Indonesia to achieve self-sufficiency in petrochem production by 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The expansion of several petrochemical projects currently underway in several parts of the country will enable Indonesia to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of olefin, aromatic and other petrochemical products by 2020, reported GV with reference to "The Jakarta Post".

The Indonesian Olefin, Aromatic and Plastic Industry Association (INAplas) said that the expansions and construction of new plants would increase production capacity by between 30% to 40% in the next three to five years, from the current capacity of 3.9 million tons per year.

"Several investors have announced plans to increase production capacity or build new factories this year so, with the new as well as the expanded factories, we hope to no longer need imported petrochemical products by 2020," INAplas vice president Suhat Miyarso said after a seminar in Jakarta.

Suhat said 12 construction projects will be carried out this year, of which five are the expansion of existing plants, while seven are the construction of new plants. The five expansions are to increase companies’ production capacity of certain petrochemical products.

Japan-based Nippon Shokubai, for example, will increase capacity of its acrylic acid plant in Banten, West Java, while Polychem Indonesia will increase its mono ethylene glycol (MEG) production in Banten and PT Petrokimia Butadiene Indonesia (PBI) will increase the capacity of its butadiene plant. Meanwhile, PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP) will increase its naphtha cracker production capacity in Banten and PT Asahimas Chemical will increase capacity of its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant, also in Banten.

"The five expansions are expected to be completed in 2015 and will be able to start operating in the same year," said Suhat, who is also Chandra Asri’s vice president for corporate relations.

New plants will be built by South Korean Honam Petrochemical Corp., which is planning a naphtha cracker facility in Banten, PT Synthetic Rubber Indonesia, which will build a styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) plant in Banten and PT Unilever Oleochemicals Indonesia, which is planning an oleo chemical plant. German petrochemical company Ferrostaal Industrial Projects will also work together with Chandra Asri to build a methanol-to-olefin (MTO) plant in Papua.

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina will build three refineries, one of which is a joint venture with PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited (PTTGC).

As MRC wrote previously, Indonesia is set to see a likely influx of at least USD7 billion in new investment in the petrochemical sector in the next three years as the domestic industry tries to keep pace with rising demand. The director for Indonesian Olefin, Aromatic and Plastic Industry Association, said the investment will be made to expand domestic production capacity, which in turn could curb imports that rose to around USD8 bln last year. This investment would translate to 30-50% growth in the industry.
MRC

МОSCOW (MRC) -- Technology company The Linde Group announced that it signed an enterprise framework agreement with Shell Global Solutions to build ethane cracking units on a global basis, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The agreement is for 10 years, with an option to be extended. The deal covers the licensing, engineering, procurement and construction services, as well as the supply of proprietary equipment of ethane cracking units.

Linde says the contract is a renewed opportunity to build upon its long-time relationship with Shell. "With its outstanding ethylene technology and project execution excellence, Linde is committed in contributing to the expansion of Shell's global petrochemical market," the company said. "To benefit Shell and its partners, Linde intends to deliver major cost savings for ethane cracking units from standardization and repeatability effects."

As a first step in the agreement, Linde was awarded the contract for the licensing and basic engineering design package for a potential world-scale ethane cracker unit. The location was not disclosed.

As MRC wrote before, SIBUR, a Russian gas processing and petrochemicals company, and Linde Group, a German Technology company, have signed agreements to build and operate new air separation units in Dzerzhinsk, the Nizhny Novgorod Region. On a long-term basis, SIBUR will provide Linde with a leased site and power supply while Linde, in its turn, will supply technical gases to SIBUR.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company. In the 2013 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of EUR 16.655 bn, making it the largest gases and engineering company in the world with approximately 63,500 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- No investor has submitted a biding offer for taking over the stake Oltchim S.A owns in Oltchim SPV S.R.L by the deadline which expired last Friday, March 28, said Govnet.

Four potential investors purchased the Presentation file for 20.000 euro plus VAT, but no biding offer was received in due time. However, as per an informing sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, after the established period of time for placing binding offers ran out, there was one sent, though, not considered since it was not in line with the related provisions and therefore, it will be returned.

Yet, according to the judicial administrators - Rominsolv and BDO Business Restructuring, in charge with the reorganization of the chemical plant - part of the investors that bought the Presentation file asked for a new 30-day deadline for submitting offers.

"A number of investors, interested in the integrated functioning of the Oltchim plant with the Arpechim refinery, requested a further 30-day deadline, motivated by the timeframe estimated for finalizing negotiations which guarantee the simultaneous takeover of the refinery and of Oltchim SPV. The consortium of judicial administrators will call the Committee of Creditors and will ask their approval for repeating the procedure with a new deadline for submitting biding offers", is stated by the mentioned informing.

In December 2013, there was elaborated the reorganization strategy of Oltchim on the basis of which a new trading company – Oltchim SPV S.R.L. - was established. Subsequently, all the shares Oltchim S.A owns in the new company were put up for sale, the benchmark value of the assets transferred to Oltchim SPV exceeding 305 million euro. Initially, the deadline for submitting binding offers for acquiring those shares was the January 31, 2014, later postponed by March 28, 2014, a delay as well called by the potential investors, as the judicial administrators then announced.

Oltchim, which is a state-owned company, has been insolvent since January 30, 2013, the Romanian authorities seeking to eventually complete its privatization, after some unsuccessful attempts. The chemical enterprise halved its loss after one year of insolvency, from some 572 million lei in 2012 to about 285 million lei last year mainly due to a sharp reduction of the financial expenses, corroborated by a significant reduction of the operating expenses, as per the preliminary financial results provided by the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's annexation of Crimea can negatively affect the sales of Ukrainian breweries, said CEO "Carlsberg Ukraine" Evgeniy Shevchenko.

He said that the beer industry in the country is in deep crisis, which is amplified by the fact that Crimea provided 6% of the annual sales.

According to the data of an industry association "Ukrpivo", beer production in Ukraine in 2013 decreased to 276.4 million decaliters, down by 8% compared with the level in 2012. Production capacities of brewers on average were loaded by 60%.

According to MRC analysts, more than 50% of Ukrainian beer is packed in PET bottles. According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, Ukrainian production of beer in 2012 was 300.5 million dal.

Given this figure, more than 90,000 tonnes of PET chips occurred for the Ukrainian beer market, which was equivalent to more than 55% of PET market in Ukraine.

PJSC "Carlsberg Ukraine" belongs to Carlsberg Group - one of the leading brewery groups in the world. The company has plants in Zaporozhye, Kiev and Lviv.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eni will invest EUR125 million in its Versalis plant in Mantua to under the Group 2014-2017 four-year strategic plan, said the producer.

Versalis is an environmentally and economically sustainable plant which links the industrial areas in Porto Marghera, Ferrara and Ravenna via a pipeline. The planned investment will be used to optimise the plants industrial processes and produce further energy savings. Funds will also be used to expand the Group’s research and development into innovative products and technologies.

A meeting took place today at the plant in Via Taliercio to underline the central importance of the Versalis plant, in addition to confirming the strong business opportunities related to the production of intermediates and styrenes, for which Versalis is the third largest producer in Europe. Attendees of the meeting included the Councillor for Environmental Sustainability and Land Planning for the Province of Mantua, Alberto Grandi; Eni’s Head of Relations for Local Organisations and Institutions, Francesco Manna; and the Plant Manager, Massimo Gialli.

Versalis develops a range of innovative products in Mantua, including Extir CM Galileo, the ultra-lightweight expandable polystyrene. This is a sustainable energy product which is widely used across Europe for thermal insulation systems that help to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

962 people work at Versalis in Mantua. In addition, 155 people, more than a third of which are graduates, have been hired over the past four years due to the significant expansion of the research structure.

The Claudio Buonerba Research Centre is a centre of excellence for basic chemistry and plastics, employing 200 researchers, technologists and process engineers. It is the largest of Versalis’ research centres, covering an area of 15 thousand square metres with ten laboratories and five pilot plants, and is the only centre working across all lines of the business.

As MRC wrote before, Eni is open to talks with Gazprom about a possible partnership in Mozambique but is not aware of any interest from the Russian state gas monopoly in buying a stake in its gas assets there. Eni retains 50% of what is its biggest-ever gas discovery. The Mamba field holds an estimated 75 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 68 billion euros (USD 90 billion), as of August 14, 2013. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.
MRC