Tropical Storm Isaac compounds production issues in the US

Seven years after the devastating impacts of Hurricane Katrina, the US Gulf Coast is on alert again due to Tropical Storm Isaac, which was on the verge of becoming a hurricane, according to the US Nattional Hurricane Center.

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Naphtha prices down, but spreads rise

Naphtha in Asia slipped nearly 2% to dip to a four-session low of US$973.50/ton on Tuesday, but intermonth premiums rose for the fifth session to peak to a five-week high on steady demand and tighter supplies.

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Isaac strengthens enroute to Gulf of Mexico’s oil and refinery operations, oil rises

Forecasters report strengthening of Isaac into a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph winds. Oil prices have moved up as Isaac gathered strength on its way into the heart of the Gulf of Mexico’s oil and rrefinery operations.

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Larsen & Toubro to sell plastics machinery business to Toshiba as part of strategy to exit non-core business

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro will sell its plastics machinery business to Japan's Toshiba Machine as part of its strategy to exit non-core business and rationalise its portfolio. As per Ecconomic Times, L&T did not disclose the financial consideration for the sale of its subsidiary L&T Plastics Machinery, which manufactures and markets injection moulding machines, and reported a gross revenue of Rs 206 crore and net profit of Rs 11 crore in 2011-12.

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US monomer markets see new round of increases

Although energy prices fluctuated over the past week, when September delivery crude oil contracts expired last Tuesday, they continued to stand noticeably above the levels in early August, as per ChemmOrbis.

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Mitsui Chemicals to restart 612,000 tpa naphtha cracker at Ichihara plant

Japan's Mitsui Chemicals Inc plans to restart the 612,000 tpa naphtha cracker at its Ichihara plant in Chiba, a week after an unplanned shutdown, as per Reuters. The cracker has been shut due to a prroblem with a power line, which cut off the electricity supply from Tokyo Electric Power Co early on Aug.

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Oil rises on concerns that Tropical Storm Isaac could strike Gulf of Mexico and disrupt supplies

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery spiked by over a dollar to US$97.50 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October spiked to US$114.99.
Crude prices surgeed as supply of oil and gas from the Gulf of Mexico was curtailed after Tropical Storm Isaac forced the closure of production facilities in the region.

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Williams to shut Louisiana cracker before Tropical Storm Isaac strikes

On Monday, olefins producers in Louisiana began bracing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Isaac. As per Platts, Williams plans to shut, for a week, its 612,000 tpa steam cracker in Geismar at 4 p.m. CCDT on Monday as part of precautionary measures.

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Naphtha exports from India for September at 4 month low

Strong gasoline demand, refinery maintenance and higher domestic need for naphtha are driving India's September exports down. September naphtha exports will be restricted to 550,000 tons, the lowest iin four months, as per Reuters.

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PTT Global Chemical to revise 2011-20 investment plan on euro-zone debt crisis and global slowdown concerns

PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) will revise its 2011-20 investment plan worth US$11 bln (Bt347 bln) as a result of the euro-zone debt crisis and concerns over a slowing global economy, as per The Nation.
Anon Sirisaengtaksin, chief executive officer of the major petrochemical and refinery company, said that PTTGC plans to re-prioritise spending.

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Williams Energy mulls US$800 mln investment to build propane conversion facility near Redwater

Williams Energy is mulling an investment of over US$800 mln to build a facility near Redwater to convert propane into a higher value feedstock for the petrochemical industry, as per The Edmonton Journnal.

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Global PVC demand to grow at a CAGR of 6.9% to 64.3 mln tons in 2020

The impact of global economic downturn has resulted in the slowdown in the construction industry worldwide. As more than 50% of the PVC is used in construction applications, there has been a downturn in the demand of PVC in many countries in the last few years.

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Naphtha in Asia lingers at near 15 week highs

Naphtha in Asia lingered near a 3-1/2 month high of US$960.50/ton on Thursday but margins fell by over 7% to a two-session low of US$86.45/ton on ample supplies, as per Reuters. Weak fundamentals ruleed in favour of the buyers as Honam Petrochemicals paid the lowest price the petrochemical maker had paid in nearly two months.

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Mexichem mulls US$1 bln cracker venture with Occidental

Mexican industrial conglomerate Mexichem is mulling a US$1 bln venture with Occidental Chemical Corp (Oxychem), to build a cracker that would be fully operational in 2016, as per Reuters. A feasibilitty study for the new cracker is expected to be ready in Q2-2013.

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Oil prices strengthen on report of falling US crude inventories

Oil strengthened and continued to linger above US$94 a barrel on Thursday in Asia on report of an unexpected fall in crude stockpiles in USA amid stronger retail sales. Oil on the Nymex inched up to UUS$94.

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RIL in talks to acquire BP Plc’s petrochemical plant in Malaysia

India’s Reliance Industries Ltd. is in talks with BP PLC about buying the British oil company’s petrochemical plant in Malaysia, as per Economic Times. RIL has expressed interest in BP’s 610,000 tpa ppurified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in Malaysia.

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Players in SE Asia predict further PVC increases for September

Players in Southeast Asia report that they expect to see another round of PVC increases in September in line with firmer international trends, limited supplies and expectations that buying interest wiill open the coming month on a strong note, as per ChemOrbis.

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BASF and Astra Polymers ink contract to work together in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

BASF Plastic Additives Middle East and Astra Polymers have signed a new contract that will see the two companies continue to work together to produce Customer SpecificBlends (CSB) in the Kingdom of Saaudi Arabia (KSA).

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July naphtha imports in Japan spike 25% on month

Japan's naphtha imports for ethylene production in July jumped 25.2% month on month to 1.238 million mt, as per the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as reported by Platts.
During the month, demand for naphtha increased as turnarounds at two naphtha-fed steam crackers came to an end.

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Planned maintenance at Tianjin Petrochem’s 1 mln tpa ethylene complex till September end

Sinopec’s, Tianjin Petrochemical Corp plans to shut down its 1 mln tpa ethylene complex for maintenance during till end of September for a 45 day shutdown. China's Sinopec Corp will shut down 300,000 bpd crude processing facilities at its unit in northern Chinese city Tianjin from Thursday for a planned 45-day turnaround, as per Reuters.

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Naphtha demand in NW Europe slows as petrochem, gasoline blenders wait in the sidelines

The Northwest Europe naphtha market is experiencing slow demand as petrochemicals and gasoline blenders remain on the sidelines, leaving buyers and sellers in a deadlock, as per Platts. Although petroochemicals have reportedly been buying "a bit of volume" due to rising propane prices, they are not expected to buy significant quantities of naphtha until September.

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Oil eases as data indicates weaker US energy demand

Oil prices have dipped globally as data showing weaker US energy demand prompted traders to sell, as per AFP. Brent North Sea crude for September dipped to US$113.6. Data from the American Petroleum IInstitute showed an unexpected rise in crude oil inventories, indicating softer energy demand.

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Turkey’s PP market regains premium over China

Turkey’s PP market lost its traditional premium over China in early June and mostly traded at a discount for one and a half months, as per ChemOrbis. In line with the upward trend that took effect in early July in the Turkish market, import PP prices pared some of the earlier losses in the first half of July.

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July naphtha imports in Japan spike 25% on month

Japan's naphtha imports for ethylene production in July jumped 25.2% month on month to 1.238 million mt, as per the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as reported by Platts.
During the month, demand for naphtha increased as turnarounds at two naphtha-fed steam crackers came to an end.

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Spot ethylene prices spike globally

Spot ethylene markets recorded noteworthy increases in major monomer markets including Europe, Asia and the US. The main driver behind the bullish trend was surging naphtha costs which continued to raally as energy prices remained high despite fluctuations during last week, as per ChemOrbis.

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Indorama completes acquisition of PET assets of PT Polypet Karyapersada

Indorama Ventures Public Co Ltd has complete resin asset acquisition of PT. Polypet Karyapersada with a capacity of 100,800 tons per annum at Cilegon, Indonesia through its wholly owned subsidiary, PTT.

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US styrene arbitrage to Europe opens, fails to attract players

US styrene arbitrages to Europe has opened. However, as styrene supply is tight in the US and two producers down, many sources said producers and traders are not looking to take advantage of the arbittrage opportunity to Europe, as per Platts.

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Fire forces shutdown of Formosa Chemicals’ 300,000 tpa styrene monomer plant

Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. has shut a 300,000 m tpa styrene monomer plant in Taiwan following Sunday’s fire. The facility, part of the company's flagship Mailiao petrochemical complex in Yunlin ccounty, produces intermediate petrochemicals for other units under the Formosa Group and for other small local customers, Formosa Chemicals President Hong Fu-yuan told Dow Jones Newswires.

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Naphtha in Asia at 3-1/2 month high of US$948, margins slip to a two-session low

At US$948, naphtha price in Asia has peaked to a 3-1/2 month high on Monday, while margins have dipped to a two-session low of US$96.30/ton premium as buyers have put on hold spot purchases in view off high Brent crude and weak economic data, as per Reuters.

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Lack of conclusions to YNCC's latest term tender could lead to possible cancellation of tender

South Korea’s YNCC interested in buying term naphtha, and sellers have reached a deadlock in their naphtha term talks due to gap in buying and selling ideas. As per traders in Reuters, lack of conclussions to YNCC's latest term tender could lead to cancellation of the tender for naphtha cargoes originally meant for September 2012 to August 2013 delivery.

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TCG and West Bengal Govt on path to reconciliation?

Co-promoters of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL)- The Chatterjee Group (TCG) and West Bengal government appear to be cautiously treading the path of reconciliation as per livemint.com. The company showws signs of emerging from its worst performance since inception and a share sale to a strategic investor looking inevitable.

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Japan's JGC inks deal for expansion of ethane cracker for Aramco-Sumitomo petrochemicals JV

Japan's JGC Corp has inked a deal for expansion of ethane cracker for the Rabigh II petrochemicals complex owned by Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, as per Reuters. The contract is valued aat approximately US$100-200 million, as per a source.

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Naphtha rises in Europe

In Europe’s naphtha market, refining margins jumped as traders anticipated a recovery in demand by petrochemical firms, which were said to be switching to naphtha from propane, as per Reuters. Propanee, a rival feedstock, has rallied in recent weeks due to maintenance limiting supply, low stocks for the winter and production problems in the North Sea.

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Naphtha margins in Asia peak to three month highs

Naphtha price and margins in Asia have peaked to around three-month high. At the end of last week, naphtha was at U$$944/ton and naphtha margins were at US$99.65/ton as the marker found support from eexpectations of better petrochemical demand, as per Reuters.

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HPL plans product swapping agreement with foreign company as temporary financing option

In a bid to buy time to arrange working capital and to achieve higher utilisation of capacity in a conducive market environment, cash-strapped Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) plans a product swapping agreement with a foreign company as a temporary financing option, as per Business Standard.

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Haldia board to study Swiss based Kolmar proposal for a conversion arrangement

The board of cash-strapped Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. (HPL) will consider at its meeting next week the proposal submitted by Switzerland-based Kolmar for a conversion arrangement, as per The Hindu. HPPL had invited proposals from ` international business houses having a group turnover of US$500 mln in 2011 with experience in petrochemicals feedstock sourcing and marketing of finished products’.

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Fire breaks out at Bandar Imam - Iran's biggest petrochemical plant

A fire broke out at the Bandar Imam petrochemical complex - Iran's biggest petrochemical plant, killing three persons and injuring 14 before it was put out, Iranian media reports. The fire that occurrred on Friday was caused by a gas leak in a feeding line.

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Domestic PVC prices for Aug rise on better than expected demand in SE Asia

Southeast Asian PVC producers are announcing a fresh round of increases on their August PVC prices to their domestic markets, as per ChemOrbis. Players had been expecting higher August prices owing tto firmer upstream costs.

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Naphtha rallies in Asia on improved petrochemical prices

Naphtha p rice in Asia has been on the rise, increasing for the fifth session to reach US$893/ton, while margins spiked by almost 19% to US$95.6/ton to a 2-1/2 month high on improved demand, as per Reeuters.

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Dow announces PE price increase across Europe, Middle East, Africa

Dow Europe GmbH has announced a price increase for polyethylene (PE) resins across the European, Middle Eastern and African regions. Effective August 1, 2012, or as contract terms allow, Dow Europe wiill increase prices for all grades of its low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) resins by 200 Euros per metric ton.

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Sadara awards contract to Técnicas Reunidas for Chem-III at Jubail Indl City

Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara) has awarded Técnicas Reunidas (TR) the Chem-III project, contract for part of the chemical complex being built in Jubail Industrial City II, Saudi Arabia. Sadara is a joint venture between Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), and is the world's largest chemical complex ever built in a single phase.

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Mid-Eastern PP, PE revealed higher for Aug in Turkey, Egypt

Middle Eastern suppliers have revealed their PP and PE prices to Turkish and Egyptian markets for August with price increases on the back of firmer costs, as per ChemOrbis. Turkish buyers do not thinkk that further increases are likely for the near term in the midst of Ramadan while Egyptian buyers expect a downward revision in one of the regional producers’ initial offers.

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Naphtha margins in Asia rise 40% in 2 days

Asian naphtha price moved toward a one and half week high of US$862/ton, while margins surged nearly 20% to week's high of US$70.2/ton premium as strong European demand supported the Eastern market, aas per Reuters.

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Sibur inks partnership agreements with TNK-BP to jointly to exploit gas feedstocks

Russia’s number one petrochemicals group Sibur has signed a set of strategic partnership agreements with the country’s third ranked oil producer, TNK-BP allowing the firms jointly to exploit gas feedsstocks, as per Europeanplastinews.

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US imposes new sanctions on Iranian energy, petrochemical sectors

President Obama has imposed new US sanctions on Iran designed to deter Iran or other countries from establishing payment mechanisms for the purchase of Iranian crude that circumvent already existing ssanctions, as per Platts.

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Sabic IP boosts STAMAX LGFPP composite resin capacity at Genk, Belgium

Sabic's Innovative Plastics is significantly boosting capacity for its STAMAX long glass fibre-filled polypropylene (LGFPP) composite resins at its manufacturing facility in Genk, Belgium, to meet rappidly growing demand from automotive customers.

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ChinaCoal Mengda to license Dow UNIPOL™ Polypropylene Process Technology

Inner Mongolia ChinaCoal Mengda New Energy & Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China National Coal Group Corp., has signed a license agreement with Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technoology LLC, a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company for its 300,000 tpa polypropylene plant.

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Indorama lifts force majeure on EO, MEG plants in USA

Indorama declared a customary force majeure (FM) last week when production at the Ethylene Oxide and Glycol plants of Indorama Ventures (Oxide and Glycols) Ltd, in Texas, USA was taken offline to recttify a mechanical problem, as per fibre2fashion.

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Maruzen’s Keiyo Ethylene unit to restart sole naphtha cracker

Japan's Maruzen Petrochemical Co Ltd’s Keiyo Ethylene unit would restart its sole naphtha cracker, which has an annual production capacity of 768,000 tons of ethylene, on Thursday. The cracker at Chibba has been shut on July 24 for a little over a week after an unplanned shutdown, as per Reuters, after liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) leaked from a pipeline, prompting the firm to conduct repair work.

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TCG raises objection at AGM of HPL to appointment of MD and Director

The Chatterjee Petrochem (Mauritius) Company (CPMC), a TCG (The Chatterjee Group) has raised objection the appointments of Sumantra Choudhury and Jamshyd N. Godrej as the managing director and the dirrector respectively of the Haldia Petrochemicals Limited at the annual general meeting (AGM).

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Petrochemical project slammed by protest group

A group has been protesting against scale expansion at the sixth naphtha cracker plant outside Yunlin County Government offices, urging the government to release the results of a commissioned epidemioological survey report, as per Taipei Times.

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Propylene prices soar in Europe, soften in Asia and USA

Over the past week, propylene prices followed opposite paths in Europe, Asia and the US, as per ChemOrbis. Higher spot naphtha costs when compared to early July pushed spot propylene offers up in Euroope.

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Vietnam oil refinery receives 4-year tax exemption

Dung Quat, Vietnam’s only oil refinery, received various tax incentives from the government last week, including a four-year income tax exemption. Apart from the exemption, Binh Son Refining and Petroochemical Co, which runs the 130,500 bpd refinery, only needs to pay half its corporate tax for the first nine years after it begins earning taxable incomes.

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Crude oil prices mixed in Asia as market awaits policy measures on Europe, USA

Oil prices were mixed in Asian trade as investors await further measures by policymakers to boost the ailing Euro zone and US economy, as per PTI. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for Septeember delivery eased to US$90 a barrel while Brent North Sea crude for September delivery inched up to US$106.

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Global Polyethylene industry to reach US$14.8 bln in 2017

The global polyethylene industry experienced strong growth over the last five years and is expected to continue advancing as it reaches approximately US$148.1 bln in 2017 with a CAGR of 3.5% over nextt five years, as per Lucintel.

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Naphtha margins in Asia spike by 20% to a two session high

Naphtha price in Asia rose to a week high of US$853/ton on Monday, while margins snapped five straight sessions of losses by jumping 20% to reach a two-session high of US$58.9/ton on technical correcttion and firm gasoline demand, as per Reuters.

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Polymer producers post disappointing financial results for Q2-2012

Several major global polymer producers have reported reduced profits or even losses on their second quarter results, as per ChemOrbis. Producers cited disappointing global demand, higher raw materiall costs and reduced production as some of the main reasons for their weaker results.

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Polish oil refiner PKN Orlen SA not holding talks on the sale of petrochemical unit Anwil

Polish oil refiner PKN Orlen SA (PKN.WA) is not holding talks on the sale of its petrochemical unit Anwil or its parts, as per foxbusiness.com.
PKN Orlen said late last year it was considering selliing parts of Anwil.

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