Shell completes acquisition of BG Group

МОSCOW (MRC) -- Hague-based LNG giant Shell said Monday that the scheme with BG Group has become effective and the UK-based company is now owned by Shell, said Lngworldnews.

This follows the Court’s sanction of the scheme at a hearing held on February 11 and the delivery of the order to the registrar of companies on Monday, February 15, Shell said in a statement.

The USD50 billion merger created the world’s largest liquefied natural gas company. BG and Shell’ shareholders approved the historic merger in January. This is Shell’s biggest ever acquisition and the largest oil and gas deal since Exxon bought Mobil in 1999.

"This is an important moment for Shell," said CEO of Shell, Ben van Beurden. "It significantly boosts our reserves and production and will bring a large injection to our cash flow. We have acquired productive oil and gas projects in Brazil and Australia and other key countries. "We will now be able to shape a simpler, leaner, more competitive company, focusing on our core expertise in deep water and LNG," van Burden added.

BG said that the UK Listing Authority has cancelled the listing of its shares on the premium listing segment of the official list. The London Stock Exchange has also cancelled the trading of BG shares on the London Stock Exchange’s main market for listed securities.

As MRC informed earlier, Shell saw full-year earnings tumble to 3.8 billion US dollars (GBP2.6 billion) in 2015 from 19 billion US dollars (GBP13 billion) in 2014, when it reported its annual results at the beginning of February.

Royal Dutch Shell, commonly known as Shell, is an Anglo–Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom.Created by the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and UK-based Shell Transport & Trading, it is the fourth largest company in the world as of 2014, in terms of revenue, and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors".
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nippon Steel Chemical Company (NSCC) is in plans to shut its No.3 styrene monomer (SM) plant, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the company has scheduled maintenance at its No. 3 plant in end-March 2016. The plant is slated to remain offline for around one month.

Located in Oita, Japan, the No. 3 SM plant has a production capacity of 230,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in September 2015, NSCC announced its plans to shut its SM for maintenance. The plant was planned to remain off-stream for around one month. Located in Oita, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 190,000 mt/year.

Idemtisu Kosan Co, Asahi Kasei Chemical and Taiyo Petrochemical are the other SM producers in Japan.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahi Glass has begun shipping polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from the Anyer plant at Cilegon, Indonesia, following completion of an expansion program at PT Asahimas Chemical, said the producer on its site.

The ceremony also included a ground breaking for a new power plant at the site. Commercial production at the expanded chlor-alkali facility will start in the first quarter this year. PT Asahimas Chemical is owned 52.5% by Asahi Glass, 11.5% by Mitsubishi Corp. and 18% each by the local Rodamas and Ableman Finance.

With the aim of taking in the increasing demand in the caustic soda and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) markets in Southeast Asia, the production facility enhancement at the Anyer Plant was launched in 2013 to significantly boost the output of caustic soda and vinyl chloride in Indonesia.

The caustic soda and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) markets in Southeast Asia are projected to grow at over 5% per year. Of the demand in the market, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, where AGC has production bases for the chlor-alkali business, account for 70%.

As MRC informed earlier, Asahi Glass Co Ltd (AGC) in March 2015 announced that it would increase the production capacity of the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) facility at Phu My Plastics & Chemicals Co Ltd (PMPC), AGC’s subsidiary engaged in PVC business in Vietnam. PMPC’s PVC production capacity will be increased by 50% to 150,000 tonnes from the current 100,000 tonnes per year, which will make the Asahi Glass Group’s total PVC production in Southeast Asia 700,000 tonnes per year. The operation is scheduled to commence at the beginning of 2016.

Asahi Glass Co., Ltd., more commonly known as AGC, is a global glass manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo. It is one of the core Mitsubishi companies.
MRC

Moscow (MRC) - Prices for polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) sharply decreased in Ukraine in the beginning of the year, but since the end of last week prices started to rise. Devaluation of the national currency is the main reason for rise in price of polymers, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

In the early January PE and PP prices in the Ukrainian market began to decline rapidly. The price cuts resulted from the cancellation of a 5% temporary import duty and lower prices in foreign markets. PE and PP prices continued to go down in foreign markets in February, but the weakening of the national currency against the US dollar offset this factor, and prices on the contrary increased at the end of last week.

In the early January 2016 the exchange rate of hryvnya against the dollar fell below UAH24=USD1, but in the second half of January the devaluation of the Ukrainian currency has accelerated. By mid-February, the official hryvnya exchange rate to the dollar exceeded the level of UAH26=USD1. Thus, almost a month devaluation was more than 9%.

Such a serious devaluation in a short period has offset the reduction of PE and PP prices in the external markets.
In January - February polyolefins prices in Europe fell by EUR100-160/tonne. Prices for Middle Eastern PE reduced on average by USD150/tonne.

Late January's price offers for film high density polyethylene (HDPE) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) in the Ukrainian market reached the level of UAH39,000-40,500/tonne FCA, including VAT and UAH36,500-38,000/tonne FCA, including VAT, respectively.

Price offers for homopolymer PP raffia grade were heard in the range of USD33,500-34,500/tonne FCA, including VAT. But at the end of last week (11, February) traders under the pressure of the weakening of the national currency started to raise prices.

Price offers for film HDPE from some traders started from UAH41,000/tonne FCA, including VAT, price offers for LDPE were absent.

It is highly probable that price adjustment will continue this week in the Ukrainian market on the ongoing devaluation of the national currency.
MRC