Production outage at Westlake Lake Charles cracker leads to plant shutdown

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US olefins producer Westlake Chemical is shutting its Petro-1 steam cracker in Lake Charles, Louisiana, following an unspecified production outage, as per Plastemart.

A company source familiar with the operations said the outage was estimated to last 8 to 10 days at the 560,000 tpa cracker.

As MRC informed before, Westlake Chemical held a dedication ceremony on 19 February 2014 for its new chlor-alkali plant in Geismar, Louisiana. This new chlor-alkali plant has the capacity to produce 350,000 electrochemical units (ECU's) annually and utilizes state of the art membrane technology. The plant is adjacent to the existing vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) facilities at the Geismar complex.

Westlake Chemical Corporation is a U.S. manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals and polymers, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The range of company"s products includes ethylene, polyethylene (PE), styrene, propylene (PP), caustics, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and plastic products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - German drugmaker Bayer AG is exploring the sale of its USD10 billion plastics unit to focus on growing its health business, Bloomberg reported citing people with knowledge of the matter, said Reuters.

Bayer is considering the sale of its MaterialScience division after chemicals company Evonik Industries AG showed interest in the unit several months ago, Bloomberg said, adding that no final decision has been made on the plastics unit.

Bayer, Germany's largest drugmaker, in April last year lowered its outlook for its MaterialScience unit, which makes transparent plastics used in sports goggles, DVDs and car lights, as core earnings for the division slumped by more than a quarter.

Polycarbonates, the type of transparent plastic that is Bayer's specialty, are in ample global supply after lower-cost rivals in the Middle East, mainly Sabic, built new sites.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, last year, Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) bought the polycarbonate sheet business of Arkema Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the French firm Arkema Group. The transaction included the acquisition of Arkema’s Tuffak brand, which is used in such markets as aerospace, transportation and heavy equipment.

Bayer was not immediately available for comment outside regular business hours.Bayer reported total corporate sales for the quarter rose 2.8% to 10.6 billion euros (USD14.7 billion), with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) up 11.6% at 2.74 billion euros (USD3.8 billion).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shide and BASF used the opening day of the Chinaplas trade show to announce that they’ve developed an all-plastic window profile, the world’s first made from PVC and polybutylene terephthalate resins, to try to replace the steel-reinforced PVC windows common today, said Plasticsnews.

Shide, one of China’s largest plastic building products firms, said the new design is the result of a six-year research partnership with BASF. The German company developed a new grade of PBT with a melting point close to PVC, and Shide developed new extrusion technology to make the window profiles.

At a Shanghai news conference with senior BASF engineering plastics executives, Dalian Shide Chairman Xu Bin said that while it’s difficult to predict how the market will react, his company has high expectations.

"I think this product is a revolution to the whole industry so therefore the prospects are very broad,” Xu said. “We are actually doing marketing planning and I think for the whole industry, this product will play a very good role and will occupy a very big market share."

For BASF, it’s the first engineering plastics product to come from the labs at its new USD55 million innovation center in Shanghai, which opened in 2012, said Andy Postlethwaite, BASF senior vice president of performance materials for Asia Pacific.

The two companies said it’s the world’s first coextruded PVC and PBT window profile, and claimed it has a number of advantages over traditional PVC window profiles reinforced with steel to add strength.

But he said the company, which has eight factories and 700,000 metric tons of annual capacity in China, will invest whatever is needed to meet demand.

BASF said Asia’s market for PVC window profiles is expected to grow from 4 million metric tons this year to more than 18 million by 2025, driven by urbanization and more stringent thermal insulation requirements in building codes. At that point, the PVC profiles market in Asia would be equal to the Americas and Europe put together, BASF said.

The two companies began working together on the project in 2008, and had many hurdles to overcome in mold design and the coextrusion process, said Shide executive Yang Bao Shan.

BASF can sell the material in other applications, but Shide controls the technology to manufacture the PVC/PBT window profile. Xu said Shide Group would be willing to license the profile technology if it would help develop the market.

Shide Group plans to launch the windows on the market in July. The two companies said they plan to put both BASF and Shide logos on the product.

As MRC informed before, BASFand its customers are innovating with plastics solutions in Asia Pacific to address the sustainability challenges of the region and the world. Thus, BASF has developed new solutions that will help local and international companies compete in areas such as lightweight solutions that improve automotive fuel efficiency and comfort; consumer product safety; buildings with better environmental performance; and manufacturing efficiency, which is enhanced through accelerated polymer densification and other process innovations.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) has approved SK Global Chemical’s ownership stake in Ulsan Aromatics in its first foreign investment committee meeting on April 24, said Plastemart.

The joint venture between the SK Group and a Japanese company has come to fruition after three years of negotiations. Ulsan Aromatics manufactures paraxylene and was founded with investment from SK Global Chemical (SK’s affiliate), and the JX Nippon Oil & Energy. The Korean company holds a 55.9% stake in the joint venture, and the Japanese firm 44.1%.

The investment partnership started in 2011, but almost foundered owing to the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. The law stipulates that when a holding company’s sub-subsidiary creates a great grandson subsidiary, the sub-subsidiary is required to own a 100% stake in the great grandson subsidiary. The provision is aimed at preventing conglomerates from making cross investments. Petrochemical companies, on the other hand, have maintained that a joint venture between local and foreign firms is necessary for a several-trillion-won project.

In May 2013, the government accepted the industry’s suggestion, introduced a measure to revitalize investment for the first time, and tried to amend the FIPA. Finally, the revised bill was narrowly passed by the National Assembly at a plenary session at the end of 2013.

As MRC informed before, SK Global Chemical and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. have signed an agreement that establishes a joint venture between the two companies to operate Sinopec's recently completed 800,000 tonnes per year naphtha cracker in Wuhan, China.

SK Chemicals Co., Ltd. is a Korea-based company that is engaged in the manufacture of chemical products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, has announced that its board of directors has approved a 39% increase in the company's quarterly common stock cash dividend, reported the company on its site.

The dividend rate increased from USD0.18 to USD0.25 per share of common stock on a quarterly basis and from USD0.72 to USD1.00 per share of common stock on an annual basis. The new dividend rate will be applicable immediately.

"Our strong cash flow generation allows us to return more cash to shareholders. Since April 2012 we have more than quadrupled the quarterly dividend rate," said Mark Rohr, chairman and chief executive officer. "This 39% increase in our dividend rate results in a payout ratio of approximately 20%, reflecting our continued commitment to shareholder value and balanced capital deployment strategy."

The dividend is payable to stockholders of record as of May 5, 2014.

As MRC reported earlier, Celanese Corporation, has recently announced that it will increase the price of all GUR and GHR UHMW-PE grades sold in China. This price increase will be 15% and come in force on 1 May, 2014, or as contracts allow.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Celanese employs approximately 7,400 employees worldwide and had 2013 net sales of USD6.5 billion.
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