Former CEO of Braskem pleads guilty in U.S. bribery case

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A former chief executive of Braskem SA, Brazil’s largest petrochemicals company, pleaded guilty to involvement in what U.S. prosecutors called a 13-year bribery scheme that involved Braskem’s parent, Odebrecht SA, said Reuters.

Jose Carlos Grubisich admitted in Brooklyn, New York, federal court to conspiring to violate anti-bribery provisions of the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and falsify Braskem’s records and financial reports to conceal bribes.

Prosecutors said that between 2002 and 2014, Grubisich and others helped divert USD250 million from Braskem into a secret slush fund, which was held in an Odebrecht business unit that "effectively functioned as a stand-alone bribe department."

Funds were then allegedly used to pay bribes to Brazilian government officials to win and retain business for Braskem, including a large project from Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras. Prosecutors said some bribes that Grubisich authorized were paid after he left his chief executive position in 2008.

Grubisich, 64, faces up to 10 years in prison on the two conspiracy counts at his scheduled Aug. 5 sentencing, and agreed to forfeit USD2.2 million. He entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie. Lawyers for Grubisich did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In December 2016, Braskem and Odebrecht, a construction company, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay USD3.5 billion to settle bribery-related charges brought by U.S., Brazilian and Swiss regulators. Odebrecht changed its name in December to Novonor SA to move past its scandal-ridden history, saying it would be “strictly guided by ethics, integrity and transparency."

As per MRC, Braskem, the largest Brazilian petrochemical company, in early March began the process of restarting production at three polypropylene (PP) plants in La Porte, Freeport, Seadrift, TX, USA, which closed on February 15 from - due to extremely cold weather. It is currently unknown how long it will take to restart these enterprises. The production capacity of PP La Porte is 840,000 tonnes per year, in Freeport - 320,000 tonnes per year, and in Sidrift - 225,000 tonnes per year.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, on Tuesday, 13 April, 2,000 tonnes of Turkmenbashi refinery"s PP raffia grade were put up for export sale at the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan. The starting price was set at USD1,775/tonne FOB/FCA in accordance with the results of the March trades. Demand for PP was very weak in the trades, and only one deal was registered for 500 tonnes at the starting price.
MRC

1. India aims to diversify crude oil supplies, which maybe hard to achieve due to harsh realities of the global market

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s obvious displeasure with restrictions on output imposed by OPEC and its allies, and its aim to diversify crude oil suppliers, may run into the harsh realities of the global market, reported Reuters. The world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer has told state-owned refiners to speed up the diversification of crude imports in order to cut dependence on its main source of supply, the Middle East, reported Reuters in March, citing two sources with knowledge of the plan. India’s supply is dominated by members of the group known as OPEC+, which includes the long-standing producer group and allies such as Russia. The OPEC+ decision to continue its output cuts of around 7 million barrels per day (bpd) into April was met with anger in India, which imports 84% of its crude needs, with more than 60% coming from the Middle East.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Plastics Company (FPC), part of Formosa Petrochemical, is in plans to resume operations at its No. 1 cracker in Mailiao, Taiwan on 19 April 2021, reported S&P Global.

This cracker was unexpectedly taken off-stream on 12 April 2021 due to an unspecified technical issue.

The No. 1 cracker has an annual capacity of 700,000 tons of ethylene and 350,000 tons of propylene.

As MRC wrote before, FPC shut down its No.2 cracker in Taiwan on 1 June, 2020. No reason for unplanned closure was given then. The cracker was dle during one week. Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the No.2 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 1.03 million mt/year, propylene production capacity of 515,000 mt/year and butadiene production capacity of 162,000 mt/year.

Besides, FPCC undertook a planned shutdown at its No.3 cracker in Mailiao on August 11, 2020. The cracker remained off-line till end-September, 2020. Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the No. 3 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 1.2 million mt/year and propylene production capacity of 600,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated polyethylene (PE) consumption totalled 356,370 tonnes in the first two month of 2021, down by 9% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market was 246,870 tonnes in January-February 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) has abruptly shut down three crackers at its petrochemical complex in Map Ta Phut on 14 April 2021 after a thunderstorm caused a power outage, reported CommoPlast with reference to a source close to the company.

The source said No. 1 and 4 crackers and the recently launched No. 5 cracker on the site are now offline and it might take a week to restart these units.

The production capacities of No. 1 and 4 crackers are 461,000 and 515,000 mt/year of ethylene, whereas the new cracker can produce 500,000 mt/year of ethylene and 260,000 mt/year of propylene.

It is likely that downstream PE and PP productions would also be affected by the incident, however, the company has yet to release any details.

As MRC reported earlier, PTTGC started trial runs at the new cracker in Thailand on February 9-10, 2021, it received commercial ethylene at this facility on March 5, 2021.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 356,370 tonnes in the first two month of 2021, down by 9% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market was 246,870 tonnes in January-February 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The shareholders of SIBUR, the largest petrochemical holding in Russia and Eastern Europe, at the annual general meeting of April 13, approved the payment of the final dividends for 2020 in the amount of Rb28.69 billion, the company said.

Thus, dividends will be paid at the rate of Rb13.17 per share.

At the same time, taking into account the previously paid dividends for the first half of 2020 in the amount of Rb12.482 billion. the total amount of dividends for the last year will be about Rb41.17 billion, at the rate of Rb18.9 per one ordinary share.

"Thus, 35% of the adjusted IFRS net profit for the first half of 2020 is directed to dividends and, in line with the newly adopted dividend policy, 50% of the adjusted IFRS net income - for the second half of 2020," SIBUR emphasizes.

The date on which the list of shareholders entitled to receive dividends is drawn up is April 19.

As MRC reported earlier, in March, 2021, SIBUR made changes to its dividend policy. The company raised the minimum dividend payout to 50% from 35% of the adjusted net income in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The new policy will begin to apply from reporting periods beginning July 1, 2020.

We remind that SIBUR Holding's revenue decreased by 1.6% last year and to Rb523 billion. At the same time, SIBUR increased EBITDA to Rb179 billion, up by 5.4% year on year.

We also remind that in December 2020, SIBUR Holding chose Spheripol LyondellBasell polyolefin technology for its Amur Gas Chemical Complex (AGHK), which is under construction. The technological process will be used at a polypropylene (PP) plant with a capacity of 400,000 mt/year, which will be built in the town of Svobodny, Amur Region.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, Russia's overall PP production increased by 31% year on year in 2020, totalling about 1,883,000 tonnes. The main increase in production was provided by ZapSibNeftekhim.

SIBUR is the largest vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemical company in Russia, uniting a number of production sites in various regions of the Russian Federation. The company sells products to consumers in the fuel and energy complex, automotive, construction, consumer goods, chemical and other industries in more than 80 countries around the world.
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