News archive for November, 2010
November 25, 2010, a regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of OAO Nizhnekamskneftekhim was held in Kazan under the chairmanship of A. Shigabutdinov, General Director of OAO TAIF, Chairman of the Board of Directors of OAO Nizhnekamskneftekhim.
The Board of Directors acknowledged the results of financial and economic activities of OAO Nizhnekamskneftekhim for 9 months, 2010, noted positive operating results and outstripping the targeted key metrics. For the reporting period, the Company realized the business plan by 109%. The achieved gain of products output exceeded that for the similar period in the previous year by 17%. Revenues from products sale for the reporting period exceeded RUR68.8 bln. being RUR19 bln. above the target value. Net profit reached RUR6.29 bln., which is 8.6 times higher than that for 9 months of 2009. Therewith, net profit plan has been smashed more than 3 times.
Reviewed and taken into account was information about loan and credit policy, as well as about the status of OAO Nizhnekamskneftekhim’s accounts payable and accounts receivable.
The Board of Directors approved of the Production and Financial Plan, the Plan of Drawing-down and Financing the Company’s capital investments for 2011.
The Members of the Board of Directors took notice of information about the course of implementation of the earlier approved Strategic Development Program of OAO Nizhnekamskneftekhim for 2010-2014.
Besides, information about implementation of the Ecological Program for 2007-2015 was reviewed and taken into consideration.
Moscow, 26 November 2010. Today the state corporation “Rostechnologii”, the OJSC “SIBUR Holding” and the Italian company “Pirelli” signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to conclude a series of deals on joint activities in the tyre industry and steelcord production, as well as in the sphere of high-tech production and the supply of products derived from the processing of synthetic rubber. It is expected that these agreements will be signed before June 2011.
This document announces joint activities between “Rostechnologii” and “Pirelli” in reorganising and improving the effectiveness of the tyre business of SIBUR, one of the major players in the Russian petrochemical industry. This memorandum provides for the involvement of the assets of “SIBUR-Russian Tyres” in creating two joint ventures, established with the companies “Pirelli” and “Rostechnologii” (joint venture 1 and joint venture 2). The first joint venture will involve the assets of “SIBUR-Russian Tyres”, which correspond to the standards set by “Pirelli” in terms of tyre production for different purposes, and these assets shall be selected through a streamlining and reorganisation processes carried out by three partners. Furthermore, SIBUR will promote sale of the assets of joint venture 1, in accordance with the standards of “Pirelli”. The assets will be selected as a result of this reorganisation process and the respective decisions adopted by the three partners. Joint venture 1 shall receive 90% of the assets and 10% shall be held by SIBUR. Prior to the completion of the transaction, the partners will manage the assets on the basis of special agreements, which will allow achieving a production volume of 3 million tyres by the end of 2011.
The second joint venture will receive assets for the production of automobile tyres for the industrial sector (delivery for their configuration), as well as tyres for heavy-duty trucks and agricultural machinery. This joint venture will aim to meet the increasing demand observed on the Russian market. SIBUR will transfer the second joint venture, established with “Pirelli” and “Rostechnologii” equal stakes of 40.1% in the company “SIBUR-Russian Tyres”. “Pirelli” will also gain control over a 10% stake in “SIBUR-Russian Tyres” in exchange for technological and managerial contributions to the development of the tyre holding. “Pirelli” will provide its technology and will participate in the technological development of the respective plants, including the application of its own know-how in terms of logistics, quality control and the organisation of the company’s activities. After completion of the transfer of assets and restructuring share SIBUR in OAO SIBUR – Russian Tyres will be 49.9% (currently the share of SIBUR is 100%). The reorganisation process will be implemented after the three partners of the business plan and related business services.
The partners shall also conclude agreements in the sphere of the production and supply of synthetic rubber, according to which SIBUR shall, on a long-term basis, supply raw materials for “Pirelli” and the two joint ventures. They would also provide for the joint development of production of new high-tech products made of rubber for the manufacture of modern high-quality tyres.
SIBUR’s tyre business will have access to the modern technologies of “Pirelli”, which, along with industrial support from “Pirelli”, will make the tyre business more efficient. Close cooperation between the partners with respect to supplying raw materials should facilitate the creation of new types of synthetic rubbers to be used in improvement the quality of the tyre products.
The resultant synergies between automotive producers, tyre manufacturers and synthetic rubber producers should result in the production of modern products and a strengthened position of Russia’s tyre and automotive industries.
In addition, according to the memorandum, “Pirelli” and “Rostechnologii” will build a production plant in the Samara region – in the special economic zone (SEZ) of Togliatti – which will be dedicated to producing metal cord used in the steel radial tyres. A project for the construction of a plant for the production of super large tyres should also be elaborated.
This new partnership does not rule out the possibility of the continued strategic partnership with the company Tatneft, in particular with its tyre business, as outlined in the documents previously signed between SIBUR and Tatneft.
At the signing ceremony of the MOU, the Director-General of “Rostechnologii”, Sergey Chemezov, stated, “To ensure the growth of competitiveness of the Russian economy, we need to develop cooperation with those companies that propose to implement the most advanced and promising technical solutions and technologies and are ready to invest in the development and modernisation of our enterprises. That is namely what formed the basis of cooperation with the company “Pirelli”. We shall henceforth adhere to this principle in selecting our partners in future.”
The President of “Pirelli”, Marco Tronchetti Provera, noted, “the Memorandum signed today significantly accelerates our entry into the Russian market compared with our initial plan, and it corresponds with our financial projections for 2011-2015. Russia is a key market in our development strategy. The cooperation announced today with such major companies as “Rostechnologii” and SIBUR will allow us to participate in improving the efficiency and consolidation of the Russian tyre market and it will provide an advantage in terms of organising joint activities using the most advanced technical equipment in the industry.”
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the OJSC “SIBUR Holding”, Alexander Dyukov, stressed that “a partnership with one of the world’s leading tyre manufacturers and the largest Russian company in the automotive sector opens up new prospects for SIBUR in terms of the tyre business. The following possible consolidation of the Russian tyre industry, using advanced technologies from western countries, will increase the competitiveness of our national economy and enable SIBUR to increase the capitalisation of its investments in this segment.”
Reference information:
The state corporation “Rostechnologii” was established in accordance with federal law of the Russian Federation. The purpose of this corporation is to promote the development, production and export of hi-tech industrial products by providing support to Russian companies on the domestic and external markets, including developers and manufacturers of high-tech industrial production, as well as attracting investment for organising various industries. The corporation includes 28 holdings in defence-related and civilian industries and approximately 600 companies, including such industrial giants as “AVTOVAZ”, “KAMAZ”, and “VSMPO-Avisma”.
SIBUR is the leader on the petrochemical market in Russia and Eastern Europe, providing full-cycle coverage in this industry: gas processing, production of monomers, plastics, rubber, fertilisers, tyres and rubber products, as well as plastics processing. SIBUR is a vertically integrated company, in which gas processing capacity provide petrochemical plants with raw materials of its own production.
The Holding unites enterprises in 20 regions of Russia with a total of more than 50,000 employees. Management is structured according to a product-divisional principle: SIBUR’s team includes three directorates (hydrocarbons, plastics and organic synthesis, synthetic rubber) and two affiliated companies (“SIBUR-Fertilisers” and “SIBUR-Russian Tyres”).
The company “Pirelli and C SpA” is a parent company, registered on the Italian Stock Exchange as part of an international group operating in 160 countries, and has a rich experience of more than 135 years in the sphere of manufacturing. The company “Pirelli Tyre” is the fifth-largest tyre manufacturer in the world in terms of profit and is a leader in the high-performance market segments. The Company owns 32 companies around the world. “Pirelli” also operates in the sphere of real estate through its company “Pirelli RE”, the assets of which are mainly located in Italy and Germany. Thanks to its concentration in technology and research, in recent years, through its companies “Pirelli Eco Technology” and “Pirelli Ambiente”, a number of industrial initiatives involving a high level of innovation were launched, such as in the field of sustainable mobility and renewable energy. The Group also includes the company “Pirelli Broadband Solutions”, which provides broadband access.
According to PRW.com, ZAO Tehstroi in Kazan Russia has ordered an extrusion line from Battenfeld-Cincinnati for the production of high-pressure pipes of up to 1,600 mm in diameter. It will be installed and start operations in early 2011.
The Austrian machinery maker said this will virtually double Tehstroi’s production capacity, and also extend the overall range of pipes produced for the Russian market in Russia. It said this will be the first extrusion line in Russia to manufacture HDPE high-pressure pipes with diameters ranging from 800 to 1,600 mm.
Tehstroi’s current annual output is approximately 22,000 tonnes. The line, which is being installed in response to growing demand in Russia, will increase the company’s production capacity to about 45,000 tonnes and its market share in Russia to more than 20%, according to Battenfeld-Cincinnati.
Tehstroi has up to now produced pipes with diameters ranging from 32 to 800 mm. These are sold to more than 1,000 customers on the domestic market in Russia and Kazakhstan.
The new line is designed as a coextrusion system for manufacturing pipes with a colour stripe. The line includes a 150 mm single-screw extruder, material feeding, die and downstream equipment as well as a machine control system.
David Eldridge (PRW.com)
Yesterday, 23 November 2010, meeting took place between SIBUR’s President Dmitry Konov and Shuzo Kaihori, President of Yokogawa Electric Corporation, as it was said in a joint press release of mentioned above companies.
The main topic of the meeting was the development of bilateral relations between the companies.
The collaboration between SIBUR and Yokogawa began more than 15 years ago with a small supply of equipment for the automation of industrial production in SIBUR’s enterprises. The big breakthrough in the development of relations between the companies was the signing of a partnership agreement in November 2006. The agreement was aimed at the fundamental modernization of technological processes in the enterprises of SIBUR using the latest systems for control, measurement, information technology and services, supplied by Yokogawa.
During the meeting Yokogawa’s management expressed their gratitude for the trust shown by selecting Yokogawa as the general contractor for the automation of the new complex Tobolsk-Polymer. For this project, SIBUR decided to make maximum use of international experience. Under the terms of the contract, Yokogawa Electric CIS Ltd., a subsidiary of the Japanese Yokogawa Electric Corporation, is currently performing a full range of work for the design, manufacture and supply of equipment, factory testing, as well as service support and training of SIBUR’s experts.
Issues concerning current projects for the modernization of SIBUR’s enterprises were also touched upon, these taking place under the framework of the Strategic Cooperation Agreement. In the future it is planned to submit to SIBUR a proposal for simulators for the training of operators of automated systems for the control of technological processes.
Magna International Inc., the world’s most diverse automotive supplier, announced the opening of its Technoplast facility in Kaluga, Russia.
Magna, represented by: Manfred Eibeck, Executive Vice-President Magna Europe and President, Magna Russia; Hubert Hödl, Vice-President Corporate Marketing & Business Development, Europe; and Erwin Winkler, President, Magna Exteriors & Interiors Europe, was joined in a grand opening ceremony with Anatoly Artamanov, Governor of Kaluga Region.
The Technoplast facility, which is a division of Magna Exteriors and Interiors, covers a production area of 15.000 square meters and currently employs 200 people. It is expected that the employee number will increase to approximately 340 people once the facility reaches full production in 2012.
“The automotive market in Russia plays a significant role in our overall global growth strategy of developing business in key growth markets,” said Erwin Winkler. “As OEMs focus on global expansion, the expectation is that their global suppliers are positioned to support them in all regions of the world.”
This new facility is integrated in the Kaluga automotive cluster and produces bumpers, front end modules, radiator grilles (assembly) and instrument panel-beams (assembly) for OEM customers such as Volkswagen/Skoda, PSA and Renault.
“We want to thank the federal and local authorities for their continued support of Magna and their ongoing commitment to the automotive industry in Russia,” said Manfred Eibeck. “Together we are pleased to be able to bring additional jobs and investment to the Kaluga area.”
Technoplast represents Magna’s fifth operation site in Russia. The other sites include three facilities located in the St. Petersburg region and the other located in Nizhny Novgorod. Magna currently employs approximately 600 people in Russia and expects to double that number once the new facilities are fully operational.
About Magna International
Magna International (www.magna.com) becomes the most diversified global automotive supplier. They design, develop and manufacture technologically advanced automotive systems, assemblies, modules and components, and engineer and assemble complete vehicles, primarily for sale to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of cars and light trucks. Magna’s capabilities include the design, engineering, testing and manufacture of automotive interior systems; seating systems; closure systems; body and chassis systems; vision systems; electronic systems; exterior systems; powertrain systems; roof systems; hybrid and electric vehicles/systems as well as complete vehicle engineering and assembly.
The company has approximately 90,000 employees in 242 manufacturing operations and 76 product development and engineering centers in 25 countries.
The 4th Russian Congress of Plastics Converters is being held at the Small Conference Hall of the Moscow Government building on the 22nd and 23rd November 2010. Address: 36/9, Novy Arbat street, Moscow. The nearest metro stations are Krasnopresnenskaya and Smolenskaya.
The goal of the congress is to bring together consumers of finished plastic products, plastic converters, technology licensors and investors.
Topics:
• Feedstock supply to domestic consumers
• New processing technologies from Western manufacturers
• State support of small and medium-sized businesses
Specific tasks of the congress are to discuss and forecast Russia’s market development, identify the current trends in the plastic industry, coordinate and define business activities.
Participants:
• Polymer converters
• Equipment manufacturers
• Industry scientists and researchers
• Government officials
• Representatives of trade and business associations
• Heads of public organisations
• Leading industry media
The congress is expected to feature statements by major players of the Russian market and preliminary agreements on cooperation and joint investments. The participants will discuss Russia’s market size, its segmentation and major market players.
The congress is organised by:
• Moscow City Government
• Russian Plastics Converters Association
• Messe Duesseldorf Moscow
• RCC Group
Commissioning of the two-filter presses and 4 slurry clarifiers at the Black Filtration stage at Crimea TITAN CJSC (Armyansk, Ukraine) has started. It is the successful experience of the Moore filters in TITAN-2 workshop at the white filtration stage that set the impulse to further development and perfecting of TiO2 production process, says press service company.
In the year 2005 technicians and management of Crimea TITAN CJSC made a decision to replace out-of-date drum vacuum-filters with the modern fully automated filter-presses.
Total cost of the equipment and installation works amounted to USD 18.5 mln. Start-up of two-filter presses at the post-treatment stage allowed workshop production capacity to be increased from 40 thsn.t/year to 60 thsn.t/year and improved the process of leaching of titanium dioxide suspension from water-soluble salts. Modernization of the black filtration site in the Titan-2 workshop will allow to decrease acid waste amount at this stage by 70-80%, wood flour consumption by 85-90%, and energy resources expenditure (gas, steam, power) by 40-50%. Switching over to fully automated black filtration process will eliminate human factor impact as much as possible which will improve consistency of quality of black liquor solutions, and increase site capacity with drastic reduction of the amount of vapors released in the working area.
By the end of this year titanium dioxide production capacity is expected to reach 105 thsn.t to become the highest in the history of the factory (the previous record was reached in 2008 – 90289 tons).
References:
Crimea TITAN CJSC is situated in the northern part of Crimea peninsula near its border with Kherson region (Ukraine), in the narrowest part of Crimean isthmus, on the shore of Sivash lakes, which is only 7 km away from Karakinitsky gulf of the Black Sea. It occupies the territory of 4 785 hectares.
Situated in a steppe, Armyansk with its population of 26 000 thousand is a satellite town of the company. The company and the town are in a close interconnection with each other.
Crimea TITAN CJSC is a part of International Holding OstChem.
Crimea TITAN CJSC is the biggest Eastern European titanium dioxide producer. The main activity of the company consists in manufacturing such pigment titanium dioxide grades as Crimea TiOx-220, Crimea TiOx-230, which main application is for paintwork materials and mechanical rubber goods industries, for plastics making and in many other industries. Moreover, brand new Crimea TiOx-270 and Crimea TiOx-280 have been developed. They are applied for making paintwork materials, coatings with high atmosphere resistance and good decorative properties and also for printing ink manufacturing. Titanium dioxide sales amount to 90% of total sales volume. Titanium dioxide is manufactured in two production workshops, “Titan-1″ and “Titan-2″, with annual output of 40 thousand tons each.
The company also produces other types of chemical products (iron oxide pigments, mineral fertilizers, sulphuric acid, aluminum sulphate, sodium aluminate, Sodium silicate, iron vitriol, phosphogypsum).
The average number of employees was 4953 people.
Managers and executives of Salavatnefteorgsintez JSC (SNOS) and its affiliates met to discuss industrial safety and labour protection issues, says Press Service company.
I Corporate Conference of Salavatnefteorgsintez Managers and Executives focused on labor and health protection of the employees, technical diagnosis and expert examination of industrial safety, fire protection, risks identification and management and environmental safety measures for petrochemical enterprises.
The Industrial Safety and Labour Protection Conference became a full-scale forum for communication and sharing of experience for Salavat petrochemists and the Bashkir Experts’ Association, the Urals Department of the Federal Service for Environment, Technology and Nuclear Oversight, the State Labour Inspection in RB, Regional Office №20 of the Federal Bio-Medical Agency of Russia, the Ministry for Natural Resources and Ecology of RB, the Ufa State Petroleum Technical University and the Ufa Research and Development Establishment for Occupational Medicine and Human Ecology.
One of main topics was SNOS’s changeover to a transparent occupational risks management system which is to underlie the employees’ health and life preservation. At present, regular targeted basic compliance assessment is replaced by the raid system of continuous 24/7 monitoring of industrial safety and labour protection. As prescribed by regulations, all personnel of SNOS and its contractors are obliged to pass the personnel appraisal procedure. Besides, in the nearest future, the documents will come into force that focus on increasing personal responsibility in compliance with industrial safety and labour protection standards – the Provisions on Production Supervision and the Provisions on Regulations Violation.
Many participants emphasized the role of the conference in prompting cooperation of the Company’s operating structures with the environmental and industrial safety and labour protection department and various organizations which will facilitate settling industrial safety and labour protection issues.
According to LUKOIL Press Center, Alekperov, OAO LUKOIL President, and Viktor Yanukovich, President of Ukraine, participated yesterday (11.11.2010) in a festive ceremony dedicated to the commissioning of a chlorine and caustic soda production unit at Karpatneftekhim, a LUKOIL Group enterprise, in Kalush, Ukraine.
The new unit will allow the Сompany to produce 200,000 tons of commercial caustic soda and about 180,000 tons of gaseous chlorine annually through the course of the electromembrane process introduced by UHDE, a German engineering company.
Production of gaseous chlorine will fully satisfy Karpatneftekhim’s demand for this kind of raw material used to produce suspended polyvinyl chloride, whose production is scheduled for December, 2010.
The chlorine and caustic soda production unit will also make gaseous hydrogen, which will be used at the site in the fuel system of the olefine production unit.
The investments in the construction project of the chlorine and caustic soda production unit came to over USD 150 million. The construction of the new production unit took about two years.
“The new chemical production unit will allow us to produce the products compliant with global quality standards, to considerably enhance our performance efficiency, to reduce the consumption of energy resources 1.5-fold and to secure high technological and environmental safety standards of the production process,” Vagit Alekperov, OAO LUKOIL President, said.
In August, 2010 Karpatneftekhim commissioned an ethylene and polyethylene production unit with an annual capacity of 250,000 and 100,000 tons, respectively.
The EBRD (The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) has extended a long-term loan of EUR 8 million to the Russian subsidiary of Finland’s Ab Rani Plast Oy to finance the construction of a plant in Russia’s Kaluga Region. The plant will supply Russian industrial clients with flexible packaging for agriculture, consumer goods, electric insulation and pallet wrapping.
“This project is a major investment in the future and one of the biggest in Rani Plast’s history. Our long-term goal is to become Russia’s leading supplier of plastic film and the decision to build a plant next to our customers is our response to the rapid growth of the Russian market. This is something we have dreamt of for 15 years,” said Mikael Ahlbäck, Managing Director of Rani Plast.
Finland’s Lemminkäinen is building the EUR 20 million plant on a turnkey basis at its industrial park in Kaluga. Under this type of contract, Lemminkäinen is responsible for the transfer to the Russian subsidiary of Finland’s Ab Rani Plast Oy of the land plot, infrastructure, design permission and the plant.
“The EBRD is delighted to support Rani Plast’s new plant in Russia. Medium-sized businesses have an important contribution to make to Foreign Direct Investment in Russia. Rani Plast is renowned for good quality products and high environmental and health and safety standards, as well as the very best industry practices,” said Eric Rasmussen, the EBRD’s Director for Industry, Commerce and Agriculture in Russia.
The maturity of this EBRD’s loan is nine years.
Rani Plast is a mid-size, family-owned company, specialising in manufacturing of multi-layered plastic film for the flexible packaging sector. It is the biggest producer of plastic film industrial packaging in Scandinavia.
Rani Plast has been exporting its products to Russia since 1963, meeting the Russian packaging industry’s demand for high quality polyethylene film.