Exxon Mobil announces expansion of Louisiana petrochemical plants

(nctww) -- Exxon Mobil has announced plans to increase its petrochemical manufacturing output through the expansion of its Baton Rouge and Port Allen plants in Louisiana.

A company official said that the expansion project will begin by the end of this year and is expected to be completed by 2014. The USD215 mln expansion project will take the company’s capital expenditures in Louisiana to over USD1 billion in three years. In view of the expected increase in jobs created by the expansion, the state of Louisiana will be providing a USD1.8 mln modernization tax credit to the company, payable over the next five years.

Products produced at the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery include gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, aviation fuel, lubricating oils and waxes. In addition, products produced at the chemical plant , along with the resins finishing, polyolefins and plastics plants are used to make products you use everyday such as paint, adhesives, plastic milk cartons, auto parts, plastic films, synthetic rubber, diapers, lubricants and much more.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3 percent of the world's oil and about 2 percent of the world's energy.
MRC

(anba) -- The Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) has issued a ruling which temporarily lowers the import tax on two products used by the Brazilian industry, so as to prevent an undersupply, effective from Oct., 5.

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, to which the Camex is linked, the tax has been lowered from 16% to 2% on imports of biaxially oriented polypropylene film (Bopp), a material used in package manufacturing. The tax break will remain in effect for 180 days and the maximum quota is 960 tonnes.

Brazilian imports of the product amounted to USD72.3 million from January to August, as against USD73.5 million in the same period of 2011. Countries which ship the product to Brazil include the United Arab Emirates, which sold the equivalent of USD1.2 million in the first eight months of 2012, and USD3.7 million in the same period of last year.

The same ruling sets forth that the tax will be reduced from 14% to 2% on imports of machinery.

As per MRC wrote earlier, the world demand for biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films will continue to grow by an average of 6.6% per year to reach 8.3 million metric tonnes by 2016.


MRC

(Dow) -- The Dow Chemical Company today announced that an agreement is in place through which the company will market and sell the majority of products produced by Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara), Dow’s joint venture with Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco).

Dow will help to bring Sadara's high-value performance plastics and specialty chemical products to market in growing regions, particularly geographies where Dow has market channels that enable customer growth.

Nearly half the products Sadara offers will be available in expanding Asia Pacific markets; while the majority of the remainder will be sold in other key countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and India. Sadara itself will take the lead in bringing its products to market in certain Middle Eastern nations, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Dow will market and sell from several major product families produced by Sadara’s state-of-the-art world-scale operations. These products will be manufactured utilizing several of Dow’s industry-leading technologies, and made to Dow’s stringent quality specifications.

Sadara is constructing the complex, which will be comprised of 26 manufacturing units, and will possess flexible cracking capabilities and produce more than 3 million metric tons of high-value performance plastics and specialty chemical products.

Sadara’s first production units will come on-line in 2015, and all units are expected to be up and running in 2016. Within a few years of becoming fully operational, Sadara is projected to deliver annual revenues of approximately USD10 billion. As MRC wrote earlier, the US Export-Import Bank has approved a USD4.975bn direct loan to Sadara Chemical Company for construction of a petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia.

MRC

(europeanplasticsnews) -- German technical component manufacturer Mecalit has inaugurated a new injection moulding plant in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv.

The 5,000 m? facility, turning out a wide range of plastic parts and assemblies for various household appliances, was formally opened late last month by Bulgaria’s president Rosen Plevneliev.

Mecalit’s latest production plant is located on a 23,000 m? site at the Kuklen Industrial zone of Plovdiv which is the country’s second largest city. The Lichtenau, Germany-based processor invested in a Bulgarian unit as part of its strategy of supplying leading customers across Europe.

Mecalit makes a wide range of components and assemblies for applications ranging from refrigerators, washing machines and tumble dryers to rail and bus seating.

Its clientele includes appliance manufacturers including Miele, Bosch, Siemens and NEFF.
MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Earlier in the week, oil major BP announced an agreement to sell its refinery in Texas City, Texas, and a portion of its retail and logistics network in the southeast US to Marathon Petroleum for USD2.5 billion.

With this agreement, the total value of the divestments that BP has agreed since the beginning of 2010 is more than USD35 billion. BP expects this total to reach USD38 billion by the end of 2013.

BP will remain a significant retailer of fuels in the US, with 8,000 BP and ARCO-branded sites in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and along the East Coast. BP anticipates the transaction will close by early 2013. The company continues to invest heavily in its three northern US refineries. As MRC reported earlier, BP also eyes Russian petrochemical market, as a strategic one. Thus, in a move to expand its presence in Russia, BP is negotiating with Rosneft the possibility of acquisition of at least 12.5% of the Russian state oil firm.

BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.
MRC