My Turn – Commentary on Global Polyolefins and Elastomers – Dr. Balaji B. Singh
India – China Opportunities and Reactions of people who visit for the first time
With PlastIndia just completed and ChinaPlas around the corner, the thoughts turn to the media coverage of the plastics industry and life in these countries.
It has become fashionable for the media reporters who travel to these countries for the first time in their life (probably the first time for them to step out of their small-town USA ice cream parlors, turkey legs, and demolition derbies….) to comment more on social issues, general chaos and forget to comment on the real issues. “Plastics growth, GDP growth… modernization…. and potential for progress….” Most reporters are fascinated with “stark poverty” rather than its general acceptance and coexistence.
Case in point. President Bush recently visited India to hold bilateral talks on nuclear energy and visited the Indian School of Business (harder to get into than even Harvard and Yale) to meet the bright entrepreneurs – while the news media were obsessed with covering red-light districts of Bombay, garbage dumpsters and dark and damp remote places.
For those who lived in China and India and traveled there frequently, it is quite apparent that there is a system, discipline, work ethic, and burning desire to succeed in all that apparent chaos. India is the largest democracy in the world.
India is the only country in the world that is governed by the communist party in two of its states – because the people of those states wanted it that way… You can’t imagine a more democratic nation than that. China- India together holds the world’s highest technology and intellectual capital for the future.
The plastics organizations, companies of our interest, have the responsibility to educate the people before they go to these countries so they are effective and focus on work rather than wallowing in their cultural shocks…
The opinions expressed are mine and mine alone and do not represent Chemical Market Resources Inc. as a whole…
Chemical Market Resources, Inc’s FlexPO 2006 conference & 2006 Polyolefins Licensing Fair in Singapore
Chemicals Market Resources in collaboration with Singapore Economic Development Board is holding its 11th International Conference FlexPO2006 in Singapore. The International Conference on Innovations in Polyolefins and Elastomers conference will be held from 15th to 17th March 2006 at the Singapore Marriott Hotel. This year’s conference theme will cover “The Polyolefins Industry in Transition”, Polyolefin license and technology issues” and “Bridging the gap – polyolefins and performance elastomers”.
In conjunction with the conference, Chemical Market Resources, Inc. is also holding licensing fair on the 15th and 16th of March 2006.
The conference, due to its location and attraction for the growing Asian markets will have representatives from all the major global chemical companies in the world. FlexPO 2006 is expected to have a higher degree of representation from the Asian polyolefin industry.
Petrochemical producers announce 4th quarter earnings
Westlake Chemical
Westlake Chemical Corporation reported net income of $73.6 million, or $1.13 per diluted share, and income from operations of $112.5 million on net sales of $636.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2005.
The improvement in net sales and income from operations was primarily the result of increased selling prices, which outpaced higher energy and feedstock costs, and higher vinyl segment sales volumes. These increases were partially offset by lower ethylene, polyethylene, and styrene sales volumes. These lower sales volumes were caused by production outages at the company’s Lake Charles facilities resulting from Hurricane Rita. The Lake Charles facilities were shut down for approximately two weeks during the fourth quarter primarily due to the lack of electrical power and other utilities.
For the year ended December 31, 2005, net income was $226.8 million, or $3.48 per diluted share, on net sales of $2,441.1 million. This compares favorably with the year ended December 31, 2004, net income of $120.7 million, or $2.18 per diluted share, on net sales of $1,985.4 million. EBITDA (earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation, and amortization) for the fourth quarter of 2005 was $135.4 million compared to $100.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2004 and $90.1 million in the third quarter of 2005.
OLEFINS SEGMENT
Income from operations for the Olefins segment decreased by $9.2 million to $56.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2005 from $65.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2004.
Fourth quarter of 2005 income from operations for the Olefins segment increased by $11.1 million from the $45.1 million income from operations reported in the third quarter of 2005. This increase was primarily due to higher selling prices, which were partially offset by higher energy and raw material costs and lower sales volumes. The lower sales volumes resulted from the outage caused by Hurricane Rita.
VINYL SEGMENT
Income from operations for the vinyl segment increased by $39.2 million to $57.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2005 from $18.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. This increase was primarily due to higher sales volumes and selling prices for all of the segment’s products. These increases were partially offset by higher energy and raw material costs.
Fourth quarter income from operations for the vinyl segment increased by $29.0 million from the $28.9 million income from operations reported in the third quarter of 2005. This increase was primarily due to higher selling prices in the vinyl segment, which outpaced higher energy and raw material costs.
ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil Corporation reported fourth quarter 2005 results. Earnings excluding special items were $10,320 million, an increase of $1,900 million from the fourth quarter of 2004. Fourth quarter net income included a special gain of $390 million from the resolution of a previously disclosed litigation issue. Including this gain, net income of $10,710 million ($1.71 per share) increased by $2,290 million.
Downstream earnings were $2,390 million, up $46 million from the fourth quarter 2004. Higher refining and marketing margins were partly offset by residual impacts from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Petroleum product sales were 8,322 kbd, 124 kbd lower than last year’s fourth quarter, primarily due to the hurricanes.
U.S. Downstream earnings were $1,158 million, up $282 million. Non-US Downstream earnings of $1,232 million were $236 million lower than the fourth quarter of 2004.
Chemical earnings excluding special items were $835 million, down $413 million from the same quarter a year ago primarily due to reduced margins from increased feedstock costs. Prime product sales of 6,292 KT was down 657 KT from last year’s fourth quarter, largely due to the hurricanes.
Shell
Shell reported lower earnings for its chemicals segment. The earnings for 2005 fell to $ 991 million as compared to $1,148 million in 2004.
Full-year 2005 Chemicals segment earnings were $991 million and included $565 million of net charges, mainly from the divestment of the polyolefins joint venture Basell and legal provisions. 2004 earnings were $1,148 million and included charges of $368 million mainly from impairments. Excluding these effects, 2005 earnings were 3% higher than a year ago reflecting improved margins and chemicals feedstock trading partly offset by the loss of earnings from discontinued operations.
The total 2005 sales volume for chemicals was about 22,826 KT, about 6% lower as compared to 2004. Asset utilization declined by some 3% mainly due to the impact of the hurricanes on operations in the USA.
Comments: ExxonMobil Corporation versus ExxonMobil Chemicals is a good example of a popular myth that chemical companies with oil parentage have an advantage over those without an oil parentage – it is far from the truth.
The chemical companies, independent of their parentage have to compete in the marketplace to maintain their position. Look at what happened to BP Chemicals, Shell Chemicals….,
Huntsman to spin off its commodity chemicals and polymer units
Huntsman Corporation announced its plans to spin off commodity-chemical and polymer units to focus on more profitable specialty chemicals.
According to the company, a sale of the units to another company still is a prospect. Huntsman also said Friday its fourth-quarter loss widened to $61 million on costs from Gulf Coast hurricane damages.
A split into basic and specialty chemical businesses “dramatically adds value for our shareholders,” the company said.
The pigment segment would be joined with Huntsman’s three specialty units, including polyurethanes, to form a company with $9 million in annual sales. A second company for basic chemicals and polymers would have $6 billion in sales.
Specialty products deliver more stable profits and are linked less to wide fluctuations in energy and raw-material costs, compared with commodity products such as plastics.
Huntsman recently ended talks with potential buyers for the entire company after receiving bids that were too low.
Comments: The breakup of Huntsman Chemical was discussed at length on the February 24th earnings conference call. It was pointed out that this transaction will be a legal separation into two entities as a spin-off of the commodities side with eventually a probable issue of two separate stocks.
Currently, the Huntsman companies are segregated into 6 operating segments: (1) Advanced Materials, (2) Base Chemicals, (3) Performance Products, (4) Pigments, (5) Polymers, and (6) Polyurethanes. The Base Chemicals business to be formed will include the Polymers and the current Base Chemicals segment. The Performance Products company will be comprised of the remaining 4 segments plus the new Ciba Textiles business. Management points out that this is the most logical split since 75% of the company’s EBITDA comes from the performance side and the remaining 25% from the Base Chemicals side. It is easy to see therefore where the future lies in the Huntsman structure. The objectives of the new Performance Chemicals company will be to achieve a more global stance (now about 20% in Asia), and a universally more technologically advanced platform that is less volatile than commodities and less energy dependent on the wild swings in the crude and natural gas market feedstock drivers. Now that the 2005 hurricane impact is behind and certain operations difficulties have been rectified, the company is most bullish about overall performance for 2006, particularly in the second half of the year. Management said that much remains to be decided on the bifurcation of the company. When asked what stock value would entice the company to sell out, there was no speculation other than a comment of “a substantial increase” from current levels recognized in the market.
The board of directors and a special committee (now disbanded) decided that they could easily split the company into two entities as well as a buyer so the talks on a sale were terminated. The driver was and is the maximization of shareholder value. As this story unfolds, there will be a great deal of interest and perhaps the sale of a spun-off entity from the company – this was not ruled out. Huntsman is in control of its destiny and will continue to make predictable and perhaps surprising moves that will be watched with a great deal of wide interest.
SABIC to take 50% stake in Saudi Arabian, Kayan Petrochemicals Company project
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) signed a memorandum of understanding with Kayan Petrochemicals Company, under which SABIC will “review all works, studies, and agreements, and update the respective feasibility study in no later than two months.” The partners will enter into a final deal “should they agree upon the results.” Sabic has already decided to take a 50% stake in the project.
Kayan Petrochemicals Co. (Riyadh), a public company recently established to invest in chemicals, is developing the project. PMD has a share in Kayan and has been seeking a partner to invest in the complex.
The petrochemical project under development will have several products. These include (1) Ethylene (1,350 KT/year), (2) Propylene (700 KT/year), (3) Benzene (100 KT/year), (4) Butene-1 (50 KT/year), (5) Polyethylene (950 KT/year), (6) Polypropylene (600 KT/year), (7) Ethylene oxide (530 KT/year), (8) Ethylene glycol (660 KT/year), (9) Bisphenol A (240 KT/year), (10) Phenol (200 KT/year), and others. Additional plants will produce methylamines, ethanolamines, and ethoxylates.
Comments: In 2003, PMD set forth to establish the largest private-sector petrochemical project in the Middle East. After the first phase of financing, Kayan Petrochemicals Co. was established in October 2005 as PMD looked for potential partners. The involvement of SABIC should serve as a boost in the arm as the project enters its second phase of financing.
India proposes to reduce customs duty on basic and organic chemicals
The Indian Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, has proposed to reduce the customs duty on basic and organic chemicals from 15 per cent to 10 per cent. For basic cyclic and acyclic hydrocarbons and their derivatives to 5 per cent and for catalysts from 10 per cent to 7.5 per cent.
Stating that plastics are important raw materials for many industries, the Budget has proposed the reduction of duty on major bulk plastics such as PVC, LDPE, and PP from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.
To boost domestic plastic production, the Finance Minister has proposed that for raw materials used in plastic manufacturing, such as styrene, EDC, and VCM, the import duty should be reduced to 2 per while naphtha for plastics will have nil duty.
Comments: Throughout the last decade, tariffs on imports of petrochemicals into India have come down steadily, led by the decline in polymer customs duties. In the pre-liberalization era import duties at times were as high as 100% to 200%. Post-liberalization this has changed and tariffs have come down. The excise duty for commodity plastics has decreased from 35% in 1994 to 10% and now after the 2006 budget, it has been reduced to 5%.
The import tariffs, however, remain above those observed in other countries in the region. For example, polymer levies in Taiwan and Korea are currently only 2.5%. China has agreed to reduce duties by a further 10% under the WTO accession schedule to about 6.5%. All belong to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (“APEC”) organization, which envisages duty-free regional trade by the end of 2020. Thus, a further decline in import tariffs on polymer products in India seems imminent.
Agreement between PDVSA & ExxonMobil for Jose petrochemical complex terminated
The agreement between the Venezuelan government and ExxonMobil has been terminated. According to Venezuelan officials, ExxonMobil Chemical did not comply with the terms of an agreement for a $3 billion petrochemical and derivatives complex planned for Jose, in Eastern Venezuela.
ExxonMobil and Venezuela’s state-owned petrochemical company have been studying the feasibility of the project since August 2004. Venezuela’s announcement puts an end to weeks of speculation that the project would be canceled ExxonMobil has refused to comply with new government rules for what Chávez has termed the “re-nationalization” of the oil industry, which required foreign firms to convert their assets in Venezuela into a joint venture with the state by the end of 2004. Instead of complying with that rule, ExxonMobil recently sold its operating rights for the exploration of the Quiamare-LaCeiba well in Venezuela to its partner Repsol-YPF.
According to ExxonMobil, the company has met all of its Jose project commitments made more than a year ago with the state-owned petrochemical company Pequiven, now called Corporación Petroquimica de Venezuela.
Comments: The 50-50 project was expected to produce 1.05 million tons per year of ethylene and 1.05 million tons of polyethylene. The project is to be located at the Jose Petrochemicals complex in eastern Venezuela, but there had been concerns about the availability of natural gas for such a large project. Currently, Venezuela is in talks with Brazilian companies to replace ExxonMobil in the project. Rumors indicate that Braskem is the key contender for the project.
ExxonMobil has been resisting tax hikes and contract changes amid a so-called “re-nationalization” of Venezuela’s oil industry.
In 2004, Exxon was the only company to publicly speak against a royalty hike on extra-heavy oil production in the Orinoco River basin. Oil companies, including ConocoPhillips, Total SA, Chevron Corp., and Statoil, agreed to the new terms without a struggle while ExxonMobil threatened international arbitration.
Last year, ExxonMobil was the only foreign oil company in Venezuela that refused to convert its operating contract into a joint venture with state oil company PDVSA, preferring instead to sell its share to Spain’s Repsol YPF. ExxonMobil resisted contract changes for 32 privately run oil fields that will now be dominated by PDVSA under new joint-venture companies. These moves have put ExxonMobil on PDVSA President Rafael Ramirez’s blacklist.
Huntsman sells its US butadiene business to Texas Petrochemicals
Huntsman Corporation announced that the Company has signed a letter of intent to sell the assets of its US butadiene and MTBE business, which includes a manufacturing facility located in Port Neches, Texas, to Texas Petrochemicals, L.P. for a sales price of $275 million, subject to customary adjustments. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2006.
Huntsman has owned the business since its 1994 acquisition of Texaco Chemical Company. The manufacturing facility has a capacity of approximately 900 million pounds of butadiene per year and approximately 11,000 barrels per day of MTBE. The business has about 240 employees. The business had 2005 revenues of approximately $626 million and EBITDA of approximately $43 million.
Huntsman’s PO/MTBE and Oxides/Olefins facilities in Port Neches and its facility in nearby Port Arthur are not included in the sale.
Comments: Butadiene is one of the cyclical Basic 6 petrochemical commodities: ethylene, propylene, butadiene, and aromatics BTX. While the butadiene business provided a positive return for Huntsman over its 12 years of ownership, the product is currently tight and Huntsman is selling at the top of the petrochemicals cycle to Texas Petrochemicals. The purchase by Texas Petrochemicals will give the company more than 2 Billion pounds/year of butadiene capacity (a core business) and will increase the company’s lead substantially as the largest butadiene producer in the Americas and possibly the world. While the outlook for butadiene is bright in the short and medium term, such commodities must inevitably face the cyclic nature of the commodity petrochemical products. At virtually the same time as the butadiene sale, Huntsman also announced it will purchase Ciba’s textiles businesses globally for about 2/3rds the same net price as the butadiene sale. So it could be looked at that the company is “trading up” a regional commodity for a more differentiated global product line that will reportedly impact EBITDA more substantially than the butadiene business would have alone. The excess from the sale of the butadiene business will be used to pay down debt. This is a good strategic move.
Huntsman company officials have recently commented that they are disappointed in the stock market’s valuation of their shares as more in line with a commodity-based company without valuing the shares at a range of a differentiated products chemicals company. The Ciba for butadiene move should help correct this perception. Slowly but surely Huntsman is in a transition from a commodity house to a differentiated products company which will improve performance and undoubtedly the street’s valuation of their shares. The Ciba acquisition also expands Huntsman’s presence in the high-growth Asian markets which should also help company performance. We would expect to see more spin-offs of Huntsman commodity businesses and for the company to continue its quest to upgrade its portfolio and change the complexion of the company entirely.
Japanese company Idemitsu Kosan launches Xarec syndiotactic polystyrene
Japanese petrochemical company Idemitsu Kosan has started selling its Xarec® syndiotactic polystyrene (SPS) engineering polymer in US and Europe, following Dow’s withdrawal of its Questra analog from the market.
Idemitsu Kosan started the manufacture of Xarec compounds at DH Compounding’s site in Tennessee and plans to develop ties with new customers such as automotive and electronic components makers in North America and Europe. The company’s aim, it says, is to transform SPS into a product with a global market.
Comments: Syndiotactic polystyrene (SPS) is a crystalline version of polystyrene and was a laboratory curiosity for many years because there were no means to produce commercial quantities economically.
By the late 1980s, Idemitsu Kosan developed and patented a cost-effective manufacturing process for a new material introduced as Xarec SPS. Dow Chemical showed interest and negotiated a license from Idemitsu for the introduction in North America of Questra SPS products. While Dow focused on North America, Idemitsu focused exclusively on the development of markets for the identical Xarec SPS in Asia. Applications ranged from electronic components and household appliances to industrial components and structural household items. The unique and valuable properties of SPS are heat and chemical resistance along with enhanced dimensional stability and reduced cycle times in the production of components.
In 2005, Dow announced their exit from their Questra SPS product line, and at the same time, Idemitsu obtained the existing formulations and customer lists from Dow to replace Questra with the identical product Xarec. Idemitsu is modernizing its SPS production facility in Chiba, Japan, and will offer worldwide Xarec products with formulations identical to the former Questra product line.
Idemitsu stresses the identical nature of Xarex and Questra and encourages all SPS customers globally to contact the company for the latest details on grades, services, and information on the replacement of the now discontinued Questra product line with the identical Xarec grades and supply capabilities.
The long-standing problem of SPS is its potential product positioning. SPS fits into specialty polystyrene applications (improved clarity/impact compared to commodity PS), unfortunately so do SMMAs, ACN, SAN, PMMA/PS sandwiches, and others… SPS essentially is positioned as a poor man’s CAN, SAN, and never found its niche.
Private equity firm Charterhouse puts Lucite for sale
Private equity firm Charterhouse Capital has put Lucite up for sale, almost a year after hiring Deutsche Bank to consider its strategic options. The decision to press ahead with a sale comes as Lucite, which is owned by private equity firm Charterhouse, is being charged by the European Commission as part of a cartel that fixed prices on chemicals.
The company, one of the world’s biggest acrylic makers, plans to send out information to prospective buyers in the next couple of weeks and set a deadline sometime towards the end of March for first-round bids.
Lucite and several European chemicals companies in August were charged with running a cartel for years to fix prices on acrylic chemicals, used to make transparent plastics used in cars, electronics, and other consumer goods.
Comments: The heritage of Lucite’s businesses comes from DuPont and ICI. In the 1930s ICI invented the first commercial process to produce MMA. DuPont & ICI started investing jointly in acrylics in the 1990s and in 1993, ICI acquired DuPont’s methacrylates business.
In 1999, Charterhouse Development Capital acquired ICI Acrylics and formed INEOS Acrylics.
Lucite has 16 plants in nine countries, six of them in the United States and Mexico. The company has about a 25 percent share of the global market for MMA. Charterhouse Capital has put a price tag of about $2.5 billion for the company. Lucite’s annual sales are about $1.4 billion.
Several MMA producers as well as private equity firms could be interested in Lucite. The company is developing a new technology to produce MMA which will significantly reduce the manufacturing costs and has plans to commercialize it by 2007 at its plant in Singapore. The major MMA producers include (1) Mitsubishi Rayon, (2) Rohm & Haas, (3) LG Chem, and (4) Sumitomo Chemical.
Methyl methacrylate unlike most other chemicals has its independent market as a monomer and as a polymer PMMA. Thus making the PMMA which is mostly processed into sheet applications grew independently of the MMA producers. PMMA is still the most preferred glazing sheet in the world with no competition and will remain at this level. The nearest competitors Polystryene (lacks clarity) Polycarbonate (too expensive and over-engineered for PMMA applications) and SAN and ACN are more expensive.
Lanxess completes the sale of its Dorlastan® fibers business to Asahi Kasei
LANXESS completed the sale of its Dorlastan® fibers business. In late 2005, LANXESS and Asahi Kasei Fibers Corporation (AKF) of Osaka, Japan signed a sale and purchase agreement for the Dorlastan® business and signed a memorandum of understanding. The Dorlastan® Fibers business includes production facilities at Dormagen, Germany, and Bushy Park, South Carolina, United States.
The Dorlastan® brand has been one of the leading brands in the synthetic fibers market since 1964, noted for excellent stretching properties, resilience, and wear comfort along with extreme resistance and durability. In the mid-1970s Dorlastan® revolutionized pantyhose and swimwear, and since the 1980s the fiber has also been used to make stretch jeans.
Comments: Dorlastan® is a brand name of Bayer’s now Asahi Kasei’s spandex fiber. Spandex was first invented by DuPont scientist Joseph C. Shivers in 1959. It is a long-chain synthetic fiber that consists of polyester and polyurethane segments. The soft and rubbery segments of polyester or polyether polyols allow the fiber to stretch up to 600% with full recovery. The hard segments, usually urethanes or urethane-ureas, impart rigidity and tensile strength. Spandex is always blended with other natural and man-made fibers such as cotton, wool, silk, and linen. A small amount of this fiber is sufficient to obtain excellent elastic recovery, dimensional stability, and elasticity. Its main advantage over other elastic fibers such as rubber thread is its durability attributed to its outstanding resistance to body oils, perspiration, lotions, or detergents. Garments, in particular, lady’s garments are the largest application of spandex. At the same time, it has also made significant inroads into men’s cloth and non-underwear categories.
In acquiring Dorlastan®, Asahi Kasei can strengthen its position as a major manufacturer of synthetic elastic fibers and expand its geographical presence.
According to the agreement, Asahi Kasei acquired the Dorlastan® production facilities in Dormagen, Germany, and Bushy Park, South Carolina. With existing plants in Japan, Taiwan, China, and Thailand, this increased its global reach in the Spandex industry.
This move is part of Lanxess’ restructuring efforts. Lanxess was formed by spinning off Bayer’s chemicals and polymers businesses. Effective April 1, 2005, the polyamide and polyester monofilaments business was carved out of the former Dorlastan Fibers & Monofil GmbH and transferred to a separate company, Perlon Monofil GmbH. The two business areas had no customers or products in common and operated in different markets.
This reorganization paved the way for the sale of the Dorlastan® business.
Mitsubishi Rayon & Honam Petrochemicals form MMA joint venture in South Korea
Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. has signed an agreement to establish a joint venture with Honam Petrochemical Corporation to produce and sell methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomers and polymers in South Korea.
The next step will be a feasibility study, ahead of the actual establishment of the joint venture. The joint venture will have a 50-50 stake in the business.
The MMA plant will have a production capacity of 90,000 tons annually, based on C4 direct oxidation process. The joint venture will also produce MMA-based polymers with a capacity of 40,000 tons annually, based on continuous bulk polymerization. The new plant will be located in South Korea but the actual site has not yet been decided.
Comments: Mitsubishi Rayon has been one of the leading producers of MMA. The company has identified its MMA and acrylonitrile business complexes as its core businesses and is accelerating the expansion of its MMA business in East Asia to become the world’s No. 1 player. This joint venture with Honam Petrochemicals will help the company gain inroads into South Korean markets where the demand is increasing.
Honam Petrochemical has been producing MMA monomers since 2001, based on the C4 direct process, and has an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons. The joint venture with Mitsubishi Rayon offers Honam Petrochemical the means to boost its monomer output, thus responding to the vigorous demand from users in the IT sector, and also expanding into the production of polymers for IT applications.
C4 oxidation process remains allusive to the North American markets. The Acetone Cyanohydrin route, in spite of its dangers, is still the base supporting the Cumene – Phenol – Acetone – Bisphenol A, Isobutylene – MTBE; deck of cards. If and when a non-AcHCN-based process plant is built in North America it will disrupt among others, MMA, Phenol, Phenolic Resins, Polycarbonate, and Hydrogen Cyanide producers.
C4 process tried to enter the North American markets in 1976 without any success. Now we are in 2006.
New senior vice president & head of strategic development and new ventures at Dow Chemical
Haller Named Head of Strategic Development and New Ventures at Dow
Heinz Haller has been appointed corporate vice president of Strategic Development and New Ventures for The Dow Chemical Company. He will assume his new role on June 1, 2006, succeeding Phillip H. Cook, who will retire effective October 1 after completing a number of corporate activities.
Reporting to Liveris, Haller will join the Office of the Chief Executive, responsible for spearheading the Company’s long-term strategic agenda, driving corporate development opportunities, and providing specific counsel to Liveris in his role as Chairman of the Board. In addition to Strategic Development and New Ventures, Haller will also take executive responsibility for Dow Agricultural Sciences and the Company’s Licensing businesses worldwide.
Kepler Appointed Dow Senior Vice President
David E. Kepler has been appointed senior vice president of the Company. His existing roles as head of Shared Services and chief information officer will be expanded to include the Company’s Environment, Health, and Safety (EH&S) activities, responsibilities that were previously held by Larry Washington. Washington retires from Dow at the end of March.
As part of his expanded role, Kepler will have specific responsibility for driving the Company’s sustainability and corporate security agendas. He will co-chair the Company’s EH&S Management Board with Gary Veurink, Dow’s corporate vice president of Manufacturing and Engineering, and will also chair the Corporate Environmental Advisory Council.
Contact us at ADI Chemical Market Resources to learn how we can help.