Braskem buying Dow’s PP business
Brazilian plastics giant Braskem SA has made another big move in the polypropylene market, this time acquiring the PP business of Dow Chemical Co. For $323 million.
The deal makes São Paulo-based Braskem the largest PP producer in North America, and includes two U.S. plants and two in Germany, with total annual capacity of 2.3 billion pounds, the company said July 27.
A spokesman with Midland, Mich.-based Dow confirmed the sale July 27. He also said the sale price was 6.7 times annual earnings before interest, taxes, debt and amortization for the business.
Officials had confirmed in late May that Dow was shopping around its PP resin, licensing and catalyst businesses. The confirmed sale does not include Dow’s PP catalysts unit.
Dow produces PP at its complexes in Freeport, Texas, and Seadrift, Texas. According to Braskem, the two U.S. plants will increase its PP capacity by 50 percent in the region to an annual production capacity of 3.1 billion pounds.
The two plants located in Germany, at the petrochemical complexes of Wesseling and Schkopau, have annual capacity of 1.2 billion pounds of polypropylene.
“The acquisition of Dow’s assets consolidates our leadership in polypropylene in the U.S., the largest thermoplastic resins market, and it also enhances our current position in Europe, an important market for our biopolymers strategy,” said Braskem CEO Carlos Fadigas, in a news release.
“In addition, as our second acquisition in the U.S., this transaction will enable Braskem to capture approximately US$140 million in synergies (net present value) through a more diversified portfolio, a more leveraged fixed cost base and working capital, logistics and supply optimization,” he added.
The deal is scheduled to close by the third quarter, pending regulatory approvals. Last year, Braskem acquired the PP business of Sunoco Inc. -including plants in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Texas -for $350 million in cash.
For Dow, it’s the firm’s third major move in less than two weeks. The firm first announced plans to build a major bioplastics plant in Brazil in conjunction with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. of Japan. Dow then followed up with an even bigger bombshell -plans to build a $20 billion plastics and chemicals complex in Saudi Arabia through a joint venture with national firm Saudi Aramco Inc.
The acquisition comes at an interesting time for the North American PP market, which has been rocked this year by extreme price volatility and a demand drop of almost 5 percent in the U.S. and Canada through May.
Increased use of natural gas feedstocks has reduced the amount of propylene monomer available to make PP in the region. Natural gas-based ethane feedstocks make less propylene per unit that feedstocks based on crude oil-based naphtha do.
Earlier this year, PP market analyst Esteban Sagelsaid that the North American PP field now features high production costs, high prices and reduced demand, but improved profit -a far cry from the low production costs, low prices and fast-rising demand it had seen from 2000 to 2007.
Sagel -who’s with Chemical Market Associates Inc. in Houston -added that he expects North America’s PP prices to be the highest in the world into 2013, even with much expected volatility. Sagel said he expects North America’s prices to line up with those elsewhere in the world later in the decade.
Scott Newell -a PP market analyst with Resin Technologies Inc. In Fort Worth, Texas -also said earlier this year that the ups and downs of the North American PP sector don’t appear to be going away anytime soon.
“We could see stretches of stability,” Newell said “In the meantime, we’re going to have to continue to manage our businesses and expect that there will continue to be volatility.”
Lubrizol adding CPVC capacity
Lubrizol Corp. has started a multimillion dollar expansion of its specialty plastics plant in Louisville, Ky.
The expansion is needed to handle growing demand for TempRite-brand chlorinated PVC, officials with Wickliffe, Ohio-based Lubrizol said in a July 27 news release.
The Louisville site has been making CPVC resins and compounds for 50 years. The materials are used in a variety of residential, commercial and industrial piping products, because of their inherent chemical and temperature resistance, officials said in the release.
“Lubrizol recognizes the tremendous growth potential for our CPVC products and is willing to support that growth with the necessary technology and manufacturing enhancements,” TempRite general manager Dale Willis said in the release.
Details of the expansion weren’t included in the release, although officials said the project would continue “through 2012.” Officials could not be reached for further comment.
Last month, investment firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Completed its $9.7 billion acquisition ofLubrizol, a specialty chemicals and plastics maker that posted sales of $5.4 billion in 2010. Lubrizol’s Advanced Materials unit —including CPVC as well as Estane-brand thermoplastic polyurethane —accounted for about 28 percent of the firm’s 2010 sales.
California officials promise more bag bans
Ordinances banning plastic bags are expected on the agendas of a growing number of California communities now that the state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Manhattan Beach and its 2008 plastic bag ban.
The ruling said Manhattan Beach did not have to go through a lengthy environmental study on the increased use of paper bags. Manhattan Beach was one of the first communities in California to ban plastic bags in an effort to reduce the amount of plastic trash in the coastal and marine environment.
“A lot of cities were watching this case,” said David Carmany, city manager for Manhattan Beach. “Since the ruling was issued, we have been hearing from everybody, from cities north and south asking for a copy of our ordinance and a copy of our staff report. We’re only too happy to share those things with Dana Point and San Carlos and every place in between.”
Carol Misseldine, director of Green Cities California, said the state Supreme Court’s ruling is another example of the groundswell of momentum for banning single-use items.
“It’s very positive news,” she said. “We don’t know exactly how all of this will play out but it seems fairly clear that the ruling will open the door to a lot more plastic bag bans throughout the state and hopefully throughout the country.”
The ruling also sends a clear message to the plastics industry that it can’t use the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires state and local agencies to identify the environmental impacts of their actions, to delay the implementation of these single-bag ban ordinances, Misseldine said.
“The threat of litigation stops a lot of jurisdictions,” she said. “In this age of tight budgets, nobody wants to take that on, so people have been watching this very closely, definitely a ruling in our favor.”
There are 24 communities with plastic-bag bans in the United States –more than half of them in California. In addition, Washington D.C. and Montgomery County, Md., have a 5-cent tax on carryout plastic and paper bags.
Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste, said his organization found that about 12 percent of the population of California is covered by a city or county that has a ban.
“We are going to see a lot of policies introduced this summer and early fall, so I think by the first of the year, easily 25 percent, maybe more, of the state is going to have a ban on single-use plastic,” he said. “With this Supreme Court ruling, the fear of litigation, the potential cost of having to do an environmental review –for a vast majority of cities and counties in California –is off the table so I think you’re going to see a lot of local communities moving forward.”
San Rafael, Novato, San Anselmo, Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tiburon and the counties of Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo are in the process of moving forward plastic bag bans. Alameda County has commissioned a formal environmental impact report looking at both mandatory recycling and single-use bag reduction.
Recycle More, also known as the West Contra Costa Integrated Waste Management Authority –which represents the cities of El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole, Richmond and San Pablo, is also is discussing the adoption of a plastic bag ban.
Chris Lehon, executive director of Recycle More, said his organization’s board is working on a second draft of its model ordinance that would ban single-use bags and put a fee on paper bags. It will be presented at its September meeting.
Jeff Becerra, communications manager for StopWaste.org, which encompasses Alameda County Waste Management Authority and the Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board, said the organization is in the process of compiling an EIR to consider a potential single-use bag ban that could be adopted countywide, covering 1.5 million people.
Santa Cruz is dusting off its single-use bag ordinance that has been shelved in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling, said Bob Nelson, superintendent of resource recovery.
“We have been working on this ordinance for more than three years,” he said, adding that the ordinance is a joint endeavor among the city and county of Santa Cruz, as well as Capitola, Scotts Valley and Watsonville –all of which sit on the Monterey Bay. “We decided that it would behoove us all to wait and see what the results of that case were because there are two things you don’t want to have happen in a recovering economy: You don’t want to spend the money on something you don’t really think you need to, like an EIR, and you also don’t want to spend it on a lawsuit.”
elson plans to sit down with the mayor and city council in early August to get the ordinance back on the agenda.
Manhattan Beach’s ordinance will go into effect Jan. 1, but the city’s first order of business is to begin a dialogue with its business community. Helen Duncan, president and CEO of Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce, said her organization fully supports the ban as does most of the business community.
“We sent out a survey and 78 percent of our businesses were in favor,” Duncan said.
Local citizens and the elected officials throughout California are highly motivated to do the right thing, said Dan Jacobsen, legislative director for Environment California.
“They know that using something for five minutes that ends up polluting our environment for 500 years is really bad,” he said.
Murray agreed: “It’s inevitable that we are going to see the end of single-use plastic bags in our lifetime.”
Portland joins list of bag bans cities
Portland’s city council on July 21 approved a ban on single-use plastic bags at large retail stores, effective Oct. 15.
The ban makes Portland the 24th community in the United States to ban single-use plastic bags.
The city council voted unanimously to approve the ban, which applies to grocery stores with gross annual sales of $2 million or more and businesses that have more than 10,000 square feet of retail space and a pharmacy.
According to the ordinance, stores that violate the law will first receive a warning, then fines of $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second offense and $500 for repeat violations.
Within one year after the effective date of this ordinance, the city’s Director of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability will report to the city council and make recommendations to potentially expand the law.
Dow and Saudi Aramco plan to build massive plastics complex in Saudi Arabia
Dow Chemical Co. has made another blockbuster move, this time announcing plans to build a massive plastics and chemicals complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, in a partnership with Saudi Arabian Oil Co.
The complex will include 26 units and will have annual capacity of almost 7 billion pounds of plastics and chemicals products, including low and linear low density polyethylene, elastomers and polyurethanes, officials with both companies said in a July 25 news release.
The joint venture between Midland, Mich.-based Dow and state-owned Saudi Aramco of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will operate as SadaraChemical Co. Construction of the complex will begin this year, with the first production units expected to come online in the second half of 2015.
Full production is scheduled for 2016 at the site, which is expected to generate annual revenues of about $10 billion. Total investment in the project –which will create thousands of new jobs –is estimated at $20 billion.
The announcement “is outstanding proof of Dow’s ongoing commitment to our growth strategy,” Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris said in the release. “This premier partnership is the right economic ownership model with the right partner.”
Saudi Aramco President and CEO Khalid Al-Falih added that the project “will play a key role in (Saudi Arabia’s industrial and economic diversification.”
The announcement comes a week after Dow announced a massive bioplastics project in Brazil in conjunction with Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co. Ltd.
Dow ranks as one of the world’s largest plastics and chemicals maker. Saudi Aramco is one of the world’s largest suppliers of oil and natural gas.
India’s Polyplex breaks ground on Alabama polyester films plant
Polyplex Americas Inc., a subsidiary of India’s PolyplexCorp. Ltd., has broken ground for its new North American headquarters and polyester films plant in Decatur, Ala.
The company, which has manufacturing in India, Thailand and Turkey, has had a U.S. presence since the mid-1990s, with a sales office in Farmers Branch, Texas.
Over the next three years, Polyplex Americas will spend $185 million to develop the Alabama site, according to a July 20 news release from the firm.
The first phase, to be complete by the third quarter of 2012, will include a high-speed, 28.5-foot-wide, thin-gauge film line with an annual capacity of 33,000 tons, and a resin feedstock plant with 66,000-ton annual capacity, according to the release.
Phase two will result in the addition of a second PET film line within a few years, the company said. In all, the plant will employ 150.
The Alabama plant represents Polyplex’s largest capital investment in a single location, according to the release.
Gov. Robert Bentley joined company and local officials for the June 20 announcement in Decatur, according to a release from the Alabama Development Office.
“I am pleased that Polyplex decided to include Alabama as their first facility in North America,” Bentley said in the release. “This is great news for our state and look forward to a long partnership with them.”
The Decatur site offered industrial infrastructure, trained manpower, vicinity of key raw materials and relative proximity to a majority of U.S. customers, according to Sanjiv Saraf, chairman of Noida, India-based Polyplex Corp.Ltd.
The Decatur Industrial Development Board approved tax abatements of $547,000 a year for 10 years to aid the project, according to local news media reports.
Dow-Mitsui partnership to create mega-biopolymer operation
Dow Chemical Co. is partnering with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. to create one of the world’s largest bio-polymers operations.
Midland, Mich.-based Dow and Mitsui of Tokyo will become 50-50 partners in Dow’s sugar-cane operation in Santa Vitoria, Brazil. The venture will produce sugar-cane-based ethanol, which will be used to make sugar-based polyethylene.
Although no capacity total for the plant was listed in a July 19 news release from the firms, Dow and Mitsui claim it will be “the world’s largest integrated facility for the production of bipolymers made from renewable, sugar cane-derived ethanol.”
No investment estimate was available for Dow, but Mitsui officials said their initial investment will be about $200 million.
“This landmark move underscores Dow’s commitment to invest for growth in high-value, innovation-rich sectors through strategic partnerships,” Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris said.
“It also combines the strengths of two global companies, creating the unique combination of world-leading technology and renewable feedstocks to meet needs in an important, rapidly growing region of the world.”
Biopolymers produced at the facility will be a green alternative and drop-in replacement for high-performance flexible packaging, hygiene and medical markets, offering customers the same performance attributes with a more sustainable environmental profile, officials added.
“This venture advances Mitsui’s goal to contribute to industry and society by securing a stable supply of renewable resources and providing sustainable solutions from those resources,” said Masami Iijima, Mitsui’s president and CEO.
The first phase of the project includes constructing a new sugarcane-to-ethanol production facility in Santa Vitoria, to begin in the third quarter. The plant’s bioplastics will be sold worldwide.
The plant will be Brazil’s second major bioplastics plant. Last year, Brazilian plastics giant Braskem SA opened a 440 million-pound-capacity plant making sugar-based polyethylene in Triunfo.
Braskem is developing plans for a sugar-based PP plant, possibly in Triunfo, that will have capacity of almost 70 million pounds.
Dow —one of the world’s largest plastics and chemicals makers —has operated in Brazil since 1956 but doesn’t have major plastics assets there.
Mitsui’s plastics and chemicals portfolio includes PET, PE, polypropylene and related feedstocks; and it owns German polycarbonate maker Hi-Bis GmbH. Mitsui Chemicals already makes its own Lacea-brand bioplastic resin.
At one point, Dow had planned to build a bio-based PE plant in Bahia Blanca, but those plans were cooled when the global economy slowed down.
“Our customers have said over and over that they want green-based plastics,” Dow spokesman Bob Plishka said July 21 by phone.
As recently as 2007, Dow had announced plans to build a sugar-based PE plant in Brazil through an alliance with Brazilian ethanol maker Crystalsev. Those plans were scuttled by Crystalsev’s financial problems.
Dow owns about 42,000 acres of sugar-bearing land in Brazil that it had bought to supply the Crystalsev project. It currently sells output into local sugar markets.
The Dow-Mitsui venture isn’t the first time Dow has made a move into bioplastics. In 1997, Dow formed NatureWorks LLC, a bio plastics joint venture, with agricultural firm Cargill Inc.
NatureWorks built a large plant making corn-based polylactic acid bioplastics in Blair, Neb., but Dow exited the partnership in 2005 for unspecified reasons.
Kumho Petrochemical to Invest About $1 Billion at Yeosu Complex
Kumho Petrochemical (Seoul) plans to spend won880 billion ($837 million) by 2014 to expand its Yeosu, Korea manufacturing complex to meet growing demand for its products, mainly used in the automotive and consumer electronics sectors. The plans form part of the company’s vision to raise sales to won20 trillion by 2020 and be a global leader in several of its fields, including synthetic rubbers. Kumho’s sales last year reached won 3.9 trillion.
Kumho and its three subsidiaries, Kumho P&B Chemicals, Kumho Polychem, and Kumho Mitsui Chemicals are the investing companies. Kumho Petrochemical will build a 60,000-m.t./year solution styrene butadiene rubber plant while Kumho P&B Chemicals will build a bisphenol-A complex designed for 150,000 m.t./year. Kumho Polychem, meanwhile will construct a 60,000-m.t./year ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber facilitiy and Kumho Mitsui Chemicals will build a 50,000-m.t./year methylene di-paraphenylene isocyanate facility. The companies also plan to build steam generation facilities to supply power at their plants.
Kumho said the investment will provide employment for 130 people when operations begin. Yeosu is Korea’s largest chemical complex.Synthetic rubbers are byfar Kumho’s largest segment, accounting for 57% of last year’s sales, followed by synthetic resins, which represented 32% of sales and others, including specialty chemicals, 11%.
Gulf Asian Petroleum Plans Refinery and PP Complex in Malaysia
Two Malaysian companies KNM Group and Zecon Bhd have signed an agreement with Gulf Asian Petroleum Sdn Bhd (GAP; Kuala Lumpur) to build a refinery and polypropylene (PP) plant at Teluk Ramunia, Johor, Malaysia at a cost of ringgit17 billion ($5.7 billion).
KNM says the agreement is for the construction of a 150,000 to 200,000 bbl/day refinery as well as a 525,000-m.t./year PP plant for GAP at a combined cost of $5 billion. In addition, GAP is planning to build a petroleum storage terminal with a storage capacity of 2.328 million cu meter and supporting infrastructure and auxiliaries, costing some ringgit 2 billion.
KNM says that together with Zecon, it plans to form a contractors’ consortium, which would include Korean or Chinese firms to build the refinery. The consortium would take up to 20% equity in GAP, estimated at $180 million. About 30% of the project would be funded from equity and the balance from loans using export credit agencies and other financial instruments, including Sukuk insurance. The companies hope to complete the project within 40 months from financial close. KNM and Zecon would carry out construction of the terminal.
GAP, established to build and operate the refinery complex, is owned 50% by Mubadala Capital Sdn. Bhd., and 50% by Abdul Aziz Al-Dulaimi, president of Gulf Petroleum. The Johor State Government has approved 650 acres of land in Teluk Ramunia for the projects and GAP is in discussion with the state government for its equity participation, which has yet to be finalized.
GAP has appointed Evercore Partners (New York) as its financial advisor. The project is one of several petchems investments planned in Malaysia. Petronas is planning a $20-billion refinery and petchems complex at Pengerang, Johor, and Burel Industries is investing in a petchems complex at Kuantan.
Braskem to Begin Sourcing Naphtha Made from Recycled Plastic
Braskem will begin sourcing some of its naphtha from post-consumption recycled plastic for use at the company’s complex at Camaçari, in northern Brazil. Novaenergia (Salvador), a waste treatment firm, will supply the raw material. Braskem will invest about$25 million ($11.2 million) in a related recycling unit, slated for start up at Camaçari by the end of 2012.
The move is part of a broader strategy by Braskem to increase its use of renewable feedstocks. Its 200,000 m.t./year unit at Triunfo uses ethanol derived from sugarcane, and the company says the product has been well received in the market. Braskem has said customers are willing to a pay a premium for product made from renewable sources.
“Seeking out new technologies and feedstocks that generate lower environmental impacts is part of Braskem’s commitment to the sustainability of the plastics production chain,” says Hardi Schuck, Braskem’s supply chain officer. Another advantage of the project is its contribution to post-consumption recycling in major cities, which is still a challenge in Brazil, the company says.
PTT Plans Major Petrochemical Investments
Energy company PTT (Bangkok) plans to invest a total of $100 billion over the next 10 years in its various businesses, reports say. This includes an investment of baht200 billion ($6.6 billion) over the next five years in the company’s petrochemical and refinery businesses. Further details of these investments were not disclosed. PTT will submit its investment plan to its executive board this month, and the plan involves a total investment of baht1 trillion in the next five years.
PTT aims to increase its total sales to baht4 trillion in the next five years and to baht6 trillion within the next ten years, reports say. The company is expected to report total sales of baht2.3 trillion-baht2.4 trillion in 2011.
NOVA Chemicals and Statoil ink MOU for ethane supply from the Marcellus Shale Basin
NOVA Chemicals, a developer and manufacturer of plastic resins, chemicals and end-products, and Statoil Marketing and Trading (Statoil) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for ethane supply from the Marcellus Shale Basin. Statoil will supply additional ethane to NOVA Chemicals’ cracker project in Corunna, Ontario. Randy Woelfel, CEO of NOVA Chemical stated that the ethane supply will help in the diversification of the company’s supply base for the Corunna project and will also support the future growth plans. Statoil’s President, Martin Jones commented that they have been working with NOVA Chemicals for several years and seek to continue the commercial relationship. The company is delighted to sign a purchase and sale agreement with NOVA Chemicals to deliver ethane from the Marcellus Shale Basin. In addition to this definitive supply agreement and customary reviews and approvals, NOVA Chemicals has ended up with a pipeline transportation agreement to ship ethane from the basin to the petrochemical market in Sarnia, Ontario.
Acquisition of Tessenderlo S PVC business by Ineos receives approval
The European Commission cleared on 26 July, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of the Suspension Polyvinyl Chloride (“S-PVC”) business of the Belgium-based Tessenderlo Group by the Swiss-based company Ineos. The transaction involves two vertically integrated manufacturers of S-PVC, which is used in pipes, window profiles and other industrial applications. Besides S-PVC, both Ineos and the business to be acquired have a sizeable presence in the production and supply of liquid caustic soda and sodium hypochlorite. Moreover, Ineos supplies ethylene and ethylene dichloride and also vinyl chloride monomer which is also supplied by the acquired business. They are all inputs for S-PVC. Ineos is also active in the market for compounded S-PVC, which is downstream of S-PVC. As regards these horizontal overlaps, the Commission’s investigation revealed that the proposed transaction would not significantly modify the structure of each of the relevant markets and that customers would still have a number of credible and sizeable supply alternatives to the merged entity. The Commission also investigated the abovementioned vertical relationships and concluded that none of them would lead to the shutting out of competitors or customers of the merged entity, because Ineos and the business to be acquired have only very limited sales of any of the upstream products and sufficient alternative suppliers exist on the downstream market for S-PVC compounds.
Nizhnekamskneftekhim to resume plans to build a 1,000 KTAethylene production complex
Russian petrochemicals manufacturer Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNH) will resume plans to build a new ethylene production complex, with capacity of 1 mln tpa, at an investment of US$3 bln (€2.5 bln) as per European Plastics News. Plans for the complex were suspended in 2010 in favour of expansion of synthetic rubber capacities. The project is scheduled for completion in September. 30% of the investment will be contributed by NKNH, while the balance 70% will be borrowed. Talks are underway with Russia’s largest banks, including Sberbank and Gazprombank.
China’s Henan Province to have world’s largest coal to ethylene glycol base
Henan Province has inked a cooperation agreement on a coal to ethylene glycol project with China National Chemical Engineering Group Corp to build the world largest coal to ethylene glycol base, as per China Knowledge. Henan Coal Chemical Industry Group Cowill invest CNY 4.6 bln to build a 200,000 tons coal to ethylene glycol project and related supporting facilities in Yongcheng of Henan Province. The annual output of coal-to-ethylene glycol in the province is expected to reach 1 mln tons.
Sinopec and Exxon Mobil to jointly assess shale-gas potential in Sichuan
In its bid for unconventional sources of energy, Sinopec Group and ExxonMobil plan to jointly assess shale-gas potential in the province of Sichuan. Sinopec Group (unit of China Petrochemical) and Exxon’s Sichuan subsidiary signed an agreement to survey the 3,643.59 sq km Wuzhishan area.Chinese shale may hold 1,275 trillion cubic feet of gas, or 12 times the country’s conventional natural gas deposits, as per the U.S. Energy Information Administration. As per this, China is estimated to be richer in shale gas resources than USA, and plans to explore new areas and seek drilling technology through partnerships and acquisitions. After spending 11 months to complete the country’s first shale well, China National Petroleum Corp. agreed to form a venture with Royal Dutch Shell Plc to improve its drilling efficiency. Sinopec Group is actively seeking technology and capital from its potential foreign partners to develop domestic shale-gas resources.
SABIC to invest in 14 new projects from 2012 to 2015, expand in Asia
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) plans to invest in 14 new projects to be carried out between 2012 and 2015, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Al-Madysaid. With several offices in India, the company is also looking for new ventures in the subcontinent. “India is a huge market, the government is thinking of attracting new investments and SABIC is looking at investments in India —if there are any good investments in petrochemicals there, products from refineries,” Al-Mady said in a Reuters report.
A decision will be made this year on SABIC affiliate Saudi Arabian Fertilizers Co.’s (SAFCO) proposed 1 mln tpa urea factory in Jubail. Production is due to begin in H2-2013. A plan to build a facility with China’s Sinopec, estimated to cost at least US$1 bln, and to be operational by 2015, is on track. Operations at Saudi Kayan Petrochemicals will start commercial production in H2-2011.
BASF doubling plasticizer capacity
Ludwigshafen, Germany -BASF is planning to double production of its phthalate-free plasticizer HexamollDINCH from 100,000 metric tons to 200,000 metric tons per year at the Ludwigshafen site by 2013. Therefore, a second production plant will now be built in Ludwigshafen. This will enhance supply security worldwide while continuing to ensure consistently high quality. The decision is based on a strong increase in demand across all regions as well as the continued growth of demand for alternative plasticizers. This is the second capacity increase for Hexamoll DINCH since its successful market launch in 2002. In 2007, the original production capacity of 25,000 metric tons per year was quadrupled to 100,000
Carlisle buys EPDM roofing business
Carlisle Companies has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PDT Phoenix for approximately EUR 80 million ($113 million). The purchase agreement calls for contingent payments based upon PDT’s future earnings. PDT is a leading manufacturer of EPDM-based roofing membranes and industrial components serving key European markets. With annual sales of approximately EUR 80 million, PDT has 273 employees and operates facilities in Hamburg and Waltershausen, Germany. The business will operate within Carlisle’s Construction Materials (“CCM”) segment. PDT’s products serve the growing niche-oriented market for single-ply roofing and waterproofing membrane solutions within Europe. PDT is also a leading manufacturer of elastomer profiles for use in applications for tunnels, rail, windows and facades. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including obtaining regulatory approval in Germany, and is expected to close by August 15.
KUMHO MITSUI TO EXPAND MDI CAPACITY BY 2012
KUMHO Mitsui’s expansion project of MDI facility, located in Yeosu, is expected to be completed in the second part of 2012.
Sources from KUMHO Mitsui insiders say the company will totally invest 350 KRW to expand the MDI facility and after the completion, the MDI capacity in South Korea will increase to 200, 000 tons/year from 150, 000 tons/year. At that moment, its MDI products will meet the demands from overseas clients.
As automobile and consumer goods develop rapidly in China and South Korea, the market demands for MDI and Polyurethane products keep at high levels. Currently, the MDI produced by KUMHO Mitsui is mainly used in the fields of auto interior parts, refrigerator heat insulation, building materials and etc.
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