Jacobs Engineering renews agreement with Borealis for work at Stenungsund, Sweden

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has renewed its frame agreement with Borealis for work at its facilities in Stenungsund, Sweden, reported Plastemart.

Officials did not disclose the contract value, however noted that under the terms of the five year frame agreement, Jacobs is providing engineering, procurement, project management and construction management services on a variety of projects, each of which is expected to have a total installed cost varying in range up to USD11 million.

Jacobs Group Vice President Mark Bello stated, "We are very pleased to renew our frame agreement with Borealis. This is the continuation of a ten-year working relationship between Jacobs and Borealis in Sweden. We appreciate their confidence in our performance, and are committed to continue to support Borealis’ investment needs."

We remind that, as MRC informed earlier, last month Jacobs Engineering Group received a frame agreement from BASF to provide engineering services at BASF’s integrated chemicals complex in Antwerp, Belgium. Officials did not disclose the contract value, but noted that the contract duration is three years.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. The only polyethylene (PE) producer in Sweden, Borealis’ Stenungsund facilities include a PE plant, a cracker for ethylene and propylene production, and an innovation center focused on research and development for infrastructure markets.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spot prices of monoethylene glycol (MEG) and terephthalic acid (PTA) have grown in the Asian region on good buying activity from producers of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Last week, import PTA prices at the Chinese port increased by USD23-25/tonne. Prices for the main feedstock for the production of PET granulate have reached USD1,050-1,054/tonne, CFR China.

MEG prices also showed an upward trend. Thus, over the past week MEG prices at the Chinese port rose by USD18-20/tonne and amounted to USD997-1,006/tonne, CFR China.

PET producers' good sales and, as a consequence, a stable high demand for raw materials from plants have boosted feedstock prices.

Some market players expect feedstock quotations for Chinese producers of granulate to increase in the near future. According to another source, the price situation for future shipments remains uncertain due to negative macro-statistic data. Thus, the producers' price index (PPI) in China has been falling the second consecutive month. In comparison with the same period last year, PPI index dropped by 2.6%.

However, according to ICIS-MRC Price report, prices of Russian MEG fell last week. The price range of the Russian feedstock was heard at Rb47,5-50,0/tonne, FCA, including VAT.
MRC

VOSCOW (MRC) - European authorities have raided offices of oil majors Shell, BP and Statoil in an investigation of suspected manipulation of oil prices, one of the biggest cross-border actions since the Libor rigging scandal, said Reuters.

Authorities have sharpened scrutiny of financial benchmarks around the world since slapping large fines on some of the world's biggest banks for rigging interest rate benchmarks.

On Tuesday, the European Commission said it was investigating major oil companies over suspected anti-competitive agreements related to submission of prices to leading oil pricing agency Platts, a unit of McGraw Hill Group (MHFI.N).

The Commission also said companies may have prevented others from participating in the price assessment process, with a view to distorting published prices.

Statoil said the suspected violations were related to the Platts price assessment process and may have been ongoing since 2002.

Critics say the system is only a snapshot of the market, because it excludes trade outside the window - one reason that it can be vulnerable to manipulation.

The Commission said that even small distortions of assessed prices may have a huge impact on the prices of crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels purchases and sales, potentially harming final consumers.

It added the fact inspections had been carried out did not mean the companies were guilty of anti-competitive behavior.

The Commission did not make clear whether it was investigating a specific incident. These investigations typically take years to draw final conclusions.

Platts, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), BP (BP.L) and Statoil (STL.OL) said they were cooperating with the probe.

French major Total (TOTF.PA) said there had been no inspections at its offices. The Commission did not list the companies being investigated, and it was not clear whether other companies were included.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company has declared a dividend of 32 cents per share, payable July 30, 2013, to shareholders of record on June 28, 2013, according to the company's statement.

This marks the 407th consecutive cash dividend issued by the company. Dow has paid its shareholders cash dividends every quarter since 1912.

As MRC informed earlier, Dow had reported full-year 2012 sales to amount to USD56.8 billion, down 5%, or 3% on an adjusted basis. The company's sales decreased in all operating segments excluding agricultural sciences (up 13%) and in all geographic areas year over year, led by Western Europe.

Equity earnings were USD536 million, or USD698 million excluding certain items. For the full year, Dow reported EBITDA of USD5.6 billion, or USD7.5 billion on an adjusted basis.

Dow maintained its focus on lowering debt, reporting a USD613 million reduction in gross debt in 2012. In addition, year-over-year interest expense declined USD72 million.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow Chemical is a provider of plastics, chemicals, and agricultural products. It is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yibin Tianyuan Group has shut its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant for maintenance, according to Apic-online.

The plant was shut on May 13, 2013, said a source in China. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located in Sichuan province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 380,000 tonnes per year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, another PVC producer Sinopec Qilu is in plans to restart a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant following maintenance turnaround. It was shut on April 8, 2013 for maintenance and is to resume operations in the first half of May, 2013.
MRC