DuPont declares Q3 dividend

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont, the biggest U.S. chemical maker by market value, declared a third quarter common stock dividend of 45 cents per share payable 12 September, 2013, to stockholders of record 15 Aug, 2013, reported the company on its site.

This dividend is the same as what was paid in the second quarter 2013. This is the 436th consecutive quarterly dividend since the company’s first dividend in the fourth quarter of 1904.

Regular quarterly dividends of USD1.12-1/2 per share on the USD4.50 series preferred stock and 87-1/2 cents per share on the USD3.50 series preferred stock also were declared, both payable Oct. 25, 2013, to stockholders of record 10 October, 2013.

As MRC wrote previously, DuPont Co.is considering a spinoff or sale of its performance chemicals unit, which makes titanium dioxide pigment and Teflon coatings, to focus on less cyclical products and boost shareholder returns.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hengli Petrochemical is in plans to shut its No.1 purified terephthalic acid (PTA) line for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the line is likely to be shut in H2 August, 2013. It is slated to remain off-stream for around two weeks.

Located in Dalian, China, the line has a production capacity of 1.1 million mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, in October 2012, Hengli Petrochemical commissioned the first phase of a world-scale purified terephthalic acid (PTA) project in Changxing Island of Dalian, Liaoning Province, China. Hengli Petrochemical which is utilizing PTA technology from Invista, claims that the plant is the world's largest monomer production plant.

PTA is feedstock which is used in production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) has received air permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for its plan to build a new ethane cracker and polyethylene (PE) units in Texas, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Additionally, the company said it received a greenhouse gas permit from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the cracker earlier this year.

Pending final board approval to be sought later this year, the 1.5 million tpy (3.3 billion pounds/year) ethane cracker would be built at CPChem's Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas, while the two new polyethylene facilities, each with an annual capacity of 500,000 tpy (1.1 billion pounds), would be built on a site near the company's Sweeny facility in Old Ocean, Texas.

"We now have the requisite permits in hand to initiate construction of the cracker and polyethylene units and remain in the first mover position leading the way as the US petrochemical industry announces significant expansions of capacity as a result of shale resource development," said Ron Corn, vice president of corporate planning and development.

"We are proud of the project’s progress since we first announced our feasibility study to construct a world-scale ethane cracker and derivatives facilities on the Texas Gulf Coast in March 2011."

The ethane cracker and two polyethylene units, part of the company’s US Gulf Coast (USGC) petrochemicals project, are expected to create approximately 400 long-term direct jobs and 10,000 engineering and construction jobs.

The estimated completion date for the company's USGC petrochemicals project is 2017.

As MRC reported ealier, in June 2013, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP announced it will expand its ethylene production by 200 million pounds by adding a tenth furnace to ethylene unit 33 at its Sweeny complex in Old Ocean, Texas. The company recently received consent to begin construction from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The new furnace will achieve lower emissions and incorporate Best Available Control Technology (BACT). Construction is targeted to commence within the next quarter, with an anticipated startup in 2014.

Chevron Phillips is a chemical producer jointly owned by Chevron Corporation and Phillips 66. The company was formed July 1, 2000 by merging the chemicals operations of both Chevron Corporation and Phillips Petroleum Company. A 50/50 venture, the company continues to be governed by a board of directors composed of two members from each of the parent companies. Chevron Phillips is headquartered at The Woodlands, Texas (a northern suburb of Houston), and is a major producer of ethylene, propylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, K-Resin(r) SBC, ryton polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), alpha-olefins, polyalphaolefins, aromatic compounds and a range of specialty chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The launch of two new polypropylene (PP) plants in Omsk (Polyom, Titan Group) and Tobolsk (Tobolsk-Polymer, SIBUR group) reduced imports of material to the required minimum, according to MRC DataScope.

PP imports to Russia in July remained at the June's level and totalled 15,200 tonnes.

The startup of the two new PP facilities in Omsk and Tobolsk, which allowed to double the output of the polymer, led to major cuts in imports. The Russian market has become a net exporter (the difference between exports and imports) in the propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP), but the market of propylene copolymers are still dependent on imports.

Imports of homopolymer PP to Russia in July amounted to 3,900 tonnes, whereas in June, it was 3,500 tonnes. Over the past three months, the proportion of propylene homopolymer in total imports dropped to 25%, whereas in the previous year they exceeded 50%. Export sales of Russian homopolymer PP in July reached 11,000 tonnes.

Imports of block copolymers of propylene (PP-block) in July were 5,300 tonnes (in June - 6,000 tonnes). High prices of PP-block in foreign markets resulted in reductions in imports of extrusion grades of the copolymer, while imports of injection moulding polymer virtually remained at June's level.

Imports of statistical copolymer of propylene (PP-random) last month remained around 3,000 tonnes, as in June. Russian companies have increased their supply of pipe copolymer of propylene by 71% from June up to 1,900 tonnes. Producers of BOPP films, on the contrary, reduced in July their purchases of PP-random by more than half.

Imports of other copolymers of propylene in July amounted to about 3,100 tonnes, up 11% from June.

Overall, in the first seven months of this year, PP imports to Russia totalled 126,000 tonnes, down 22% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petronas (Petroliam Nasional Bhd) has further delayed a final investment decision and the start of production on its USD19-billion Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (Rapid) project in Johor, Malaysia, reported GV.

The investment decision, which had been expected in June 2013, has been extended to March 2014 by external factors beyond the company’s control, a statement released by Petronas said.

As a result of the revised date for a final investment decision, the Rapid refinery is now scheduled to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2017 and the remaining plants in the complex are scheduled to be commissioned in 2018. Petronas had earlier pushed back the entire project’s start up to early 2017 from late 2016.

The planned complex includes a 300,000-b/d refinery, which will supply naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas feedstock for the production of about 3-million t/y of ethylene, propylene, C4 and C5 olefins and several downstream units.

As MRC informed previously, Petronas' net profit in the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 slipped 2.73% to RM20.37 billion from RM20.94 billion a year ago due to lower crude oil prices and higher costs, partially offset by increased production.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
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