Indorama Ventures to acquire Chinese Performance Fibers

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures PCL, Thailand’s leading petrochemicals company, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire one of the world’s premium automotive fibre businesses, Performance Fibers Asia, including all its Asian manufacturing operations and the right to continue using the name Performance Fibers, as per Business-Standart.

Indorama Ventures Ltd (IVL) will make the acquisition from an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners Inc, a leading private investment firm specialising in leveraged buyouts and investments in market-leading companies. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Performance Fibers Asia is the premier producer of tyre fabrics in the region and is the second largest production facility of its kind in China. Asia is the largest and fastest-growing market for tyres globally, accounting for more than 50% of global tyre demand in 2013 and expanding at 8% CAGR over the last five years.

This acquisition represents the continuation of IVL’s strategy to increase and strengthen its presence in the high value-added (HVA) automotive safety applications. Performance Fibers Asia brings together a broad and complementary portfolio of innovative products to Indorama Ventures, following the acquisition of PHP Fibers and Trevira in the last two years. The combined three businesses are expected to have annual revenue of at least $850 million.

The Performance Fibers business in Europe and the Americas will continue to operate separately under the ownership of Sun Capital and the leadership of the existing management team in those regions.

Performance Fibers Asia production facilities are strategically situated in the Pearl River Delta city of Kaiping, where IVL’s Guangdong facility is a supplier of specialty PET polymers, providing immediate synergies in the raw material supply chain and operational excellence.

As MRC wrote before, the plant engineering and construction specialists, Uhde Inventa-Fischer, have executed the revamp of a plant for the production of bottle and packaging-grade PET for Indorama Ventures Poland Sp. Z.o.o. in Wloclawek, Poland.

Indorama Ventures is a leading producer in the polyester value chain in Thailand with strong global network and manufacturing across Asia, Europe and North America. Its products serve major players in diversified end use markets, including food, beverages, personal and home care, health care, automotives, textile, and industrial. The company"s main products are PTA, PET and polyester fibre, which are distributed across the world.
MRC

Ineos and Sasol started construction of HDPE plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA (INEOS) and Sasol broke ground today on their much anticipated high density polyethylene (HDPE) manufacturing joint venture at the Ineos Battleground Manufacturing Complex in La Porte, Texas, on 5 December, reported Ineos on its site.

"This important step, among many, is a celebration of the efforts of Ineos and Sasol, and their respective teams, to realize the vision of a world-scale asset, facilitated by leading bimodal technology, for integration into both partners’ upstream and downstream business platforms. This project represents not only a commitment to the bimodal HDPE market, but also a significant investment in the community in which the facility will operate," said Dennis Seith, CEO of Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA.

"We are delighted to be moving ahead on this important project which supports our North American growth strategy," said Fleetwood Grobler, executive vice president of Sasol’s global chemicals business. "This state-of-the-art facility will be ideally located close to our existing and future ethane cracker and derivatives complex in Southwest Louisiana."

The facility will produce 470,000 tonnes per annum of bimodal HDPE using Innovene S process technology licensed from Ineos Technologies. The intention is to produce alimited number of grades allowing high grade efficiencies.

Ineos will operate the 50/50 Joint Venture. Start-up of the plant is expected in 2016.

As MRC informed earlier, in August 2014, KBR was awarded a contract from Ineos and Sasol to provide engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for an HDPE facility to be located at Ineos' Battleground complex in La Porte, Texas.

Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It develops and commercialises technologies, including synthetic fuels technologies, and produces different liquid fuels, chemicals and electricity.

Ineos is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, speciality chemicals and oil products. It comprises 15 businesses each with a major chemical company heritage. Its production network spans 51 manufacturing facilities in 11 countries throughout the world.
MRC

Flint Hills begins construction of Corpus Christi West refinery upgrade

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Flint Hills Resources has begun the construction phase of a project that will enable its Corpus Christi West refinery to process more domestic crude into transportation fuels, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This project, named Project Eagle Ford, is expected to cost around USD600 million, require around 2,000 contractors and be completed in 36 months.

In May, Flint Hills Resources received permits for the project from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Internal board approval was received in September.

"In addition to being able to process more domestic crude, this project will also enable us to reduce our criteria air emissions by using best available control technologies and other emission reduction strategies," said Valerie Pompa, vice president for Flint Hills Resources Corpus Christi.

The current capacity of the West refinery is about 230,000 bpd. After the project is complete, it will have the capability to process 100% domestic crude.

As MRC wrote before, Flint Hills Resources, LLC announced it is moving forward with a significant expansion of its chemicals business with the completion of its acquisition of PetroLogistics LP and its general partner, PetroLogistics GP LLC. The USD2.1 billion transaction is the largest in the company’s history.

Flint Hills Resources, through its subsidiaries, is a leading refining, biofuels and chemicals company. Its subsidiaries market products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, ethanol, biodiesel, olefins, polymers and intermediate chemicals, as well as base oils and asphalt.
MRC

European PE dropped by EUR20-30/tonne for CIS markets

MOSCOW (MRC) - December contract price of ethylene in Europe was agreed down EUR50/tonne below the level of the November. Nevertheless, despite such a significant decrease in the feedstock price, some European producers intended to roll over the November export prices of polypropylene (PP) for CIS markets , according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Last week, December contract prices of ethylene was agreed in Europe down by EUR50/tonne, compared with the level of November. However, some European producers rolled over the November level of export polyethylene prices for December delivery for the CIS markets. Some producers cut PE prices by EUR20 - 30/tonne.

The negotiations for European PE prices for December delivery begam last week. Deals for high density polyethylene (HDPE) were discussed in the range of EUR1,300-1,180/tonne FCA, which was on average down by EUR20-30/tonne from the November level.

Deals for low density polyethylene (LDPE) were discussed in the range of EUR1,180-1,240/tonne FCA, down by EUR20/tonne from the November level.
MRC

Shanghai Petrochemical restarted MEG plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shanghai Petrochemical has restarted its No.2 MEG plant following a maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant resumed production on December 3, 2014. It was shut for a maintenance turnaround on October 17, 2014.

Located in Jinshan, Shanghai, the No.2 MEG plant has a production capacity of 380,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, Nan Ya Plastics restarted its No 3 MEG plant in Taiwan on November 3, 2014. It was under a month-long maintenance turnaround. Located in Mailiao, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 360,000 mt/year.

Besides, Xinjiang Tianye Group started up a new MEG plant in China in August 2014. Located in Xinjiang province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.
MRC