Styron announces price increases for polystyrene Grades

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Styron (Hong Kong) Limited and its affiliate companies in Asia Pacific has announce price increases for all polystyrene grades, reported the company in its press release.

Effective immediately, or as existing contract terms allow, the prices for the products listed below will increase as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) by USD40 per tonne;
- STYRON and STYRON A-TECH high-impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) by USD30 per tonne.

"The price increase responds to the rising costs associated with the manufacturing of polystyrene grades in Asia Pacific." said Samer Al Jabi, Global Product Manager for Polystyrene.

As MRC informed previously, Styron Europe GmbH and Ravago S.A. have recently announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Styron's Expandable Polystyrene (EPS) business will be sold to RP Compounds, a subsidiary of Ravago S.A., for an undisclosed sum. The sale includes the EPS manufacturing facility in Schkopau, Germany, as well as related intellectual property and the SCONAPOR brand. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and completion of customary conditions.

Styron is a leading global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Styron"s technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Styron had approximately USD 5.5 billion in revenue in 2012, with 20 manufacturing sites around the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Dow Chemical Co will consider selling its paint, construction and chlorine businesses as it joins industry rivals in shedding units vulnerable to commodity price swings, said Reuters.

Dow, the largest U.S. chemical maker by sales, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday due to strong margins in its plastics business and higher sales of pesticides to farmers. Its shares rose 1.5 percent in morning trading.

Like competitor DuPont, the company is pushing hard into the agricultural sector, where sales have been booming on year-round demand for seeds and pesticides for the crops needed to feed an expanding global population. DuPont said on Tuesday that it planned to exit its titanium paint pigments business to focus on its agricultural unit, where higher sales helped to boost quarterly profit.

Dow Chemical has already divested non-core businesses worth about USD8 billion in revenue since 2009, and plans this year to close the previously announced sale of its polypropylene licensing and catalyst business and its plastics additives unit.

"One-third of our business is in low-cost commodity, cyclical-type business, where my competition is state-owned enterprises," Dow Chemical Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said. "My competition is racing to commoditize my products. That means I have to keep working them out of the portfolio and keep moving to areas of high-margin, high-technology."

On a post-earnings conference call with analysts, Liveris identified the company's Epoxy, or industrial paint, business as a candidate for divestment, as well its European building and construction and commodity chlorine derivatives units. "Here, we see the need for more dramatic interventions," he said. "These businesses are in the fix/take-action mode, which includes exploring all possibilities - including joint venturing or divesting them."

Dow Chemical spokeswoman Rebecca Bentley said the three businesses combined contributed USD6 billion in annual revenue.

We remind that a federal judge in Kansas City, Kansas, ordered Dow Chemical Co to pay USD1.2 billion in a price-fixing case involving chemicals used to make foam products in cars, furniture and packaging, according to court documents. Dow was one of several chemical company defendants named in a 2005 class action lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to fix urethane chemical prices, but it was the only defendant not to settle.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. As of 2007, it is the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue (after BASF) and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization (after BASF and DuPont). Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - BP Plc's USD20 billion Gulf of Mexico oil spill compensation fund has almost run out after provision for costs so far leaped by USD1.4 billion in the second quarter, said Reuters.

The British oil company has just USD300 million left in the fund, and the deadline to file a business economic loss claim among Gulf coast businesses - which make up the bulk of claims -is not until April next year.

BP has said claims beyond what the fund can pay will be taken straight off future profits.

BP revealed the extra cost in its second quarter results, which missed forecasts due to the lagging effect of tax in Russia, where the price of Urals crude was weaker and due to the tax effects of a stronger dollar on a basket of currencies.

As MRC wrote previously, Rosneft acquired a 95% stake in TNK-BP, Russia's third-largest oil company, on March 21 from BP PLC (BP) and its partners.

Adjusted net profit coming in at USD2.712 billion compared with expectations of USD3.410 billion and USD3.6 billion a year ago.

Of the extra USD1.4 billion of spill costs - which come on top of a USD500 million cost in the first half - some USD900 million is for extra claims, while about USD500 million is for the administration costs of the claims administrator.

BP is locked in a legal battle over the compensation payouts with the administrator Patrick Juneau. It says Juneau is paying out "fictitious" claims due to a misinterpretation of the settlement.

BP also faces a resumption of its trial on civil charges in September. It increased its giant overall provision for the spill to USD42.4 billion from USD42.2 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- State-run Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with fellow Indian company Reliance Industries which could see the pair share the latter's infrastructure on the country's east coast, reported Upstreamonline.

ONGC said the agreement would help minimise its capital expenditure as well as speed up the development of its deep-water fields which lie near Reliance's.

The two companies will now carry out a nine-month joint study to work out how they could share infrastructure, identify additional requirements and firm up commercial terms.

The companies intend to enter a formal agreement following the completion of the joint study.

We remind that, as MRC informed previously, Reliance Industries plans to expand capacity at its refineries in the western state of Gujarat. Earlier last year, Reliance unveiled an USD18 billion investment plan for India over the next five years.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company's polymer production in 2010-11 (polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride) made 4,094 kilo tonnes.
MRC