M&G USA Corp. secured a Delaware bankruptcy court

MOSCOW (MRC) -- M&G USA Corp. secured a Delaware bankruptcy court go-ahead Wednesday for the more than USD1.1 billion sale of its unfinished Texas chemical plant, after Mexico's export-import bank lost a bid for a hold on part of the proceeds pending resolution of fraud claims, as per Hbmedia.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan L. Shannon also approved a USD57.6 million new debtor-in-possession loan for the business, days ahead of the expiration of its original bankruptcy financing agreement.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced that it has signed two new agreements, with Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. of Japan and SCG Chemicals of Thailand, for a combined amount of up to 1.5 million tons of Naphtha per year, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

These deals follow the recent announcement from ADNOC that it had signed a similar three-year agreement with Malaysia’s Lotte Chemical Titan (LCT), one of the largest polyolefin producers in South East Asia, for the sale of up to 1 million tons per year of naphtha.

Abdulla Salem Al Dhaheri, Director, Marketing, Sales and Trading at ADNOC, said: "As part of ADNOC’s 2030 growth strategy, we are prioritizing the fast-growing markets of Asia, where the demand for refined and petrochemical products is accelerating. These latest long-term deals, yet again, demonstrate how ADNOC is committed to ensuring reliable and secure access to important refined and petrochemical products, as part of mutually beneficial partnerships that create sustainable value."

Both sales agreements were concluded during visits by ADNOC’s Marketing, Sales and Trading Directorate to customers in Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

ADNOC produces more than 12.5 million tons per annum of naphtha, which can be used as a feedstock to produce a variety of petrochemical based products, including plastics. The naphtha is converted to olefins and then further converted to polyolefin resins. The products produced end up in applications including light-weight automotive components, essential utility piping and cable insulation, durable goods, a range of every-day plastics, detergent, CDs, milk bottles and food packaging.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) is likely to keep its No.1 high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit off-line owing to technical issues, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the company has postponed the restart of the unit to the first week of April 2018. The unit was taken off-line for maintenance on March 19, 2018 and was supposed to resume operations in one week.

LLocated at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the No.1 HDPE plant has a production capacity of 275,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, PTT was on track to start commercial operations at its new 400,000 mt/year metallocene C6 linear low density polyethylene (MLLDPE) plant at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, in the first quarter of 2018. PTT had started up the plant by the end of last year.

PTT currently has a total capacity of 800,000 mt/year of HDPE, 300,000 mt/year of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and 400,000 mt/year of LLDPE at the same site.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay is taking a new step in its transformation, putting its customers at the core of its organization to enhance its long-term growth as an advanced materials and specialty chemicals company, as per company's press release.

Solvay announces plans to simplify its organization that needs to be adapted to its portfolio which is now strongly focused on high-performance materials and tailored solutions, as well as to its changing customer base.

“This new step in Solvay’s transformation centers on better serving our customers. Over the past six years we built a business portfolio to generate superior and sustainable growth. Now we need to follow through and drastically simplify our organization and processes as well as align all our resources. This will allow Solvay to provide differentiated experiences for customers and maximize value for the Group,” said Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, CEO of Solvay.

Solvay is an advanced materials and chemical company, committed to developing chemistry that addresses key societal challenges. Solvay innovates and partners with customers in diverse global end markets. Its products are used in planes, cars, batteries, smart and medical devices, as well as in mineral and oil and gas extraction, enhancing efficiency and sustainability. Its lightweighting materials promote cleaner mobility, its formulations optimize the use of resources and its performance chemicals improve air and water quality. Solvay is headquartered in Brussels with around 24,500 employees in 61 countries. Net sales were EUR 10.1 billion in 2017,
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA has signed a 1.95 billion real (USD587.2 million) contract to build a natural gas processing unit in Rio de Janeiro state, according to a securities filing on Thursday, reported Reuters.

Petrobras, as the company is known, will begin construction in the second half of 2018, with operations scheduled to begin in the second half of 2020. The unit, located in the city of Itaborai, will hold a capacity of up to 21 million square meters per day, the statement said.

As MRC informed earlier, Petrobras’s minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica were excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette in the second half of October 2017. The decree prevents Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced last year. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
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