LyondellBasell receives Chinese antitrust clearance for acquisition of A. Schulman

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mammoet has completed the demolition and replacement of five heater furnaces in the center of a congested, 86-year old plant located in Texas Citym as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The dimensional constraints in the refinery made crane construction a challenge as there was no available space to lay down the boom and jib. Mammoet’s ability to construct two CC8800 cranes mid-air and safely maneuver them in such a tight space meant larger sections of the furnaces could be salvaged and installed. This approach helped cut the project’s duration by more than one month and get the refinery back online sooner.

The east CC8800 jib was installed while suspended in the air by two cranes while the west CC8800 jib and the main boom were assembled mid-air above inactive pipe racks. Once completed, the two CC8800 cranes were able to realize more than 50 critical lifts over several months.

The new furnaces will feed into a single stack and increase the efficiency and production capacity of the refinery. Mammoet’s experienced teams have carried out major petrochemical projects around the world with lifting equipment capable of addressing a broad range of requirements.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – Emerson announced it has agreed on terms to acquire Aventics from Triton for a cash purchase price of EUR527 million, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Aventics is among the global leaders in smart pneumatics technologies that power machine and factory automation applications. Emerson is a leader in fluid automation technologies for process and industrial applications, and Aventics significantly expands the Company’s reach in this growing USD13 billion market.

Aventics builds upon and strengthens Emerson’s capabilities and solutions in key discrete and hybrid automation markets, including food and beverage, packaging, automotive assembly and medical equipment. Emerson’s expanded offering creates one of the broadest portfolios of fluid control and pneumatic devices that incorporate sensing and monitoring capabilities to improve system uptime and performance, enhance safety and optimize energy usage. These technologies complement Emerson’s extensive innovation and leadership in improving operations through digitalization, pervasive sensing and asset health monitoring.

"We will now offer the industry's widest range of fluid automation products and solutions with unmatched delivery, reliability and performance, and now with the addition of Aventics’ expertise, Emerson is positioned to be the most capable global company when it comes to fluid automation technologies," said Emerson Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David N. Farr.

"This acquisition adds another strong, complementary technology portfolio into the Emerson family, creating value for our customers and more opportunities for growth," Farr added.

With central offices in Laatzen, Germany, Aventics has approximately 2,100 employees globally with five manufacturing locations and 2017 sales of USD425 million.

"Aventics brings technologies, capabilities and expertise that are critical to digitalization of manufacturing, including predictive maintenance through integrated diagnostics, an important priority for our Automation Solutions business," said Mike Train, Executive President, Emerson Automation Solutions.

"With Aventics, we will gain a valuable footprint in Germany, a key market for automation technology and investment,” Train added. “Aventics also brings opportunities for Emerson to better serve customers in hybrid markets like food & beverage, providing intelligent devices and solutions from processing through packaging."

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 subject to regulatory approvals, Aventics’ finalization of necessary consultations and other customary closing conditions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - On a sprawling construction site in Western Siberia, about 20,000 workers are busy building what will be one of the world's five biggest petrochemical plants, part of a play by Russia to capture more of the value from the oil it produces, as per Reuters.

Russian energy companies, led by privately owned Sibur, have been increasingly shifting their focus to petrochemicals in a drive to capitalize on the fast-growing sector and offset the volatile market for crude oil exports.

According to the EY consultancy, Russia accounts for about 1 percent of global petrochemical output, trailing not only the United States and Europe but also Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil, Iran and China.

That is set to change, with the Sibur plant due to come on stream, while gas giant Gazprom plans to invest USD5 billion in a petrochemical plant on the Baltic Sea, and oil major Rosneft has said it will ramp up its petrochemical capacity in Russia's far eastern region.

The Sibur plant is taking shape near Tobolsk, the birthplace of Dmitry Mendeleev, the inventor of the periodic table and one of the founders of modern chemistry.

It is also close to many of the fields that produce crude oil, the raw material for much petrochemical production. Most of Russia's oil is exported as crude, a trade that has delivered diminishing returns as world oil prices have weakened over the past four years.

Sibur is banking on growing domestic consumption of petrochemical products, which are used in construction, medicine, aviation, car making, clothes, bottling, packaging and many other sectors.

"We see quite a huge potential for growth of the Russian market," Dmitry Konov, head of Sibur, said at the construction site of the plant on the outskirts of Tobolsk.

Once in operation, the complex, known as ZapSibNefteKhim, will have an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of ethylene and 500,000 tonnes of propylene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- At the International Energy Forum in Delhi in April, the world's top oil producer Saudi Aramco inked a preliminary deal to partner with a consortium of Indian players to build a USD44 billion refinery and petrochemical project on India's west coast, reported Reuters.

The huge project was touted as a gamechanger for both parties - offering India steady fuel supplies and meeting Saudi Arabia's need to secure regular buyers for its oil. Despite the obvious benefits, though, the prospects for the plan - in the works since 2015 - are growing dimmer by the day.

In April 2018, executives of Aramco and India's Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals - a joint venture of Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp - signed a memorandum of understanding to take equal stakes in the project in Maharashtra state.

Thousands of farmers oppose the refinery and are refusing to surrender land, fearing it could damage a region famed for its Alphonso mangoes, vast cashew plantations and fishing hamlets that boast bountiful catches of seafood.

"We earn enough to fulfill our needs and we do not want to surrender our lands for a refinery at any cost," says Sandesh Desai, standing amid his fruit-laden mango orchard in Nanar, a village in Ratnagiri district, some 400 km (250 miles) south of Mumbai.

Land acquisition has always been a contentious issue in rural India, where a majority of the population depends on farming for their livelihood. In 2008, for example, India's Tata Motors had to shelve plans for a car factory in an eastern state after facing widespread protests from farmers.

And while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tried to ease land acquisition rules to jumpstart delayed projects worth tens of billions of dollars, the government has faced resistance to amending populist laws enacted by his predecessors.

Like Desai, a majority of the farmers from 14 villages around Ratnagiri that need to be relocated for the refinery project firmly oppose the plan, a state government official told Reuters.

Opposition politicians and even a local ally of Modi's Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) support the farmer movement, complicating matters further for the government ahead of state and general elections in 2019.

The state government, which is responsible for acquiring the land for the project, has so far failed to secure even one acre of the roughly 15,000 acres needed for the refinery, Maharashtra Industries Minister Subhash Desai told Reuters.

"The state is not going to acquire land as a majority of the farmers are against the plan," said Desai, the minister, who is a member of the Shiv Sena, a regional party allied with the BJP in the Maharashtra state government. Under land acquisition rules at least 70 percent of the land owners need to provide consent for a project, he said.

Still, some believe that the opponents are only objecting to get better compensation packages for their land.

"Eventually all stakeholders will give their consent, but it will take time," said Ajay Singh Sengar, who heads a rival forum that supports the refinery project. A local government official in the area said he thought many farmers would agree to a deal once a compensation package was announced.

The Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPL), which is running the project, says the 1.2-million-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery, and an integrated petrochemical site with a capacity of 18 million tonnes per year, will help create direct and indirect employment for up to 150,000 people, with jobs that pay better than agriculture or fishing.

RRPL, a joint venture between Indian Oil Corp (IOC) , Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, said suggestions the refinery would hurt the environment were baseless. It says it will continue to cultivate mangoes and cashews on some 4,500 acres of land around the project.

Despite the opposition, RRPL is hopeful the project will proceed.
MRC