Indian Oil to shut HDPE plant in India for brief maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian oil Corp Ltd (IOCL), India's largest refiner and oil marketing company, is in plans to shut its HDPE unit at Panipat refinery in northern India, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that the unit is planned to be taken off-stream on April 22, 2016. It is likely to remain shut for a brief maintenance turnaround until April 26, 2016.

Located at Panipat in the northern Indian state of Haryana, the HDPE unit has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in July 2015, the board of IOCL gave in principle approval for a 350,000 tpa glycol unit to be set up at cost of Rs 3,800 crore, and a 1 mln tpa paraxylene/PTA (purified terephthalic acid) unit at an investment of Rs 8,000-9,000 crore. The two projects are expected to come onstream near its refinery at Paradip by 2020. Both the units are part of the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) hub being established at Paradip. IOC is the anchor tenant of this hub.

IOC also has plans to set up a petcoke gasification plant with an investment of more than 15, 000 crore.
These facilities are in addition to a 0.7 mln tpa polypropylene unit coming up in the petrochemical hub.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The state government and Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) will formulate a petrochemical masterplan that will enhance the state's and country's petrochemical industry soon, said Nst.

The commitment between both parties to conduct a joint study for the Sarawak Petrochemical Master plan was inked during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today. The signing of the MoU was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem.

The MoU was signed by State Secretary Tan Sri Morshidi Abdul Ghani on behalf of the Sarawak government, and Petronas corporate strategy senior vice-president Adif Zulkifli. Under the MoU, the state government and Petronas will undertake the technical, commercial and economic feasibility study for joint petrochemical development in Sarawak. At the same ceremony, both parties had also signed a Principle Agreement for the supply of 450 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of natural gas for the power and non-power sectors in the state.

Under the agreement, Petronas will supply 250 mmscfd of natural gas to Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) for the latter's existing power plant at Tanjung Kidurong as well as a new 1,200MW power plant in Samalaju Industrial Park both in Bintulu. Petronas will also supply the remaining 200 mmscf of natural gas to Sarawak as feedstock for the petrochemical industry. Petronas also inked a Gas Sale Agreement with SEB to supply 100 mmscfd natural gas to the Tanjung Kidurong power plant.

As MRC informed earlier, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has awarded the Johor port operatorship for its Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (RAPID) project to Johor Port Bhd (JPB). As the port operator, JPB will manage the operations and logistics functions at the material offloading facility (MOLF) for Petronas’ Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Pengerang.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Advanced Petrochemical's preliminary financial statements showed a growth of 62.89% in profits of the first quarter ended 31 March, according to an issued statement, said 4-traders.

The company's earnings reached SAR 146 million (USD39 million) in Q1-15, compared to SAR 89.63 million (USD24 million) in the same quarter in 2015.

Operating profits increase by 43.5% to SAR 144 million (USD38.4 million) in Q1-15, compared to SAR 100.34 million (USD26.75 million) in Q1-14.

As MRC wrote previously, in 2012, Advanced Petrochemical Company (Advanced) and Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (Satorp) signed on a sales agreeent for the supply of 50,000 tonnes per year of propylene from Satorp Refinery to be built in Jubail Industrial City (2) to Advanced. Under this agreement, Satorp will provide Advanced with 50,000 tonnes of propylene annually for an initial period of three years and it will be renewed on an annual basis. And it is expected to commence supply starting from January 1, 2014 and Satorp will supply propylene by a pipeline from Jubail (2) to Jubail (1).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Axiall’s board of directors has turned down a second, USD3.1-billion acquisition bid from Westlake Chemical, said Chemweek.

Westlake has responded by formally ending negotiations and asking Axiall shareholders to elect a new board selected by Westlake. The new bid, submitted on 29 March, offered USD23.35 (USD14.00 in cash and 0.1967 of a Westlake share) for each share of Axiall, 17% above the USD2.9-billion bid submitted 29 January.

"Given the Axiall board's unrealistic expectations and entrenched position, we feel we have no choice but to proceed today with a proxy contest to replace Axiall's directors with new, independent, and highly qualified directors who are willing to evaluate all options in accordance with their fiduciary duties," says Westlake president and CEO Albert Chao in a letter sent to Axiall shareholders on 4 April. Westlake named its slate 16 February.

In his letter, Chao notes that Axiall shares were trading at USD9.60 the day before Westlake’s initial offer. "Since then, nothing has changed in Axiall's outlook that would lead to a standalone valuation anywhere near the value of our proposal," he says. "In addition, Axiall has consistently overestimated the earnings power of its business and has a track record of failing to deliver on its operational and strategic objectives."

Axiall says it had been "actively engaged in discussions with Westlake" since 8 March to see if the company "was willing to make a revised proposal that appropriately reflects the high quality of Axiall’s assets, the significant growth potential of its business, and the powerful synergies available in a combination." In a letter rejecting Westlake’s second bid, Axiall CEO Timothy Mann says the board was "surprised and disappointed" that Westlake had revised its bid before "the completion" of the discussions.

As it was reported earlier, earlier, Westlake Chemical increased proposal to acquire axiall corporation to USD23.35 per share in cash and stock. Total value of revised proposal about USD3.1 billion, including assumption of certain axiall liabilities, including about USD1.5 billion of debt.

Axiall is a chemical company formed in 2012 from the chemical assets of PPG and Georgia Gulf. The PPG products are primarily chlor-alkali. The combined companies will be the third largest producer of chlor-alkali in the US after Dow Chemical and Occidental. PPG will own 50.5% of the combined companies. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

Westlake Chemical Corporation is a U.S. manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals and polymers, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The range of company's products includes ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, caustics, polyvinyl chloride and plastic products. Westlake is one of the major ethylene producers in the US and its Calvert City operation is a large integrated PVC site.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- KMG, a global provider of specialty chemicals, announced it has acquired Nagase FineChem (NFC), a Singapore-based manufacturer of electronic chemicals, said Businesswire.

Established in 2001, NFC manufactures wet process chemicals, including solvents, acids and custom blends for the liquid crystal display, electronics and semiconductor markets. The firm’s five-acre Singapore site comprises a manufacturing and packaging facility, warehouse, laboratory and cleanroom. In addition to its manufacturing, logistics and analytics capabilities, NFC provides recycling and refining services through the installation of on-site chemical supply and reclaiming systems at customer production facilities. For the 12-month period ending December 2015, NFC generated revenue of approximately USD8 million.

Chris Fraser, KMG chairman and CEO, said, "We are excited to announce the acquisition of Nagase FineChem. This acquisition coupled with our planned capital investment at the NFC site strengthens KMG’s electronic chemicals business in Asia and offers significant opportunities for growth by expanding our capability and platform to more broadly serve the semiconductor market in this important region. We expect this transaction will be accretive to our adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted earnings per share starting in the first year."

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, KMG and Nagase Singapore Ltd. have entered into a tolling arrangement under which KMG will manufacture certain electronic chemicals for Nagase Singapore Ltd. for the first year. Concurrently, KMG will integrate its existing Singapore operations with the newly acquired facility to enhance KMG’s product offering for customers in the electronics market in Asia. In addition, KMG will pursue strategic capital investments at the NFC site to further expand manufacturing, packaging, and purification capabilities to more comprehensively serve semiconductor customers in Asia.

Andrew Lau, Vice President, KMG Global Electronic Chemicals, commented, "We are delighted that Nagase FineChem and its talented work force are now part of our electronic chemicals business. Nagase FineChem has earned a strong reputation for quality, reliability and service, and I’m confident that our combined operations will add significant value for our global customers as we expand and enhance our capabilities in Asia, the world’s largest region for semiconductor production."

As it was written earlier, KMG announced financial results for the fiscal 2016 second quarter ended January 31, 2016. Its adjusted EBITDA1 increased to USD11.0 million, up from USD9.0 million in last year’s second quarter.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share2 was USD0.40 vs. USD0.30 per share reported in the prior year’s second quarter. GAAP diluted earnings per share was USD0.33 vs. USD0.47 per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2015. EPS in last year’s second quarter benefited from a USD0.31 per share gain on the sale of the creosote business.
MRC