BOC inks 10 year ethylene sourcing agreement with Qenos

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BOC has signed a ten year multi-million dollar ethylene sourcing agreement with Qenos, Australia’s only manufacturer of polyethylene, reported Plastemart.

The agreement is for the supply of up to 1,800 tpa of ethylene, with first supply expected in Q3-2015. The agreement includes terms for the installation of an ethylene tanker filling bay at Qenos’ Altona site and infrastructure at BOC’s Dandenong site, both in Victoria. BOC tankers will be filled with refrigerant-grade ethylene at Qenos for filling at BOC into ISO containers to service the growing LNG export industry.

Ethylene is an essential refrigerant for the new LNG mega projects under construction in Queensland and Western Australia. Treated natural gas is chilled, cooled and condensed in successively colder heat exchangers, with the LNG then pumped into insulated storage tanks where it remains until shipment.

As MRC wrote before, in early 2014, Vitol Group, the world’s largest independent oil trader, said it is considering a bid for some of Royal Dutch Shell's Australian downstream operations. Shell, Europe’s biggest oil company, is stepping up asset sales after spending a record USD45 billion on projects and acquisitions last year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A burst of flame at the Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) refinery in Ciudad Madero has killed four workers and injured several more, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the state-owned oil company report on its official Twitter account.

The company initially said that one worker was killed and 11 injured. On Monday, Pemex said the death toll had risen to four, and seven workers remained in the hospital with injuries.

The fire occurred at one of the refinery’s coking plants which wasn’t operating at the time of the accident because of maintenance, according to Pemex. There was no damage to the refinery, which is located in the northern Tamaulipas state, according to Pemex.

At least four accidents have occurred at the Ciudad Madero refinery this year, including a fire at a storage tank on July 22 that injured nine Pemex workers. The Ciudad Madero refinery, the smallest of Pemex’s six national refineries, processed 129,763 bpd last year, below the daily production capacity of 190,000 bbl.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in February 2013, the blast that tore through the headquarters of Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos killed 37 people.

Later last year, in early October 2013, Pemex also said one person was killed while five others suffered injuries after an explosion rocked its crude oil refinery in the state of Hidalgo. The incident took place at the Miguel Hidalgo refinery which is situated in the town of Tula.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's imports of polycarbonate (PC) were 27,000 tonnes in In January-July 2014, down 6% in the same time year on year, according to MRC DataScope report.

The main reason for the reduction in PC imports was the depreciation of the rouble and, as a consequence, an increase in domestic product prices. Many market players also reported a decline in purchasing capacity of consumers because of the deterioration of economic situation in the country.

This has particularly affected small and medium-sized companies, which faced a shortage of working capital. In addition, the procedure of short and medium term bank lending has complicated. In connection with the current aggravation of the political situation, some converters are expected disruptions in the of European PC.

At the moment, there is now shortage of the material in the market. However, in September, when seasonal demand will peak, the situation may change.

The only national producer of PC, Kazanorgsintez has opted for a strategy of gradual import substitution. In particular, it concerns the extrusion sector, which occupies about 80% of the market. However, having a production capacity of 65,000 tonnes/year, the plant will be unable to meet the demand fully. Consumption of PC for sheet extrusion in the year stands at 80,000 tonnes/year in the country.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Boyd Corp., a manufacturer of specialty material and sealing agents, has purchased Evonik Industries’ Solimide low-density polyimide foams business, said Rubbernews.

"Acquiring Evonik’s Solimide foam business represents a unique opportunity for our company to obtain a high-performing technology that positions us to realize significant growth within key commercial aerospace, defense and building infrastructure segments," said Mitch Aiello, Boyd’s president and chief executive in a news release.

"By applying Boyd’s specialty material and energy management application expertise, leveraging our sales and distribution channels and our world-class supply chain, Solimide foams will help us better serve our rapidly expanding customer base."

Originally designed by NASA, Solimide is the dominant foam for the defense industry as well as for mission-critical insulation applications in both the wide-body and regional aircraft markets.

As MRC wrote before, German-based Evonik Corp. said today Birmingham will be home to its first global "Innovation Center" in the U.S., creating 25 high-skilled jobs. The new Innovation Center will focus on medical devices and will be housed in Evonik's current corporate campus off Lakeshore Parkway in Birmingham's Oxmoor Valley.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Henkel AG & Co. has warned that trading conditions are looking tough amid the rising political tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East as the maker of Persil detergent and Schwarzkopf shampoo reported a 5.5% rise in net profit in the second quarter, said The Wall Street Journal.

"We expect the escalation of the Russian Ukrainian conflict as well as the persisting political turmoil in the Middle East to have a negative impact on the market environment," Chief Executive Kasper Rorsted said in a statement.

The German consumer-products group said on Monday that it is still sticking to a forecast for a 3% to 5% rise in revenue this year, on a comparable basis with last year's, and a slight increase in operating profitability.

Henkel said sturdy sales of its laundry and home-care products, which include the Persil brand, contributed to organic growth in second-quarter revenue.

Management's confidence about the company's own prospects comes as Henkel's net profit rose to EUR441 million (USD590 million) in the three months to end-June from EUR418 million on a 3.5% decline in revenue to EUR4.14 billion, slightly below analysts' expectations of revenue EUR4.2 billion.

As MRC wrote before, last year the specialty chemicals group ALTANA acquired the specialty coatings business of Henkel.

Henkel's sober outlook comes as other European consumer-goods groups have recently highlighted the challenge of more sluggish-than-expected growth in emerging markets. Depreciating local currencies have also helped crimped returns for European and U.S. companies in some major economies while the crises in Ukraine and Middle East have rubbed off on demand for household products in those regions.
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