BP Q2 pre-tax profit rises

MOSCOW (MRC) -- European oil giant BP Plc. reported that its profit before taxation for the second quarter of 2014 increased to USD5.15 billion from USD4.12 billion in the year ago quarter, said the producer in its press release.

Quarterly profit attributable to shareholders grew to USD3.37 billion from last year's USD2.04 billion, with earnings per ADS improving to USD1.09 from USD0.64 in the previous year.

Underlying replacement cost profit for the quarter of 2014 was USD3.6 billion, 34% higher than the USD2.7 billion reported for the same period in 2013. Underlying replacement cost profit was adjusted for non-operating items and fair value accounting effects.

But, sales and other operating revenues for the quarter dropped to USD93.96 billion from USD94.71 billion in the year ago quarter.

The company also announced a quarterly dividend of 9.75 cents per ordinary share, the same level as the previous quarter but 8.3% higher than a year earlier. The dividend is expected to be paid on 19 September 2014.

Looking ahead, the company expects third-quarter 2014 reported production to be lower than the second quarter, primarily reflecting planned major turnaround and seasonal maintenance activities in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. It expects the seasonal reduction to be slightly larger than it experienced in the same quarters of 2013 due to phasing of these activities.

As MRC wrote before, BP, the UK oil company with the single-biggest foreign investment in Russia, warned that more sanctions against the country could hurt its business. BP, with a 20% stake in OAO Rosneft, stands to lose the most from further sanctions in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The European Union and the US are acting to intensify punitive measures aimed at key sectors of the economy -- finance, defense and energy.

BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Westlake Chemical Corporation announced it has closed the previously announced acquisition of German-based Vinnolit Holdings GmbH and its subsidiary companies from Advent International, a private equity firm, said The Wall Street Journal.

The Vinnolit acquisition includes six production facilities located in Burghausen, Gendorf, Cologne, Knapsack and Schkopau in Germany and Hillhouse in the United Kingdom. These operations have a combined annual capacity of 780 thousand metric tons of PVC, including specialty paste, thermoplastic specialties and suspension grades, 665 thousand metric tons of vinyl chloride monomer ("VCM") and 475 thousand metric tons of membrane grade caustic soda. Vinnolit has world class technical centers including a research and development facility in Gendorf and an applications laboratory in Burghausen.

The newly acquired business will operate as a Westlake company under the Vinnolit name and continue to provide products which are suitable for a wide range of industrial and building product applications including automotive sealants and interior trim, cable sheathing, flooring, medical applications, pipes, film, technical coatings, wall covering and window profiles.

Vinnolit's headquarters will remain in Ismaning, Germany, outside of Munich. The company employs approximately 1,400 employees.

Westlake Chemical Corporation is an international manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and building products with headquarters in Houston, Texas. The company's range of products includes: ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, caustic, VCM, PVC suspension and specialty resins and PVC building products including pipe and specialty components, windows, fence and decking.

As MRC informed earlier, last March, Westlake Chemical agreed to acquire the PVC pipe and fittings unit of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA's CertainTeed Corp. for USD175 million. CertainTeed's pipe and foundation group produces PVC pipe and fittings for municipalities, water wells, mining, agriculture and irrigation. The transaction was closed in the second quarter of 2013.

Vinnolit, a Westlake company, is one of the leading PVC producers in Europe, and, worldwide, is the market and technical leader in specialty PVC with headquarters in Ismaning, Germany.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, is preparing a three-year, company-wide plan to cut costs after second-quarter profit fell 12% amid record-low production and a slump in refining margins, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Profit excluding changes in inventories dropped to USD3.2 billion from USD3.58 billion a year earlier, the Courbevoie, France-based company said. The result missed the USD3.26 billion average of 12 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Production slid 10% to 2.054 million bpd of oil equivalent.

The explorer kept its dividend unchanged from the first quarter, at EUR61 cents/share.

"The cost-cutting program is being finalized and we will give the first numbers in September for 2015 through 2017," chief financial officer Patrick de la Chevardiere said on a conference call. All divisions will be affected, including headquarters.

The plan comes in addition to CEO Christophe de Margerie’s asset sales and a lowering of capital spending. As the biggest refiner in western Europe, where it operates eight plants, Total has been hurt by lower crude-processing margins caused by overcapacity.

As MRC wrote before, in early 2014, Total called on peers to revise projects that require tens of billions of dollars of investment as costs escalate. Total vowed to lower capital spending even as it starts projects from Norway to Angola to increase output. Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil producer, also has pledged to rein in costs after January's issuing its first profit warning in a decade. The companies saw expenses climb as they search for crude and gas in more remote and complex areas.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- As part of its procurement policy for strategic raw materials, Arkema, a France-based chemical manufacturer, has reached an agreement for the supply of propylene with Enterprise Products Partners L.P., a leading United States midstream Energy Company, as per Arkema's press release.

Taking advantage of the development of shale gas in the United States, this contract secures a long-term supply (more than 10 years) of propylene produced by propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and will strengthen the competitiveness of the Coating Solutions segment.

This contract will account for a significant part of Arkema’s propylene feedstock in the United States.

Propylene is a key raw material for acrylics, a major sector for Arkema, and where the group is a key player in the United States and the world’s third largest player.

Enterprise Products received the necessary permits for this project in May, 2014 and construction of the plant has now started. The PDH plant is due to be completed in first half of 2016.

This agreement is fully consistent with Arkema’s growth strategy to continue its expansion in the United States.

As MRC informed previously, in early July, French specialty chemicals firm Arkema and Omya, a Switzerland-based global provider and distributor of specialty chemicals, entered into an exclusive pan-European distribution agreement, under which Omya will market Arkema's plastic additives range for various polymer markets (impact modifier and processing aid solutions): Plastistrength, Durastrength, Clearstrength and Biostrength across Europe, except Spain and Portugal.

Arkema with annual revenue of EUR6.4 billion is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc. Arkema operates 11 organic peroxide plants on the three continents.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Portugal’s Selenis has finalised the purchase of Artenius Italia, the last remaining PET production company of La Seda de Barcelona (LSB), said Plasteurope.

The PET subsidiary of the Imatosgil Investimentos group of Portuguese entrepreneur Matos Gil, once a major shareholder of La Seda, paid EUR1m for the assets. According to La Seda, Selenis will employ 30 staff at the Italian PET production facility and assume redundancy costs for another 75 workers.

News of the Selenis interest was first revealed back in May when it was reported to be one of two bidders for the Artenius business. The other would-be buyer for the 200,000 tpa PET business in San Giorgio di Nogaro was Ottana Polymers, a Sardinia-based partnership between Indorama Ventures and Italian businessman Paolo Clivati.

As MRC wrote before, Indorama Ventures Ltd., part of global PET giant Indorama Group, has announced it has acquired Artenius TurkPET based in Adana, Turkey. Artenius TurkPET had been part of insolvent Spanish company La Seda de Barcelona and produces PET resin with 130,000 metric tons of capacity.

Seda de Barcelona (LSB) is an industrial plastic packaging group operating internationally through its 14 facilities across Europe, Turkey and North Africa. It is the only European producer capable of supplying PET containers in a fully integrated way from raw material feedstock, conversion technology and design, injection and blow moulding up to the delivered finished product, by means of guaranteeing the quality of all its production processes.The PET and recycling division of LSB has four production plants in Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey, and two recycling sites in Spain and Italy.

MRC