South African petrochemicals group Sasol will continue investing in Iran

(presstv) -- A report says South African petrochemicals group Sasol will continue investing in Iran, despite news last month pointing to the company’s potential disinvestment due to a possible risk of sanctions.

Eric Roper, managing director of Aryasasol Polymer Company, a joint venture between Iran's Pars Petrochemicals Company and Sasol Polymers, a subdivision of Sasol’s chemical cluster, told Fars News Agency on Sunday, that the company “is satisfied with investment in Iran, and does not have any intention of leaving.” The products of the joint venture -- ethylene and polyethylene -- are used in the production of plastics.

Roper also rejected news about the company’s potential divestment.

In October, Sasol said in a filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission that due to the company’s investments in Iran, there was a possible risk that sanctions may be imposed on it by the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations.

Sasol has a 50 % stake in Arya Sasol Polymer company, a joint venture with Pars Petrochemical Company of Iran. The venture produces ethylene and polyethylene, which are used in the production of plastics.

MRC

(plasteurope) -- The Brazilian government is developing a timetable to reduce the tax burden on petrochemicals companies as part of planned measures to revitalise the sector, according to Luciano Coutinho, president of the national development bank, BNDES.

The sector has been impacted by a long period of appreciation of the Brazilian real and rising international competition, he said at a conference organised by the National Confederation of Industries (CNI, Brasilia) earlier this month.

“It is essential that we preserve the Brazilian petrochemicals and chemicals industry, because we have a huge opportunity regarding the raw materials that will become available in the future,” Coutinho was quoted as saying by local news service Valor Economico. Brazil plans to use gas produced from its offshore pre-salt oil discoveries for petrochemicals production. The government is also preparing a series of incentives and support for the process of innovation, Coutinho said.

Details of the proposed tax cuts and other measures were not discussed, as they depend on the final decision from the Ministry of Finance, he added.

The Brazilian petrochemicals sector is based mainly on naphtha feedstock, and faces strong competition from US production based on low-cost shale gas feedstock.

As MRC wrote earlier, the Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) has issued a ruling which lowers the import tax on two products used by the Brazilian industry. 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).

MRC

(polynews) -- China’s Wanxiang Group Corp. is expected to take over lithium-ion battery company A123 Systems Inc. now that Johnson Controls Inc. has backed out of a competing offer to buy the firm’s assets in a bankruptcy auction.

A123 - with headquarters in Waltham, Mass., and battery production in Romulus, Mich., and Livonia, Mich. - entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware in October, with a plan in place for JCI to buy the assets in a deal worth USD125 million.

Wanxiang, based in Hangzhou, entered a competing bid of USD257 million and representatives from A123 announced Dec. 9 that they accepted that higher offer. JCI said in a press release that it was withdrawing from the process.

Interest in battery technology is continuing to grow in the U.S., however, despite the bankruptcy by A123, one of the first auto-focused lithium-ion battery makers in North America.

Lithium-ion batteries use a polymer film at the core of every cell, and also use plastics extensively in structural parts, cooling systems and electrical connections.

JCI is part of a USD120 million research project combining business, government and university researchers to improve battery storage and create next-general battery technology.

Other partners in JCESR are Dow Chemical Co. of Midland, Mich., Applied Materials Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., Clean Energy Trust of Chicago, Ill., Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses. Dow also has its own joint venture lithium-ion battery operation, Dow Kokam LLC of Midland.
MRC

(ringier) -- PT Enviro Pallets plans to invest a total of USВ10 million to open a factory that will recycle plastic waste into shipping pallets in Tabanan regency by the end of December.

When opened, PT Enviro Pallets will process around 30 tons of plastic waste every day to produce the shipping pallets, which will be sold locally, as well as being exported to several overseas countries.

J. Roger Harkin, president director of the company, said that the planned factory would process plastic bags, food wrapping, noodle sachets and other plastic waste. It will require at least 30 tons of plastic waste a day to produce shipping pallets.

"I hope we can make a huge difference to the island’s environment as we will process around 30 percent of its total daily plastic waste produced by individuals, households and industry. The beaches, rivers and the ground are expected to be free from the mountains of plastic waste," said Harkin.

Data from the provincial environmental agency shows that there are about 10,000 cubic meters of garbage produced by residents on the island every day, about 15% of this is plastic waste. However, only 5,000 cubic meters of all the garbage is processed by the government because of the limited budget and lack of human resources.

We remind that, as MRC informed earlier, Polymer-Vector (Kemerovo), engaged in the processing of chemically contaminated plastic wastes, is going to double its processing volumes in 2013. Thus, the company will be able to process up to 1.2 thousand tonnes of plastic wastes and to increase the production of special granules up to 80 tonnes per month to be used in the production of plastic containers, paving tiles and curbs, the polypropylene (PP) tape (the analogue of metal packaging tape).
MRC

(plastemart) -- Reliance Industries is accelerating investments to boost output of natural gas and petrochemicals in anticipation of local demand to double by as early as 2017, in view of which the operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, plans two U.S. dollar- denominated offshore loans of about USD500 million each, backed by export credit agency guarantees, according to a person familiar with the matter, as reported by Bloomberg.

HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) has been approached to arrange both facilities, the person said, asking not to be identified because the details are private. The first, of USD400-500 mln, will have a guarantee from Korea Trade Insurance Corp. (K-sure), and will mature in about six years. The second, also of about USD500 mln, will be backed by French export credit agency Coface SA and have a tenor of about 13.5- years.

The company has signed about USD4.3 bln of foreign-currency denominated loans this year, the most by any local borrower, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

We remind that Reliance Industries plans to expand capacity at its refineries in the western state of Gujarat, as MRC reported previously. Earlier this year, Reliance unveiled an USD18 billion investment plan for India over the next five years.

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