Total sells chemical unit Atotech to Carlyle for USD3.2 billion

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total SA has agreed to sell a specialty chemicals business to investment firm The Carlyle Group for USD3.2 billion, part of the French oil major’s efforts to slim down and raise cash in the face of a slump in oil prices, reported The Wall Street Journal.

The companies said the transaction values Atotech BV, a supplier of plating chemicals, at 11.9 times the unit’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2015.

Atotech has a staff of 4,000, based mainly in Germany and China.

Total has responded to the oil price collapse over the past two years by increasing oil and gas output, cutting operating costs, capital investment and raising cash through asset sales. The company has said it planned to sell USD10 billion worth of assets in the three-year 2015-2017 period.

The Total strategy to deal with an oil barrel worth less than half what it was 2,5years ago is far from original though the French company has been more successful than most of its peers to carry it out. The company managed to keep booking billion-dollar profits in 2014 and 2015 despite the collapse of the price of its main products.

The company has decided to cut its investment to between USD15 billion and USD17 billion a year in 2017, down from more than USD20 billion a year when the oil price was above USD100 a barrel.

At the same time it gets rid of noncore petrochemical businesses such as Atotech or adhesive maker Bostik two years ago, Total has also acquired assets it sees as promising in the future. The company expects to dispose a net USD2 billion worth of assets in 2016.

Over the past few months, Total has bought shale oil assets in the U.S. and French battery maker Saft while selling assets it considers aren't profitable enough now or won't be in the future and assets that aren't part of its core business such as Atotech.

Total Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne has recently insisted the company will remain a strong actor in the oil transformation industry, which includes oil refining activities, petrochemical industries and fuel retailing.

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) -- Negotiations over prices of European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for October shipments to the CIS markets began this week. Local producers do not have unified opinion regarding October prices, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The contract price of ethylene in Europe for for October deliveries was agreed by EUR15/tonne higher than in September, which increased PVC production costs by an average of EUR7,5/tonne. However, producers had ambiguous opinions: there were desires bot to maintain or reduce prices and to achieve a price rise.

Negotiations over October shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the CIS markets were held in the range of EUR715-810/tonne FCA this week, whereas in September deals were done in the range of EUR730-810/tonne FCA. Some producers announced price increases to EUR830/tonne FCA, but companies do not intend to negotiate such a price.

There were no major restrictions on producers' export quotas in October, although some market participants reported minor disruptions in PVC shipments by some producers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - October contract price of propylene in Europe was agreed up EUR35/tonne from the level in September. However, not all European producers announced an increase in export price of polypropylene (PP) in the current month for the CIS countries, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

Negotiations on the October price for European PP began on Monday. Many market participants reported that some European producers announced a price rise for October PP delivery. At the same time, the prices rise for PP was lower than the increase in propylene prices. Some producers keep September prices, there were seen also price cuts.

Deals for homopolymer PP for October delivery into CIS markets were discussed this week in a quite wide range of EUR980-1,060/tonne FCA, while a month earlier the deals were agreed in the range of EUR950-1,060/tonne FCA.
Some companies reported that even achieved the price cuts by EUR10/tonne, the deals does not go beyond the general price range.

As in the past month, some producers still have restrictions on the shipment of homopolymer PP, in particular, raffia grades, due to the shutdowns.

Deals for PP block copolymers are discussed a range of EUR1,080-1,150/tonne FCA, on average up by EUR20/tonne from the level in September. Negotiations on October shipment of PP random copolymers were done in the range of EUR1,120-1,190/tonne FCA.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last month Changhua County Government rejected Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp’s permit renewal applications for three boilers at its coal-fired power plant in the county, insisting that the company apply for new permits, said Taipeitimes.

Without the renewed permits, the plant — which specializes in the production of nylon and rayon — is expected to completely shut down this week.

The Petrochemical Industry Association of Taiwan said the central government should help Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp and the Changhua County Government should find a solution to license renewal problems as the incident might negatively affect businesses’ willingness to invest.

Negotiations broke down this week, with Changhua County Commissioner seeking assistance from the Environmental Protection Administration to help clarify the permit controversies.

Last month the county government rejected the firm’s permit renewal applications for three boilers at its coal-fired power plant in the county, insisting that the company apply for new permits.

Without the renewed permits, the plant — which specializes in the production of nylon and rayon — is expected to completely shut down tomorrow. In the past few days, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre employees staged protests in front of the Changhua County Government building as the two sides continued negations over the issue. However, negotiations broke down yesterday evening, with Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku now seeking assistance from the Environmental Protection Administration to help clarify the permit controversies.

The association said it supports environmental protection, but it takes time for companies to improve manufacturing processes and the decision to close the factory needs more time for review. Without well-coordinated administrative actions and supplementary measures, the plant’s shutdown would only lead to more protests, harming the interests of both downstream companies and workers, the association said.

As MRC informed before, Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp.'s 320,000 mt/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit will shut for a few days at the end of August due to ethylene shortage while its No. 2 steam cracker goes through maintenance from July 29 to September 22. Other polyethylene units, including a 235,000 mt/year low density polyethylene (LDPE)/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) swing plant and a 260,000 mt/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant, will not be affected and running.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company's plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF and Avantium have formed a new JV for the production and marketing of furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), which is produced from renewable resources, as well as the marketing of polyethylenefuranoate (PEF) based on the new chemical building block FDCA, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The aim of the JV, named Synvina and headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is to build a position in the production of FDCA and PEF. The JV will focus on building a production plant with an annual capacity of up to 50 Mtpy at BASF’s Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium, and licensing the technology for industrial scale production. Synvina will use the YXY process developed by Avantium for the production of FDCA.

Industry experts consider bio-based FDCA to be a promising platform chemical and a building block for various downstream products and applications. Most significantly, FDCA is used for the production of PEF, a polyester suitable for food and beverage packaging as well as for fibers for carpets and textiles. For the packaging industry, PEF offers better characteristics in comparison to conventional plastics, such as improved barrier properties for gases like carbon dioxide and oxygen, leading to a longer shelf life of packaged products. It also offers a higher mechanical strength, thus thinner PEF packaging can be produced and fewer resources are required.

PEF is suitable for foil pouches, bottles for carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks, water, dairy products, still and sports drinks and alcoholic beverages as well as personal and home care products. Alongside the polyester PEF, FDCA can be processed to polyamides for engineering plastics and fibers, to polyurethanes for foams, coatings and adhesives and to esters for personal care products and lubricants.

Synvina will continue Avantium’s established partnering activities with leading brands associated with FDCA and PEF. The goal of the cooperation platform is to develop a complete supply chain for PEF as sustainable bio-based packaging material. Together with Toyobo, the companies will jointly boost the PEF polymerization and further develop PEF films for food packaging, in electronics applications such as displays or solar panels, industrial and medical packages. With Mitsui, Synvina will work on developing PEF thin films and PEF bottles in Japan. Furthermore, Synvina aims to continue the development partnerships with The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, ALPLA and other companies on the Joint Development Platform for PEF bottles.

As MRC informed before, in June 2016, Albemarle and BASF announced that they had signed a definitive agreement under which BASF will acquire Albemarle’s Chemetall surface treatment business for about USD3.2 billion in cash. BASF says that Chemetall complements its current portfolio by adding the surface treatment business to BASF’s coatings offerings.

BASF is the largest diversified chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF generated sales of more than EUR70 billion in 2015.
MRC