Novvi and Chevron enter agreement to develop and bring to market new renewable base oil technologies

MOSCOW (MRC) -- San Ramon, Calif. and Emeryville, Calif. – Chevron Products Company, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., and Novvi LLC announced that they have entered into an agreement to jointly develop and bring to market novel renewable base oil technologies. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Novvi’s base oil products and technology are recognized by the global lubricant market to deliver sustainable, high-performance solutions in a range of lubricant applications. Since launching its first commercial production in 2014, Novvi has been steadily increasing its base oil production to keep up with robust and growing demand for a variety of automotive, marine and industrial applications.

Chevron is a leading manufacturer of premium base oils and one of the world’s largest suppliers of finished lubricants. Chevron has one of the world’s largest base oil manufacturing platforms through its own refining network and its base oil technology licensing position. In 2016, Chevron announced an equity investment in Novvi.

“We are very pleased that Chevron and Novvi have expanded our relationship to include base oil development and commercialization. The combination of our organizations’ technical and operational capabilities will deliver the highest performing renewable base oils to market at scale, defining a new performance standard,” stated Jeff Brown, Novvi’s CEO. “The technology opportunities for our partnership are immense. We will work together with Chevron to ensure the industry is at the forefront of sustainability and delivers the best renewable base oils to customers around the world,” he continued.

“We at Chevron are quite excited to enter into this joint development agreement” said Dr. Brent Lok, Manager, Chevron Base Oils Marketing and Business Development. “Novvi and Chevron each bring complementary technologies to the table; Novvi with its industry-leading expertise in working with renewable feeds and Chevron’s long-standing expertise in hydroprocessing technology” he added.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polish biggest oil refiner PKN Orlen will buy the remaining 5.97 percent in Czech unit Unipetrol from minority shareholders for 380 crowns per share to complete its takeover and delist the unit from the Prague bourse, reported Reuters.

PKN, which owns 94.03 percent in Unipetrol, said late Tuesday it will ask the Czech central bank to approve the buyout. The oil refiner expects the transaction to be completed by this year-end.

PKN had increased its stake in Unipetrol earlier this year via a voluntary tender, offering 380 crowns per each share in the Czech downstream oil group, which valued the transaction at around 3.5 billion zlotys (USD960.35 million).

As MRC informed before, in late December 2017, PKN Orlen offered 380 crowns for each remaining share in its Czech downstream oil unit Unipetrol. The offer run until Jan. 30, 2017, and values Unipetrol at 68.9 B crowns (USD3.2 B). Unipetrol’s largest minority shareholder said a week earlier it would sell its 20% stake.

Unipetrol , a.s. is a group of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 Unipetrol became a part of the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is oriented mostly towards oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas the Unipetrol Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading firms in the Czech Republic in terms of its revenues, and employs almost 4,000 people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Singapore authorities have levied new charges against a group of fuel thieves operating at Royal Dutch Shell's oil refinery in the city-state, raising the value of the stolen fuel to over USD40 million from around USD10 million in earlier charges, according to court documents reviewed by Reuters.

Five former employees of Shell's Singapore subsidiary received 51 additional charges in court on Friday for suspected theft at the Pulau Bukom refinery, Shell's biggest, to bring the total allegations against them to 63 each, the documents showed.

The charges relate to incidents involving a total of 66,141 metric tonnes of gasoil valued at around USD32.1 million between late April 2017 through to early January this year.

An additional three former Shell employees received eight additional charges for incidents involving 16,394 metric tonnes of gasoil valued at around USD8.4 million, raising their total allegations to 15.

The values given in the court documents were a mix of Singapore dollars and U.S. dollars and Reuters converted them based on Tuesday's exchange rate.

Pulau Bukom is located on an island just south of the main island of Singapore.

Southeast Asia is a hot spot for illegal fuel trading but the regularity of the thefts, many of which occurred during working hours, has prompted the company to take measures to improve security.

"We continue to be disappointed by what we uncovered last year," a Shell spokeswoman said in an emailed response to Reuters.

"We are already taking short- and long-term actions to improve," the spokeswoman said. Those measures include closer monitoring of products moving in and out of Pulau Bukom, tightening vessel management procedures, and stepping up ethics and compliance training for employees.

The Shell spokeswoman also said it is working with government authorities and industry associations to address the wider issue of oil theft.

The Singapore police said investigations related to the Shell case were still ongoing.

Shell first contacted Singapore authorities about suspected theft at its refinery back in August. That prompted a raid earlier this year which led to several arrests and the seizure of a tanker and millions of dollars in cash.

Initial charges from the first months of the investigation related to around USD10 million worth of oil.

There have also been charges related to the thefts brought against former employees of one of Singapore's biggest marine fuel suppliers Sentek Marine & Trading Pte Ltd; a Singaporean who worked for Intertek, a British-listed company specializing in quality and quantity assurance, including for fuel products; and three Vietnamese nationals who allegedly received stolen property aboard ships.

As MRC wrote before, in 2015, Royal Dutch Shell completed a revamp and upgrade of its Singapore ethane cracker. The project increased production for the 800,000-tpy ethylene plant on Bukom Island by 20%. The ethylene and olefins unit is also integrated with Shell’s 500,000-bpd refinery.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polypropylene (PP) into Belarus increased to about 23,000 tonnes in first three months of this year, up 4.6% year on year, compared to the same period of 2017. The greatest decrease in imports occurred for homopolymer PP, according to MRC DataScope.

March OPP imports in the Republic of Belarus amounted to about 8,100 tonnes against 8,000 tonnes a month earlier, with homopolymer PP purchases increased, while demand for propylene copolymers declined. Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 23,000 tonnes in January-April 2018, compared to 22,000 tonnes a year earlier.

The structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

March imports of homopolymers of propylene to the Belarusian market rose to 5,500 tonnes against 5,300 tonnes a month earlier, local companies increased the volume of purchases of injection moulding PP in Russia. Thus, overall homopolymer PP imports reached 15,800 tonnes in January-March, up by 7.3% year on year. Russian producers with the share of about 86% of the total shipments were the key suppliers.

March imports of propylene copolymers to Belarus decreased to 2,500 tonnes from 2,700 tonnes a month earlier, local companies decreased their procurement of injection moulding statistical copolymers (PP random copolymers) in Russia. Thus, overall imports of propylene copolymers reached 7,200 tonnes in January-March 2018, whereas this figure was 7,300 tonnes a year earlier.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, has announced that it has received unconditional clearance from the Chinese State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) for its pending acquisition of A. Schulman, Inc., as per the company's press release.

SAMR's clearance for the transaction satisfies one of the conditions for the closing of the pending acquisition, which remains subject to other customary closing conditions, including approval by A. Schulman shareholders and the receipt of other required regulatory clearances and approvals.

As previously announced on February 15, 2018, LyondellBasell and A. Schulman, a leading global supplier of high-performance plastic compounds, composites and powders, entered into a definitive agreement under which LyondellBasell will acquire A. Schulman for a total consideration of USD2.25 billion. The acquisition builds upon LyondellBasell's existing platform to create a premier Advanced Polymer Solutions business with broad geographic reach, leading technologies and a diverse product portfolio.

The pending acquisition has already been cleared by antitrust regulators in the United States, Brazil, Serbia and Turkey. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2018.

LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies and a member of the S&P 500. LyondellBasell manufactures products at 55 sites in 17 countries. LyondellBasell is also a leading licensor of polypropylene and polyethylene technologies. The more than 250 polyolefin process licenses granted by LyondellBasell are twice that of any other polyolefin technology licensor.

A. Schulman, Inc. is a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Since 1928, the Company has been providing innovative solutions to meet its customers’ demanding requirements. The Company’s customers span a wide range of markets such as packaging, mobility, building & construction, electronics & electrical, agriculture, personal care & hygiene, sports, leisure & home, custom services and others. The Company employs approximately 4,800 people and has 54 manufacturing facilities globally. A. Schulman reported net sales of approximately USD2.5 billion for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2016.
MRC