Westlake to increase PVC output along with ethylene production

(cnbc) -- Westlake has announced an expansion of the existing PVC plant in Calvert City, Kentucky, and the plans to convert the feedstock for its Calvert City ethylene plant from propane to ethane along with increasing ethylene capacity from 450 million pounds per year to 630 million pounds per year.

This expansion and feedstock conversion will add approximately 200 million pounds per year of PVC capacity to the existing 1,100 million pounds of annual capacity, enhance Westlake's vinyl chain integration and leverage low cost ethane being developed in the Marcellus shale area.

This PVC expansion will allow Westlake to take advantage of the increased ethylene production at the site and to provide additional PVC resin to meet the growing demands of global customers.

The construction costs for these projects are estimated to range between USD210 to USD240 million. The ethylene expansion and feedstock conversion project is targeted for start-up in the second quarter of 2014 and the PVC expansion is projected to start up in late 2014.

Westlake Chemical Corporation is a U.S. manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals and polymers, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The range of company's products includes ethylene, polyethylene (PE), styrene, propylene (PP), caustics, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and plastic products.
MRC

(arkema) -- Announced on July 16th this year, the project for the acquisition by the Arkema subsidiary Coatex of an acrylic additives and emulsions production site from Brazilian company Resicryl, was closed on October 1st 2012 as scheduled.

The production site that has been acquired, located in Aracariguama on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, will be part of Coatex which already runs commercial operations in Brazil. Current Coatex sales in Brazil and those from the new site will generate a turnover of around 20 million U.S. dollars.

The site’s production plants will gradually be developed to manufacture without delay Arkema’s full range of rheology additives and waterborne emulsions for the mineral industry, paper, construction, water treatment, paint and adhesives, and cosmetics markets.

Arkema is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. A subsidiary of the Arkema Group, Coatex specializes in the manufacture and marketing of flow additives used in a large number of markets. With a global presence, industrial sites in France, the Netherlands, the United States, China and Korea, and sales offices on five continents, Coatex reported sales of around EUR180 million in 2011.
MRC

(KBR) -- This week, KBR has been awarded a license and process design package contract for a new olefins recovery unit in Yulin city in China’s Shanxi Province.

That plant with the capacity of 600,000 tpy of olefins (ethylene plus propylene) is the first and largest coal-to-olefin project in the world using coal as the feedstock to produce polyethylene and polypropylene by coal gasification to methanol, then methanol to olefin (MTO), and then olefin polymerization, according to KBR. It is planned to be put into production in 2014.

KBR officials say MTO opens up a new approach to the implementation of the energy substitution strategy and the founding of coal to the olefin industry.

Apart from being the largest contractor for the United States Army and a top-ten contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense, KBR is also an industry leader in transforming hydrocarbon resources into value across all sectors of the energy and chemicals industries. By designing and constructing energy and petrochemical projects that offer the latest and best process and design technologies.
MRC

(petrolworld) -- AAR has hired banking specialists the Rothschild Group to assist it in buying out BP’s half in TNK-BP after deciding last week that it will try to acquire all of BP’s stake in the venture, rather than just the half it originally wanted.

BP announced earlier in the year that it intends to quit the company after its relationship with AAR -- its partner in the venture – broke down over differences of opinion relating to the strategic management of the company. BP had wanted the venture to partner with Russian oil major Rosneft on an exploration venture, which was opposed by AAR.

AAR, owned by billionaires Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, Viktor Vekselberg and Len Blavatnik, will face competition from Rosneft for BP’s share, media reported in September. BP is set to begin the bidding process in mid-October, when a period of contracted good faith negotiations with AAR is set to end.

BP has said that it may use the proceeds from its sale to buy shares in Rosneft, and that the deal may see the company receive a combination of shares and cash for its stake.

MRC

(Platts) -- Saudi Arabia's petrochemical sector will see lower net profits in the third quarter of 2012 on a year-on-year basis, Riyadh-based investment bank Al Rajhi Capital said.

Al Rajhi Capital in a report cited a global lack of petrochemicals demand because of economic woes in the Eurozone and slower growth in China and India for possible lackluster performance for Saudi petrochemical companies in Q3.

"Despite a sharp 10-15% rise in most of the product prices in the months of July and August 2012, average product prices in Q3 2012 remained lower compared to Q3 2011, barring methanol," the report said.

Petrochemicals major Sabic's Q3 2012 net income will drop 30% year-on-year to Riyals 5.7 billion ($1.52 billion), Al Rajhi Capital said.

Almost all the Saudi petrochemical companies including Sabic reported year-on-year drops in net income in Q2. Companies are expected to release Q3 financial results over October 7-19.
MRC