Supreme Court refuses to stay Haldia Petrochemical stake sale

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Supreme Court (SC) has not granted a stay on the stake sale process in eastern Indian biggest petrochemical company - Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) - and set the stage for the West Bengal government to call price bids by August 31, as per Plastemart.

The apex court said it would hear the HPL case in September and decide on the issue of merit, but did not order any interim stay. TCG (The Chatterjee Group), a key promoter of HPL, had filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the SC against the Calcutta high court order barring it from going to the International Court of Arbitration in France.

The SLP was TCG Chairman Purnendu Chatterjee's effort to stall the stake sale process as TCG has repetitively said it wants management control in the company. Six major companies from the sector had submitted expressions of interest for buying the state government's stake in HPL.

The due diligence process got over last week. Five companies - Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Cairn India, Indian Oil Corporation, Gas Authority of India Ltd and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation - are in the fray. The bids are expected to come by August 31, according to an HPL official. A TCG official, however, said it was a not setback for the company as the final verdict would come sometime in the month of September. "As of now, things stay exactly how they were a month back. The SC will hear the case again in September and let's see what decision it arrives at," said the TCG official.

As MRC informed previously, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) mulls to take a controlling stake in the troubled Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) following the West Bengal government's decision to appoint a consultancy firm - Deloitte to advise on the proposed sale of its shares.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian oil giant Petrobras has decided to sell of USD2.1 billion of assets following a meeting by the company’s board of directors, according to Pipeline Magazine.

The divestments include the 100% sale of the second-generation petrochemicals company, Petroquimica Innova (Innova) to Videolar and its majority shareholder for approximately USD372 million although this is subject to a shareholder vote.

Petrobras will also sell its 35% stake in block BC-10, known as Parque das Conchas, located in the Campos Basin, to the Sinochem Group for USD1.54 billion.

The company has signed farm-out contracts worth USD185 million related to 100% of the Petrobras stake in blocks MC 613 (Coulomb), GB 244 (Cottonwood) and EW 910, all in production and located in the US Gulf of Mexico. It holds a 33%, 100% and 60% in the Coulomb, Cottonwood and EW910 blocks respectively.

Petrobras is to complete a 20% sales agreement worth USD16 million for the voting capital of Companhia Energetica Potiguar (CEP). CEP is responsible for the implementation, development and exploration of the Potiguar and Potiguar III thermal power plants located in Macaiba, state of Rio Grande do Norte, as well as the sale of the electrical energy generated as an Independent Electrical Energy Producer (PIEE) and electrical energy transmission. The two diesel-powered plants have a total installed capacity of 119.5 MW and have been in operation since 2009.

These transactions are part of Petrobras’ Divestment Program (Prodesin) in its 2013-2017 Business and Management Plan.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Petrobras kept its five-year investment plan flat for the first time in years. The company's new investment plan is a relief to those investors who'd feared another increase. Petrobras has one of the largest investment budgets of any firm in the world at USD236.7 billion for the next five years, as it seeks to develop some of the biggest oil discoveries the world has found in decades. But its ambitions have weighed heavily on its share price in recent years, as production increases have failed to materialize and some projects have been mired by delays and cost overruns.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in the Southern Hemisphere by market capitalization and the largest in Latin America measured by 2011 revenues.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol has sold its stake in the Iran-based joint venture Arya Sasol Polymers Company, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing with refrence to officials' statement.

Sasol reached the agreement with Main Street 1095, a South African subsidiary of an Iranian investor. Main Street 1095 will acquire 100% of Sasol's joint venture vehicle SPI International, which holds a 50% stake in Arya Sasol Polymers.

"As a result of this transaction, Sasol has no on-going investment in Iran," the company said in a news release.

Sasol had been pressured by international advocacy groups such as US-based United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) to sell its stake in the Iran business.

The Arya Sasol complex has a 1 million tpy ethane cracker, a 300,000 tpy low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant and a 300,000 tpy medium-density/high-density polyethylene (MD/HDPE) unit.

As MRC informed previously, in late July 2013, INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA and Sasol announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the intent to form a joint venture to manufacture high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The envisioned facility would produce 470,000 tonnes per annum of bimodal HDPE using Innovene S process technology licensed from INEOS Technologies. The intention is to produce a limited number of grades allowing high grade efficiencies.

Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company that began in Sasolburg, South Africa in 1950. It develops and commercialises technologies and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of product streams including liquid fuels, chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology (KPTC) has decided not to proceed with plans to construct an integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Pengerang, Johor, Malaysia, due to the low economic feasibility of the project, said Chemical-technology.

Taiwan-based KPTC is a joint venture (JV) between private Taiwanese companies and state-run CPC, which holds 43% interest. An unnamed CPC official was quoted by Platts as saying the project, which was meant to use naphtha as a feedstock to manufacture ethylene, would not be economically feasible because the costs will be too great, with the rise of shale gas an alternative.

"Taiwan-based KPTC is a joint venture (JV) between private Taiwanese companies and state-run CPC, which holds 43% interest."

"This has nothing to do with Malaysia but is based solely on the fact that the project would not be economically feasible," the official added.

"Right now we are waiting for the results of the report and the EIA (environmental impact assessment) process to be concluded. We had not proceeded beyond that so our costs were limited to just the feasibility study."

In May, KPTC had submitted the project's EIA report to the Malaysian Government, whose results are expected in the near future.

We remind that the proposed KPTC Malaysia Integrated Refinery and Petrochemical Development (KPTC-MIRPD) project was expected to have a 150,000bpd refinery, which was slated for an early 2018 start up.

The refinery was also expected to manufacture 800,000t per annum (tpa) of ethylene and 425,480 tpa of propylene, according to the EIA report.

The company, however, will assess its options for construction of a new petrochemicals project to manufacture new "value-added products" in Taiwan, according to the official.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Swedish industrial equipment manufacturer Atlas Copco has been awarded a contract for the supply of its compressors to Acron, a Russian chemical and fertiliser specialist, said Plastemart.

As part of the SEK113m (EUR13m) contract, the company's Gas and Process division will manufacture and deliver two high-pressure integrally-geared centrifugal compressors for use at Acron's facility in Veliky Novgorod, Russia.
The compressors will primarily be used for processing and the supply of CO2 for urea production, which serves as one of the main components of nitrogen-release fertiliser.

"The compressors will primarily be used for processing and the supply of CO2 for urea production."

Atlas Copco Compressor Technique business area president Stephan Kuhn said the contract further strengthens the company's presence in the strategic Russian market. "We have worked closely with Acron to develop a solution specially tailored to their requirements. Thanks to our innovative design these compressors will deliver high customer productivity," Kuhn added.

Designed to control Acron's plant's entire flow range, the compressors will replace the existing, ageing piston compressors, thereby significantly cutting energy use and reducing service and maintenance downtime.
Deliveries under the contract are scheduled to take place in 2015.

Acron Group is a world’s leading mineral fertiliser producer with a high level of vertical integration, including potash and phosphate asset development. The Group’s key business segments include ammonia, nitrogen and complex mineral fertilisers, as well as organic and non-organic compounds.
MRC