Evonik opens plant expansion in Thailand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik, the German specialty chemicals company, has opened its expanded production for precipitated silica in Rayong, Thailand. With this investment, Evonik increased its capacity for precipitated silica for the automotive industry, food and animal feed industry as well as the paints and coatings industry, as per the company's statement.

"Expanding our manufacturing footprint in South East Asia, Australia & New Zealand highlights our commitment to this region and allows us to better serve regional markets with state-of-the-art products and optimum solutions," described Peter Meinshausen, Regional President South East Asia, Australia & New Zealand.

Used in the tire and rubber industry, the combination of silica with silanes enables tire manufacturers to produce tires of much lower rolling resistance, thus reducing the overall fuel consumption by up to 8% compared to traditional tires.

"With this expansion, we are strengthening our operations in Thailand," explained Dr Florian Kirschner, Managing Director and Country Head Thailand. "This allows us to respond more quickly to changes in market demand and supply high quality products to our customers."

As MRC wrote earlier, Evonik Industries is significantly expanding its global isophorone (IP) and isophorone diamine (IPD) capacities by funding an investment of more than EUR100 million in Shanghai, China. The new production plants will be completed in the first quarter of 2014 and will increase the total capacities of IP and IPD significantly.

Evonik is one of the leading manufacturers of silica. In addition to precipitated silica, Evonik also produces AEROSIL fumed silica and silica-based matting agents under the ACEMATT brand. These are used in tires with low rolling resistance as well as in the paints and coatings industry, as flow additives and carriers in food, cosmetics and drug production, or in manufacturing silicon applications, among others. Overall, Evonik has a global capacity of around 500,000 metric tons per annum for precipitated, fumed silica, and matting agents.

Evonik, the industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2013 more than 33,500 employees generated sales of around EUR12.9 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of about EUR2.0 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tosoh Corp plans to shut naphtha cracker in Yokkaichi for scheduled maintenance. The cracker, with capacity to produce 527,000 tpa of ethylene, is planned to be shut till April 19, as per Reuters.

We remind that Tosoh Corporation announced it will construct a plant to produce Rzeta, the company’s new emission-free reactive amine catalyst for polyurethane foams. The plant will be built on the grounds of the ethyleneamine production facilities at the Nanyo complex for an estimated investment of JPY 2 billion (about EUR 15.3 million). Construction of the Rzeta plant will begin in September 2013 and is expected to be completed by November 2014.

Tosoh is one of the largest chlor-alkali manufacturers in Asia. The company supplies the plastic resins and an array of the basic chemicals that support modern life. Tosoh's petrochemical operations supply ethylene, polymers, and polyethylene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's top oil producer Rosneft is set to acquire an indirect stake in Pirelli after reaching an outline deal with a group of shareholders in the Italian tyre maker valuing its shares at 12 euros each, said Reuters.

Rosneft will own 50% of a new company which will buy holding company Camfin's stake in Pirelli, Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo said in a statement on Monday.

Camfin currently owns 20.3% of Pirelli according to the website of market regulator Consob.

The other 50% of the new company will belong to a company 80% owned by current Pirelli indirect shareholder Nuove Partecipazioni. Italian banks Intesa and UniCredit will each own 10 percent of the new company.

As part of the deal Italian private equity firm Clessidra will sell its stake in Pirelli, the statement said.

Shares in Pirelli ended at a reference closing price of 12.04 euros a share on Friday.

As MRC wrote before, Russia's intervention in Ukraine signals trouble for OAO Rosneft's bid to buy Morgan Stanley's oil-trading unit. 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 became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's SIBUR has approved the Vyngapurovsky gas processing plant (GPP) expansion project to launch processing of associated petroleum gas (APG) from Russneft's fields, the producer said in its press-release.

New facilities to be built at the GPP will increase the annual APG processing capacity from 2.8 to 4.2 bcm. A more than 100-km long pipeline will be laid to transport APG from Russneft's Varieganskaya compressor station to the Vyngapurovsky GPP. The compressor station will also undergo renovation.

Russneft is an existing APG supplier to SIBUR's Nizhnevartovskiy and Belozerniy gas processing plants.

In 2013, SIBUR and Russneft signed a new long-term agreement for associated petroleum gas supplies to 2025. Under the agreement, Russneft shall deliver APG from Varieganneft's fields to SIBUR, with SIBUR accepting and processing the volumes supplied.

"SIBUR continues to extend cooperation with oil and gas companies, reinforcing its positions in the gas processing industry," said Dmitry Konov, SIBUR's CEO. "The long-term agreement with Russneft is to bring about an increase in feedstock shipments, which will enable us to expand our processing capacities."

The Vyngapurovsky plant, with a designed capacity of 2.8 bcm/year of APG, was built by SIBUR in the grounds of the compressor station of the same name and commissioned in September 2012.

Currently, the major associated petroleum gas supplier to the Vyngapurovsky GPP is Gazprom Neft.

As MRC wrote before, SIBUR has sold its 100% stake in OJSC Plastik (Uzlovaya, Tula Region, Russia) to the group of private investors. The deal value totalled RUB 575 million. Production of geosynthetics (geogrids and nonwoven geotextiles), spinned off as OOO Plastik-Geosintetika (a joint venture between SIBUR and Leader Innovations Closed-End Venture Capital Fund) in 2010, was not included in the transaction and continues to operate as part of SIBUR Group.

SIBUR is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes, and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) --CompactGTL announced Monday that its chairman Tony Hayward and Uzakbay Karabalin, the oil and gas minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, have agreed to develop and implement gas processing technologies to build the world’s first commercially-deployed small-scale GTL plant, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In furtherance of the agreement, signed at the London Stock Exchange during the Caspian Corridor Conference, CompactGTL intends to build the world’s first commercially deployed small-scale gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Kazakhstan.

The proposed plant is expected to bring with it significant future commercial and environmental benefits, according to project officials. Up to 820,000 cubic meters of associated gas that might otherwise be wasted will be fed through the plant every day to produce approximately 3,000 bpd of synthetic diesel. In a year, the plant is expected to monetize over 300 million cubic meters of gas.

The new GTL plant will enable Kazakhstan to create a local high technology industry that processes associated gas to produce fuels for local consumption, according to government officials.

CompactGTL, together with investors from Kazakhstan, have agreed to finance, design and build the up to 3,000 bpd GTL plant, using CompactGTL’s proven technology and plant design.

"This is a significant step forward, not just for CompactGTL, but also for the small-scale gas-to-liquids industry," said Hayward. "Kazakhstan has clearly identified the significant economic benefits a small scale GTL plant can bring."

CompactGTL says it expects to have the fully-functioning small-scale GTL plant in operation in 2017. It is expected that initial engineering will take approximately 12 months, followed by a construction period.

We remind that the largest refiner in Kazakhstan has selected technology from Honeywell's UOP for the modernization of its facility. The Pavlodar Oil Chemical Refinery (POCR) of KazMunaiGas will use a range of UOP processes and services to upgrade its facility in Northeast Kazakhstan Province, allowing it to meet Euro-5 standards aimed at reducing motor vehicle pollution.
MRC