Borouge and Borealis have their polyethylene polymers to be listed under PE100+ Association quality list

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borouge and Borealis, leading providers of chemical and innovative plastics solutions, achieved another breakthrough by having their high stress crack resistant (HSCR) polyethylene PE100 polymer, BorSafe HE3490-LS-H, listed under the PE100+ Association’s quality list, reported USindustrysourcing.

Thanks to the high performance and properties of these PE100 polymers, engineers can be confident that their pipelines will provide a reliable and maintenance free infrastructure for many years to come.

The full range of HSCR PE100 polymers manufactured by Borouge and Borealis are now included in the latest list of PE100+ Association, providing further reassurance regarding the consistent high quality of these products.

“Many projects have been undertaken around the world using pipes produced from Borouge and Borealis HSCR PE100 polymers,” said Khalfan Al Muhairi, Vice President Marketing Centre Pipe at Borouge.

“BorSafe HSCR PE100 polymers are ideal to be used for producing pipes that will be installed using trenchless technology and in rocky soils due to their toughness and reliability, as compared to pipes produced from other materials."

As MRC reported earlier, in May, 2012, Borealis offered the infrastructure pipe industry a range of innovative polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) materials through its BorSafe and BorECO product ranges. For hot and cold water pipes, Borealis has a long track record with its BorPEX product range as a supplier of crosslinked polyethylene (PEX). Later last year Borealis and Borouge combined their expertise t0 serve the automotive market by introducing a new grade of polypropylene (PP) specified for use in lightweight bumper applications for two new Renault automotive platforms.

Borouge and Borealis innovative polyethylene and polypropylene solutions for pipes help address the global water challenge and are considered the main core of the Companies’ joint Water for the World programme, which has benefited more than 300,000 people around the world who lack access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation facilities
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- International rating agency Fitch Ratings has assigned SIBUR Securities Limited's issue of guaranteed 3.914% notes due 2018 (the Notes) for the aggregate amount of USD1,000m a final senior unsecured 'BB+' rating, according to FitchRatings' press release.

The Notes are unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by JSC SIBUR Holding (OAO SIBUR Holding, SIBUR, 'BB+'/Stable).

The rating action follows a review of the final documentation materially conforming to the draft documentation reviewed when Fitch assigned the expected 'BB+(EXP)' rating on 17 January 2013. As MRC reported earlier, Fitch Ratings had affirmed the long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of JSC "SIBUR Holding" at "BB +" and short-term IDR at 'B'.

SIBUR Securities Limited (the Issuer), the issuer of the bonds, is an Ireland-based private limited liability company established for this sole purpose. The notes will benefit from an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee from OAO SIBUR Holding (the Guarantor). The guarantee will be a senior unsecured obligation of OAO SIBUR Holding and will rank equally in right of payment with all its existing and future senior unsecured and unsubordinated obligations.

Proceeds will be used for short-term debt refinancing and general corporate purposes. Covenants apply to the issuer, the Guarantor and certain subsidiaries and include a negative pledge (with permitted liens) and limitation on incurrence of indebtedness with a total proforma debt-to-consolidated EBITDA ceiling of 3.5:1. Events of defaults include cross default or cross acceleration to the debt of the Issuer, the Guarantor or any material subsidiary with a USD50m threshold.

SIBUR's ratings are supported by its leading position in the Russian petrochemicals sector, diversified portfolio and access to associated petroleum gas (APG) which ensures low costs versus most international peers and underpins its strong operational cash flow generation over the cycle.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Norplas Industries, an Ohio company owned by Magna International, a Canadian auto supplier, plans to build a state-of-the-art robotic paint line and injection molding factory in a Delta Township industrial tract that includes General Motors Co.’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant, reported LSJ.

Magna officials said Wednesday they have not settled on an exact site and that pay ranges for employees and a timetable for opening the plant have not been set.

The project is one of two Norplas has planned in Michigan. It also wants to build a new facility for light assembly and sequencing for Ford Motor Co.’s Fusion sedan front-end modules in Brownstown Township, south of Taylor in Wayne County, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp. That site would employ at least 220 jobs.

Overall, Norplas plans to spend $81.8 million on the two facilities, including $75 million on the Delta site.

As MRC informed earlier, in December 2012, the Russian company "Avtotor Holding" and Magna International Europe signed an agreement on cooperation in the creation of automotive cluster in the Kaliningrad region. As per the agreement the parterns plan to build 21 plants, 15 of which - for the production of automotive components.

Besides, we remind that Magna has recently chosen Arnite A, a high performance compound based on polyethylene terephthalate (PET), from DSM for use in its latest generation of exterior mirror adjustment units.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron was cited for fines worth almost USD1 million stemming from a major fire at its refinery in Richmond, Calif., reports Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the state's division of Occupational Safety and Health.

As MRC informed earlier, a fire broke out in a crude distillation unit (CDU) at Chevron's 245,000 bpd Richmond refinery near San Francisco, California, forcing the closure of much of the facility. The fire lasted for hours, sending plumes of black smoke over the San Francisco Bay and causing an estimated 15,000 local residents to visit emergency rooms.

Chevron replaced pipes in at least one other US refinery based on a check of facilities following the August fire, since on-going investigations of the accident focused on corroded pipes found in the crude-distillation unit, where the fire started.

Cal/OSHA outlined 25 workplace violations, including 11 "willful serious" and 12 "serious" against Chevron and levied fines worth USD936,200, the highest allowed by state law.

"Our investigators found willful violations in Chevron's response before, during and after the fire," said Cal/OSHA Chief Ellen Widess.

Chevron will appeal the citations, company spokesman Sean Comey said.

"Although we acknowledge that we failed to live up to our own expectations in this incident, we do not agree with several of the Cal/OSHA findings and its characterization of some of the alleged violations as "willful,'" Mr. Comey said.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Ministry of Economic Development of Italy has closed the remained plant of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in the country, thus, giving the green light to sales of "Vinyls Italia's facilities, the only Italian PVC producer, reports La Voce di Venezia.

Vinyls Italia's plants for PVC production were stopped back in 2009. In May 2010, the Qatari company Ramco reported to the Government of Italy the termination of long negotiations on purchase of the production assets of Vinyls Italia, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. The failure of negotiations was related to the lack of compromise in a purchasing price (as indicated in the tender documents) and lack of access to the port in the petrochemical industrial park of Porto Marghera.

On 29 July, three authorized commissioners of Vinyls Italia presented to the Minister of Economic Development of Italy a new international tender, which was to generate interest in buying the company and all of its chlorine complex, as MRC informed previously. However, the committee members were not able to find an investor who would have resumed production of PVC at the plants.

As a result of the closure, the PVC units of Vinyls Italia in Porto Marghera and Porto Torres will be sold to an American company that had won the tender. It is planned that the production capacity will be desmantled within three months. Factory workers will be paid arrears for six months in addition to the bonus and a severance pay, but their fate is yet uncertain.

The secretary of the Italian Confederation of Workers Trade Unions (CISL) commented on the event, saying that "Italy must import PVC, and will become, at least, in this respect China-dependent."
MRC