Explosion at Pemex headquarters kills at least 36

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rescue workers dug through rubble Friday trying to find survivors from an explosion that tore through the headquarters of Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos on Thursday, killing already 36, according to Reuters.

Mexican rescue workers found three more bodies over the weekend amid the rubble of a deadly blast.

Pemex, one of the world's biggest oil companies, said it did not know the cause of the blast but Mexican and international experts are investigating.

"I want to emphasize the complexity of the investigation. We can't explain something like this in a few hours," said Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya.

Mexican officials privately said there was no early indication of sabotage in the blast, which sent a giant fireball into the sky and partially destroyed an administrative building next to the oil firm's landmark skyscraper, which has 48 floors and towers over the city's central skyline. As MRC informed earlier, a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a preliminary line of investigation was that the blast came from a gas boiler that exploded in the adjacent Pemex building. But the cause was still being determined, the official added. Analysts discounted the likelihood that the blast was an attack.

"Instead, the explosion is a reflection of Pemex's aging infrastructure and lacking safety protocols," Alejandro Schtulmann, an analyst with political consultancy Empra, wrote in a note to clients.

Some 52 other people remained hospitalized Friday due to the explosion, which the company said hadn't affected its oil operations. It was unclear how many people might still be trapped in a basement part of the building, which was partially collapsed.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
MRC

MOSCOW (ICIS-MRC) - Reduction of ethylene contract prices in Europe and weak demand from overseas markets made European makers keep prices of polyethylene (PE) for February for CIS countries at the January level, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Though the contract price of ethylene for February was settled at the level of January, many European makers aimed to increase the price of PE. However, amid low demand from foreign markets and the strengthening of the euro, some European producers were forced to keep the January price of polyethylene for February for the CIS markets.

Negotiations on February prices of European polyethylene have just begun, but some players already reported that they managed to avoid the price increase. The offers for February deliveries of European polyethylene were at EUR1 ,250-1, 320/tonne, FCA for the HDPE and EUR1 ,320-1, 380/tonne, FCA for LDPE. Some market participants are sure that European producers are unlikely to increase prices, they only possibly cut export volumes.

Strengthening of euro complicates the position of European producers in export markets. Since the beginning of January to the moment the euro rose against the dollar nearlyby 4%, which makes European polyethylene less attractive compared with Asian, Middle Eastern and North American PE.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced that its UOP Oleflex process technology has been selected by China s Longgang Chemical Co. to produce key ingredients for fuels and synthetic rubber, said
Equities.

Honeywell s UOP C4 Oleflex process will be used to convert refinery-derived isobutane to isobutylene, a valuable petrochemical used in the production of fuels and synthetic rubber. This is UOP s second C4 Oleflex process license in China. In addition to technology licensing, Honeywell s UOP will provide basic engineering, catalysts, adsorbents, specialty equipment and engineering for the project.

Longgang Chemical Co. will use Honeywell s UOP technology to process 175,000 metric tons of mixed butane feedstock annually at its facility in Dongying City, Shandong Province, China. The facility is expected to start-up in 2015.

Unique to the Oleflex process, independent reaction and regeneration systems are in place that allow continuous use of catalysts for steady-state operations (non swing-bed), which helps maximize operating flexibility, on-stream factor and reliability.

As MRC wrote earlier, Honeywell's UOP granted the third technology license for its breakthrough methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology to China"s Shandong Yangmei Hengtong Chemicals.

Longgang Chemical Co. Ltd. is a privately held, professional production and chemical raw materials export enterprise located in Qingdao Province, China.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canada-based AltaGas and Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan have signed an agreement to form a joint venture (JV) company called AltaGas Idemitsu Joint Venture Limited Partnership, said Oil & Gas Transportation.

The JV company, wherein each of the firms will own a 50% interest, will allow export of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada to Asia.

The new company will develop long-term natural gas supply and sales arrangements to meet the growing demand for natural gas in Asia.

Under the agreement, Japan will benefit from a new, clean, stable, and reliable source of LNG from Canada and will help the country to meet its growing demand for natural gas.

The JV company will conduct feasibility studies to develop and construct liquefaction facilities, as part of the proposed project to export LNG to markets in Asia, which is expected to complete in the beginning of 2014.

AltaGas chairman and CEO David Cornhill said Idemitsu is a global leader which supplies energy, petroleum, lubricants and petrochemical products and services to Japan.

"We are pleased to work with Idemitsu to develop opportunities that will be good for the people of Japan and Canada," added Cornhill.

As a part of the partnership, both the companies will develop a LPG export business, which will include logistics, plant refrigeration and storage facilities.

The JV company will evaluate additional opportunities to own and operate infrastructure assets of other energy businesses in North America.

As MRC wrote earlier, Idemitsu Kosan Co , Japan's third-largest oil company, is to scrap its 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) Tokuyama refinery in western Japan by March 2014 rather than upgrade the plant to meet government regulations. The move will cut Idemitsu's refining capacity in Japan by nearly a fifth from the existing 640,000 bpd total from four plants.

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products. The company runs two petrochemical plants in Chiba and Tokuyama. The two naphtha crackers can produce up to 997,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korean petrochemical conglomerate LG Chem showed weaker operating performance in the fourth quarter of 2012. However, it will not have an immediate impact on the company's A3 issuer rating and stable outlook, said Moody's Investors Service in its Global Credit Research.

Despite Moody's optimistic outlook, the financial headroom for its A3 rating has reduced.

"Despite the deterioration in the fourth quarter, LG Chem's financial profile for 2012 remained consistent with its A3 rating, partly due to its conservative management of capital expenditure," says Chris Park, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer.

According to its announcement, LG Chem reported consolidated operating income of KRW364 billion in the fourth quarter, down 28% year-on-year. The lower operating income was mainly driven by a 43% year-on-year decline in operating income at its non-petrochemicals business. Meanwhile, the decline in its petrochemicals business was relatively modest at 24%.

For 2012, based on a year-on-year decline in EBITDA of about 22% and a modest increase in debt, Moody's estimates that adjusted debt/EBITDA was about 1.1x, up from 0.8x a year earlier.

Moody's expects the company's profitability to improve in 2013 due to a bottoming out of the Chinese economy, which is the key driver for the profit margins of the region's major chemical products. However, the extent of improvement will likely be constrained by margin pressures on its electronics materials and rechargeable battery businesses.

LG Chem, based in Korea, is one of the world's major chemicals companies, with 12 manufacturing locations in six countries. Although it is also involved in non-chemicals businesses, such as electronic materials, and batteries, its chemicals business is the dominant driver of its revenue and earnings. As MRC reported ealier, LG Group will invest W3500 billion (USD3.3 billion) in its petrochemical business in the current year. A part of the investments will go for expanditure of LG Chem's capacities for production of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and styrene-butadiene rubber.
MRC