據石化新聞2020年7月6日休斯敦報道，美國陶氏化學公司6日表示，該公司已同意出售其在6個北美石化聯合體中的鐵路基礎設施資產和相關設備，并與買方簽訂長期服務協議。

總部位于堪薩斯州的運輸和供應物流公司Watco 公司將以3.1億美元的價格收購上述資產。雖然陶氏化學公司將剝離這些資產，但該公司將繼續與作為所有者和作業者的Watco公司共同使用這些資產。

陶氏化學公司首席執行官吉姆·菲特林在一份聲明中稱，這筆交易是對陶氏化學公司“非產品生產資產”評估的一部分，以期努力發展核心業務，同時釋放現金以償還債務。

這筆交易預計將在今年第4季度完成。

這樣的鐵路基礎設施在石化企業中很常見，石化企業把樹脂和化學制品裝載到火車車廂上，然后運輸給客戶、包裝倉庫和出口港口。

這種鐵路基礎設施是與Watco公司交易的一部分，鐵路基礎設施所處的位置在路易斯安那州的普拉克明和圣查爾斯；得克薩斯州的自由港和Seadrift；以及加拿大艾伯塔省的薩斯喀徹溫堡和普倫蒂斯。所有這些石化聯合體都生產不同等級的聚乙烯，用于制造世界上最常用的塑料，包括購物袋、牛奶罐、洗滌劑瓶和食品和飲料包裝。

陶氏化學公司說，該公司將繼續評估其全球投資組合中非產品生產資產的所有權，這種努力將從其基礎設施的足跡中產生額外的增長機會。

李峻 編譯自 石化新聞

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.