South Africa watchdog approves USD900M Sinopec, Chevron deal

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's Sinopec Corp got a major boost in its pursuit of Chevron's South Africa and Botswana assets after South Africa's Competition Tribunal approved, with conditions, the USD900 million transaction, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

State-owned Sinopec was competing for the assets against commodities trader and miner Glencore, which swooped in last October with a USD973 million bid following delays to Sinopec's original agreement.

The transaction is subject to Sinopec investing 6 billion rand (USD504 million) over five years to develop a refinery in South Africa's Western Cape, over and above Chevron's current investment plans, the Tribunal said in a statement.

The Tribunal also said there should be no retrenchments as a result of the proposed transaction.

As part of the deal, Sinopec will buy a 75 percent share in Chevron's South African subsidiary that runs the 100 Mbpd refinery, a lubricants plant in Durban and 820 petrol stations and other oil storage facilities.

The deal also includes 220 convenience stores across South Africa and Botswana.

As MRC reported earlier, in July 2016, a USD36.8bn expansion of the Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan, the largest investment by private sector oil companies this decade, was given the go-ahead by Chevron of the US, bucking the trend of delays and cancellations resulting from the slump in crude prices since mid-2014.

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation. One of the successor companies of Standard Oil, it is headquartered in San Ramon, California, and active in more than 180 countries. Chevron is engaged in every aspect of the oil, natural gas, and geothermal energy industries, including hydrocarbon exploration and production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation.
MRC

Petrofac awarded India EPC contract Monday, Mar 12, 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petrofac has been awarded a lump-sum Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) valued at approximately USD 135 million, as per Yourpetrochemicalnews.

Located at BPCL's Kochi Refinery, Kerala, India, the scope of work encompasses engineering, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning and assistance with commissioning. The 27-month contract is for the addition of a new Motor Sprit (MS) block of refining units, which will increase the current output of the facility to meet India's BS-VI automotive fuel quality.

Sunder Kalyanam, Group Managing Director for Petrofac's Engineering & Construction Growth business said: "Having previously executed EPC projects in India between 1997 and 2004, we are delighted to have secured this contract to deliver a new complex of units at the BPCL Kochi Refinery. This award demonstrates our organic growth ambitions in action, and attests to our strategy of a continued increase in our capabilities in India, a country which holds a special place in our service offering.

"Petrofac has thriving operational centres in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi that provide engineering services through a multidisciplinary capability, supporting our projects globally. In addition to our core activities, we offer a comprehensive graduate training programme and are committed to social investment. We look forward to continuing to build a sustainable and long-term presence in-country through the safe and timely delivery of this project for BPCL."
MRC

Trinseo increases March prices of PS and copolymers in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe has announced price increases for all polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and acrylonitrile styrene copolymer (SAN) grades, as per the company's press release.

Effective March 5, 2018, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products listed below will increase as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) - by EUR70 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by EUR70 per metric ton;
- MAGNUM ABS resins - by EUR50 per metric ton;
- TYRIL SAN resins - by EUR50 Euro per metric ton.

As MRC informed before, Trinseo last raised its prices for all PS, ABS and SAN grades on 1 February 2018, as stated below:

- STYRON GPPS grades - by EUR135 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech HIPS grades - by EUR135 per metric ton;
- MAGNUM ABS resins - by EUR100 per metric ton;
- TYRIL SAN resins - by EUR120 per metric ton.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD4.4 billion in net sales in 2017, with 16 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,200 employees.
MRC

Gazprom Export LLC signed contracts to supply helium from the Amur GPP

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gazprom Export LLC in the beginning of 2018 completed the bidding procedure to sell helium from the Amur gas processing plant (Amur GPP). This resulted in the signing of the long term sales and purchase agreements (SPA) and the allocation of the vast part of the Amur GPP Helium quantities among the largest global industrial gas companies, as per Yourpetrochemicalnews.

The procedure was held in 2016–2017 with the support of Gazprom Marketing and Trading Ltd. ‘In addition to natural gas rich fields of Eastern Siberia allow to produce such a valuable product as helium, which is needed by many industries. We are glad that growing demand for the products from Amur GPP – the world’s largest helium production facility – resulted in conclusion of long-term contracts’, Director General of Gazprom Export Elena Burmistrova noted.

The logistic infrastructure for the transportation and treatment of helium containers on the Russian territory, including Helium Hub in Primorsky Kray, will be built up and operated by Gazprom Gazenergoset Helium LLC. Once prepared for exports, the helium containers will be delivered from the Russian Far East ports to the global markets.

MRC

Celanese raises March VAM prices in Asia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, has increased list and off-list selling prices for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) sold in Asia, said the producer in its press release.

The price increases below was effective as of 9 March 2018, or as contracts otherwise allow, and were incremental to any previously announced increases.

Thus, VAM prices were raised, as follows:

- by Rb200/mt - for China;
- by USD50/mt - for Asia outside China.

As MRC wrote previously, Celanese Corporation last increased its list and off-list selling VAM prices in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas on 1 February, 2018. The price increase was, as stated below:

- by EUR50/mt - for Europe and the Middle East;
- by USD0.05/lb - for USA and Canada;
- by USD100/mt - for Mexico and South America.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,600 employees worldwide and had 2017 net sales of USD6.1 billion.
MRC