LyondellBasell's Plastics Business to Double with Schulman Deal
Petrochemicals company LyondellBasell Industries NV will buy plastic composites maker A. Schulman Inc for $1.24 billion, doubling the size of its plastics business. LyondellBasell will pay $42 per share, an 8.7 percent premium to Schulman's Wednesday close, the companies said on Thursday. Schulman's shares were trading at $42.15 before the opening bell. The deal comes amid a wave of big mergers in the chemicals sector.
Dow, DuPont Complete Planned Merger
Dow Chemical Co and DuPont said on Friday the companies had successfully completed their planned $130 billion merger to form DowDuPont. Shares of DuPont and Dow stopped trading at the close of Aug. 31 and will now trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "DWDP". Dow and DuPont announced the merger in December 2015. "The true value of this merger lies in the intended creation of three industry powerhouses that will define their markets…
BASF: Role of Oil & Gas Unit to Decline
CEO says focus of profitability drive to be on chems, agchems, but sees no reason to exit oil and gas activities. BASF, the world's largest chemicals maker, said its focus would be on boosting profitability at its chemicals and crop protection businesses as the contribution to earnings from oil and gas, hurt by low crude oil prices, diminishes further. The company, whose products include catalytic converters, vitamins…
Liveris to Retire From DowDuPont
Dow Chemical Co, which is merging with DuPont, said Chief Executive Andrew Liveris would retire as chairman of the combined DowDuPont company in July 2018. Liveris said in February 2016 he would retire by mid-2017, following a prolonged battle with hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, who had been questioning his leadership. Liveris has been slated to serve as the executive chairman of the combined DowDuPont company after deal close, expected in August.
DuPont Settles Teflon Chemical Lawsuit
DuPont and Chemours Co said on Monday they had agreed to pay about $671 million in cash to settle several lawsuits related to the leak of a toxic chemical, used to make Teflon, that has been linked to cancer and other diseases. The company said it settled about 3,550 personal injury claims arising from the leak of perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as PFOA or C-8, from DuPont's plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
US Refiners Face Severe Labor Shortage
After years of running flat out, U.S. Gulf Coast refiners are lining up repairs to plants in 2017 - but facing a severe labor shortage that could delay work, drive up costs and raise accident risks. Fuel producers such as Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC.N) and Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N) have delayed routine work in the past 24 months amid high margins. Those margins collapsed this year in a global fuel supply glut, providing an incentive for refiners to undertake the shutdowns necessary for maintenance.
EU Halts Dow, DuPont Deal Review
EU antitrust regulators have halted their scrutiny of the $130 billion merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont after the companies failed to provide crucial data, the European Commission said on Friday. The EU competition enforcer halted its investigation on Oct. 13, according to a filing on its website, the second time it has done so. "This procedure in merger investigations is activated if the parties do not provide an important piece of information that the Commission has requested from them…
Third Point Adds New bets on Energy, Cuts Stake in Dow
Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point added new bets in the energy and information technology sectors with investments in Whiting Petroleum Corp., Facebook and Activision Blizzard Inc, according to regulatory filings on Friday. Third Point, which invests roughly $16 billion and is widely followed because of its years of strong returns, also made new bets on Tesoro Petroleum and Devon Energy Corp.
Dow Chemical to Settle Price-Fixing Case
Dow Chemical Co said on Friday it has agreed to pay $835 million to settle a decade-old lawsuit brought by customers, but denied that it had conspired to artificially inflate polyurethane prices. The settlement to resolve the $1.06 billion judgment against Dow imposed in 2013, comes nearly a year after both sides abruptly backtracked from a previous agreement to resolve the case. "While Dow is settling this case…
Dow Chemical Operating Profit Rises
Dow Chemical Co reported 6.5 percent rise in quarterly operating profit as lower cost improved margins. Net income available to the company's common shareholders, excluding certain items, rose to $1.08 billion, or 93 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $992 million, or 85 cents per share, a year earlier. Net sales fell 20 percent to $11.46 billion. Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri
Argentina Inks $500 mln Gas Production Deal with Dow Chemical
Argentina's state-run energy company YPF said on Tuesday it has entered a $500 million joint venture with Dow Chemical to drill for natural gas next year in the Vaca Muerta shale formation in Patagonia. A spokesman for the company said the investment will be split evenly between Dow and YPF during 2016. Production will come from Vaca Muerta's El Orejano field. "By the end of 2016, production at El Orejano could triple to reach an average 2 million cubic meters per day…
Dow, DuPont to Merge
Each co's shareholders to get about 50 pct of DowDuPont; DuPont CEO Breen to get top job at combined company. Chemical giants DuPont and Dow Chemical Co agreed to merge in an all-stock deal valuing the combined company at $130 billion, with plans to eventually split into three. The deal, which is likely to face intense regulatory scrutiny, allows the new company - to be called DowDuPont - to rejig assets based on the diverging fortunes of their businesses that make agriculture chemicals and plastics.
Huge Saudi Sadara Project Signs Deals for Storage, Port Services
Saudi Arabia's Sadara Basic Services, fully owned by Sadara Chemical Co, has signed agreements covering storage facilities and port services, it said on Sunday as the firm prepares to start producing petrochemicals by the end of this year. Sadara Chemical is a $20 billion petrochemical joint venture between national oil giant Saudi Aramco and U.S. firm Dow Chemical. The partners have said the venture will go ahead on schedule despite slumping global oil and petrochemical prices.
Saudi Butanol Co Starts Trial Ops at Jubail Plant
Saudi Butanol Co, a joint venture of local petrochemicals firms, has begun trials of its plant in Jubail and expects commercial operations to start in the first half of 2016. Testing will take between three and six months at the plant, a statement from Sahara Petrochemical Co said on Tuesday. The project is owned by group consisting of Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co, Sadara Chemical Co (a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Co ) and Saudi Acrylic Acid Co (SAAC).
Dow Chemical Beats Street on Cheap Feedstock
Dow Chemical Co reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as the company's operating margins rose for the eleventh quarter in a row, helped largely by low raw material costs at its plastics-making business. The U.S. chemical maker's plastics business has benefited from easy access to cheap shale gas, which is stripped down into ethane to make ethylene - a key component of plastics and many chemicals. Global crude oil prices have halved in the past year…
EU Set to Back Carbon Market 2019 Reform Start
Carbon price expected to reach 20 euros by 2020. The European Parliament on Wednesday is expected to back a 2019 start to reform of the world's largest emissions market in a step towards deeper change and higher carbon prices. The aim is make the EU Emissions Trading System strong enough to spur investment in lower-carbon energy and comes ahead of U.N. talks in Paris at the end of the year over a deal to curb global warming. Following a vote expected after 1 p.m.
Dow Profit Rises 45 pct as Margins Expand
Dow Chemical Co's quarterly profit jumped 45 percent, helped by higher margins in five of its six units. Net income available to shareholders rose to $1.39 billion, or $1.18 per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $964 million, or 79 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales fell nearly 15 percent to $12.37 billion. Reporting by Kanika Sikka
Qatar Petroleum, Shell Halt Petrochemical Project
Qatar Petroleum and Shell said they had decided not to proceed with their $6.4 billion Al Karaana petrochemical project in the Gulf state, the region's second big energy project to be shelved since oil prices began to plunge late last year. Prices quoted by contractors to build the huge complex showed the project was "commercially unfeasible, particularly in the current economic climate prevailing in the energy industry", the two companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
US Approves LNG Exports from Sempra, Carib Energy Projects
The U.S. Energy Department on Wednesday approved liquefied natural gas exports from two projects, as lawmakers pressed the administration to move quickly to clear a backlog of applications to ship gas abroad. Sempra Energy's Cameron LNG facility in Louisiana and Carib Energy's small-scale export project in Florida are the first projects to receive final permits from the department to export gas to non-free-trade-agreement countries since Cheniere's Sabine Pass project was approved in 2012.
Houston May Outgrow its Skilled Labor Supply
Bustling Houston, one of the bright spots in the U.S. economy, is growing so fast that business leaders fear running out of skilled labor as billions are spent building new energy infrastructure on the Gulf Coast. The Greater Houston Partnership, the business chamber for the 10-county region, on Monday launched a training plan with companies, junior colleges, high schools and social service agencies to prepare people for thousands of new jobs being created for welders, pipefitters and plumbers.
