Pemex says protests cause 'critical' border city fuel shortage

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexico's oil company, Pemex, is struggling to supply gas stations around the northern border city of Mexicali because of a blockade at a storage site, part of a wave of sometimes violent protests and looting over a gasoline price hike, said Reuters said.

In a post on its Twitter page, Pemex said its ability to supply gas stations in Mexicali, just across the border from California, had reached "critical levels" because of the blockade of its key local storage plant.

"No gas stations have any inventory," said Rodrigo Llantada, president of the regional chapter of industry chamber Coparmex, adding the blockade began on last Wednesday.

Protests since the Jan. 1 double-digit fuel price spike have exposed deep anger with President Enrique Pena Nieto over rising living costs fanned by a slump in the peso currency following Republican Donald Trump's US presidential victory.

Protesters have looted dozens of gas stations and supermarkets across the country. Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested for suspected involvement in related property damage and violence. On Saturday, a truck drove into a line of federal police, injuring five, during clashes at another blockaded storage terminal in Baja California, while local media reported that shots were fired during protests on Sunday in the city of Nogales, across the border from Arizona.

The government has defended the hike as necessary to end subsidies on fuels through a gradual, year-long price liberalization that will free up resources for social spending.

Mexicali, a one-time agricultural outpost built up by Chinese immigrants a century ago, is now a sprawl of industrial plants stretching into the surrounding desert that supply the US market. Multinationals in the Baja California city manufacture everything from Coca-Cola drinks to Apple smartphone chips and sections of Boeing's latest jet airliners.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sika is acquiring Bitbau Dorr, a leading waterproofing system manufacturer, headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria, said the company on its site.

The transaction is subject to approval by the Austrian competition authority. The product portfolio includes complete waterproofing systems for roofs, buildings and civil engineering applications. In the past business year, the company with its 85-strong staff recorded sales of CHF 50 million.

It has 85 employees and had generated revenues of Swiss francs (Swfr) 50m in the past business year, Sika said in a statement.

"Thanks to our acquisition of the leading Austrian manufacturer of bitumen-based construction products and complete waterproofing solutions, Sika's customers will benefit from a broader choice of products," said Paul Schuler, regional manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Sika.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2016, Sika has opened a new mortars and concrete admixtures plant in Vancouver, Canada.

Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing and protection in the building sector and automotive industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 97 countries around the world and manufactures in over 190 factories. Its more than 17,000 employees generated annual sales of CHF 5.75 billion in 2016.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russian oil major Rosneft has concluded a deal with a company linked to Qatar and commodities trader Glencore to supply up to 55 MMt of crude in total over a 5-year period, said Reuters, citing Rosneft.

The agreement follows the acquisition of a 19.5% stake in Rosneft by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) fund and Glencore last month for around USD11.8 billion.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Glencore had said it would conclude a five-year supply agreement with Rosneft giving it an extra 220,000 barrels a day to trade.

The supply deal announced on Tuesday was between Rosneft and QHG Trading LLP. A Rosneft representative said the firm is a Glencore subsidiary. It is registered at the same address as Glencore's London office. Regulatory filings list company officers as Glencore Energy UK Ltd and Qatar Holding LLC, a unit of the Qatar Investment Authority.

Rosneft said in a statement that it may supply QHG Trading with between 4.5 MMtpy and 11 MMtpy of oil with the price being set according to a formula pegged to global oil prices.

Currently, Rosneft's largest buyer of oil is Swiss commodities trader Trafigura with estimated annual purchasing volumes of around 20 MMt, equal to the entire annual output of two large refineries or enough to meet the consumption of a country such as Spain for half a year.

In December 2016, Rosneft said it has enough oil to fulfill new contracts with Swiss trader Glencore as markets gear up for a fierce battle between some of the world's largest merchants for supplies from the Russian company.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's Tuapse oil refinery, owned by Rosneft, said it had caught fire on Wednesday and that the incident would not affect production plans, said Reuters.

It said no one was injured and the fire was quickly put out at the plant.

It was written later that Tuapse oil refinery resumed production of vacuum gasoil within 24 hours.

Tuapse refinery is the only Russian refinery located on the Black Sea coast, and it is also one of the oldest -- it was put into operation in 1929.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, Rosneft and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) have signed a Framework Agreement on joint pre-feasibility study of the project related to the construction and operation of a gas processing and petrochemical complex in East Siberia.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema is investing USD90 million on its Clear Lake, Texas site to replace existing acrylic acid production units with modern facilities using available technologies, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As part of its operational excellence program, Arkema has launched a project that will replace two 45kt/year acrylic acid reactors at the end of their life with a single 90 kt/year reactor at its Clear Lake site. This investment will introduce new manufacturing assets using production technologies available.

The new unit is expected to come on stream by mid-2019. At completion of this program, Clear Lake's total acrylic acid production capacity will be 270 kt/year.

"Arkema will continue to meet customer demand from its American plants, which benefited from a previous modernization program between 2012 and 2014, as well as its European and Asian plants," the company said in a press release. "Arkema will position the Clear Lake site among the most competitive in North America while meeting growing demand in the region."

As MRC informed earlier, in November 2016, Arkema agreed to acquire Den Braven, a producer of sealants for insulation and construction in Europe, in a deal valued at EUR 485 million from Dutch private equity firm Egeria.

Arkema is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. Kynar and Kynar Flex are registered trademarks of Arkema Inc. The company's business portfolio spans high-performance materials, industrial specialties and coating solutions. Reporting annual sales of EUR7.7 billion in 2015, the company employ approximately 19,000 people worldwide and operate in close to 50 countries.
MRC