Vinnolit renamed Westlake Vinnolit

Vinnolit renamed Westlake Vinnolit
PVC and caustic soda manufacturer Vinnolit, a Westlake company, will be renamed Westlake Vinnolit, said the company.

As part of its ongoing growth, the parent company Westlake is standardizing the brand identity of the entire Group.

With pro forma sales of USD14.5 billion in 2021, Westlake Corporation is a global, diversified industrial company that provides customers around the world with important and sustainable products that improve people’s lives every day. As part of its continued growth, the company restructured in early 2022 to unify the brand identity of the corporation and its subsidiaries. As part of the newly created “Performance & Essential Materials” business unit, Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG will operate in the future as “Westlake Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG”.

“We are part of a strong, international group that offers its customers a wide range of innovative and high-quality products,” says Westlake Vinnolit Managing Director Dr. Karl-Martin Schellerer. “The new name now makes this even more visible and tangible.” In the future, the new, uniform umbrella brand “Westlake” will be a name component of all business units and companies in the Westlake family.

The change of name of Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG became effective on May 16, 2022 – with the change in the commercial register entry. The company’s European sales companies and representative offices will also be successively renamed Westlake Vinnolit. The very successful and well-known product brand Vinnolit will be maintained, as will GreenVin for the company’s particularly sustainable products.

As per MRC, Westlake Chemical Corporation, the world's petrochemical major, has officially changed its name to Westlake Corporation. Westlake is now organized under one unified brand name with two financial reporting segments: Housing & Infrastructure Products and Performance & Essential Materials.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of unmixed PVC was about 999,300 tonnes in 2021, up by 7% year on year. The emulsion and suspension PVC market showed stronger demand, despite over a twofold price increase. December estimated SPVC consumption was 81,200 tonnes (excluding deliveries to the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Kazakhstan) versus 74,690 tonnes a month earlier.

Westlake Corporation is a global manufacturer and supplier of materials and innovative products that enhance life every day. Headquartered in Houston, with operations in Asia, Europe, and North America, we provide the building blocks for vital solutions — from housing and construction, to packaging and healthcare, to automotive and consumer.

mrchub.com

BASF Signs Renewable Energy Deal To Support Zhanjiang Verbund Site

BASF Signs Renewable Energy Deal To Support Zhanjiang Verbund Site

BASF and Brookfield have finalized a term sheet for a 25-year renewable electricity supply agreement to purchase solar and wind power for the BASF Zhanjiang Verbund site in China, said Apic-Online.

Under the fixed-price agreement, Brookfield will develop and build dedicated solar and wind farms, as well as possible storage solutions to support the renewable energy demands of BASF site.

This agreement with Brookfield is another important step in securing renewable energy for BASF new Verbund site in Zhanjiang, said Haryono Lim, senior vice president, new Verbund site China and BASF, and general manager of BASF Integrated Site (Guangdong) Co. Ltd.

BASF is dedicated to building its Zhanjiang Verbund site into a new role model of sustainable production, and aims to already achieve 100% renewable electricity supply for its Zhanjiang Verbund site by 2025. This is part of BASF climate neutrality target, and will also contribute to China carbon reduction goal.

The site in Zhanjiang will produce thermoplastic polyu-rethanes and 60,000 t/y of engineering plastics to serve various growth industries in the South China market, and throughout Asia. The first plant from the initial phase will be operational by 2022. The whole site is planned to be completed by 2030.

As MRC informed before, BASF and Henkel jointly commit to replacing fossil carbon feedstock with renewable feedstock for most products in Henkel’s European Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care businesses over the next four years following a successful pilot with Henkel’s cleaning and detergent brand Love Nature in 2021.

We remind that BASF is to increase its production capacity for plastic additives at its sites in Pontecchio Marconi, Italy and Lampertheim, Germany. BASF did not disclose, however, current or future capacities for its production of plastic additives hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS).

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
mrchub.com

BASF plans to increase the global production capacity for its antioxidant Irganox 1010 by 40%

BASF plans to increase the global production capacity for its antioxidant Irganox 1010 by 40%

BASF plans to increase the global production capacity for its antioxidant Irganox 1010 by 40% with production expansion projects at its sites in Jurong, Singapore, and Kaisten, Switzerland, said the company.

With production in Kaisten coming online in 2019 and in Singapore in early 2021, BASF aims to better serve the increasing demand from customers in Asia and Europe, Middle East and Africa from its regional supply points. In addition, BASF is investing in its McIntosh, Alabama facility in the US to improve asset reliability and further expand capacity to meet growing customer demand.

In Singapore, the company will double its capacity for Irganox 1010 by adding an additional production line that will be integrated into the existing production facilities. “At the same time, we will add 30% to our existing capacity for Irganox® 1010 at our Kaisten plant in Switzerland by debottlenecking operations. This significant and timely expansion, planned for 2019, reinforces our commitment to accelerating business growth in the region,” added Alberto Giovanzana, Vice President, Plastic Additives EMEA, BASF.

“Increasing our manufacturing capacity shows our commitment to plastic additives, which greatly benefits our global customer base,” said Deon Carter, Senior Vice President, BASF Performance Chemicals North America. “By investing in our McIntosh, Alabama site, we’ll further improve our supply reliability and expand our capacity of Irganox® 1010 and associated antioxidants to meet growing demand in the region."

Irganox 1010 is a sterically hindered phenolic primary antioxidant. It provides protection against thermo-oxidative degradation, mainly applied in polyolefins and also recommended for polyacetals, polyamides and polyurethanes, polyesters, PVC, ABS and elastomers such as butyl rubber and synthetic rubbers.

BASF is a leading supplier, manufacturer and innovation partner of plastic additives. Its comprehensive and innovative product portfolio includes stabilizers which provide ease in processing, heat and light resistance to a variety of polymers and applications including molded articles, films, fibers, sheets and extruded profiles.

As per MRC, as announced on March 3, 2022, BASF has not conducted new business in Russia and Belarus, in light of the war of aggression against Ukraine ordered by the Russian government. BASF strongly condemns the Russian attack on Ukraine and the violence against the civilian population. The Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE has now decided to also wind down the company’s remaining business activities in Russia and Belarus by the beginning of July 2022. Exempt from this decision is business to support food production, as the war risks triggering a global food crisis.

We remind that BASF is strengthening its global catalyst development and helping customers to bring new products faster to the market. As part of this strategy, BASF is building a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site. The new Catalyst Development and Solids Processing Center will serve as a global hub for pilot-scale production and process innovations of chemical catalyst.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
mrchub.com

Gazprom has booked no additional gas export capacity at Slovakia-Ukraine border for June

Gazprom has booked no additional gas export capacity at Slovakia-Ukraine border for June

Russia’s Gazprom has not booked additional gas transit capacity for exports to Europe via Velke Kapusany on the Slovakia-Ukraine border for June, auction results showed, although it already has some capacity booked under an existing deal, said Reuters.

In total, 70.4 MMcm3 per day of capacity was on offer at the auction. Under its existing supply contract, Gazprom automatically has gas transit capacity booked, which means gas will continue to flow in June. However, the company can book additional capacity if it needs it, an industry source said.

Gazprom also has not booked gas transit capacity for exports via the Yamal-Europe pipeline for June, results of another auction showed.

In January, Gazprom completed a feasibility study for the Soyuz Vostok pipeline that would become an extension of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline through Mongolia and which would have a capacity of 50bcm/year. In addition to the latest supply contract and the existing Power of Siberia contract, this would take potential nameplate supply from Russia to China close to 100bcm/year.

We remind, that in December 2020, SIBUR Holding, Russia’s leading petrochemicals company and one of the most rapidly growing petrochemicals businesses globally, and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), China’s leading energy and chemical company, have closed the deal to set up a joint venture (JV) at the Amur Gas Chemical Complex after obtaining all the necessary approvals from the regulators of both countries. SIBUR and Sinopec will hold interest in the JV in the amount of 60% and 40%, respectively.

PJSC Gazprom is a Russian energy company engaged in exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sale of gas, gas condensate and oil, as well as production and sale of heat and electricity. The largest company in Russia, the largest gas company in the world, owns the longest gas transmission system (over 160,000 km). It is the world leader in the industry.
mrchub.com

Oil prices mixed amid China lockdowns, Russian sanctions

Oil prices mixed amid China lockdowns, Russian sanctions

Oil prices were mixed on Monday as investor fears of a global recession spurred by lockdowns in China and weak economic data vied with signs the European Union was stepping closer to an import ban on Russian crude, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Brent crude was down 18 cents, or 0.2%, at USD111.37 a barrel at 1342 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 2 cents, or less than 0.1%, to USD110.51 a barrel. The fall in oil prices "is chiefly due to the weak Chinese economic data, as the lockdown measures are having a direct impact on the world’s second-largest market," said Barbara Lambrecht, energy analyst at Commerzbank.

It is estimated that 46 cities in China are under lockdowns, hitting shopping, factory output and energy usage. Latest Chinese data showed retail sales in April shrank almost 11% from a year earlier, while factory production fell 2.9% year-on-year. In line with the unexpected industrial output decline, China processed 11% less crude oil in April, with daily throughput the lowest since March 2020.

However, oil prices found some support as the European Union's diplomats and officials expressed optimism about reaching a deal on a phased embargo of Russian oil despite concerns about supply in eastern Europe. Austria expects the EU to agree on the sanctions in the coming days, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said on Monday. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the bloc would need a few more days to find agreement.

"With a planned ban by the EU on Russian oil and slow increase in OPEC output, oil prices are expected to stay close to the current levels near USD110 a barrel," said Naohiro Niimura, a partner at Market Risk Advisory. Meanwhile, U.S. gasoline futures set an all-time high again on Monday as falling stockpiles fuelled supply concerns. "Oil prices will remain bullish, especially WTI's near-term contract, as U.S. gasoline prices continued to rise amid weaker imports of petroleum products from Europe," said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Fujitomi Securities.

As per MRC, Russian fuel oil arrivals in the UAE oil hub of Fujairah are set to jump sharply to about 2.5 MM barrels this month, data shows, in a sign that flows of Russian oil and refined products are shifting away from Europe.

We remind, oil prices fell on Monday as concerns over weak economic growth in China, the world's top oil importer, overshadowed fears supply might be crimped by a potential European Union ban on Russian crude.
mrchub.com