Borealis to build dedicated automotive

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers, has decided to build a dedicated automotive polypropylene (PP) compounding plant in Taylorsville, Alexander County, North Carolina, said the company on its web-site.

This decision demonstrates the continuing commitment of Borealis to the global automotive industry. Together with Borouge, a joint venture between Borealis and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), we are increasingly well positioned to serve our automotive customers on a global basis. North Carolina has been selected for its strategic location and proximity to the company's customer base, as well as for the business-friendly and supporting environment of the State and the County.

The new facility will help to secure the position of Borealis as a local supplier to automotive OEMs and their Tier partners in North America and serves to strengthen our leading position in Europe, Brazil and China. With this investment, Borealis will step up its capacity, capabilities and support infrastructure, ensuring that its customers in North America receive the same high level of service as in the other regions. "We are very excited to be expanding our automotive business in North America and look forward to working more closely with our customers in the region to deliver our global material innovations locally," says Ken Wiecoreck, President of Borealis Compounds Inc.

The North Carolina plant is scheduled to become commercially operational in early 2019 and will initially produce PP compounds in the Daplen family of PP thermoplastic olefins (TPO) and in the Fibremod range of PP short glass fibre (SGF) reinforced materials. The plant will complement the existing Borealis Automotive Compounding assets located in New Jersey, as well as the current production via tolling partners.

"We are aware that North America is a competitive market with established suppliers, however, we are convinced that our cutting-edge material solutions will continue to help our customers create value through innovation and enable us to grow with them on a global basis," adds Nicholas Kolesch, Head of Automotive Marketing at Borealis.

Borealis and Borouge have established a broad global portfolio of high-end PP TPO and SGF materials capable of solving the automotive industry's most pressing challenges. Some of the latest innovations include new generation materials for part light-weighting through reduced filler content, chemical and mechanical foaming or metal and engineering plastic replacement. Furthermore, the companies have recently introduced advanced products for improved surface aesthetics and paintability, pushing the boundaries for the quality perception of polypropylene applications. At the same time, Borealis and Borouge's material innovations continue to deliver increasingly better mechanical properties and robustness in material processing, helping customers to achieve outstanding part performance and production efficiencies.
MRC

MOSCow (MRC) -- Private Indian energy major Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has undertaken planned shutdown at polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that the company has commenced turnaround at its plant today and it is expected to remain off-line for around 3 weeks. As per earlier plans, the plant was supposed to shut in mid-May 2017.

Located at Dahej in Gujarat, India, the plant has a production capacity of 315,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in the secon half of April 2016, RIL shut down its PVC plant in Dahej owing to a shortage of water.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company produces polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride and other petrochemical products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has today placed on review for downgrade the Ba1 corporate family rating (CFR), Ba1-PD probability of default rating (PDR) and Ba1 senior unsecured notes rating of State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), following the placement of Azerbaijan's rating on review.

"Our decision to place SOCAR's ratings on review for downgrade reflects the fact that it is wholly state-owned, as well as the company's exposure to Azerbaijan's weakening operating and credit environment. Furthermore, there is increasing risk that the government's capacity and willingness to provide extraordinary support to SOCAR may become more limited if stresses in the banking system worsen," says Denis Perevezentsev, Vice President -- Senior Credit Officer at Moody's.

On 19 May, Moody's placed Azerbaijan's Ba1 long-term issuer rating and senior unsecured rating on review for downgrade, prompted by the unexpected announcement of a restructuring plan for the country's largest bank, state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA, Caa3/on review for downgrade), which could imply that Azerbaijan's credit profile is weaker than Moody's had previously expected.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Aramco plans an investment of up to USD30 bln in its US subsidiary Motiva Enterprises LLC, the company said in an announcement at a business summit in Saudi Arabia, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company said that USD12 bln would be the initial investment in a project to expand refining capacity at Motiva's Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, already the largest in the United States, and to extend Motiva's operations in the petrochemical value chain, according to a statement about the investment.

A likely additional investment of USD18 bln is expected in Motiva by 2023, it said.

Since the completion of an expansion of the Port Arthur refinery in 2012, which more than doubled its capacity to refine crude oil to 603,000 bpd, Motiva has weighed plans for further expansion of the plant.

Saudi Aramco has also looked at acquiring at least one additional Gulf Coast refinery and visited chemical plants up for sale.

"We are investing in long-term job creation and the future of the refining industry in the United States, and we are delivering on Vision 2030 to expand the US-Saudi partnership," Saudi Aramco President and Chief Executive Amin Al Nasser said on Saturday, according to the statement.

Aramco said in the announcement that in the short-term an additional 2,500 jobs would be created in Port Arthur and an additional 12,000 jobs by 2023.

Vision 2030 is a plan announced last year by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to diversify the Saudi economy away from reliance on oil production.

As MRC informed before, on May 1, Motiva became an Aramco subsidiary with the breakup of a 19-yr partnership with Shell. Under the breakup agreement, Aramco retained the Motiva name and the Port Arthur refinery along with distribution operations across seven states.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
MRC

April output of material was 6,230 tonnes versus 6,665 tonnes a month earlier. The plant has been operating normally. Since the beginning of the year, the plant has gradually increased its production of PC-007 UL1 extrusion grade, and in April, its output reached 99% of the total production for the month.

Overall production of the extrusion grade reached 20,700 tonnes in the first four months of 2017 or 83% of the plant's total output, which equalled the last year's structure. Injection moulding grades accounted for the rest of the output - 4,200 tonnes.
Kazanorgsintez almost did not ship its material for export in April, having focused on saturation of the domestic market.

MRC