Trinseo announces quarterly dividend

MOSCOW (MRC) --Trinseo, a global materials solutions provider and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, has announced that its Board of Directors authorized a quarterly dividend of USD0.40 per share, as per the company's press release.

The dividend will be a cash distribution payable on April 23, 2020, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 9, 2020.

Trinseo is a public limited liability company formed under the laws of Luxembourg. Under current Luxembourg tax law, distributions to shareholders via repayments of equity or share premium are not subject to Luxembourg withholding tax. Distributions made by Trinseo on or prior to January 23, 2020 were repayments of equity or share premium and were therefore not subject to Luxembourg withholding tax.

The distribution to the company's shareholders declared on February 26, 2020, and future distributions, will be considered a dividend made on the common shares and is subject to a 15% withholding tax under Luxembourg law. Trinseo will deduct this tax from the dividends paid to our shareholders and transfer this tax to the Luxembourg tax authorities.

As MRC reported earlier, Trinseo and its affiliate companies in Europe have announced a price reduction for all polystyrene (PS) grades in Europe. Effective March 1, 2020, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products listed below went down as follows:

-- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) -- by EUR65 per metric ton;
-- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech and STYRON X- Tech high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by EUR65 per metric ton.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, prices of Russian PS will remain unchanged until the end of the first quarter. Nizhnekamskneftekhim rolled over February prices of its material for shipments in March. Penoplex and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat also maintained their GPPS prices the same.

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 USD4.6 billion in net sales in 2018, with 16 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,500 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, the world’s largest licensor of polyolefin technologies, has announced that Hyosung Vina Chemicals Co., Ltd. will use the LyondellBasell Spheripol technology for a new facility, reported EinNewsDesk.

The process technology will be used for a 300 KTA polypropylene (PP) plant to be built in Cai Mep Industrial Zone, Vung Tau Province, Vietnam.

"This additional award for our Spheripol technology from Hyosung makes us particularly proud, as it once again demonstrates how confident operators are with our licensing offer," said Jim Seward, Senior Vice President, R&D, Technology and Sustainability at LyondellBasell. Seward added, "The unmatched licensing track record of our polyolefin technology portfolio makes the Spheripol process the technology of choice in the polyolefin industry."

Mr. Kyong Yong Cha, Vice President at Hyosung Corp., stated: "We are very satisfied with the outstanding project execution and support for the first Spheripol technology project at Hyosung Vina Chemical and we trust the wide range of products offered by LyondellBasell’s Spheripol technology will be a good choice for our additional polypropylene plant."

Spheripol technology is the leading polypropylene process technology with more than 27 million tons of licensed capacity. The latest fifth generation Spheripol technology includes process improvements that further maximize operational efficiency. The plant will commence operations using Avant ZN catalyst.

New licensees can take advantage of LyondellBasell’s in-house expertise of continuous production improvement, sustainable product development and catalyst knowhow, by optionally joining our Technical Service program.

As MRC informed before, LyondellBasell announced that Ceyhan Polipropilen Uretim A.S, a joint venture between Turkey’s Ronesans Holding and Algeria’s Sonatrach S.p.A., has selected the company’s Spheripol technology for a new polypropylene (PP) unit to be constructed in Ceyhan, Turkey. The unit will have a production capacity of 450,000 tons/year of PP.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Import deliveries of injection moulded PET chips to the Belarusian market increased by 12% in 2019 and reached 22,350 tonnes compared to 19,980 tonnes in January-December last year, said MRC DataScope.

December imports of material into Belarus increased by 50% and amounted to 1,880 tonnes compared to 1,260 tonnes in November last year, in December 2018 supply amounted to 1,730 tonnes. The main supplier of material is Russia with a share in the total volume of imports of 94% (21,060 tonnes).

December imports of Russian injection moulding PET chips increased by 66% and amounted to 1,660 tonnes compared to 1,000 tonnes in November last year, in December 2018 supply amounted to 1,700 tonnes. The share of imports from Russia to the Republic of Belarus also decreased in December and amounted to 88% against 98% in the same month last year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Versalis (Milan), the chemicals subsidiary of Italy’s Eni (Rome), is embarking on a wide-reaching transformation that could see its sales of intermediates and plastics drop from around 5 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) currently to 4 MMt/y by 2035 and to about 3 MMt/y by 2050, reported Chemweek.

At the same time, the company expects the share of specialty plastics will rise from the current 25% to around 65% of the total in 2035 and to 85% in 2050. This implies that intermediates and commodity plastics sales could drop by around 63% from around 3.75 MMt/y currently to around 1.4 MMt/y in 2035 and then more than halve to 0.6 MMt/y in 2050, while specialty plastics volumes could double from around 1.25 MMt/y currently to 2.6 MMt/y in 2035, before stabilizing around that level. The company also expects to produce about 1 MMt/y of chemicals from renewable biological or recycled raw materials by 2035, spread about 50/50 between bio and recycled material.

The pledge involves the gradual conversion of existing sites to produce more specialties and utilizing more bio and plastic recycling technologies. The company will focus on the production of high-performance polymers and aims to develop production of chemicals from renewables and chemical and mechanical recycling, including the pyrolysis of nonrecyclable plastics to make feedstocks for polymers with characteristics identical to those produced from conventional hydrocarbons. More specifically, Versalis says it aims to "rebalance" its ethylene-polyethylene chain and integrate it with mechanical and chemical recycling. It will also expand further downstream into compounding to reduce the volatility of its plastics margins.

These targets are part of a much wider long-term strategic plan for Eni, a diversified oil and energy group, in response to concerns about climate change and the drive to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “We have fixed a target of an 80% reduction in net GHG emissions of our energy products by 2050, which exceeds the 70% indicated by the International Energy Agency in their sustainable development scenario, which aims to be compatible with the Paris Agreement,” says Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi. Significantly, this target includes direct and indirect GHG emissions from both Eni's own operations and from Eni products bought by third parties. The group expects to be carbon-neutral in its own operations by 2040.

As part of its strategic plan, Eni expects its upstream production of oil and gas to grow at an annual rate of 3.5% per year from the current 1.9 million b/d of oil equivalent (MBOED) until 2025, before plateauing at around 2.3 million MBOED and then going into a "flexible decline," particularly in oil. LNG volumes will continue to grow, reaching approximately 16 MMt/y by 2025. Eni expects natural gas to account for 60% of its upstream business by 2035 and 80% by 2050. The group also expects to realize 94% of the value of its current oil and gas reserves by 2035, minimizing the risk of "stranded assets."

The group aims for a gradual conversion of all its refining sites in Italy to utilize new technologies in the production of low-carbon products from the recycling of waste material. Eni aims to increase biorefining capacity to 5 MMt/y and be palm-oil-free from 2023, seven years ahead of the EU ban. It currently uses over 320,000 metric tons/year of the product. Castor oil will be emphasized as a new feedstock for refining. The group will also step up efforts in the fields of plastics and waste gasification, and will progressively add capacities at its Italian refining sites for the production of hydrogen, methanol, and biomethane.

Last year, Eni acquired a 20% stake in the refining business of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc). Adnoc refines in excess of 922,000 b/d of crude oil at Ruwais. The deal increased Eni’s global refining capacity by 35%. Eni says that, in the long term, the Ruwais refinery will be the only traditional refinery in operation within the Eni system.

As MRC informed earlier, Versalis shut its cracking unit in Priolo, Sicily, for repairs in the last days of December, 2019. The capacity of the cracking unit at this complex is 490,000 tonnes of ethylene and 130,000 tonnes of propylene per year. The maintenance works lasted until February 2020. Loading at this cracker was reduced in November and December 2019.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

Versalis is a petrochemical company, a 100% subsidiary of the Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA. The company produces a wide range of petrochemical products, and is also one of the world's leading elastomer companies.
Eni spa (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) is an Italian oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. Eni operates in 70 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Italian energy group Eni has made no decision or announcement about a potential closure of the Milazzo refinery in Sicily, reported Reuters with reference to an Eni spokeswoman's statement on Thursday.

A media report earlier on Thursday, citing Eni officials, said Milazzo would close as a result of air quality requirements that the plant was unable to meet in time. The report said closure was planned by Jan. 1, 2022.

"Milazzo Refinery itself, together with the other Sicilian refining operators, has formally appealed against the new environmental limits," Eni said.

In 2018, the Sicilian regional government approved an air quality plan which laid down, among other things, emission targets for refiners operating in the area.

Some operators called the targets technically unachievable and trade unions expressed concern over possible job losses.

"As of today, the discussion with the (regional) authorities is in progress about both future limits and implications," Eni said.

Milazzo refinery, which has an output of around 10 million tons per year, is operated through a joint-venture of Eni and Kuwait Petroleum Italy.

As MRC informed earlier, Versalis, the petrochemical division of Italy's Eni SpA, shut is cracker in Priolo, Sicily, for repairs in the last days of December, 2019. The capacity of the cracking unit at this complex is 490,000 tonnes of ethylene and 130,000 tonnes of propylene per year. The maintenance works lasted until February 2020.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
MRC