Kemira invests in emulsion polymer manufacturing in Alabama USA

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kemira has announced a two-year investment of around EUR 60 million to significantly increase production of high molecular weight emulsion polymers at its manufacturing site in Mobile, Alabama, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

These polymers are primarily used in the oil and gas industry, where Kemira is a leading supplier. Additionally, this expansion allows Kemira to modernize into bio-based acrylamide capabilities at the Mobile site.

"For Kemira this investment is an important step towards the growth objectives outlined in our strategy. It also secures our position as a leading global polymer producer and demonstrates our continued commitment to the oil and gas industry." said Pedro Materan, SVP, Oil & Gas.

Construction at Mobile is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2019 with full commercial operation in early 2021. The project will also create 20 new full-time positions at the site which currently employs about 60 people.

As MRC informed before, in December 2018, Kemira received final authority permits and closed the deal announced on September 29, 2017. Kemira formed a joint venture with an AKD producer in China. Kemira forms a joint venture - Kemira TC Wanfeng Chemicals Yanzhou - with Shandong Tiancheng Wanfeng Chemical Technology.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In June, the High Seas tanker ship loaded up on ethanol in Texas and set off for Asia, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Two months later - after a circuitous journey that included a ship-to-ship transfer and a stop in Malaysia - its cargo arrived in China, according to shipping data analyzed by Reuters and interviews with Malaysian and Chinese port officials.

At the time, the roundabout route puzzled global ethanol traders and ship brokers, who called it a convoluted and costly way to get U.S. fuel to China. But the journey reflects a broader shift in global ethanol flows since U.S. President Donald Trump ignited a trade war with China last spring.

Although China slapped retaliatory tariffs up to 70 percent on U.S. ethanol shipments, the fuel can still legally enter China tariff-free if it arrives blended with at least 40 percent Asian-produced fuel, according to trade rules established between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the regional economic and political body.

In a striking example of how global commodity markets respond to government policies blocking free trade, some 88,000 tonnes of U.S. ethanol landed on Malaysian shores through November of last year - all since June, shortly after China hiked its tax on U.S. shipments. The surge follows years of negligible imports of U.S. ethanol to Malaysia.

In turn, Malaysia has exported 69,000 tonnes of ethanol to China, the first time the nation has been an exporter of the fuel in at least three years, according to Chinese import data. Blending U.S. and Asian ethanol for the Chinese market undermines the intent of Beijing’s tariffs and helps struggling American ethanol producers by keeping a path open to a major export market that would otherwise be closed.

“Global commodity markets are incredibly creative in finding ways to ensure willing sellers are able to meet the demands of willing buyers,” Geoff Cooper, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, said in a statement to Reuters. The group represents U.S. ethanol producers.

In at least two cases examined by Reuters, including that of the High Seas, blending of U.S. ethanol cargoes with other products appeared to have occurred in Malaysia before the cargoes were shipped on to China, according to a Reuters analysis of shipping records and interviews with port officials.

Chinese merchants including the state-backed oil company Unipec notified Chinese authorities about the unusual activity last summer - which represented competition they had not anticipated under the tariff scheme, according to two industry sources.

Unipec’s parent company Sinopec did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for China’s General Administration of Customs declined to comment. Norazman Ayob, deputy secretary general of the Malaysian trade ministry, confirmed that Malaysia exported ethanol to China this year. The ministry was unable to confirm whether it had been mixed with U.S. fuel, he said, but noted such blending would be legal under the ASEAN-China pact.

Malaysia has no track record of significant domestic ethanol production, so it is unclear where the ethanol blended with the U.S. product originates.

Additional U.S. ethanol has flowed in unusual volumes to other destinations since Trump’s trade war began, including other ASEAN member nations the Philippines and Indonesia, according to shipping and trade data, though Reuters could not confirm its final destination.
MRC

MOSOCW (MRC) -- Negotiations on prices of European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for February shipments to the CIS markets have begun this week. Most European producers increased their export prices despite the rollover of ethylene prices in the region, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

February contract price of ethylene was agreed at the level of January , which did not lead to an increase in the net cost of PVC production. However, most European suppliers have increased the price of suspension PVC (SPVC) for February shipments to CIS markets under pressure from price increases in key export markets.

The price increase of EUR10/tonne from January has been discussed.

Demand for PVC remained quite weak from the main consumers in the CIS countries this month because of seasonal factors, although some companies slightly increased the volume of purchases.

February volume of PVC deliveries were not limited, as in January. Only one producer has temporary reduced shipments of K70 PVC.

Deals for February shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the CIS markets were done in the range of EUR695-750/tonne FCA, whereas last month's deals were done in the range of EUR685-750/tonne FCA.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem and Haldor Topsoe announced, that they have reached mechanical completion of the MOSAIK process step of their demonstration plant that will produce bio-based MEG from sugars, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The demonstration plant, located in Lyngby, Denmark, is an important step to upscale the MOSAIK solution and begin production at an industrial scale, which is planned to commence in 2023. The plant demonstrates all key design features of the technology and can produce more than 100 tons per year of glycolaldehyde, which is converted into MEG in the next process step.

Construction and pre-commissioning of the MOSAIK process step have been completed as planned and on schedule. The next activities in this part of the demonstration plant will be start-up and operation with the aim to achieve key technical targets and confirm economic feasibility of the process. Operation will begin March 1.

In parallel with operating the first process step, the partners will complete the construction of the next process step, the downstream conversion to MEG. Mechanical completion is expected before the end of 2019.

"Haldor Topsoe is a world leader within catalytic solutions, and we are determined to maintain that position also in the renewables arena. So we are extremely pleased to be able to begin the next phase of the validation of the MOSAIK solution for bio-based MEG together with Braskem. Our goal is to show that innovative catalytic technologies can make chemicals from biomass a commercially attractive option," says Kim Knudsen, Executive Vice President at Haldor Topsoe.

As a leading producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas, Braskem wants to expand its portfolio of renewable products to offer new solutions that complement its bio-based polyethylene marketed with the I’m green seal.

"The process for developing renewable MEG in partnership with Haldor Topsoe represents a major advance in competitiveness for Green PET. The partnership strengthens the leading role we play and adds value to our I’m green portfolio, which already features Green Polyethylene and Green EVA, both made from sugarcane. It also will further corroborate our vision of using biopolymers as a way to capture carbon, which helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said Gustavo Sergi, Director of Renewable Chemicals at Braskem.

Topsoe delivers a packaged solution for this project with Braskem, including process design, engineering, catalyst, and technology.

As MRC wrote before, in late October 2017, Petrobras’s (Rio de Janeiro) minority stakes in Braskem and Deten Quimica was excluded from Petrobras’s divestment program, according to a government decree published in Brazil’s Official Gazette a week earlier. The decree prevents Petrobras from immediately selling its minority stake in Braskem, which had been announced in 2017. A new decree will be required to release the stock sale.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total reported that its net income group share for the fourth-quarter rose to USD1.13 billion or $0.40 per share from last year's USD1.02 billion or USD0.37 per share, reflecting increased production volumes, as per the company's press-release.

Chairman and chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyann said, "These excellent results reflect the strong growth of more than 8% for the Group's hydrocarbon production, which reached a record level of 2.8 Mboe/d in 2018 and led to a 71% increase in Exploration & Production's adjusted net operating income. .."

Adjusted earnings per share increased by 6% to USD1.17 from in the prior year. Sales for the quarter rose to USD52.50 billion from USD47.35 billion last year.

The Group noted that it will eliminate the scrip dividend option from June 2019. Within the framework of its program to buy back USD5 billion of shares over the 2018-20 period, the Group expects to buy back USD1.5 billion of its shares in 2019 in a 60 USD/b Brent environment.

The Board of Directors met on February 6, 2019, and decided to propose to the Shareholders' Meeting, which will be held on May 29, 2019, the distribution of an annual dividend of 2.56 a‚¬/share for fiscal year 2018, an increase of 3.2% compared to 2017, in accordance with the 2018-20 shareholder return policy announced in February 2018. Given the three 2018 interim dividends of 0.64 per/share decided by the Board of Directors, the final 2018 dividend will amount to 0.64 per/share.

The Board of Directors decided to propose to this Meeting that the final 2018 dividend of 0.64 per/share be paid exclusively in cash. The Board of Directors also decided not to propose to this Meeting the renewal of the scrip dividend option for the 2019 interim dividends that the Board of Directors may decide, which will therefore be paid exclusively in cash.

Separately, Total said that it has made a significant gas condensate discovery on the Brulpadda prospects, located on Block 11B/12B in the Outeniqua Basin, 175 kilometers off the southern coast of South Africa.

The Brulpadda well encountered 57 meters of net gas condensate pay in Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. Following the success of the main objective, the well was deepened to a final depth of 3,633 meters and has also been successful in the Brulpadda-deep prospect.

MRC