Arkema upgrades its Texas acrylics facility

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema is investing USD90 million on its Clear Lake, Texas site to replace existing acrylic acid production units with modern facilities using available technologies, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As part of its operational excellence program, Arkema has launched a project that will replace two 45kt/year acrylic acid reactors at the end of their life with a single 90 kt/year reactor at its Clear Lake site. This investment will introduce new manufacturing assets using production technologies available.

The new unit is expected to come on stream by mid-2019. At completion of this program, Clear Lake's total acrylic acid production capacity will be 270 kt/year.

"Arkema will continue to meet customer demand from its American plants, which benefited from a previous modernization program between 2012 and 2014, as well as its European and Asian plants," the company said in a press release. "Arkema will position the Clear Lake site among the most competitive in North America while meeting growing demand in the region."

As MRC informed earlier, in November 2016, Arkema agreed to acquire Den Braven, a producer of sealants for insulation and construction in Europe, in a deal valued at EUR 485 million from Dutch private equity firm Egeria.

Arkema is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc. The company's business portfolio spans high-performance materials, industrial specialties and coating solutions. Reporting annual sales of EUR7.7 billion in 2015, the company employ approximately 19,000 people worldwide and operate in close to 50 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sika is acquiring Bitbau Dorr, a leading waterproofing system manufacturer, headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria, said the company on its site.

The transaction is subject to approval by the Austrian competition authority. The product portfolio includes complete waterproofing systems for roofs, buildings and civil engineering applications. In the past business year, the company with its 85-strong staff recorded sales of CHF 50 million.

It has 85 employees and had generated revenues of Swiss francs (Swfr) 50m in the past business year, Sika said in a statement.

"Thanks to our acquisition of the leading Austrian manufacturer of bitumen-based construction products and complete waterproofing solutions, Sika's customers will benefit from a broader choice of products," said Paul Schuler, regional manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Sika.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2016, Sika has opened a new mortars and concrete admixtures plant in Vancouver, Canada.

Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing and protection in the building sector and automotive industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 97 countries around the world and manufactures in over 190 factories. Its more than 17,000 employees generated annual sales of CHF 5.75 billion in 2016.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian oil major Rosneft has concluded a deal with a company linked to Qatar and commodities trader Glencore to supply up to 55 MMt of crude in total over a 5-year period, said Reuters, citing Rosneft.

The agreement follows the acquisition of a 19.5% stake in Rosneft by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) fund and Glencore last month for around USD11.8 billion.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Glencore had said it would conclude a five-year supply agreement with Rosneft giving it an extra 220,000 barrels a day to trade.

The supply deal announced on Tuesday was between Rosneft and QHG Trading LLP. A Rosneft representative said the firm is a Glencore subsidiary. It is registered at the same address as Glencore's London office. Regulatory filings list company officers as Glencore Energy UK Ltd and Qatar Holding LLC, a unit of the Qatar Investment Authority.

Rosneft said in a statement that it may supply QHG Trading with between 4.5 MMtpy and 11 MMtpy of oil with the price being set according to a formula pegged to global oil prices.

Currently, Rosneft's largest buyer of oil is Swiss commodities trader Trafigura with estimated annual purchasing volumes of around 20 MMt, equal to the entire annual output of two large refineries or enough to meet the consumption of a country such as Spain for half a year.

In December 2016, Rosneft said it has enough oil to fulfill new contracts with Swiss trader Glencore as markets gear up for a fierce battle between some of the world's largest merchants for supplies from the Russian company.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's Tuapse oil refinery, owned by Rosneft, said it had caught fire on Wednesday and that the incident would not affect production plans, said Reuters.

It said no one was injured and the fire was quickly put out at the plant.

It was written later that Tuapse oil refinery resumed production of vacuum gasoil within 24 hours.

Tuapse refinery is the only Russian refinery located on the Black Sea coast, and it is also one of the oldest -- it was put into operation in 1929.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Rosneft and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) have signed a Framework Agreement on joint pre-feasibility study of the project related to the construction and operation of a gas processing and petrochemical complex in East Siberia.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant announced that it is providing total catalyst solutions for two major ammonia production plants in Indonesia, in cooperation with its licensing partner KBR, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new projects rely on KBR’s process technologies combined with a complete range of Clariant catalysts for the entire ammonia production process.

The key catalysts selected for the projects include AmoMax 10 for ammonia synthesis, ReforMax 330 LDP and ReforMax 210 LDP for reforming, as well as ShiftMax 120, ShiftMax 217 and ShiftMax 210 for high temperature shift (HTS) and low temperature shift (LTS) reactions.

Awarded in 2015, the Indonesian projects are part of a cooperation between Clariant’s Catalysts business and KBR, which effectively unites the partners’ solutions for ammonia synthesis into tangible and substantial benefits for producers.

"We are delighted to collaborate with KBR on these important assignments in Indonesia," said Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President & General Manager Business Unit Catalysts at Clariant. "It validates the strength and success of our partnership – one that not only benefits our two companies, but also, and more importantly, our customers. The projects also demonstrate Clariant’s commitment to driving sustainable ammonia synthesis through continuous innovation."

As MRC informed earlier, Clariant Masterbatches Saudi Arabia, a joint venture (JV) between Clariant and Rowad National Plastic Company, has started construction of a new masterbatch production unit in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

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.
MRC