Oxea pushes Bay City propanol start-up back one year, postpones 2-EH

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a move to better serve its customers in North and Latin America, the global chemical company Oxea continues with the detailed engineering for a Propanol unit at its world-scale production plant at Bay City, Texas, said the producer in its press report.

The unit is scheduled to come on stream in late 2017. Key elements of the detailed engineering work will also be utilized for the construction of Oxea’s future Asian Oxo chemicals platform in Duqm, Oman. Propanol is used to manufacture products such as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, printing inks, coatings and adhesives.

"Oxea is a leading merchant supplier of Oxo products such as alcohols, aldehydes, and acids. We continue to significantly invest into our production platforms, especially for Propanol, to support the growth of our customers and meet the rising demands of the markets," said Miguel Mantas, Member of Oxea’s Executive Board and responsible for Marketing and Sales."

"The new facility for Propanol in North America not only supports our strategy of growing the business and enhancing the efficiency of our operations. It also emphasizes our confidence in the competitiveness of the US petrochemical industry and reinforces our commitment to the North and Latin American markets," commented Dr. Martina Floel, spokesperson for the Oxea Executive Board, who is also responsible for Production and Technology.

As MRC informed earlier, Oxea is planning to increase its European capacity for its Oxsoft GPO dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP) by 50,000 metric tons by the end of 2015.

Oxea is a global manufacturer of oxo intermediates and oxo derivatives, such as alcohols, polyols, carboxylic acids, specialty esters, and amines. These products are used for the production of high-quality coatings, lubricants, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products, flavorings and fragrances, printing inks and plastics. Oxea employs more than 1,400 people worldwide. Oxea is owned by Oman Oil Company S.A.O.C.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia's PetroRabigh said it would postpone a 50-day shutdown, which had been scheduled to start on Sunday, by one week, said Economictimes.

The firm, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, will bring offline its refining and petrochemical complex at Rabigh on the Red Sea coast on Oct. 11, it said in a bourse statement.

As a result of the shutdown, gross profit for the fourth quarter of this year is expected to drop by 900 million riyals (USD240 million), the company said, adding this estimate was subject to change.

As MRC informed earlier, PetroRabigh will launch the bidding process on Monday to build new units, including one to produce clean fuel, at its petrochemical and refining complex in Rabigh. It will launch engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tenders for a polyether polyols plant with a capacity of 220,000 tonnes per year, a 17,000 barrels per day naphtha treating unit to produce clean fuel and a 106,000 tonnes per year sulphur recovery unit (SRU), it said in a bourse statement.

PetroRabigh, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, has an annual output capacity of 18 million tonnes of refined products and 2.4 million tonnes of petrochemicals. Thus, the complex currently has a cracker to produce 1.3-million t/y of ethylene and 900,000 t/y of propylene, as well as downstream production of polyethylene, polypropylene, propylene oxide, ethylene glycol and butene-1.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay is ramping up its ability to supply and develop products for the tire industry as part of a two-year expansion that will see it hike overall silica production capacity by 50%, said the producer in its press release.

The program, which includes plant start-ups in Poland and Korea, is in response to growing demand in energy-saving tires worldwide, said An Nuyttens, president of the group’s silica global business unit.

These activities, said Nuyttens, are being driven by automotive original equipment manufacturers who are under pressure from regulators to reduce the carbon footprint of their vehicles, and by labeling rules which require tire rolling-resistance to be clearly displayed to consumers.

"Regulation is important in the market. If you look, for example, at Brazil, in 2014 tire labeling came into force and G-rated tires are to be banned from 2016. That means that labeled tires will have more silica so we see that driving growth in the market. "We also have to look at the sustainability picture. We need to go to a more sustainable industry. Silica has a clear advantage: it is made in a more sustainable way compared to carbon black."

Solvay currently has nine silica production sites across the world: three in Europe, the newest in Poland, one close to Lyon, France and one in Italy. In North America, the group operates a facility in Chicago, while its Brazil facility close to Sao Paolo is the more important of its two plants in Latin America, the other being in Venezuela.

In July, Solvay officially launched production of highly dispersible silica at its new 85 kilotons per year plant in Wloclawek, Poland—built to meet growing demand in central and Eastern Europe. "A big part of our customer [base] is present in Eastern Europe and Russia," said Nuyttens, who put growth in the region at mid-single-digit, expect for Russia where there are economic drivers going against the market.

According to Nuyttens, the Polish plant houses Solvay’s newest production technologies and will manufacture a wide range of silicas including its newest, differentiated offerings for the tire industry. Output will include Efficium, which was launched in February. Based on patented technology for functionalizing the silica to improve miscibility, it is said to offer higher productivity and flexibility in manufacturing passenger-car and truck tires.

Of the company’s three silica plants is Asia: two are in China, close to Qingdao, and one in Incheon, South Korea. Solvay is to bring a second Korean plant on stream in 2016, which will eventually take over much of the current capacity of the Incheon site. The new 80-ktpa HDS plant in Gunsan is intended to address growing demand in Asia for energy-saving tires and to develop new grades.

As MRC informed earlier, Cytec Industries Inc. announced that the waiting period for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976, as amended, has expired in connection with the previously announced merger with Solvay SA.

Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company founded in 1863, with its head office in Neder-Over-Heembeek, Brussels, Belgium. The company has diversified into two major sectors of activity: chemicals and plastics. Solvay supplies over 1500 products across 35 brands of high-performance polymers - fluoropolymers, fluoroelastomers, fluorinated fluids, semi-aromatic polyamides, sulfone polymers, aromatic ultra polymers, high-barrier polymers and cross-linked high-performance compounds.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Saudi Arabia's PetroRabigh will launch the bidding process on Monday to build new units, including one to produce clean fuel, at its petrochemical and refining complex in Rabigh, said Reuters.

It will launch engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tenders for a polyether polyols plant with a capacity of 220,000 tonnes per year, a 17,000 barrels per day naphtha treating unit to produce clean fuel and a 106,000 tonnes per year sulphur recovery unit (SRU), it said in a bourse statement.

If the bids are approved work would start in the second half of 2016, the company, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, said.

It did not give a value for the project.

In June, industry sources told Reuters PetroRabigh planned to build the units with contracts likely to be awarded in the first quarter of 2016.

As MRC informed earlier, Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) has received ownership of the Rabigh Phase II project from Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical, major shareholders in Petro Rabigh, and will now integrate the project into Petro Rabigh's existing refining and petrochemical complex in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.

PetroRabigh, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, has an annual output capacity of 18 million tonnes of refined products and 2.4 million tonnes of petrochemicals. Thus, the complex currently has a cracker to produce 1.3-million t/y of ethylene and 900,000 t/y of propylene, as well as downstream production of polyethylene, polypropylene, propylene oxide, ethylene glycol and butene-1.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sadara Basic Services Co.--which is 100 percent indirectly owned by Sadara Chemical Co. -- on Monday amended its articles of incorporation to reflect a 25.5 percent increase in capital from SAR 11.76 billion to SAR 14.76 billion, the company said in a statement on Tadawul.

Accordingly, the number of shares increased to 1.176 billion shares at a par value of SAR 10 each.

The capital hike was recommended and approved on June 21 by Performance Chemicals Holding Company and Dow Saudi Arabia Holding B.V., the shareholders of Sadara.

The raise was financed through loans secured to counteract losses incurred from its operating expenses.

The shareholders maintained their original stakes in Sadara, with Performance Chemicals Company owning 65 percent, and Dow Saudi Arabia Holding B.V. owning 35 percent.

Sadara Chemical is a USD20 billion joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemicals Company.

Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara), Dow's joint venture with Saudi Aramco, entered into definitive agreements with certain export credit agencies, commercial banks and the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for approximately USD10.5 billion of additional project financing.

As MRC informed earlier, Sadara Chemical Co. has signed a 20-year supply agreement with Energy Chemicals Sources Co. (ECSC), a new joint venture of Halliburton and The Industrialization & Energy Services Co. (TAQA), to supply feedstock to ECSC's planned chemical production facility to be built in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

The financing supplements the USD2 billion raised through a Sukuk Islamic bond issuance in April, 2013, bringing the total Sadara project financing raised to approximately USD12.5 billion, which will be used to fund the construction and start-up of the joint venture.
MRC