S.African Sasol may expand U.S. cracker, sell power to Eskom

MOSCOW (MRC) - South African petrochemicals group Sasol could expand its USD8.9 billion cracker project in the U.S. state of Louisiana depending on market conditions, said Reuters, citing the company's chief executive.

Sasol is going ahead with the cracker, which takes ethane, a component of natural gas, and turns it into ethylene, used in the manufacture of plastic products.

The world's biggest maker of motor fuel from coal in January delayed the final investment decision on the gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant at the Louisiana site, which will cost up to USD14 billion, because of the low oil price.

"Because of the volatility in the market, other things may feature. For example, more cracking capacity versus GTL," chief executive David Constable told Reuters on Monday after the company announced interim results. Constable said Sasol could build another cracker and derivatives plant or expand cracking capacity.

"Gas prices are staying very low. We need 16 times that gas price to make a good return on GTL," he said. Sasol said it could sell up to 400 megawatts of excess power that it generates in-house from steam boilers and gas turbines to South Africa's state-run power utility Eskom.

Eskom is scrambling to keep the lights on in Africa's most advanced economy and frequently has to implement controlled power outages to keep the grid from being overwhelmed. "There are options for us to work with Eskom on power purchase agreements," Constable said during a results briefing, which showed a 6 percent rise in first-half earnings after higher sales helped offset the impact of falling oil prices.

Headline earnings per share rose to 32 rand, the middle of the range that Sasol previously flagged to the market. Sasol cut its interim dividend by 12.5 percent, a move it had also previously signalled, to save cash in a volatile environment, though the reduction was not as big as some in the market had anticipated.

Sasol, which declared an interim dividend of 7 rand per share, said its objective was to maintain a 40:60 split between the interim and final dividend. The group has changed its progressive dividend policy to a more fluid payout based on headline earnings.

"They didn't want to make the first reduction to the dividend too aggressive," said Nedbank Capital analyst Mohamed Kharva.

Last month, Sasol said it would delay a decision on a USD14 billion gas-to-liquids facility in Lake Charles, La., due to low oil prices.

Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It develops and commercialises technologies, including synthetic fuels technologies, and produces different liquid fuels, chemicals and electricity.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has given conditional approval to Hanwha's proposed acquisition of Samsung General Chemicals, said Chemicals-technology.

The regulatory authority identified that the combined entity could dominate the domestic ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) market, which could result in higher prices. However, markets of the other three chemical products including low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene and high-density polyethylene will not be significantly affected by the transaction, KFTC said.

The agency stated that the deal will strengthen the monopolistic nature of the EVA market as the market share of Hanwha Chemical and Samsung Total will be higher and the number of competitors will decrease from four to three.
"The approval requires the company to ensure that the domestic price of EVA is increased at slower rate in domestic market in next three years if export price of EVA rises in overseas market."

The approval requires the company to ensure that the domestic price of EVA is increased at slower rate in domestic market in next three years if export price of EVA rises in overseas market. It should be lower than the rate of export price increase of the production in the past six months.

Hanwha should also see that in case of EVA export price decreases, domestic price should be lowered by the rate of decrease higher than the rate of export price decrease of the past six months period. The remedies imposed should be implemented for the next three years and the report on proceedings should be submitted to the agency semi-annually, KFTC said.

Hanwha Chemical signed a deal to acquire 27.6% and 30% stakes of Samsung Electronics and Samsung Corporation in Samsung General Chemicals in November last year. The company also agreed to buy Samsung Total Petrochemicals joint venture.

According to Korean media reports, around 2,300 union members of Samsung chemical and defence affiliates staged a protest rally in Seoul opposing the sale of the businesses to Hanwha.

As MRC wrote before, Hanwha Chemical is no longer considering buying parts of Dow Chemical's chloro-alkali business. South Korea's Hanwha Chemical had picked Credit Suisse to advise on possible purchases from Dow Chemical's chloro-alkali business but its interest is still in the early stages.

Hanwha Group is one of the largest business conglomerate in South Korea. Founded in 1952 as Korea Explosives Inc., the group has grown into a large multi-profile business conglomerate, with diversified holdings stretching from explosives, their original business, to retail to financial services.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- In order to meet growing demand in carbon fiber composites and in 3D printing, Arkema announces that it is to double its production capacities in France by the first half of 2016, said the company in its press release.

Furthermore, the Group plans to build a worldscale PEKK production plant on its Mobile site (Alabama, United States) that would be scheduled to come on stream in the second half of 2018. PEKK stands out from the PAEK (Poly-Aryl-Ether-Ketone) family by its extensive range of processing technologies and excellent thermomechanical behavior.

PEKK complements Arkema’s range of thermoplastic resins and broadens their range of applications in the aerospace, energy and electronics sectors, in which Arkema is already highly present through its Rilsan (PA11) and Kynar (PVDF) specialty polymers, as well as its Elium acrylic resins.

As MRC wrote before, Arkema has announced the construction of a new organic peroxide plant on its Changshu site in China. This investment will help double the site’s production capacity. By doubling its production capacity in China, Arkema will continue to support the strong growth in the organic peroxide market in Asia, a region in which the Group is also a producer in India, South Korea and Japan. The new Changshu plant is due to come on stream in early 2016.

Arkema with annual revenue of EUR6.4 billion is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc. Arkema operates 11 organic peroxide plants on the three continents.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corporation expects to start up 16 major oil and natural gas projects during the next three years and is on track to increase daily production to 4.3 million oil-equivalent barrels by 2017, said Process-Wordwide, citing Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer at the New York Stock Exchange.

"We remain committed to our investment discipline and maintaining a reliable and growing dividend. Our integrated model along with our unmatched financial flexibility enable us to execute our business strategy and create shareholder value through the commodity price cycle."

In 2015, the company expects to increase production volumes 2 percent to 4.1 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, driven by 7 percent liquids growth. The volume increase is supported by the ramp up of several projects completed in 2014 and the expected startup of seven new major developments in 2015, including Hadrian South in the Gulf of Mexico, expansion of the Kearl project in Canada, Banyu Urip in Indonesia and deepwater expansion projects at Erha in Nigeria and Kizomba in Angola.

In 2016 and 2017, production ramp up is expected from several projects including Gorgon Jansz in Australia, Hebron in Eastern Canada and expansions of Upper Zakum in United Arab Emirates and Odoptu in Far East Russia. "Exxon Mobil has a deep and diverse portfolio of opportunities around the world and a total resource base of more than 92 billion oil-equivalent barrels," Tillerson said. "We have unparalleled flexibility to select and invest in only the most attractive development projects."

Exxon Mobil anticipates capital spending of about USD34 billion in 2015 – 12 percent less than in 2014 – as it continues to bring major projects online. Annual capital and exploration expenditures are expected to average less than USD34 billion in 2016 and 2017.

As MRC wrote previously, Exxon Mobil Corp. shook off the chill of sanctions and continued to snap up drilling rights in Russia last year, giving it more exploration holdings in Vladimir Putin’s backyard than in the US. Taking the long view, Exxon boosted its Russian holdings to 63.7 million acres in 2014 from 11.4 million at the end of 2014, according to data from US regulatory filings. That dwarfs the 14.6 million acres of rights Exxon holds in the U.S., which until last year was its largest exploration prospect.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- German chemicals major BASF and Seashell Technology, a leading nanotechnology company based in San Diego, have announced that BASF has acquired Seashell's technology, patents and know-how for silver nanowires, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The acquisition extends BASF's portfolio of solutions offered to the display industry through the company's growing electronic materials unit.

"Seashell is an early pioneer in silver nanowire technology and has enabled development of multiple application areas and uses for these unique materials," said David Schultz, CEO of Seashell. "Seashell is excited to transfer the technology to BASF, which has the expertise and infrastructure to meet the growing demand for silver nanowires."

With unique properties such as higher conductivity and flexibility, silver nanowires are becoming an increasingly attractive alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO) for transparent conductive layers.

"Seashell's nanotechnology has long been regarded as best-in-class, and we are very excited to bring this technology platform to BASF," said Dr. Lothar Laupichler, senior vice president of BASF's electronic materials business.

"We will build on this platform and develop innovative, efficient next generation silver nanowires tailored to the needs of our customers in the display industry and strengthen our recognition as a leader in the electronic materials industry," he added.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, in December 2014, BASF entered into a definitive agreement to fully acquire the business and assets in Taiwan and Mainland China of Taiwan Sheen Soon (TWSS), a leading manufacturer for thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) adhesives base material.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It 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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