Clariant will increase prices for PV 23 and Diarylide based Pigments

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has announced global price increases for selected pigments, as per the company's press release.

The price increases, which come into effect for delivery as of January 15th, 2018 or as soon as contracts allow, will affect dioxazine violet and diarylide pigments:

- Prices for PV 23 (dioxazine violet) and PO 34 will be increased by 15%;
- Prices for PY 83 will increase by 14%, prices for PY 12, PY 13, PY 14, PY 174 and PY 176 will increase by 5%.

The price increases are driven by higher raw material prices (e.g. Carbazole, Hydroquinone, DCB and certain coupling agents) triggered by higher environmental, health and safety costs and lack of availability, e.g. due to the stronger enforcement of environmental and safety regulations in China.

As MRC informed before, in June 2016, Clariant inaugurated its new production plant for water-based pigment preparations in Mexico. The new plant located in Santa Clara doubles Clariant’s Mexico annual production capacity for water-based pigment preparations and enhances its ability to serve customers across North and Latin America.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — US refiners and pipeline companies are likely to embark on a capital spending spree in the next year, fueled by a provision in the recently-passed US tax bill that rewards investment in new projects, said energy industry lobbyists and analysts, said Hydracarbonprocessing.

On Wednesday, Congress gave final approval to the biggest overhaul of the US tax code in 30 years, the first major legislative victory for President Donald Trump since he took office.

The bill contains a bonus depreciation provision that allows all companies to immediately write off the full costs of capital improvements, instead of depreciating the new asset over time. The immediate expensing of capital costs will make less financially-attractive projects more viable and free up capital for stock buybacks and increased dividends. The benefit begins to phase out in 2023, which means companies could look to advance projects to take advantage.

"Every major refining company has a list of projects they want to get approved that are ranked by profitability and risk," said Charles Kemp, vice president of Houston-based energy consultancy Baker & O'Brien Inc. The bill, he said, will motivate companies to look further down those lists, "and noticeably increase capital budgets."

The US energy industry has emerged as one of the winners of the historic tax package passed this week. The S&P Oil and Gas Refining Marketing Index is up 27% this year, and hit a record this week on optimism over the bill's passage. In addition to lower corporate rates, the net effect of the immediate write-off provision will boost the present value of capital investments by roughly 4% to 10%, Kemp said. That essentially makes projects more profitable, more quickly.

Moving up projects could be advantageous for refiners and pipeline operators such as Valero and Energy Transfer Partners, as they spend billions yearly to expand plants and build pipelines to move increasing volumes of petroleum.
All refining and pipeline companies contacted by Reuters declined to comment on the implications of the tax package, though some expressed support for the reform in general.

Refiners have already started evaluating capital projects to determine whether marginal ones have become profitable and whether any can be advanced into the 5-yr window, said two refining lobbyists based in Washington D.C., who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak for their respective companies.

"The US energy industry has spent billions in the past few years, but there's still a lot of room for growth," said one lobbyist. "We have a lot of north and south pipelines, but not a lot east and west. And there's a lot of demand for exports, so we will see a real uptick in capital investment to meet that demand."

US exports of crude oil and refined products have increased by 15% so far in 2017 when compared with 2016, and companies are looking to add to terminals on the Gulf Coast as US crude oil production nears an all-time record of 10 MMbpd. Numerous large investments in export of liquefied natural gas are also in the works, and cheap natural gas prices have spurred USD85 B in US petrochemical investments since 2010, according to multiple studies.

ExxonMobil Corp, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, had already planned to invest USD20 B through 2022 to expand its chemical and oil refining plants on the Gulf Coast.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japanese refiners Idemitsu Kosan and Showa Shell Sekiyu said on Friday they expect to cost cuts by USD71 MM in the first year of their business alliance that started last April, reported Reuters.

That comes after Japan’s second- and fourth-biggest refiners said on Wednesday they would form an office next spring with a staff of about 300 to manage crude oil purchases, refining and sales, seeking to cut costs by USD266 MM over 3 yr.

Their integration has been bitterly opposed by Idemitsu’s founding family.

As MRC wrote before, in May 2017, Japanese oil refiners Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd and Showa Shell Sekiyu KK signed a deal to form a business alliance ahead of Idemitsu's stalled merger with Showa Shell. Under the deal, the companies will cooperate more closely on crude purchases and transportation as well as production plans. Idemitsu Kosan completed the purchase of just under a third of Showa Shell last December, but the goal of a full merger of the two companies has been delayed due to opposition from Idemitsu's founding family.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products. The company runs two petrochemical plants in Chiba and Tokuyama. The two naphtha crackers can produce up to 997,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices dipped on Friday but stayed near their highest levels since 2015 on pledges from OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia that any exit from crude output cuts would be gradual, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Market liquidity was drying up on Friday as traders closed positions ahead of the Christmas and New Year breaks. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were down 24 cents at USD64.66/bbl at 1158 GMT, after ending Thursday at $64.90, its highest close since June 2015.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at USD58.05/bbl, down 31 cents. WTI has also been touching values not seen since mid-2015 over the past two months. Oil prices have recovered in the past year on the back of oil production cuts by OPEC, Russia and other producers, helping reduce the global inventory overhang.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told Reuters OPEC and Russia would exit cuts smoothly, possibly extending curbs in some form to avoid creating any new surplus. "There is a consensus among the (oil) ministers that we should avoid oversupply on the market when exiting the deal," Novak said, comments that will calm investor worries that Moscow wants a speedy exit.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said it was premature to discuss changes to the pact on supply cuts as market rebalancing was unlikely to happen until the second half of 2018. The OPEC-led pact to withhold supplies started in January this year. The producer group and its allies agreed to extend the cuts cover all of 2018 from their March expiry. The supply restraint has reduced oil inventories and helped push up Brent by more than 45% since June this year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fluor Corporation announced that BASF’s Coatings division has opened a new automotive coatings plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing, Shanghai, China. An opening ceremony was held recently to commemorate the milestone, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

After completing the front-end engineering and design, Fluor provided engineering, procurement and construction management services for the project. Fluor was responsible for building production lines, a solvent recovery unit, tank farms, utilities, warehouse, administration building and site infrastructure, with more than 1,200 craft workers onsite at peak.

An expansion of an existing facility, the project was constructed adjacent to several operating units, requiring close collaboration with the plant operations to ensure safety. Leveraging Fluor’s safety programs, including its Life CriticalSM activity requirements, the project achieved 3.5 MM work hours without a lost-time incident.

The facility produces innovative and eco-efficient automotive coatings that support the growing automotive industry in China and better serve local car manufacturers.

As a global engineering partner for BASF, Fluor has delivered many of BASF’s recent expansion projects, including an isononanol plant in China and a citral facility in Malaysia.
MRC