Strike curbs output at Total’s French refineries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A nationwide strike against a French government labor law reform has cut output at Total's refineries in France, a CGT Union official said on Tuesday, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

CGT delegate Thierry Defrense told Reuters that some 63% of members were participating in the strike, cutting production at Total facilities including its 198,000-bpd Normandy refinery.

"The machines are running but very little is coming out, and nothing is leaving the refinery," Defrense told Reuters.

At Total's 219,000-bpd Donges refinery in western France, another CGT union representative Christophe Hiou said "not a drop" of fuel was entering or leaving the plant. Workers are considering further action in coming days, he said.

Total, which operates five refineries in France, was not immediately available to comment.

We remind that, as MRC informed previously, in December 2014, Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, permanently shut its high density polyethylene (HDPE) line in Belgium. The plant was shut permanently owing to weak margins which have arisen on account of cheap imports in the region. Located at Antwerp in Belgium, the line has a production capacity of 70,000 mt/year.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Aekyung Petrochemical Co., a petrochemical arm of Aekyung Group (South Korea), is exporting its new eco-friendly plasticizer manufacturing technology to Russia’s largest energy company at USD 10 million (11.6 billion won), as per GV.

The company announced on 6 Apr. 2016 that it held the export contract signing ceremony at the Sibur headquarters in Moscow, Russia, on 5 Apr. 2016, attended by executives from the two companies, including President Lee Jong-ki and Konstantin Lugov, president of Sibur Group and general manager of the Perm plant.

By applying the sequential processing system for the first time in the world, Aekyung Petrochemical’s environmentally friendly plasticizer manufacturing technology, which was independently developed by the company in 2008, is a new technology that addresses mixing problems with phthalate plasticizer, which is against environmental regulations, and improves the product quality further with the eco-friendly production method. Also, it uses steam, which is generated in the manufacturing process, as the energy source, reducing production costs.

The global environmentally friendly plasticizer market amounts to approximately 1 million tons and Aekyung Petrochemical produces and sells 120,000 tons out of it.

Aekyung Petrochemical manufactures various industrial intermediate products such as phthalic anhydride, plasticizer, polyol and bio-diesel. Sibur is Russia’s leading energy, petrochemical and plastic producer.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in 2013, Eastman Chemical, a global specialty chemical company, has announced the expansion of its non-phthalate plasticizer portfolio with the addition of Eastman Effusion plasticizer. Effusion is an extremely efficient fast-fusing solution that can enable increased production line speeds and lower processing temperatures, reducing production costs for manufacturers. In flooring, Eastman Effusion is the ideal plasticizer for use in resilient sheet, luxury vinyl tile, vinyl composite tile, and PVC-backed carpet. Effusion can bring value in lowering both formulation and production costs. Effusion has been shown to have advantages in both efficiency and rheology to standard phthalate plasticizers that this industry has relied upon.
mrcplast.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel has completed phase one of the EUR2.5 million expansion of its performance coatings plant in Cikarang, Indonesia, said the producer on its site.

The investment will increase capacity at the facility by 40 percent and will help the company meet growing domestic demand – driven by the petrochemical and power sectors – for its International brand marine and protective coatings products.

Speaking at the recent inauguration ceremony, Mauricio Bannwart, Managing Director of AkzoNobel's Protective Coatings business, said: "This investment is a testament to our commitment to Indonesia, which continues to improve its position as an emerging market.

"We have installed state-of -the-art, automated equipment at Cikarang, which will significantly improve product quality, safety and sustainability standards."

Commenting on the expansion, Oscar Wezenbeek, Managing Director of AkzoNobel's Marine Coatings business, said: "We are excited about the fast-growing domestic market opportunity in Indonesia. The country has great maritime potential, with a 54,720 kilometer coastline, inclusive government policy and an opportunity to build a robust shipbuilding industry."

Having first established itself in Indonesia in 1971, AkzoNobel has since become the largest paints and coatings producer in the country. The company operates three manufacturing sites, supplying both decorative and performance coatings, employing more than 1,000 people.

As MRC informed earlier, AkzoNobel seeks further expansion in China with its new plant in Chengdu, capital city of China’s southwestern Sichuan Province, starting operation on 29 April. The plant is AkzoNobel’s fourth production site in China, which will mainly provide decorative painting and powder coating products to architectural markets across Sichuan Province and nearby areas. The firm hopes to further explore the potentials in China’s western areas amidst the country’s urbanization process.

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Johor-based polyethylene film-maker, BP Plastics Holdings Bhd, which expanded its plastic operations with a new 3m cast stretch film machine last year, is looking at double-digit sales growth this year, as per GV.

Group managing director Lim Chun Yow said with the machine running at almost full capacity now, the company was confident of achieving higher export sales this year. The company is targeting to increase its export sales to 80% of total turnover this year from the 79% achieved previously. "Despite the tepid growth seen in the overall markets and the recent strengthening of the ringgit, our continuous pursuit in producing better product mixes for new markets and existing customers would spur export sales," he said.

With a market value of RM300.2 million, 63% of the company’s sales are in US dollar, 20% in ringgit followed by 10% in Singapore dollar and the remaining 7% in euro and yen. The domestic market made up about 20% of the company’s total annual turnover currently.

On whether it had plans to diversify, Lim said for now it would focus on growing its business organically. “Other than the existing markets, BPP is targeting exports markets such as Japan, Asean, Far Eastern countries and Australia. … But we are always open to the possibility of business expansion in future,” said Lim, declining to elaborate this further.

Listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd in 2005, the net cash company that has no borrowings would also focus on improving cost efficiency and productivity in light of the rising operating costs environment. Meanwhile, Lim, who was one of the founders of BP Plastics, said raw material prices was mainly driven by supply and demand conditions. "The current scheduled and unscheduled shutdowns of petrochemical plants worldwide, particularly in Asia have caused severe supply shortage this year, resulting in higher raw material prices of ethylene and polyethylene since January. Such conditions are predicted to prevail in the short-term, which could further elevate the raw material prices,” he noted.

But, with additional production capacities coming on-stream from petrochemical plants in the Middle-East and North America regions in the second half of this year, prices would perhaps stabilize, according to Lim.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, in January 2016, BP PLC announced selling its petrochemical complex in Decatur, Alabama, to Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. (IVL.TH), for an undisclosed sum, as part BP's plan to restructure its global petrochemicals business. The divestment is in line with BP’s global petrochemicals strategy of pursuing a competitively advantaged portfolio through world-scale, low-cost facilities that utilize BP proprietary technology, including the production of purified terephthalic acid, or PTA, a key raw material in the production of polyester.

BP is a leading producer of oil and gas and produces enough energy annually to light nearly the entire country for a year. Employing about 17,000 people across the country, BP supports more than 170,000 additional jobs through all of its business activities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran's Persian Gulf Holding Company (PGHC) is to sign a USD 7 billion deal with a prominent European company to develop a petrochemical project in Assaluyeh, south of Iran, PGHC head said, reported GV.

Adel Nejad Salim told Shana that PGHC has held very constructive talks with major petrochemical firms in Europe and Asia since removal of sanctions and the outcome of the talks will begin to become manifest in the coming months.

"Over the course of the past 12 years, the relations between Iran's petrochemical industry and foreign firms was nearly severed, but during the past two years, given the removal of western sanctions, ground is being paved for restoration of Iran's relations with other countries, as we have so far signed a number of significant MoUs with foreign sides," said the official.

He said a leading European company has proposed to invest over USD 7 billion for development of a petrochemical project in Assaluyeh, adding the 5-year project entails all parts of the value chain and will provide new petrochemical products in Iran.

We remind that, as MRC informed before, in March 2016, The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) of Iran and France-based Total signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build a petrochemical complex in Iran. Total sealed the cooperation agreement with NPC to build a petrochemical complex after signing a separate deal to buy 160,000 bpd of Iranian crude oil. The complex will include a world-scale steam cracker unit in the coastal area. It will be based on a combination of feedstocks comprised of ethane, naphtha and LPG, as well as other available feed.
MRC