SCG took off-stream its HDPE plant in Thailand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Siam Cement Group (SCG) has shut its No. 4 high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit owing to technical issues, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the company has halted operations at the unit on June 28, 2017. The unit is expected to remain shut for around 15 days.

Located at Map Tha Phut in Thailand, the unit has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, in June 2016, SCG Chemicals' subsidiary announced plans to invest in a new grade of high value added (HVA) polyethylene (PE), with commercial production beginning by the end of 2016.

SCG Chemicals is a subsidiary of SCG and is one of SCG’s 3 core businesses consisting of Chemicals, Paper and Cement-Building Materials. SCG embarked upon the chemicals business in 1989. At present, SCG Chemicals manufactures and supplies a full range of petrochemical products ranging from upstream petrochemicals such as Olefins, intermediate petrochemicals such as Styrene Monomer, PTA, and MMA, to downstream petrochemicals such as Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Polyvinyl Chloride, and Polystyrene resins. SCG Chemicals is now one of the largest integrated petrochemical companies in Thailand and a key industry leader in the Asia-Pacific region.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- France's Total signed a deal with Tehran on Monday to develop phase 11 of Iran's South Pars, the world's largest gas field, marking the first major Western energy investment in the Islamic Republic since the lifting of sanctions against it, reported Reuters.

Total will be the operator with a 50.1 percent stake, alongside Chinese state-owned oil and gas company CNPC with 30%, and National Iranian Oil Co subsidiary Petropars with 19.9%.

The project will have a production capacity of 2 billion cubic feet per day, or 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day including condensate, Total said in a statement, adding that the gas will supply the Iranian domestic market starting in 2021.

The first stage of the South Pars development will cost around USD2 billion, Total added.

The project will cost up to USD5 billion and production is expected to start within 40 months, Iran's oil ministry said in a statement.

"This is a major agreement for Total, which officially marks our return to Iran to open a new page in the history of our partnership with the country," Total Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said.

The offshore field was first developed in the 1990s. Total was one of the biggest investors in Iran until the country drew international sanctions in 2006 over suspicions that Tehran was trying to develop nuclear arms.

Total signed an initial agreement with Tehran on Nov. 8, a day after the U.S. presidential election victory of Donald Trump, who had criticized the deal lifting sanctions against Iran.

Total had delayed the final investment decision as it waited for the Trump administration to renew the U.S. sanctions waivers.

Trump extended sanctions relief for Iran in May, but is imposing new measures against Iran's ballistic missile program.

Iran, the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, hopes its new petroleum contracts will attract foreign companies and boost oil and gas output after years of under-investment.

A senior Iranian official said at the signing ceremony that he hoped the deal with Total would encourage other international companies to invest in Iran’s oil and gas fields, which need tens of billions of dollars of foreign money.

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. 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. In addition to steam cracker unit, the complex will include relevant downstream units for supplying its products to domestic and international markets.

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.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrian packaging company Alpla has acquired a 100% stake in Italian plastic bottle producer Propack, said the company on its website.

Headquartered in Ostellato, Propack specialises in the production of HDPE and PET bottles for home care. The deal sees Alpla expand its production capacities in north-east Italy with its eighth plant in the country.

Alpla was drawn to Propack due to its complementing product portfolio and its proximity to potential new customers in one of the most industrialised areas of the country.

Alpla CEO Gunther Lehner said: "We are gaining access to a strong distribution network. Propack is a good strategic partner which will help us to achieve our targets in Italy, where we are involved since 1985."

The announcement marks the latest in a succession of acquisitions by Alpla as it aims to expand its production capacity across the globe. Earlier this month it bought the West Bend bottle manufacturing plant in Wisconsin from Gehl Foods.

Propack was founded in 2002 under the leadership of Gianni Scapoli who developed the company as an exclusive supplier of bottles for Biochimica, a leading producer of detergents in Italy. The company employs about 20 people.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Plastic packaging could face greater regulation over its use of the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA), after the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) supported a French proposal to regard it ‘as a substance of very high concern’, said Foodbev.

The ECHA said that the compound has ‘endocrine-disrupting properties which cause probable serious effects to human health’. The compound – found in plastic packaging such as water bottles – has been variously linked to a risk of behavioural problems in children, reduced thyroid function and even an increased risk of cancer in later life.

The ECHA agreed that BPA gave rise to an equal level of risk to that of carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic substances. It had already included BPA in its list of high-concern chemicals because of potential consequences to fertility and the development of unborn babies.

The ECHA has also added perfluorohexane-1-sulphonic acid and its salts to the candidate list due to their very persistent and very bioaccumulative properties.

But the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is yet to act on the latest development. It had previously refused to ban use of BPAs in plastic packaging, arguing that the consequences of BPA exposure were yet to be comprehensively investigated.

Indeed, EFSA ruled in January 2015 that exposure from all sources is very low and well below a new safe limit for all age groups.

"The fact that any realistic exposure to BPA is well below even the conservative safety threshold established by EFSA shows that blanket restrictions being applied at national level, in particular in France, are unjustified and should be withdrawn," said Jasmin Bird of the PC/BPA Group of PlasticsEurope.

Of the latest ECHA move, she added: "We do not understand the decision of the Member State Committee [of the ECHA] to support the dossier on BPA put forward by the French authorities. We believe that this weakens the strong principle of science-based regulatory decisions in the EU, and will result in further uncertainty without providing benefit to the safety of consumers."

Claims about BPA’s impact on obesity, diabetes and ADHD have never been proven. Wary of growing concern around BPA and other materials, like epoxy, Dow has developed an ultra-thin thermoplastic film coating comprising a specially designed mix of speciality polyolefin polymers in an aqueous dispersion. Canvera Polyolefin Dispersions help eliminate bisphenol A (BPA) and other materials of concern for brand owners and consumers.

Jan Weernink, global marketing director for Dow Coating Materials, said: "Materials such as epoxy and BPA have come under increasing regulatory pressure across the globe in recent years, following health concerns. This has created a growing need for a safe and durable alternative for metal food and drink cans."
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has announced its investment to build its first regional Automotive Application Center in Asia Pacific, to be located at the BASF Innovation Campus Asia Pacific (Shanghai), China, as per the company's press release.

Start of operations is planned for the end of 2018, pending relevant approvals by authorities.

As an integrated part of BASF’s existing research and development (R&D) facilities for coatings solutions within the Innovation Campus, the EUR33.7 million investment will include an automotive application center - equipped with a state-of-the-art spray booth for electrostatic applications, a physical testing lab, and the 3-D robot - as well as process catalyst research and development laboratories. These facilities, occupying a combined floor space of 5,000 square meters, are designed to enable customer oriented R&D activities, and perform an accurate simulation of OEM paint shops.

With 48.6 million light vehicle units produced in 2016, Asia Pacific is by far the world’s largest automotive market, covering 52% of global production. China is already the world’s largest car producer, with 27 million light vehicle units produced in 2016. "This investment is a significant milestone in our effort to strengthen our R&D footprint in Asia Pacific and improve our proximity to customers in the fastest growing region for our automotive coatings solutions," said Dirk Bremm, President, Coatings division, BASF. "With this new automotive application center, we aim not only to continue our successful investment in automotive OEM coatings in China, but also to address long-term competitiveness in this important automotive market."

"Our R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific will be further strengthened by integrating the new facilities and teams at the Innovation Campus in Shanghai," said Harald Lauke, President, Advanced Materials & Systems Research and Regional Research Representative for Asia Pacific, BASF. "Technology leadership is a key enabler to support growth in China and to increase our competitiveness in the long run."

In addition to the new facilities for automotive coatings solutions, this investment also includes the new Process Catalyst R&D Center, focusing on the development of new process catalyst to meet specific needs in Asia. With strong research competencies in catalyst preparation, scaling up and performance evaluation, this R&D Center will further strengthen the collaboration with partners in the region, and provide support to BASF’s world-scale process catalyst manufacturing site which is under construction in Caojing, Shanghai.

The 3-D robot can simulate nearly any situation at a paint line anywhere in the world, which enables the new center to optimize application processes and products. It can apply the automotive coatings not only on horizontal and vertical surfaces, but also on three-dimensional objects, for instance, car doors and bumpers. The 3-D robot will allow BASF to develop new products for its automotive customers, and will also provide design solutions for OEM products as well as new developments specifically to the automotive coatings industry. The application unit of the robot consists of control software which is specifically designed and developed only for BASF. The 3-D robot will be in housed in a large state-of-the-art spray booth and will have its own oven room.

As MRC wrote before, in July 2016, BASF announced that it would strengthen its local production capability for waterborne and solventborne coatings in Thailand by building a new manufacturing facility at its Bangpoo site. The new production facility complements the facilities at the new Coatings Technical Competence Center ASEAN, which was opened in September 2015 and includes a laboratory for product development, performance testing, color design, as well as a small batch production unit. The expansion will better serve the strong demand from the expanding automotive industry in ASEAN.

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 about EUR58 billion in 2016.
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