IVL acquisition of Cepsa business in Spain complete

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a world-class chemical producer, has announced the acquisition of 100% of the Purified Isopthalic Acid, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET and Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) assets of Cepsa Quimica S.A., a subsidiary of Compania Espanola de Petroleos S.A.U. (“CEPSA") in Guadarranque-San Roque, Cadiz, Spain.

The company will be renamed Indorama Ventures Quimica S.L.U. The acquisition makes Indorama Ventures a world-leading producer of Isopthalic Acid, a key chemical additive in the manufacture of PET for packaging as well as consolidating our strategy in Europe.

“The acquisition provides Indorama Ventures with a stronger base in Europe and will allow us to simplify logistics costs in the region,” said Mr. Aloke Lohia, Group CEO of Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited. “The addition of the key chemical, Isopthalic Acid, provides us with a high value-added business that is a good fit in our international strategy.

"Our Spanish assets will complement Indorama Ventures’ existing portfolio in Europe with consolidation of PTA and PET assets and with addition of PIA, a high value add business. We see some debottlenecking opportunities at the plant that will increase efficiency," Lohia added.

"We have a great team onboard now, and I would like to take the opportunity to welcome both the employees and customers of Cepsa and look forward to working closely with them going forward".

As MRC informed earlier, Indorama Ventures (Bangkok) has pulled out of a world-scale aromatics joint venture in Abu Dhabi to be replaced by state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc). Indorama, a major producer of polyester, in December 2013 signed a deal with Abu Dhabi National Chemicals Co. (ChemaWEyaat) to develop Tacaamol, a huge aromatics complex, which would have ensured supplies to Indorama’s polyester value chain, particularly para-xylene (p-xylene) for purified terephthalic acid production. The aromatics plant is expected to have a design capacity of 1.4 million mt/year of paraxylene and 500,000 mt/year of benzene, IVL has previously said.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik Industries announced it has concluded a purchase agreement to take over the start-up Alkion Biopharma SAS, headquartered in Evry, France. Alkion Biopharma SAS is a leading manufacturer of biotechnologically developed cosmetic active ingredients, said the producer on its site.

The company has developed methods for cultivating plant biomass under laboratory conditions.

Evonik said the company is purchasing Alkion to expand the portfolio of the Personal Care Business Line in the area of active ingredients.

As MRC informed earlier, Air Products is in advanced talks to sell its performance materials operations to Evonik Industries. The business, which makes chemicals used in sun lotion and paint, could be valued at more than USD3.5 billion.

Alkion Biopharma SAS is one of the leading manufacturers of biotechnologically developed cosmetic active ingredients. The company has developed methods for cultivating plant biomass under laboratory conditions and obtaining extracts from this with an exceptionally high yield of complex ingredients.

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals, operating in the Nutrition & Care, Resource Efficiency and Performance Materials segments. The company benefits from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. In 2015 more than 33,500 employees generated sales of around EUR13.5 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of about EUR2.47 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire erupted at ExxonMobil's refinery in Baytown, Texas, on Thursday afternoon, sending a large plume of black smoke into the air that was visible for miles across Houston, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Exxon said the fire was later extinguished, no workers were injured and output would not be hurt at the 560,500-bpd oil refinery, the second-largest in the United States.

The company provided no information on the affected unit but said it would monitor air quality around the complex and the community.

Television footage showed firefighters extinguishing the blaze on one of the plant's towers.

People in the vicinity and the US Coast Guard's Vessel Traffic Service near the Houston Ship Channel had first reported smoke coming from the facility, which includes a chemical plant.

Emergency management officials did not immediately comment.

As MRC informed earlier, ExxonMobil Chemical in February completed the start up process of its 820,000 m tpa ethylene complex in Beaumont, Texas. The Beaumont complex has two equal-sized steam cracking units with total combined ethylene capacity of 820,000 mtpa.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's consumption of polystyrene (PS) in foaming technology increased by 1.3% in 2015. Demand for PS in this segment was 325,600 tonnes a year earlier. In 2015, the market capacity reached 329,700 tonnes, according to MRC's Annual report.

This market segment grew last year because of the increased consumption of XPS-plates. In 2015, the XPS-plates market for the first time exceeded consumption of the EPS-plates market, totalling 196,000 tonnes, up by 26% year on year.

At the same time, Russia's consumption of expandable polystyrene (EPS) decreased by 21%. Demand for EPS fell from 168,600 tonnes to 133,500 tonnes.

The head of SIBUR's directorate of plastics and organic synthesis Paul Lyakhovich said in an exclusive interview to web portal "Construction" that the capacity of Russian polymer insulation market dropped by 12-13% last year compared to 2014 due to the deterioration of the overall economic situation.

Despite the devaluation of the rouble and economic problems, companies still made investments in this sector. Last year's investments in PS foaming were USD10.8 million. These investments included the import of 7 standard lines, of which 3 lines were for EPS processing and for the production of EPS-plates (of Styropex, Epsole Technologies and Heitz), 1 line for the production of decor from EPS and 2 lines for the production of the XPS-plates from general purpose polystyrene (GPPS of KraussMaffei Berstorff). As per MRC's estimates, an increase in these companies' processing capacities was about 8,000 tonnes of PS per year.

Foaming is the largest sector of PS consumption in Russia. This sector accounts for 60% of the styrene plastics consumption. The main products produced by foaming technology are insulation materials, which can be nominally divided into EPS and XPS, depending on the material - EPS (for EPS-plates) and GPPS (for XPS-plates). Foaming was the only sector of Russia's PS processing, which accounted for the consumption growth last year, summarized MRC analysts.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The April contract price of ethylene in Europe was agreed by EUR60/tonne higher compared to March. However, European polyethylene (PE) producers raised their export prices of polymer for the CIS countries more substantially than the amount of the increase in monomer prices, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations over European export PE prices began on Monday. Many market participants reported limited export quotas of most producers. At the same time, some producers from Eastern Europe do not plan to export sales of low density polyethylene (LDPE) this month. The increase of EUR70-80/tonne in April PE prices was negotiated.

Deals for April shipments of high density polyethylene (HDPE) were discussed in the range of EUR1,240-1,305/tonne FCA this week, whereas March deals were done in the range of EUR1,170-1,225/tonne FCA. Some market participants siad there were certain limitations in shipments of certain grades, particularly, of film grade and pipe grade HDPE.

European producers had serious limitations with LDPE supply. Deals were mainly negotiated in the range of EUR1,240-1,290/tonne FCA, whereas last month's deals were done in the range of EUR1,170-1,220/tonne FCA. Participants of negotiators said that LDPE producers from Romania (Rompetrol) and Serbia (HIP Petrochemija) do not plan to export material to the CIS countries in April.
MRC