陶氏化学将出售6个北美石化联合体的铁路资产

据石化新闻2020年7月6日休斯敦报道，美国陶氏化学公司6日表示，该公司已同意出售其在6个北美石化联合体中的铁路基础设施资产和相关设备，并与买方签订长期服务协议。

总部位于堪萨斯州的运输和供应物流公司Watco 公司将以3.1亿美元的价格收购上述资产。虽然陶氏化学公司将剥离这些资产，但该公司将继续与作为所有者和作业者的Watco公司共同使用这些资产。

陶氏化学公司首席执行官吉姆·菲特林在一份声明中称，这笔交易是对陶氏化学公司“非产品生产资产”评估的一部分，以期努力发展核心业务，同时释放现金以偿还债务。

这笔交易预计将在今年第4季度完成。

这样的铁路基础设施在石化企业中很常见，石化企业把树脂和化学制品装载到火车车厢上，然后运输给客户、包装仓库和出口港口。

这种铁路基础设施是与Watco公司交易的一部分，铁路基础设施所处的位置在路易斯安那州的普拉克明和圣查尔斯；得克萨斯州的自由港和Seadrift；以及加拿大艾伯塔省的萨斯喀彻温堡和普伦蒂斯。所有这些石化联合体都生产不同等级的聚乙烯，用于制造世界上最常用的塑料，包括购物袋、牛奶罐、洗涤剂瓶和食品和饮料包装。

陶氏化学公司说，该公司将继续评估其全球投资组合中非产品生产资产的所有权，这种努力将从其基础设施的足迹中产生额外的增长机会。

李峻 编译自 石化新闻

原文如下：

Dow to sell rail assets at six North American petrochemical sites

Dow Chemical has agreed to sell its rail infrastructure assets and related equipment at six North American petrochemical complexes and enter long-term service agreements with the buyer, the US-based producer said July 6.

Kansas-based Watco Companies, a transportation and supply logistics company, will buy the assets in the $310 million deal. While Dow is shedding the assets, the company will continue to use them with Watco as the owner and operator.

Dow CEO Jim Fitterling said in a statement that the deal is part of a review of Dow's "non-product producing assets" in an effort to grow core businesses while freeing up cash to pay down debt.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Such rail infrastructure is common at petrochemical complexes to load resins and chemicals onto rail cars for transport to customers, warehouses for packaging and ports for export.

The sites where such infrastructure is part of the deal with Watco are in Plaquemine and St. Charles, Louisiana; Freeport and Seadrift, Texas; and Fort Saskatchewan and Prentiss in Alberta, Canada.

All the sites produce grades of polyethylene, which is used to make the world's most-used plastics, including grocery bags, milk jugs, detergent bottles and food and beverage packaging.

"Dow continues to evaluate its ownership of non-product producing assets across its global portfolio," Dow said. "The company expects this effort to generate additional opportunities from its infrastructure footprint.