Chang Chun Chemical starts operating second Changshu Bisphenol-A facility


MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chang Chun Chemical (Jiangsu) Co. has started up its second bisphenol-A (BPA) plant at Changshu in China's Jiangsu Province using proprietary technology from Badger Licensing, said Apic-online.

The new 135,000-t/y BPA unit was built on the same site as Chang Chun's other 135,000-t/y BPA plant, which came on line in 2013 using Badger technology.

Chang Chun Chemical is an affiliate of Chang Chun Plastics Co., operator of two BPA plants in Taiwan, with technology licenses from Badger.

Stuart Agler, president of Badger, noted that Chang Chun's "impressive growth in the BPA industry has made them one of the largest BPA producers in the world in a relatively short period of time."

As MRC informed earlier, Badger Licensing, a 50-50 joint venture between ExxonMobil and Technip, has been selected by Lihuayi Weiyuan Chemical to provide its proprietary technology for a 120,000 tpy grassroots bisphenol-A (BPA) plant being built in Lijin, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China.

BPA is a precursor to the production of epoxy resins and polycarbonate. Nearly 1.7 million metric tons of BPA capacity has been licensed by Badger and its predecessor companies since the technology was first offered for license in 2001.

Badger Licensing LLC, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, is a venture of affiliates of Technip and ExxonMobil Chemical Company. Badger Licensing is principally engaged in marketing, licensing, and developing technologies for ethylbenzene, styrene monomer, cumene and bisphenol-A.
MRC

Negotiations on Russian SPVC contracts for May delivery began

MOSCOW (MRC) - Negotiations on suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) contracts for May delivery have begun in the Russian market. The price offers from the producers were mixed, as per ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Negotiations on May contract prices of Russian SPVC began in the middle of last week. Some producers rolled over April SPVC prices for Mar delivery, others announced a price increase.

At the same time, all producers agreed that the strengthening of the rouble against the dollar their prices became close to imported material - acetylene resin from China. Chinese producers in recent years have held a strong position in the Russian PVC market.

Russia's imports of Chinese PVC were 175,600 tonnes in 2014. Imports of acetylene resin into the country dropped to a record low level in Q1 2015, and did not exceed a few hundred tonnes per month.

Russian rouble have significantly strengthened against the dollar in April. The dollar rate became has decreased by more than 16% over the last two months. This factor has led to an increase in the attractiveness of imported material - Chinese PVC.

Russia's imports of Chinese PVC according to preliminary data can exceed 1,000 tonnes in April. The danger of an influx of acetylene resin from China is the main limiting factor in the formation of the contract prices for Russian producers. Given these facts the discussion last week for the May PVC prices was conducted at the level of April or up by Rb1,500/tonne from the April level.

April contracts for Russian PVC were done in the range of Rb59,500-63,000/tonne CPT Moscow including VAT, on average up Rb2,000/tonne from the March level.
MRC

Dow reports Q1 2015 results

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow has reported earnings per share of USD1.18 or operating earnings of USD0.84 per share. This compares with earnings of USD0.79 per share on both a reported and an operating basis in the year-ago period, as per the company's press release.

EBITDA for the quarter was USD3.1 billion. Operating EBITDA was USD2.4 billion, with gains reported in Consumer Solutions, Infrastructure Solutions, Performance Materials & Chemicals, as well as Performance Plastics. Operating EBITDA increases were led by Consumer Solutions and Infrastructure Solutions (both up 10%).

Sales were USD12.4 billion, down 14% driven primarily by price declines, due to changes in crude oil values and currency devaluations versus the dollar. Demand for Dow products grew across all geographic regions. Volume increased in Performance Plastics (up 6%), and Performance Materials & Chemicals and Consumer Solutions (both up 5%). Overall, growth was led by emerging geographies (up 5%), with particular strength in Greater China (up 10%).

Operating cash flow was USD1.2 billion - a first quarter record and an increase of more than USD660 million versus the same quarter last year.

Dow announced the signing of a definitive agreement to divest a substantial portion of its chlorine value chain through a transaction with Olin Corporation for a tax-efficient consideration of USD5 billion, and taxable equivalent value of USD8 billion.

Additional, ongoing portfolio management in the quarter included the sale of the ANGUS Chemical Company and Sodium Borohydride businesses, generating USD688 million in pre-tax gains.

Andrew N. Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer, stated: "Dow delivered a tenth consecutive quarter of operating earnings and margin growth with the full impact of an integrated, diversified portfolio on display. Demand for our high-margin, technology-driven businesses, coupled with our low-cost integration delivered margin expansion. This performance underscores the power of our portfolio to deliver in the face of significant macroeconomic pressures, with issues like oil price declines and currency volatility, plus weather impacts in agriculture, all overcome in the quarter. Our targeted market participation strategy, together with the strength of our integrated portfolio, has created a company with higher and even more predictable earnings.

"The actions that we have taken to build a shareholder-centric foundation are fudamentally transforming Dow into the premiere company in the chemicals, materials and agricultural sectors. Our ongoing execution against the commitments we have made is demonstrated by the return of an additional USD977 million to shareholders during the quarter and our announced divestiture transactions, which we expect to exceed USD11 billion - well ahead of our stated target of USD7 billion to USD8.5 billion."

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

UK government warns BP over potential takeover

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The British government has told BP it would oppose any potential takeover of the company, which was seriously weakened by the huge bill incurred after the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon disaster five years ago, reported Financial Times.

Amid wider consolidation in the energy sector, triggered by the sharp fall in oil prices, Downing Street has informed BP and senior City figures that it wants the group to remain a British industrial champion with global reach.

Prime Minister David Cameron has long presented Britain as a welcoming destination for foreign investment, but his government has made it clear that it would not remain neutral if the company were the target of a foreign takeover.

Analysts have in the past linked ExxonMobil, the world’s largest non-state oil company, to a possible move on BP. But British officials have told the Financial Times that Number 10 would be "sceptical" about any takeover - even if it involved Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil major - because it wants Britain to have two big global oil companies.

BP declined to comment on whether the UK government had discussed the issue with the company. But Number 10 said: "The government talks to a wide range of UK businesses, as you would expect. It is in the UK’s interest to have British companies competing and succeeding at home and abroad."

We remind that, as MRC wrote before, BP has planned to invest over USD200 million to upgrade its purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants at Cooper River, South Carolina and Geel, Belgium. The investments will position these assets amongst the most efficient PTA manufacturing facilities in the world.

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

Shintech investing USD1.4 billion at Iberville Parish plants to add ethylene production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a move that will allow the company to produce ethylene at its Iberville Parish plants and create an estimated 100 new direct jobs, Shintech has announced plans to invest USD1.4 billion at its facilities in the parish, as per BusinessReport.

Shintech, a North American subsidiary of Japan-based Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd. - the world’s largest PVC producer and a leading manufacturer of silicone and specialty chemicals - will also retain 335 existing direct jobs at its plants in Plaquemine and Addis with the investment, Louisiana Economic Development estimates.

Shintech expects to break ground on the project in the second quarter of this year, with completion of the project slated for the first half of 2018. LED says it began discussing the project with the company in December 2013. To secure it, the state is providing the company with an incentive package that includes a USD5 million performance-based grant to offset the cost of infrastructure improvements at the Plaquemine site, along with a USD5 million Modernization Tax Credit, to be claimed in equal installments over a five-year period. The company also will receive workforce training assistance through the LED FastStart program.

With roughly 5,700 acres on the Mississippi River southwest of Baton Rouge, Shintech’s Plaquemine and Addis plants chiefly produce PVC and vinyl chloride monomer, or VCM, the key ingredient from which PVC plastics are made.

As MRC wrote before, in 2013, Shintech Inc. unveiled its plans to add almost 700 million pounds of PVC capacity as part of a USD500 million expansion of its plants in Louisiana. The project also will include 660 million pounds of new capacity for PVC feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and 440 million pounds of new capacity for caustic soda.

Shintech was founded in 1974 to produce polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin. The catalyst for its current success came in 1976 when it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. Since then Shintech has completed a series of production capacity expansions that combined aggressive domestic and export business plans with careful analysis of market conditions and customer needs. Currently, Shintech Inc. is the largest producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in the United States.
MRC