Index of chemical production in Russia increased by 3.7% in Q1 2016

MOSCOW (MRC) - Production of basic chemicals in Russia for the first three months of the year increased by 3.7%.
The growth in production was seen in all basic chemical products, the exception was only caustic soda and xylenes, as per Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, Russia's ethylene production in March was 253,000 tonnes, compared with 234,000 tonnes in February. Total production of ethylene in Russia in Jan-March 2016 exceeded 753,000 tonnes, up 5.9% year on year.

Benzene output in March increased to 105,000 tonnes, compared with 95,100 tonnes in February. Total benzene production over the first three months of the year was 315,100 tonnes, up only 0.4% from the same period in 2015.

March production of xylenes in the country remained at the level of February and reached 47,400 tonnes. Production of xylenes in January-March 2016 totalled 145,500 tonnes, down 5.6% year on year.

March production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) increased to 95,600 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) against 81,600 tonnes in February. Total production of caustic soda exceeded 276,000 tonnes in January - March of this year, down 4.1% year on year on the back of unscheduled shutdown at SayanskKhimPlast.

March production of mineral fertilizers was 1.831 mln tonnes (in terms of 100% nutrients), up 12.1% from the February's level. Russia's production of mineral fertilizers in Jan-Mar 2016 was about 5.3 mln tonnes, up 5.4% than in the same time a year earlier. Production of all types of fertilizers grew, the exception was only potash production, which declined by 1.2%.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) has announced that Fernando Ruiz, corporate vice president and treasurer, has elected to retire from Dow, following more than 35 years of service. The Board of Directors has elected Gary McGuire to succeed him as vice president and treasurer, said the company in its press release.

Ruiz assumed his role in August 2001, and will officially retire later this year to ensure a smooth transition of leadership responsibilities.

McGuire joined Dow in 1988 and has held a variety of financial management and leadership roles in materials management, treasury, financial and enterprise-wide risk management, and financial planning and operations. He was named chief investment officer in 2007, responsible for the management of the Company’s global pension and insurance assets and was appointed assistant treasurer in January 2016.

"Gary has been instrumental in driving financial discipline, transparency and efficiency, and brings a broad array of experience and management across multiple disciplines and geographies," said Howard Ungerleider, Dow’s vice chairman and chief financial officer. "I am pleased to have his focused leadership as we continue to drive our strategic agenda forward."

As MRC informed before, in early February 2016, Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris said he would retire by mid-2017, following the merger of the company with fellow chemical and seeds producer DuPont. DuPont CEO Edward Breen is set to head the combined company after the merger, while Liveris will be the executive chairman after the deal closes in the second half of 2016.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber. In 2015, Dow had annual sales of nearly USD49 billion and employed approximately 49,500 people worldwide. The Company's more than 6,000 product families are manufactured at 179 sites in 35 countries across the globe.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eastern Refinery Ltd. (ERL), which supplies around 40% of Bangladesh's fuel needs, said it plans to more than triple its oil-processing capacity with a 3.5-MMtpy unit to help meet rising domestic demand, said Reuters.

The new unit at Patenga refinery in Chittagong will cost USD1.7 billion, Nasrul Hamid Khan, Bangladesh's junior minister for power, energy and mineral resources, said on Tuesday.

The expansion will be mainly financed by ERL, according to a senior official of the ministry.

ERL, a subsidiary of state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corp. (BPC), signed a deal on Tuesday with Engineers India Ltd., which will provide management consultant services for the expansion project.

The government will decide on the project developer through a tender. ERL, Bangladesh's sole refiner, currently processes 1.3 MMtpy of crude oil annually.

As MRC informed earlier, Linde Bangladesh Limited, a subsidiary of The Linde Group's Gases Division, announced an investment of BDT 1.2 billion (EUR 14.6 million) in Rupganj to build an air separation unit (ASU) producing approximately 100 tonnes per day of liquefied gases, making it the largest liquid producing ASU in Bangladesh.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp. plans to invest around USD3.8 billion to ramp up its refining capacity by two-thirds this decade, as the country's oil demand soars and to meet cleaner fuel standards, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Fuel demand in India -- the world's third-biggest oil consumer -- is rising at its fastest clip in more than a decade, buoyed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's manufacturing push and as an expanding middle class buys more cars. State-run Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) aims to raise its capacity to process about 500,000 bpd of crude by investing around 250 billion rupees (USD3.76 billion), refineries head, B. K. Namdeo, said in an interview.

HPCL aims to boost the capacity of its Mumbai refinery to 190,000 bpd by July 2019 from 130,000 bpd, while the Vizag refinery in India's south will ramp up to 300,000 bpd from 166,000 bpd by July 2020, he said. "We will de-bottleneck the capacity of the two CDUs (crude distillation units) at Mumbai and replace a 46,000 bpd CDU at Vizag with a new 180,000 bpd crude units," Namdeo said.

Alongside the expansion, HPCL will also revamp its gasoline and diesel production units to meet rules on producing cleaner fuels from 2020.

Namdeo said HPCL, which traditionally relies on Middle Eastern crude, had for the first time signed a term contract with Nigeria's national oil company, NNPC, to buy 32,000 bpd of oil this fiscal year ending March 31. Since HPCL does not process all the grades offered by NNPC, it has entered into a swap agreement with trader Vitol, he said, without specifying the terms.

HPCL, which had halted Iranian oil imports in 2012 after western sanctions, is now looking to buy 20,000 bpd from the Middle East country. HPCL was considering using Iranian oil to replace some of the Basra crude it buys under an optional contract with Iraq's oil marketing firm, SOMO, and Total, he said.

HPCL has an annual deal to buy 65,000 bpd of Basra from SOMO and about 25,000 bpd of Basra and UAE's Murban oil from Total with an option to raise the quantities. "We are maximizing bitumen production and cutting fuel oil, so for that we need heavy oil," he said.

HPCL has renewed its contract to buy 50,000 bpd from Saudi Arabia and 20,000 bpd from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), he said, adding it also has an optional contract to buy 20,000 bpd from Kuwait.

As MRC informed earlier, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) shelved a plan to build a refinery in Andhra Pradesh, although it will go ahead with a proposed petrochemical unit. The company’s oil refinery at Visakhapatnam is being expanded to almost double, obviating the need to add capacity in the state at present.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is an Indian state-owned oil and natural gas company with its headquarters at Mumbai, Maharashtra and with Navratna status. HPCL has about 25% marketing share in India among PSUs and a strong marketing infrastructure. The Government of India owns 51.11% shares in HPCL and others are distributed amongst financial institutes, public and other investors.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical has shut a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has halted operations at its plant on April 18, 2016. It could not be ascertained as to when the plant would resume production.

Located at Shanghai in China, the plant comprising of two units have a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year and 150,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, on 8 March, 2016, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical undertook an emergency shutdown at its low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit in China, owing to a technical glitch. It remained off-line for around 2 days. Located at Shanghai in China, the company operates two LDPE units with a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year each.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York . Sinopec is the worlds fifth biggest company by revenue.
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