BP receives environmental permit for LNG expansion project in Indonesia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP reported that the Government of Indonesia, through the Ministry of Environment, has approved the Tangguh Expansion Project Integrated AMDAL environmental and social impact assessment and issued the project an environmental permit, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The AMDAL includes Tangguh’s environmental and social commitments. It also outlines the role of the local administration and central government. Approval is required for project activities to begin at the Tangguh site.

"This is a significant milestone for the Tangguh Expansion Project, and I would like to give my highest appreciation to the Ministry of Environment, along with the Papua Barat, Teluk Bintuni and Fakfak Administrations for their efforts and cooperation in reaching this achievement. We look forward to receiving the remaining approvals from the Government to realize the project, which will bring significant benefit to Indonesia," said Christina Verchere, BP Regional President Asia Pacific.

Tangguh LNG, located in Teluk Bintuni, Papua Barat province, is the third largest LNG supply facility in Indonesia and the first fully combined upstream and downstream LNG operation in the country. The current operations comprise two identical LNG trains (Trains 1 and 2) with production capacity of 7.6 Mtpa. Tangguh Expansion Project will build on the established operations with a third LNG processing train (Train 3), bringing total project capacity to 11.4 Mtpa.

The USD12 billion Tangguh Expansion Project will deliver significant value to the Indonesian government and will help meet the growing energy demand in Indonesia. As part of the expansion project, BP and its partners will supply 40% of the LNG output from Train 3 (1.5 Mtpa) to Indonesia’s state electricity company PT. PLN (Persero) for the Indonesian domestic market.

Other key government approvals that are still in process are required to continue with the planning, design and procurement of the expansion project.

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. 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. 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.
MRC

Moscow (MRC) - Although August ethylene prices in Europe were reduced, European producers are going to keep August high density polyethylene (HDPE) prices at the rollover from July for the CIS markets, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

August contract price for ethylene in Europe was agreed down by EUR15/tonne compared with the July level.
Despite the decline in feedstock prices, most European producers are going to keep August HDPE price for CIS markets at the level of July. Only a few producers decided to reduced HDPE prices, but not more than EUR10/tonne.

This week the prices for August delivery of HDPE (film, blow moulding and injection moulding) were discussed in the range of EUR1,200-1,260/tonne FCA. Deals for coloured PE100 were discussed in the range EUR1,300-1,360/tonne, FCA.

Some market participants said that European producers continued to limit their supply. Tight supply of pipe HDPE continued to be felt in the market.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- German diversified chemicals maker Evonik on Thursday said a worse-than-expected price trend in its Specialty Materials unit may result in a drop in core profit for the full year, said Reuters.

The maker of feed additives, clear acrylic sheet and high-tech plastics, controlled by a state-owned trust, said the downward move in some key products had slowed perceptibly in recent months and it expects this trend to continue.

But so far this positive trend did not apply to the Specialty Materials segment, which makes polymer materials and intermediates for the rubber and plastics industry, where prices have remained below the original expectations, Evonik said.

If this should continue for the rest of the year, full-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) will probably be in the lower range of its guidance of between 1.8 billion euros (USD2.4 billion) and 2.1 billion, the company said.

The group reported a 7% drop in second-quarter adjusted EBITDA to 473 million euros, in line with analysts' expectations of 472 million. Group sales grew 1% to 3.25 billion euros, also in line with analysts' expectations.

Germany's second-largest chemicals maker behind BASF said it still expected 2014 sales to rise slightly. In 2013, it posted sales of 12.7 billion euros. BASF reported lower-than-expected earnings growth, mainly due to negative currency effects.

As MRC reported earlier, in March 2014, Evonik 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.

Evonik, the creative 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 EUR12.7 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of about EUR2.0 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company has experienced an unplanned outage of its ethylene cracker in Fort Saskatchewan on July 22, as per the company's press release.

This unit is currently back on line at low operating rates, and necessary repairs are being made to bring the operating rates back to full production as quickly as possible. Dow’s latest estimates show that approximately 100,000 tonnes of ethylene production will be lost as a result of this event.

We remind that in April 2014, Dow's Plaquemine site experienced two separate process incidents, which caused distruption of ethylene production at the companys LA-2 and LA-3 manufacturing units.

As reported earlier, Dow Chemical Company will construct a new world-scale ethylene production plant at Dow Texas Operations in Freeport, TX. The new ethylene production facility at Dow Texas Operations will employ up to 2,000 workers at its construction peak. This decision marks another significant milestone in the Company's strategy to further develop the competitive advantage for Dow's Performance Plastics, Performance Materials and Advanced Materials businesses by expanding access to low-cost natural gas-based feedstocks, which are used in the production of Dow products that are essential to over a dozen consumer markets.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and synthetic rubber. In 2012, Dow had annual sales of approximately USD57 billion. The company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 36 countries across the globe.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - August prices for extrusion polycarbonate (PC) in Russia increased on average by Rb2-3/kg on a traditional stronger demand in the late summer, compared with the July level, as per ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Construction works are expected to increase in the late summer. Demand for PC sheets (of 6, 8, 10 mm or more) and monolithic (coloured and non-colored), which are widely used in civil construction site, will improve. In this connection sheets producers began to build up stocks in August. Peak demand for polycarbonate extrusion usually occurs for September.

A market player said that supply of imported PC has not been tight recently. Although, some converters feared of supply disruptions from Europe because of the worsening political situation. They also expect a significant price rise in September.

European extrusion PC prices for August were in the range of Rb118,000-119,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. Because of these circumstances, the only national PC producer Kazanorgsintez plans a gradual import substitution. The producer is going completely refrain from exports in near future. Kazanorgsintez plans to resume PC production from 20, August following maintenance works. The expected price range for extrusion PC from Kazanorgsintez production this month is Rb117,000-118,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

A converter said that because of increased cost of feedstock and consequently price for finished products, smaller converters of less than 300 tonnes/month can not overcome the break-even point. An acceptable margin is possible with processing capacity of 600 tonnes or more.

MRC