Styron until their respective name changes are complete.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo’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. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Through a business acquisition in southern Germany, Bayer MaterialScience has expanded its position on the future-oriented market for composite materials.

The company on oncluded the takeover of Thermoplast Composite GmbH (TCG) in Langenfeld, near Nuremberg, a technology leader specializing in the production of thermoplastic fiber composites. Bayer MaterialScience will use the acquisition to expand its range of products for important industries and thereby strengthen its leading position.
The company intends to market composites made from continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (composites). This is a new class of particularly thin and lightweight materials, whose properties offer superior performance in existing solutions based on aluminum, for example.

The takeover of TCG gives Bayer MaterialScience access to innovative technology know-how as well as key patents and facilities. All employees are to be retained. Bayer MaterialScience plans to expand TCG’s production capacity, the first step being to expand production in the Nuremberg metropolitan region. Capacities in other regions will be added subsequently to optimally supply customers. Bayer MaterialScience is already active in the development and marketing of composite solutions based on polyurethane systems.

Bayer MaterialScience has long been supplying numerous industries with products and application solutions based on polycarbonate and its associated blends. This material is extremely lightweight, strong, freely formable, easy to process and can be recycled multiple times. The company has also been working for some time now on the development of polycarbonate composites.

Bayer MaterialScience believes that polycarbonate composites are highly suited to such things as fabricating premium housings for the IT industry. These composites are an answer to the trend towards smaller dimensions and an impression of quality. And there is a number of additional advantages.

TCG could now more quickly and comprehensively realize the industrial manufacturing and broad-based market introduction of unidirectional thermoplastic advanced composites based on the innovative and patented proprietary technology platform. Consequently, the purchase would be the next logical step in TCG’s successful development.

As MRC wrote before, Bayer named Richard Pott as supervisory board chairman of its plastics unit MaterialScience, which it plans to float on the stock market as a separate company.

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech polymer materials. As an innovation company, it sets trends in research-intensive areas. Bayer’s products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group aims to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis could take over projects or stakes in ventures making ethane, propene or fertilizers as companies look to reduce debt, streamline businesses or pull out, CEO Mark Garrett said in an interview, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Inflated stock market valuations mean Vienna­-based Borealis won’t buy a company outright, he said. Oil producers such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and Total have seen profit slide as crude prices slumped, prompting them to reduce project investments. Some smaller petrochemical companies are also cutting back.

"Wen they take out the machete to their project portfolios, not all of the projects they cut are terrible, they just don’t fit in their portfolio, so opportunities arise for other people,"Garrett said. Borealis’s bulk and integrated portfolio, from crackers to feedstocks and end-­products including plastics for auto parts and planes is helping it shrug off competition in emerging markets as well as in the US.

"his is not a bad situation, a lot of those massive US investments"made by other companies "are coming under pressure," Garrett said.

Borealis’s new Borouge 3 petrochemical facility in Abu Dhabi, costing more than USD4 billion, is ramping up production at a time when lower raw­-material prices are giving a temporary “reprieve” to smaller producers in Europe that had been struggling, the CEO said.

Like European competitor INEOS, Borealis plans to import ethane from the US to supplement supplies from the North Sea. Doing so remains viable even in the current environment, with the potential for double-­digit margins and improving economics as the oil price rises, Garrett said.

As MRC wrote before, Borouge, Borealis’ joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in Abu Dhabi, UAE, started the cracker in June, three out of five polyolefin plants started up in the period until year end. Borouge 3 will deliver an additional 2.5 million tonnes of capacity when fully ramped up, bringing the total Borouge capacity to 4.5 million tonnes, thus making Borouge the biggest integrated polyolefins complex in the world. Borealis and Borouge will then have approximately 8 million tonnes of polyolefin capacity.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries. It generated EUR 8.3 billion in sales revenue in 2014.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The March contract price for propylene in Europe was agreed by EUR105/tonne higher than in February. Nevertheless, most European producers raised their export polypropylene (PP) prices for the CIS markets less significantly than the price of monomer, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations over March prices of European PP began on Monday. Many market participants said they managed to limit the growth of export prices by an average of EUR90/tonne, which is below the increase in monomer prices.

Many European producers suspended all their PP sales already in the second half of February in anticipation of the March price rise on the back of a major increase in oil prices. Negotiations over March shipments of homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) to the CIS markets were negotiated this week in the range of EUR1,000-1,060/tonne, FCA.

Deals for block copolymers of propylene were negotiated by an average of EUR50-60/tonne higher.

Some companies said not all producers had made their offers for March PP shipments. Thus, the Romanian producer - Oltchim has had no export quotas since in mid-February.
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