YPF starts processing crude at the damaged refinery in Argentina after fire

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Argentina's state-run oil company YPF SA has started processing crude oil at its largest refinery, which had been offline for more than five days after being damaged by flooding and a major fire, reported The Wall Street Journal.

In a statement Sunday, YPF said its personnel are working to restart production in other areas of the refinery after flood waters were drained from the sprawling industrial complex.

As MRC reported earlier, YPF suspended operations at its La Plata refinery after a fire broke out last Tuesday night in a coking oven. Flooding that devastated the nearby city of La Plata last Tuesday also cut power to YPF's refinery, causing a serious fire at the refinery that took more than eight hours to extinguish.

The refinery accounts for almost 30% of Argentina's fuel production.

On Friday, YPF said it would take at least seven days to get the refinery running again. Starting Saturday, the company was able to start shipping fuel to gas stations using fuel stocks stored at the refinery.

YPF said 20 tanker loads of diesel and gasoline have been dispatched from the refinery so far.

Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF) is an Argentinean integrated oil and gas company. The company is the largest in its sector in Argentina. Its business is structured in six activities: exploration and production; refining and logistics; marketing, offering a range of automotive, aeronautics, naval, farming and industrial fuels; chemicals, manufacturing a variety of industrial products, including a diverse group of raw materials for chemical, industrial and agricultural activities; lubricants and YPF Gas, comprising the retail distribution of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The Company"s majority shareholder is Repsol YPF SA.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LANXESS is strengthening its product portfolio for biocides to serve the megatrend urbanization. The German specialty chemicals group has acquired Singapore-based PCTS Specialty Chemicals Pte. Ltd. for an undisclosed amount, said the company.

The transaction closes with immediate effect. Through the acquisition, LANXESS is now one of the leading suppliers of biocides for paints and coatings in the rapidly-growing Asia-Pacific region. LANXESS will gain access to a complementary portfolio of biocides and will benefit from PCTS’ highly-recognized product expertise and know-how in paints and coatings.

PCTS will be integrated into the LANXESS business unit Material Protection Products (MPP), which belongs to the company’s Performance Chemicals segment. The PCTS facility will also become the new Asia-Pacific headquarters of MPP. The business unit is already one of the world’s leading suppliers of biocides. It acquired the U.S.-based biocide company Verichem Inc. and the material protection activities of Switzerland’s Syngenta in 2011.

MPP also offers stabilizing agents for beverages and is the world’s leading manufacturer of phenolic active ingredients for disinfection. Its production sites are located in Krefeld-Uerdingen and Dormagen (Germany), Pittsburgh (USA), Jhagadia (India) and Changzhou (China).

As MRC wrote earlier, LANXESS brake ground for its new neodymium-based performance butadiene rubber (Nd-PBR) plant in Singapore today. The German specialty chemicals company is investing roughly EUR 200 million in a 140,000 metric tons per annum facility on Jurong Island. The facility will be the largest of its kind globally and will serve the growing market for "Green Tires", especially in Asia.

LANXESS has been present in Singapore since 2004 and is the home to about 380 employees. It serves as an important business and technical services hub for the company’s operations throughout Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific. Singapore is also the global headquarters to the Butyl Rubber business unit, which began the commissioning phase of its new world-scale plant on Jurong Island in the first quarter. The plant is expected to start commercial production in the third quarter of 2013. In addition, the Performance Butadiene Rubbers business unit broke ground last year for a world-scale Nd-PBR plant on Jurong Island. Ian Wood is the company’s country representative in Singapore.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical Public Company (PTTGC) and Indonesia’s Pertamina have signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) this week to jointly invest up to USD5bn in a giant petrochemical complex in Indonesia. The facility will be operational by 2017, said Seashipnews.

Karen Agustiawan, Pertamina’s ceo, stated that, "Due to promising demand of petrochemicals in Indonesia and Pertamina's huge potential to integrate refining and petrochemical business, we have set our petrochemical business as one of Pertamina's growth pillars. We have chosen PTTGC based on the fact that both of us are respected companies that represent our own countries, Indonesia and Thailand, in each of their respective business sectors."

The complex will manufacture olefins and polymer units.

As MRC wrote earlier, PTT owns the largest petrochemical facilities in Thailand, with an annual capacity of 8.2 million tons, using advanced technology and high energy efficiency. Pertamina has the largest oil refinery assets in Southeast Asia.

The facility will be built near one of Pertamina’s existing oil refineries in Balongan, West Java; Plaju, South Sumatra; and Tuban, East Java. The company has not yet decided which location to use.

Hanung noted that Pertamina accounts for 10 % of the petrochemical market in Indonesia. Due to low domestic refinery capacity, it imports around USD5 billion worth of petrochemicals a year.

Pertamina’s net income climbed 26% to Rp. 25.9 trillion (USD2.7 billion) last year.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petkim petrochemical complex's share in the domestic market of Turkey will increase from the current 25 to 40 per cent by 2023, CEO of Petkim, Saadettin Korkut said at a ceremony marking the 48th anniversary of the company's establishment, said Reportlinker-news.

"This will happen as a result of an increase of the capacity of gross production from the current 3.2 million tons to six million tons," Korkut said. According to him, Petkim will become one of the largest bases for the production of energy in Europe.

Korkut mentioned the growth in consumption of plastic products in the country. To date Turkey is second after China on this indicator. Therefore, he said, the country needs to create at least another two petrochemical complexes.

"Following the privatisation of Petkim by SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) four years ago, about USD500 million has been invested in the development of the petrochemical industry," he said.

On March 30, 2012, SOCAR Turkey Enerji A. and SOCAR International DMCC OGG acquired a 10.32% stake in Petkim, increasing its stake to 61.32%. Some 38.67 per cent are in free circulation on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

As MRC wrote earlier, Petkim Petrokimya Holding AS, Turkey's biggest petrochemicals maker, plans to invest as much as USD8 billion by 2016 on projects including a refinery, a new port and power plants.

Petkim Petrokimya Holding manufactures plastic packaging, fabric, PVC and detergents. It is the only Turkish producer of such products and exports a quarter of its production.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, has announced that its development partner MF Folien GmbH in Kempten, Southern Germany, successfully introduced a new polyamide film, which is based on DSM’s bio-based EcoPaXX polyamide 410, according to DSM's press-release.

MF Folien is a leading expert in the production of polyamide film, and has been DSM’s development partner for EcoPaXX film from the start. In 2011, the company was the first to create samples of 30 micron cast film from EcoPaXX. This film has the same high quality level for which MF Folien is very well known in the market. Potential application areas are in flexible food packaging, building & construction, medical, aviation and shipping.

DSM introduced EcoPaXX in order to meet increasing market demand for high performance durable bio-based engineering plastics. Kees Tintel, Business Manager EcoPaXX at DSM, says: "We recognize the market’s desire for more sustainable solutions that have a lower footprint and are bio-based. By applying DSM’s Bright Science, we were able to develop this material, which in addition to its green performance, delivers the same or even better properties compared to its traditional alternatives."

In addition to EcoPaXX, DSM offers a range of other bio-based high performance materials, including Arnitel Eco, a bio-based thermoplastic copolyester, and Palapreg ECO, a bio-based duroplast.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, recently DSM has opened its first application development technical center for engineering plastics in Japan on 26 March 2013 in Yokohama City. The launch of the DSM Engineering Plastics Japan Technical Center is fully in line with DSM’s strategy to support and grow business not only with customers in Japan but also with overseas Japanese Transplants, for which material specifications are determined in Japan. DSM recognizes the importance of developing new innovative and more sustainable applications together with its customers in Japan.

DSM delivers innovative solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance in global markets such as food and dietary supplements, personal care, feed, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automotive, paints, electrical and electronics, life protection, alternative energy and bio-based materials.
MRC