Saudi Top Trading Co. to build USD27m factory at Petro Rabigh plastic facility

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nomu-listed Saudi Top Trading Co. announced that one of its factories, Saudi Top Plastic factory, signed on Dec. 13 a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh), according to a statement to Tadawul, said Argaam.

The MoU is to establish a factory with a total construction value of about SAR 100 million in two phases, the first with a value of nearly SAR 60 million and the second phase of approximately SAR 40 million.

The new factory will be established on an area of 34,000 square meters, and for a period of 30 years, to produce 50,000 tons annually of polymer compounds, rubber, and industrial waxes in Rabigh Plastic Technology Complex.

It pointed out that the supply of polymer scrap materials, rubber, and industrial wax for the new factory will be from Petro Rabigh.

The 12-month MoU started from signing date, Saudi Top Trading stated, noting that there are no related parties.

The financial impact of this project will be determined later upon the completion of all agreements related to this MoU, it stated.

We remind, Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) has signed three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with investors to set up manufacturing plants in the Rabigh PlusTech Park. The first MoU was inked with Pure Life Industries Middle East Co. to manufacture 80,000 water filters and flat ceramic membranes a year, the company said in a statement published on the Saudi stock exchange. The second MoU was signed with Saudi Top Co. to produce 50,000 tonnes of recycled polymer compounds per annum.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. announced today, Dec. 27, the latest update on its failure to issue 2022 financial statements, expecting to disclose them by the end of February 2023, according to a Tadawul statement, as per Argaam.

The petchem producer will no longer disclose preliminary financial statements for Q4 2022 and will only announce the annual results.

The step echoes Saudi Kayan’s endeavors to implement the best disclosure practices, it added.

We remind, Saudi Kayan swung to a third-quarter net loss of Saudi Riyal (SR) 812.3m on the back of lower selling prices. The company’s third-quarter earnings were also weighed by the increase in the average cost of its feedstock despite the increase in product quantities sold, the company said in a filing on the Saudi bourse, Tadawul. The petrochemical producer also recorded a loss of SR452.8m in the first nine months of this year on the back of higher feedstock costs and lower selling prices despite slightly higher sales.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Chemical has constructed a new pilot facility for chemical recycling of acrylic resin (polymethyl methacrylate or PMMA) at its Ehime Works in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan, said the company.

Samples of chemically recycled methyl methacrylate or MMA monomer produced in this facility and acrylic resin made from the monomer will become available in spring 2023. The Company will accelerate the development of a circular system for acrylic resin that integrates all steps, from collection of used acrylic resin, to recycling of the collected resin into a monomer material, to use of the material as products.

Acrylic resins, which possess the highest level of transparency among plastics, as well as superior weatherability and processability, are used in a wide range of applications, such as automobile tail lamps, home appliances, water tanks, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and protective partition panels to reduce the spread of droplets. Meanwhile, as plastics are made from fossil resources, there is an urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated across the entire process, from production to disposal of plastics, as well as to promote the recycling of used plastics as resources.

Sumitomo Chemical has jointly developed with The Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (“JSW,” headquartered in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo) a technology for pyrolyzing acrylic resin and recycling it, with high efficiency, into MMA monomer, which is a raw material for acrylic resin. The new pilot facility the Company has built at its Ehime Works is equipped with JSW's twin-screw extruder. Sumitomo Chemical will validate the technology to recycle acrylic resin at a high quality and work on scaling the production process. The recycled MMA monomer will have the same level of quality, and its GHG emissions over the entire product life cycle are expected to be at least 60% less, compared to MMA monomer manufactured from fossil resources.

Sumitomo Chemical has also set out to build a circular system for acrylic resin, collecting acrylic plastic scraps and used acrylic resin from NIPPURA CO., LTD. (Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan), a long-time business partner, as well as from major home appliance manufacturers, while also working to develop a customer base for acrylic resin made from the recycled MMA monomer. Going forward, Sumitomo Chemical will step up collaboration with partners in other industries on collection, recycling, and business development in order to accelerate the development of a circular system for acrylic resin.

In September 2022, Sumitomo Chemical launched the Meguri brand for plastic products made with recycling technology, as part of its effort to contribute to building a circular economy. The Meguri brand is put on products that meet certain criteria the Company has established, such as GHG emission reductions achieved.


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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil hit a three-week high on Tuesday as China's latest easing of COVID-19 restrictions spurred hopes of a demand recovery, although prices pared gains after some U.S. energy facilities shut by winter storms began to restart, said Reuters.

China will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine, starting from Jan. 8, the National Health Commission said on Monday in a major step towards easing curbs on borders that have been largely shut since 2020.

Brent crude was up 19 cents, or 0.2%, at USD84.11 a barrel by 1450 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 39 cents, or 0.5%, to USD79.95. Both benchmarks hit their highest since Dec. 5 earlier in the session.

"This is certainly something that traders and investors have been hoping for," Avatrade analyst Naeem Aslam said of China's plan over the quarantine rule. UK and U.S. markets had been closed on Monday for Christmas holidays.

Equities gained while the U.S. dollar softened on Tuesday in response to the Chinese move. A weaker dollar makes oil cheaper for holders of other currencies and tends to support risk assets.

Oil also drew support from worries over supply disruption because of winter storms in the United States, said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Fujitomi Securities. "But the U.S. weather is forecast to improve this week, which means the rally may not last too long," he said.

Some facilites were already being brought back online. TotalEnergies continued restarting its 238,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas refinery on Tuesday, said people familiar with plant operations.

As of Friday, some 1.5 MM barrels of daily refining capacity along the U.S. Gulf Coast was shut, while oil and gas output from North Dakota to Texas suffered freeze-ins, cutting supply.

Concern over a possible production cut by Russia also provided price support.

Russia might cut oil output by 5% to 7% in early 2023 as it responds to price caps, the RIA news agency cited Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Friday.

We remind, CHIMEI Corporation, a world-leading performance material company, recently announced its completion of carbon footprint verification for its entire plastic and rubber product lines, marking a significant step towards its “Net Zero by 2050” goals.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire broke out in a refinery in Iraq's northern city of Erbil and attempts by firefighting teams to get it under control are ongoing, as per Reuters.

No further information was immediately available.

We remind, Lanaz Co has let a contract to Honeywell UOP LLC to deliver technology licensing and equipment for a project to increase production of cleaner-burning transportation fuels at the operator's 100,000-b/d refinery at Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. As part of the contract, Honeywell UOP supplied basic engineering design, licensing, and full-modular units equipped with its proprietary naphtha hydrotreating and fixed-bed platforming process technology for the Lanaz clean-fuels upgrading project, the service provider said in a 10 Jan 2022 release.

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