Celanese raises May prices of EVA emulsions in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, has announced an increase in its prices of vinyl acetate-based emulsions sold in China, as per the company's press release.

Thus, the company's prices of EVA emulsions rose by CNY300/mt for China, effective May 1, 2017, or as contracts otherwise allow.

This price increase affects all applications for EVA emulsions including, but not limited to, adhesives, paints and coatings, waterproofing, building and construction and carpet.

As MRC informed before, Celanese last raised its prices of EVA emulsions sold in China on 23 February 2017. Then, prices of EVA emulsions grew by CNY240/mt for this region.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,300 employees worldwide and had 2016 net sales of USD5.4 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In what could be the largest patent infringement damage award in Canadian history, Nova Chemicals Corporation has been ordered to pay a major settlement to The Dow Chemical Company after a recent Canadian court ruling in a case involving polyethylene (PE) resins, as per Plastemart.

In late April, a federal judge issued a written decision that details how much Dow can claim from an estimated USD1 billion in revenue Nova collected while infringing on Dow’s Canadian patent 2,160,705, which sets out a method to make the thin plastic packaging used in end products such as garbage bags and food wrappings.

Dow actually won its infringement case in federal court in 2014, when Nova was found liable for infringement of a patent owned by Dow by Nova’s manufacture and sale of its Surpass film-grade polymers. Litigation continued on how the parties should calculate the damages, however, and a damages trial was heard in Toronto last December and January. Justice Simon Fothergill issued the public version of his 78-page written decision on April 19.

Justice Fothergill ordered Calgary-based Nova to disgorge profits it made during the infringement. The companies must now use the judge’s methodology to figure out how much those profits should be. "The parties’ accountants will calculate the sums owed by Nova to Dow based on the conclusions reached by the Court in this stage of the reference," Justice Fothergill wrote.

As MRC reported before, NOVA Chemicals Corporation, a leading supplier of polyethylene in the Americas, has announced the start up of its new world-scale linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) gas phase reactor at its Joffre, Alberta site, in December 2016.

Nova Chemical is one of the largest world's petrochemical companies, a manufacturer of polyethylene, styrene polymers, monomers, and many other related products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is targeting rapid growth in demand for its polymer products from China’s automotive industry and the country’s investment in gas and electricity infrastructure, said
the company on its web-site.

ADNOC is focused on market expansion in China and Asia, where demand for petrochemicals and plastics, including light-weight automotive components, essential utility piping and cable insulation, is forecast to double by 2040.

"The push is part of ADNOC’s overall 2030 strategy aimed at a more profitable upstream, more valuable downstream, more sustainable, economic gas supply and world class talent,” The company said in a press release. “Expansion in China and Asia is a critical component of this strategy, particularly when it comes to maximizing value from downstream operations."

In response to Asia’s increasing demand for higher value products, ADNOC will ramp up its petrochemical capacity from 4.5 MMtpy in 2016 to 11.4 MMtpy by 2025.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, ADNOC strengthened its relationship with China’s hydrocarbons sector, when it finalized oil concession partnership agreements with the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) and CEFC China Energy Company Limited (CEFC China).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dutch industrial paints and chemicals company AkzoNobel has rejected a third unsolicited takeover bid from American rival PPG Industries, worth USD28.8 billion, saying it was not in the interests of shareholders, reported ABS News.

"The PPG proposal undervalues AkzoNobel, contains significant risks and uncertainties, makes no substantive commitments to stakeholders and demonstrates a lack of cultural understanding," AkzoNobel CEO Ton Buchner said in a statement.

AkzoNobel said that its own plan, announced last month, to spin off its Specialty Chemicals unit within 12 months to boost growth "offers a superior route to growth and long-term value creation and is in the best interests of shareholders and all other stakeholders."

AkzoNobel announced the shakeup after rejecting two earlier PPG bids, saying they undervalued the company.

Last month, PPG Industries upped the ante again with a third bid for AkzoNobel; a cash-and-stock deal valued at about USD28.8 billion.

AkzoNobel said it rejected the latest offer after "considerable in-depth analysis" including talks with PPG's CEO, Michael McGarry.

PPG said in a statement posted on its website that it was disappointed by the latest rejection and added that the talks, held in Rotterdam, lasted less than 90 minutes.

PPG said that Buchner and AkzoNobel's supervisory board chairman Antony Burgmans opened the meeting by saying "that they did not have the intent nor the authority to negotiate" and refused to discuss AkzoNobel's restructuring plan.

PPG said it believes that its bid "is vastly superior in shareholder value creation and provides more certainty to employees and pensioners than AkzoNobel's recently announced new standalone plan."

As MRC wrote before, AkzoNobel said on 9 June 2016 that it was adding marine and protective coatings capacity at its existing performance coatings site at Lipetsk, south of Moscow. The new capacity was expected to be operational in the third quarter of last year. It will enable AkzoNobel to supply protective coatings for the regional oil and gas, mining, power and infrastructure markets, as well as marine coatings for ship building, maintenance and repair. The investment represents a further expansion for the multi-business site at Lipetsk.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd is revising the formula it uses to price naphtha exports to include the mean prices from Argus Media instead of only relying on S&P Global Platts, a tender document showed, said Reuters.

"BPCL is doing this on an experimental basis," said a source familiar with the matter. The refiner may extend the formula of using a mean of Platts and Argus prices to other products if the naphtha pricing is well received by traders, said the source, who asked not to be identified.

BPCL regularly exports naphtha and fuel oil due to excess volumes, but only ships diesel on rare occasions. BPCL has made the pricing changes in its latest naphtha tender, which closes on May 16. The refiner is looking to sell 33 Mt of naphtha for June 4–6 loading from Mumbai and another 55 Mt for June 10-12 loading from the southwestern port of Kochi.

BPCL did not make immediate comment on the issue. The company on May 4 sold a cargo from Kochi to PetroChina at premiums of about USD16 to USD17 to Platts Middle East price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

BPCL joins Indian Oil Corp, which is also using both Platts and Argus prices in their spot sales. Other Indian sellers such as Mangalore Refinery Petrochemicals Ltd, Oil & Natural Gas Corp, Reliance Industries and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd are using only Platts prices.

Three traders said Argus prices are usually slightly higher than those of Platts. "Buyers will accept the change as the impact is not major as buyers could place a slightly lower bid factoring in that Argus prices may be higher," said a buyer of Indian naphtha cargoes.
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