Mexichem and Pemex approved JV to produce VCM

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexichem announces that PEMEX's Management Board authorized the co-investment between Pemex Petroquimica and Mexichem, seeking to bring viability and generate value in the country's VCM chain, said Mexichem in it statement.

The board of Mexico's Pemex approved on Wednesday a venture between the oil monopoly and conglomerate Mexichem to produce vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), a chemical used to make plastic pipes, resins and paints.

Pemex's go-ahead for the venture, first announced in 2011, follows months of uncertainty about future of the deal. Mexichem has still to sign off on the project, valued at about USD500 million.

Pemex said that Mexichem would contribute an undetermined cash amount to upgrade Pemex's Pajaritos petrochemical facilities in the city of Coatzacoalcos, in the Gulf state of Veracruz.

The plant will continue to be staffed by Pemex workers.

Mexichem had given up on the venture with Pemex in November, citing long delays, and said it planned instead to focus on the extraction and sale of its own products and to pursue opportunities to produce VCM.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC, Saudi petrochemical major, has announced fourth quarter net profits of 5.83 billion riyals (USD1.55 bln), an 11.3% increase compared to 2011, reported Bloomberg.

Despite the quartely increase, the company said 2012 net income had dropped by 15.5% to 24.72 billion riyals (USD6.59 billion) from 29.24 billion riyals the year before.

A statement attributed the increase in the fourth-quarter net to "higher sales volumes and sales prices for certain products." The decrease in yearly earnings was due to "higher costs of sales and lower sale prices for certain products, despite higher sales and production volumes and reduction in financial charges."

Sabic is ranked among the world's largest petrochemicals manufacturers. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia. The comany manufactures chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is currently the second largest global ethylene glycol producer. Among its products are propylene, paraxylene, styrene, vinyl chloride monomer. Sabic's venture capital arm is looking for opportunities in the U.S., Europe and China to buy stakes in start-up companies that can turn shale gas into petrochemicals, as MRC reported earlier. Formed last November, the Netherlands-based business is negotiating 30 to 40 deals and is looking especially at technologies that use different feedstocks.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries (RIL) will invest over Rs 100,000 crore in expansion of its petrochemical capacities and adding value to its refining business, according to Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited, reported Plastemart.

RIL’s performance has improved in the fourth quarter of 2012 with margin expansion in petrochemicals and record earnings in the refining business. Thus, the company decided to invest in its petrochemical and refining business. We remind that, as MRC informed earlier, Reliance Industries plans to expand capacity at its refineries in the western state of Gujarat.

"These investments will secure a significant change in RIL’s earning capacity on commissioning of these projects. It will also provide employment opportunity for thousands of young Indians and support India’s economic growth," said Mukesh D. Ambani.

Besides, RIL intends to buy BP’s petrochemical plant in Malaysia. RIL has expressed interest in BP’s 610,000 tpa purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in Malaysia.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- At approximately 8 a.m. local time on Monday, January 21, Lubrizol Corporation, a leading global supplier of fuel and lubricant additives for transportation and industrial applications, detected instability with a batch of one of the products at the plant in Rouen, France, said Lubrizol in its press release.

The resulting unpleasant smell is caused by mercaptan, which is a non-toxic compound at the quantities involved. This is the same substance commonly used to give natural gas a detectable smell. Neutralizing the mercaptan smell is a slow process, and the unpleasant smell can linger until the process is complete.

The company expressed a deep regret for any inconvenience. Plant operations have been temporarily suspended, and company's teams continue to work in close cooperation with local authorities to stop the smell as quickly as possible.

French Ecology Minister Delphine Batho said there was no health risk after she visited the factory in the northern city of Rouen in Normandy, said BBC.

Thousands of people, from as far away as Paris and London, have complained of nausea and headaches.

The gas is mercaptan, an additive to natural gas said to be harmless.

Authorities will investigate what caused the link and whether the company should be held responsible, the ecology minister said.

he Lubrizol Corporation, is a specialty chemical company that produces and supplies technologies, which are designed to improve the quality and performance of products in the global transportation, industrial and consumer markets.

Headquartered in Wickliffe, Ohio, United States, Lubrizol is divided into two distinct segments, the Lubrizol Additives division and the Lubrizol Advanced Materials segment.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gurit Holding AG, a leading global supplier of composite materials, engineering, tooling, parts, and systems has won a second supply contract from a prestigious car manufacturer in the Italian market and announces a further expansion of its UK-based automotive parts manufacturing site, resulting in doubling the capacities by mid-year, said Gurit in its statement.

Building on its achievements of last year, Gurit has successfully secured a second supply agreement with a prestigious OEM in the Italian automotive market. The prototype deliveries of the new composite parts will commence in Q1 2013, with series supply starting in the second half of the year. The whole new contract is worth some EUR 1.5 million.

The continued demand for Gurit’s high-end SPRINTTM CBS components in the UK, German and Italian markets has resulted in the need to further expand its existing parts manufacturing capacity at its UK site. The expansion will start in Q1 2013 and will be completed by the summer, doubling the overall automotive composite car parts production capacity.

Martin Starkey, Managing Director of Gurit Automotive, commented: "Securing our second series programme in Italy so quickly after the first, is further proof for the technology and skills we provide our customers. Clearly, the trend towards the adoption of carbon fibre composite parts in automotive continues to grow at a considerable pace. To ensure we can maintain our market leading position as an advanced composite parts Tier 1 supplier, I am also pleased to announce the next expansion of our manufacturing capacity in our UK site".

The companies of Gurit Holding AG, Wattwil/Switzerland, are specialised on the development and manufacture of advanced composite materials, related technologies and select finished parts and components. The comprehensive product range comprises fibre reinforced prepregs, structural core products (man-made materials and balsa wood), gel coats, adhesives, resins and consumables.

As MRC wrote earlier, Gurit expanded its position in the materials market for rotor blades built using infusion technology through the introduction of the “PVCell” G-Foam family of structural foams. Developed and produced by Gurit’s subsidiary in Qingdao, China, the range is used in the manufacture of wind turbine rotor blades for the local Chinese market where PVC foams are widely employed.

Gurit supplies global growth markets with composite materials on the one hand and composite tooling equipment, structural engineering and select finished parts on the other. The global Group has production sites and offices in Switzerland, Germany, the UK, Canada, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Ecuador, Brazil, India and China.

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