Sechin, Miller 'may face EU sanctions'

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The European Union has drawn up a list of between 120 and 130 Russians who could be hit with travel bans and asset freezes under potential sanctions over Moscow’s actions in the Ukraine crisis, reported Upstreamonline.

Germany’s Bild newspaper said that Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller and Rosneft president Igor Sechin were on the list along with several of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s cabinet ministers, security officials and Kremlin aides.

Described by Reuters as a five-page list drawn up by EU officials with experience in Russia, the draft list is to be dicussed and whittled down ahead of a foreign ministers' meeting on Monday.

A spokesman for Sechin said: "I hope that this all ends up being empty rhetoric. It's silly, petty and obvious sabotage of themselves. I think it will primarily affect Rosneft's business partners in the West in an extraordinary way."

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the Bild report. A Gazprom spokesman declined to comment.

The EU agreed this week on a framework for sanctions to punish Russia for its seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region, but has yet to finalise a list of targets who will be barred from visiting Europe and have assets frozen.

European foreign ministers are expected to impose the sanctions and sign off on the target list on Monday, the day after a referendum in Ukraine's Crimea region on joining Russia. Washington also has similar sanctions and has yet to publish its target list.

One EU official who has a copy of the list told the news wire it contained the names of generals and other people from the top echelons of Russia's military and political establishment.

EU member states are discussing whether to start by sanctioning as many people as possible from the list in a preventative way, or else take a more cautious approach and add names from the list to the sanctions in several steps.

As MRC wrote before, Russia's intervention in Ukraine signals trouble for OAO Rosneft's bid to buy Morgan Stanley's oil-trading unit, according to people involved in the deal and others familiar with the U.S. government's approval process.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker Polymers, a division of Wacker Chemie AG, has announced an increase in its prices for VINNAPAS vinyl acetate-ethylene (EVA) and VINNOL ethylene-vinyl chloride-based (EVCL) copolymer dispersions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), as per the company's statement.

Effective April 1, 2014, Wacker will implement a price increase of up to EUR70 per ton, or as customer contracts allow. This measure has been necessitated by the continued increase in raw-material cost.

The price adjustment enables Wacker Polymers to continue providing customers a wide-range of innovative quality products and comprehensive technical, sales and customer support services.

As MRC informed previously, Wacker Polymers already raised its prices for dispersions in EMEA, as well as in Asia, effective March 1, 2014. Thus, prices for VINNAPAS EVA and VINNOL EVCL copolymer dispersions in EMEA increased by up to EUR30/tonne, or as customer contracts allow. In Asia, prices for VINNAPAS EVA copolymer dispersions rose by up to 5% per kilogram, or as allowed by individual contract terms. This measure was also necessitated by the continued increase in raw-material cost.

Dispersions of the VINNAPAS and VINNOL brand are applied in a broad variety of industries, ranging from adhesives, construction, nonwovens, paints and coatings to paper, carpet and textiles.

Wacker Polymers is a leading producer of state-of-the-art binders and polymeric additives based on polyvinyl acetate and vinyl acetate copolymers. These take the form of dispersible polymer powders, dispersions, solid resins, and solutions. They are used in construction chemicals, paints, surface coatings, adhesives and nonwovens, and in fiber composites and polymeric materials based on renewable resources. Wacker Polymers has production sites in Germany, China, South Korea and the USA, as well as a global sales network and technology centers in all major regions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's intervention in Ukraine signals trouble for OAO Rosneft's bid to buy Morgan Stanley's oil-trading unit, according to people involved in the deal and others familiar with the U.S. government's approval process, said The Wall Street Journal.

The proposed acquisition by Russia's biggest oil producer, which is state-controlled, needs U.S. government approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment. CFIUS, a secretive government body, weighs national security risks and can sink deals.

Rosneft is paying several hundred million dollars for the business, the person familiar with the deal said, adding the companies are still months from seeking official U.S. government approval.

A Rosneft spokesman said the companies "are working together according to an agreed schedule." Morgan Stanley said it wasn't deterred. "We intend to submit the transaction for all necessary regulatory approvals, and are targeting a close in the second half of 2014," a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman said.

The U.S. already has severed trade talks with Russia and threatened sanctions and other responses to Moscow's military intervention in Crimea. Rosneft is controlled by the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the deal is liable to face opposition from within the U.S. Congress.

With the full takeover of what was formerly a joint venture with the U.K.'s BP PLC, Rosneft is the undisputed leader of the Russian oil industry, which is about the size of Saudi Arabia's. The Russian government owns a majority of Rosneft's shares and exerts significant control, with private investors holding minority stakes traded on stock exchanges. Exxon Mobil Corp. has a major Arctic joint venture with Rosneft, and BP is a big shareholder, complicating the international politics.

Rosneft and Morgan Stanley have been aligned on flashpoint deals before. In 2006, Rosneft won approval to go public on Moscow and London stock exchanges, despite criticism in the West that it had unfairly acquired the oil assets of Yukos. Rosneft has said it never violated Russian or British law. Morgan Stanley was in the group that coordinated the initial public offering, which raised USD10.4 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP announced that it has entered into an administrative agreement with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on behalf of the federal government, resolving all matters related to the suspension, debarment and statutory disqualification of BP following the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill, said the producer in its press release.

As a result of this agreement, BP is once again eligible to enter into new contracts with the US government, including new deepwater leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

The administrative agreement applies to all of the suspended and debarred BP entities, including BP Exploration & Production Inc., BP p.l.c. and certain affiliated companies.

"After a lengthy negotiation, BP is pleased to have reached this resolution, which we believe to be fair and reasonable," said John Minge, Chairman and President of BP America, Inc. "Today’s agreement will allow America’s largest energy investor to compete again for federal contracts and leases."

Under the terms and conditions of the administrative agreement, which will apply for five years, BP has agreed to a set of safety and operations, ethics and compliance, and corporate governance requirements, including those contained in the remedial order stemming from BP’s 2012 Plea Agreement with the US Department of Justice and Final Judgment Order with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

As part of the administrative agreement, BP will dismiss the lawsuit it filed against the EPA in federal court in Texas for improper statutory disqualification and suspension.

As MRC wrote before, BP has completed the purchase of all interests previously held by Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (MCI) and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (MBK) in PT Amoco Mitsui PTA Indonesia (AMI).

Over the past five years, BP has invested nearly USD50 billion in the US – more than any other energy company. BP is a leading producer of oil and gas and provides enough energy annually to light nearly the entire country for a year. Employing approximately 20,000 people in all 50 states, BP supports more than 260,000 jobs total through all of its business activities.
MRC

MOCOW (MRC) -- Idemitsu Kosan, one of Japan’s largest refining and petrochemical companies, has shut all units at its 120,000 barrels-per-day Tokuyama refinery complex in western Japan after a strong earthquake, reported Reuters with reference to the company's Friday statement.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck off Japan's southern island of Kyushu near the city of Oita, the US Geological Survey said.

Naphtha crackers at the Tokuyama plant with the capacity to produce 687,000 tonnes of ethylene a year were also shut down, a company spokeswoman said, adding that it was unclear when operations would resume.

Idemitsu's ethylene units caught fire more than two hours after the quake, but the fire was put out soon after, the company said.

The earthquake did not hit the operations of other refineries in western Japan run by JX Nippon Oil & Energy, Cosmo Oil Co, Taiyo Oil Co, and Seibu Oil Co, which is a part of the Showa Shell Sekiyu group.

There was no impact to naphtha crackers run by Showa Denko and Asahi Kasei, company spokespeople said.

Mitsubishi Chemical Corp reported no impact to its Mizushima naphtha cracker, but shut three polyethylene units at the complex there, with operations expected to return to normal later in the day.

As MRC wrote before, Idemitsu Kosan is in plans to shut its SM plant for maintenance turnaround in April 2014. It will remain off-stream for around one month. Located in Chiba, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 210,000 mt/year.

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products. The company runs two petrochemical plants in Chiba and Tokuyama. The two naphtha crackers can produce up to 997,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.
MRC