Dow to reduce equity base in Kuwaiti joint ventures

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In line with The Dow Chemical Company’s prior announcement of its intention to rationalize its investments in certain joint ventures, Dow will reconfigure and reduce its equity base in the MEGlobal and Greater EQUATE joint ventures, including The Kuwait Olefins Company (TKOC) and The Kuwait Styrene Company (TKSC), through a divestment of a portion of the company’s interests in these ventures, reported Dow on its site.

Dow expects such transaction(s) to be completed by mid-2015. While Dow will retain a substantial stake in these long-term partnerships, this effort will open opportunities for new investment in these successful and growing enterprises. Dow remains committed to maximizing the overall value of both MEGlobal and the Greater EQUATE joint ventures to further enhance their already demonstrated strong value and performance.

"We have been reviewing every aspect of our joint venture portfolio through our best-owner mindset, with the primary objective of identifying opportunities to deliver further value to our shareholders," said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer. "As a result of that analysis, we plan to reduce our equity position in MEGlobal and Equate. This strategic action allows us to redeploy capital to more strategic purposes, while still maintaining our commitment to these industry-leading joint ventures, which will continue to be an integral component of our strategy to be low-cost and integrated in key products."

As MRC informed previously, last year, Dow recently received USD2.2 billion for damages in cash from its Kuwaiti partner - one of the largest ever from a corporate arbitration - after the state-owned firm pulled out at the last minute from a USD17.4 billion deal to create a joint venture called K-Dow Petrochemicals.

MEGlobal is a world leader in the manufacture and marketing of monoethylene glycol and diethylene glycol (EG), and is headquartered in Dubai, UAE. Established in July 2004, MEGlobal currently markets over 2.5 million metric tons of EG per year globally. EG is used as a raw material in the manufacture of polyester fibers (clothing and other textiles), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins, antifreeze formulations and other industrial products. MEGlobal is a joint venture between Dow and Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) of Kuwait.

Established in 1995, EQUATE is the operator of an integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing more than 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products, including polyethylene, ethylene, and EG, that are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe. Formed in 2004, The Kuwait Olefins Company (TKOC) is an international joint venture among Dow, Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). EQUATE is the single operator of Greater EQUATE, which includes TKOC, TKSC, and Kuwait Paraxylene Production Company (KPPC) under one fully integrated operational umbrella at Kuwait’s Shuaiba Industrial Area.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. As of 2007, it is the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue (after BASF) and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization (after BASF and DuPont). Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Albemarle Corp. and Rockwood Holdings have announced that shareholders from both companies approved the proposals relating to Albemarle's acquisition of Rockwood at their respective special meetings, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We are pleased with the support from both Albemarle and Rockwood shareholders, which reaffirms the strategic merits of this combination and represents another important step in creating a premier specialty chemicals company," said Luke Kissam, Albemarle's president and CEO.

"We are fully focused on the integration planning process to combine our companies and enable us to better serve customers and end markets around the world and deliver long-term value to shareholders," he added.

At Rockwood's special meeting, Rockwood shareholders approved the adoption of the agreement and plan of merger, pursuant to which a wholly-owned subsidiary of Albemarle will merge with and into Rockwood with Rockwood becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Albemarle.

As MRC informed previously, Albemarle Corp. agreed in July 2014 to pay USD6.2 billion in cash and stock for Princeton, New Jersey-based Rockwood Holdings, the largest lithium producer. Rockwood is one of four companies that control about 90% of the market for lithium. Demand for the metal will expand as much as three times faster than the overall economy, Baton Rogue, Louisiana-based Albemarle said in an investor presentation. Other lithium producers are just as bullish. The world market may double in a decade with demand growing at 7% to 10% annually, Chile’s Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile said in April.

On November 13, Albemarle received regulatory clearance for the transaction from the European Commission. The transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015, remains subject to the satisfaction of the closing conditions set forth in the merger agreement, including regulatory approvals in China.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A power outage caused a shutdown of process compressors on an ethylene unit at ExxonMobil's Beaumont, Texas, chemical plant, causing the plant to flare a mixture of olefins, aromatics, and NGLs, according Plastemart, citing a filing with state environmental regulators.

The plant has capacity to produce approximately 816,000 tpa of ethylene. The event ended this morning but the company anticipates some impact to production.

As MRC wrote before, ExxonMobil shut down its Beaumont Polyethylene Plant in Texas in march 2014 because of a leak. About 584 lb of ethylene was released. The Beaumont Polyethylene Plant produces 1.25 bln lb/year of high density polyethylene, 1.55 bln lb/year of linear low density polyethylene and 518 mln lb/year of low density polyethylene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) in Ukraine decreased by 15% in the first ten months of this year, with the main decrease occurred for the sector of compounds, according to MRC DataScope.

October SPVC import in Ukraine remained practically at the level of September, totalling 12,300 tonnes. Total SPVC imports in the country were about 101,000 tonnes in January - October 2014, compared with 118,500 tonnes year on year. The demand for the resin in the current year reduced in all sectors of consumption, however, the largest decline in SPVC purchases showed the producers of compounds.

Structure of SPVC imports in Ukraine over the reported period was as follows. October imports of US SPVC in Ukraine shrank to 5,200 tonnes, compared with 7,600 tonnes in September. Total imports of US SPVC in Ukraine were 58,400 tonnes in the first ten months of this year, compared with 61,100 tonnes year on year. The relatively low export prices for North American SPVC and the free exports quotas were the main reasons for the increase in the supply.

October imports of European SPVC in Ukraine seasonally increased to 6,500 tonnes, compared with 4,400 tonnes in September. Total imports of European SPVC in Ukraine were 40,600 tonnes in the first ten months of 2014, compared with 54,800 tonnes in the same time year earlier.
Key suppliers of the suspension PVC in the Ukrainian market because of geographical nearness were producers from Hungary, Poland and Germany.

SPVC imports from other regions (Asia, Turkey, Russia) were rare.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of unfilled polyamide (PA) and polyamide plastics (PA plastics) to the Russian market decreased to 10,900 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, down 14% compared to the same period last year, according to MRC DataScope report.

Almost half of the total imports of PA and PA-plastics in Russia goes for the production of food packaging film (sausage casings and multilayer packaging). Whereas PA copolymers supplies occured for 25% share, and PA6 - 22% from the total imports in Russia. Russia's imports of PA 6 decreased to 2,600 tonnes in January-October 2014, down 26%year on year.

Russia's imports of PA-copolymers decreased to 5,900 tonnes in January-October, down 9% year on year. The only producer of PA 6 in Russia, Kuibyshev Azot, supplies to the domestic market polyamide Volgamid F34, suitable for food package. This polyamide belongs to the group of engineering plastics. These materials are in the higher price range than standard bulk polymers due to the complexity and feedstock costs.

Most of the PA imports to the Russian Federation carried out from Europe. Because of the devaluation of the rouble converters had to reduce their consumption of imported PA and look for polymer analogs to decrease production costs and improve margins.

MRC