Gazprom, Qatar seek joint investments after opening Doha office

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatar plans to pursue joint investments with OAO Gazprom after the Russian gas-export monopoly opened an office in the Arab state’s capital, Qatar’s energy minister said, as per Bloomberg.

"Qatar is always looking for opportunities to cooperate, especially for investment throughout the world," Mohammed Bin Saleh Al Sada told reporters at the official opening.

Russia and Qatar, holders of the world’s first- and third- biggest gas reserves respectively, have increased cooperation since the Persian Gulf country raised exports of liquefied natural gas to Europe, Gazprom’s largest market. Qatar, the biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, is pursuing energy projects abroad amid a moratorium on new development of its North Field, the world’s largest gas reservoir.

As MRC wrote earlier, Europe and the FSU remain key markets for Gazprom, which has a monopoly on the export of Russian natural gas. For example, in the second half of 2012, it generated over 76% of its revenue from sales of gas outside of the Russian Federation, which accounted for only 44% of its gas sales by volume.

Qatar increased its capacity to export liquefied natural gas, which is transported by ship, from zero to 77 million tons in the 15 years ended 2011. During that time, it signed deals to export LNG to European nations including Italy, Spain, Poland and the U.K. The added supply of Qatari gas has encouraged importers to cut their dependence on Russian supplies.

The Gas Exporting Countries Forum, headed by Russia’s Leonid Bokhanovskiy, is headquartered in Doha. The 13-member group seeks to promote cooperation on gas exports. Qatar Petroleum International, the foreign investment arm of the state energy company, said two years ago it was negotiating buying a stake in OAO Novatek’s Yamal LNG project in Russia’s arctic.

MRC

Exports of caustic soda from Russia increased by 6% in 2012

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In 2012, exports of Russian caustic soda rose by 6% year-on-year, according to MRC DataScope.

The growth of the output in Russia resulted in a rise in exports of caustic soda, which made over 160,000 tonnes, up 9,000 tonnes year-on-year.

Ukraine is a leader in procurement of Russian liquid caustic soda. Last year, 45% of Russian liquid caustic soda was delivered to Ukraine. The second-largest consumer of Russian liquid caustic soda is Turkey, which accounts for 27%. The share of Azerbaijan accounts for about 25%.


The largest markets for consumption of solid caustic soda produced in Russia is Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. The share of these countries in the total export volumes makes 16%, 14% and 13%, respectively.

Kaustik (Volgograd) is the largest exporter of liquid and solid caustic soda in Russia.

It should be noted that the peak of export shipments of caustic soda from Russia was in 2009 and amounted to 261,000 tonnes. After a peak performance of 2009, the volume of exports of caustic soda has been falling for two years in a row.

MRC

Borealis makes a firm offer to Total for its majority interest in Belgium’s Rosier SA

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A leading European polyethylene and polypropylene producer Borealis has made a firm offer to Total for its entire 56.86% interest in Belgium’s Rosier SA, listed on NYSE Euronext Brussels, according to the company's press release.

Borealis is already active in nitrogen fertilizers in Central Europe as well as in France, following its acquisition of PEC-Rhin SA, today known as Borealis PEC-Rhin SAS, in early 2012. Borealis has offered EUR 200 per share for TOTAL’s majority interest.

This offer as well as Borealis’ offer to acquire all outstanding shares in France’s GPN SA will now be presented to the employee representatives concerned, as part of the information and consultation procedures.

The proposed transaction is subject to the approval of the relevant authorities, in particular, the antitrust authorities in the countries concerned. The proposed acquisition of Rosier shares will furthermore only be completed if Borealis simultaneously acquires all outstanding shares of France’s GPN.

Borealis is an international company in producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) solutions for the infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging market sectors. Its plastics are converted by customers into products such as food packaging, medical devices, diapers, energy and communication cables, water and sanitation distribution pipes and automotive parts. It is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers.
MRC

PET converters from the CIS countries report an increase in the purchasing cost of granulate in Asia

MOSCOW (ICIS-MRC) -- PET converters continue to report an increase in purchasing prices of the Asian material. Last week, export prices of Chinese and Korean PET rose by USD10-20/tonne, according to MRC Price report.

Last week, the upward trend in PET granulate prices in Asia went on. During the week, export prices of Chinese producers increased slightly on average by USD10-20/tonne. The range of export prices of Korean PET made USD1,560-1,570/tonne, FOB Korea. The price offer for Chinese bottle PET was voiced at USD1,560-1,580/tonne, FOB China.

On the increasing price level in Asia, producers from the CIS markets also registered a rise in the purchasing cost. The price of Asian PET for Russian buyers, including delivery to the Central region of Russia, made USD1,650-1,670/tonne, DAP Moscow, excluding VAT. The quotation in Ukrainian ports also increased to USD1,640-1,660/tonne, CIF Odessa.

This week, consumer activity will remain weak due to the week's celebrations of New Year in the North-East Asia. However, market players expect PET price offer to keep on rising after the holidays on the increase in the feedstocks cost. Thus, last week, the price of terephthalic acid (PTA) in the Chinese port increased by USD11-14/tonne.
MRC

Honeywell to supply process control systems for Kirishi refinery in Russia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- OOO Kirishinefteorgsintez selected Honeywell to supply its experion process knowledge system (PKS) and advanced alarm manager system at the company’s refinery in Kirishi, in the Leningrad region of Russia, officials said on Tuesday, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

OOO Kirishinefteorgsintez said it chose to install Experion PKS as part of the upgrade process to its gas fractionating unit’s compressor block and the crude distillation unit.

Experion PKS will help to optimize production processes by providing the tight integration of production subsystems as well as safety, industrial security and advanced control systems, enabling plant operators to work more effectively and make more informed decisions, the company said.

"Honeywell’s Experion PKS solution enabled us to realize the benefits of these solutions and ensure we were able to rise to the challenge of automating our process units," he added.

Kirishinefteorgsintez is the only refinery in the North-West of Russia, which makes all kinds of fuel, a wide range of petrochemicals, including polystyrene (PS). The project processing capacity of the plant is 19.8 million tpa of oil. The company is a part of Surgutneftegas. We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, Kirishinefteorgsintez remained its PS prices for February at the level of January.
MRC