Versalis and Pirelli conclude R&D program

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eni’s Versalis subsidiary and Pirelli have completed a two-year research and development project on the use of guayule-based natural rubber for the production of tires, as per GV.

As a result of the project, Pirelli has started testing ultra-high performance guayule-based tires, which demonstrated the same performance as tires made with synthetic polymers in a variety of extreme usage simulations, including wet road surfaces.

An agreement signed between the two companies in 2013 provided for Versalis, on an exclusivity basis, to supply an innovative range of guayule-based natural rubber materials, and for Pirelli to carry out testing to validate the performance of the materials for use in tires.

"After the success of this first phase, we are now assessing the possibility of trying out these prototype tires in winter conditions," said Pirelli.

As MRC reported earlier, Eni is looking for a partner to help it run its wholly-owned chemical unit Versalis, the Italian oil major's CEO said on Oct. 22, 2015. Eni was working with Barclays on a potential sale of Versalis, which may fetch as much as 1 billion euros.

Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 68 billion euros (USD 90 billion), as of August 14, 2013. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries (RIL) is expected to announce its results for the third quarter ended December 2015, said Financialexpress.

Analysts are expecting a blockbuster quarter for RIL due to higher refining margins and firm petrochemical prices.
For the quarter ended September 2015, RIL posted 12.53 per cent year-on-year and 8 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth in its consolidated net profit figures to Rs 6,720 crore.

KR Choksey Shares and Securities expects a good quarter for RIL with net profit growth of 73 per cent yoy and 37 per cent on qoq basis. The brokerage house said, "We have assumed RIL’s GRMs at USD11.6 per barrel as compared to USD10.6 per barrel in Q2FY16 and USD7.3 in Q3FY15. EBITDA to increase 29 per cent yoy and 34 per cent qoq which reflects higher refining margins and firm petrochemical prices. The company posted the highest GRM in last seven years at USD10.6 a barrel for the quarter ended September 2015 against USD10.4 a barrel in the preceding quarter. According to KR Choksey, "The company may post record gross refining margins (GRM), driven by higher product cracks, higher refining and petrochemical volumes and stable petrochemical margins."

GRM is the difference between the total value of petroleum products coming out of an oil refinery (output) and the price of the raw material, (input) which is crude oil. The margins are calculated on a per-barrel basis. According to Sharekhan, RIL is expected to post double digit growth for the quarter under review. At 12.45 pm, Reliance Industries shares were trading 2.74 per cent up at Rs 1,045.85.

As MRC informed earlier, Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) last year put into operation two plants in Dahej, Gujarat, India. The first is a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin plant, which consists of two lines with a combined manufacturing capacity of 650 KTA. The plant has been built with Invista technology for continuous polymerization and Buhler AG technology for solid state polymerization.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company's polymer production in 2010-11 (polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride) made 4,094 kilo tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Contrary to expectations of steady prices, Russian converters faced an increase in prices of Russian suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) last week, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Back in late December, quite many companies agreed on prices of Russian polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to be shipped in January. Those companies that postponed the process of concluding January deals faced the rise in prices of Russian PVC last week. The average price increase was Rb1,500/tonne, and producers do not rule out further price rises in February.

Negotiations over January prices already started in the last week of December. Some companies said they had managed to achieve an average price reduction of Rb1,000/tonne from December. Some companies said they were forced to agree to the roll-over of December prices for January shipments. Overall, deals were done in the range of Rb60,000-63,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, for PVC with K = 64/67.

Companies that began to negotiate deals for January PVC shipments last week said Bashkir Soda Company (BSC), and RusVinyl Kaustik (Volgograd) had raised prices. Some customers of SayanskKhimplast said they had to agree to a price increase of Rb2,000/tonne in January prices back in December.

Higher prices of Russian polymer was partially caused by the devaluation of the rouble, which made local material one of the cheapest in the world. Export deals for January shipments reached USD560/tonne FCA.

Russian producers said they also intend to achieve an increase in next month's PVC prices for the domestic market. Negotiations over February deliveries will begin next week.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Ukraine decreased by 28% in 2015, compared to the same period in 2014 and reached 85,800 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope.

Ukraine's imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) seasonally dropped to 6,800 tonnes in December, compared with 7,700 tonnes in November; the main decrease in demand occurred for the local producers of profiles. Ukraine's SPVC imports in 2015 were 85,800 tonnes, compared with 119,100 tonnes year on year. The greatest reduction in demand (one-third) occurred for local profiles producers, the smallest - for the producers of plasticized PVC.

Structure of PVC imports into Ukraine over the reported period was as follows.

In December, imports of SPVC from the US slightly exceeded 2,000 tonnes, while in November it did not exceed 1,500 tonnes. A small increase in purchases showed local producers of window profiles. Total US PVC imports into the country decreased to 33,700 tonnes in January - Dec 2015, compared with 65,600 tonnes year on year.

December imports of European PVC into Ukraine were about 3,700 tonnes, compared to 4,800 tonnes in November on the weaker buying from the producers of profiles. Total imports of European SPVC in 2015 decreased to 42,200 tonnes, compared with 48,800 tonnes year on year.

December imports of Russian SPVC dropped to 1,000 tonnes against 1,300 tonnes a month earlier, a significant devaluation of the Russian rouble and the excess in the Russian domestic market did the Russian resin more accessible to Ukrainian companies. Total imports of Russian resin in 2015 amounted to about 8,500 tonnes, while in the same time a year ago the figure was 933 tonnes.


mrcplast.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Idemitsu SM Malaysia is likely to shut its styrene monomer (SM) plant for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that the plant is scheduled to be taken off-stream in mid-April 2016. It is salted to remain under maintenance for around one and a half month.

Located in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, the plant has a production capacity of 240,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, Idemitsu SM Malaysia already conducted a turnaround at its SM plant in Pasir Gudang from 1 June to end-June 2015. Located at Pasir Gudang in Malaysia, the plant has a production capacity of 240,000 mt/year.

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products. The company runs two petrochemical plants in Chiba and Tokuyama. The two naphtha crackers can produce up to 997,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.
MRC