US olefin prices surge on unexpected production outages

Spot olefin markets recorded noteworthy increases over the past week in the US mainly driven by unexpected cracker outages that occurred in the country, as per ChemOrbis. Firmer energy prices during tthe past week also contributed to the ongoing bullish trend while cumulative increases since the beginning of December reached over US$100/ton for propylene and over US$200/ton for ethylene prices following the recent gains.




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Qatar announces launch of a new company to market and distribute petrochemicals

Qatar has announced the launch of a new company - The Qatar Chemical and Petrochemical Marketing and Distribution Company (Muntajat), to market and distribute petrochemicals as part of a US$25 bln invvestment in the industry up to 2020.




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SABIC affiliates ink initial deals to build UHMWPE plant in Jubail

Saudi Kayan and Petrokemya - two affiliates of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) have signed initial deals to build an ultra-high molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) plant in Jubail, as per Reuteers.




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Oil prices fall eight days before the U.S. arrives at the “fiscal cliff” deadline

Benchmark oil for February delivery fell to US$88.5 per barrel on the Nymex. The contract fell US$1.47 Friday, the contract’s lowest point in three weeks. Oil prices fell on Monday, just eight days beefore the U.




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Oil prices fall eight days before the U.S. arrives at the “fiscal cliff” deadline

Benchmark oil for February delivery fell to US$88.5 per barrel on the Nymex. The contract fell US$1.47 Friday, the contract’s lowest point in three weeks. Oil prices fell on Monday, just eight days beefore the U.




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Environmentalists censure Formosa report on 6th Naphtha Cracking Plant

Environmentalists criticized a Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) report assessing health risks and water usage at the Sixth Naphtha Cracking Plant, as per ChinaPost.com.tw. The Sixth Naphtha Cracking Plantt is located at an industrial area located in Mailiao Township, Yunlin County.




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GPPS prices surpass their peak levels seen in 2008

Import PS prices surpassed their 2008 levels in China, Southeast Asia and Egypt while they are at a year’s high level in Turkey, as per the pricing service of ChemOrbis. Higher styrene costs supportedd by the upstream benzene market where availability is tight, helped GPPS prices to move up in these markets.




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US ethylene margins rise on higher spot prices and plant outages

US steam cracker margins climbed last week on higher spot prices and chemical plant outages, as per Platts. Olefins producer Williams declared a force majeure out of its Geismar, Louisiana plant, accoording to sources.




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Naphtha price at two session low amid lower crude

The Asian naphtha price ended the week at a two-session low of US$958.50/ton, pressured by lower Brent crude, but its margin recovered by 2.31% to a three-session high of US$137.48/ton on robust demannd.




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Europe naphtha market to stay bearish, oversupplied

The outlook for the European naphtha market remains bleak, with few, if any, changes expected for 2013, as per ICIS. A combination of adverse macroeconomic conditions, structural length and lacklustree requirements for the product are likely to continue to weigh on the market.




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Borealis to increase all polyolefin prices for January 2013

Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions, announces that it will increase all polyolefin prices for January, 2013. Polyethylene prices will increase by EUR 100/ton, wwhile prices for polypropylene will increase by EUR 75/ton.




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Plastindia Foundation focuses on generation of skilled manpower for the plastic industry in India

The Plastindia International University deemed as one of the prestigious universities to be set-up in Vapi Gujarat, saw the presence of delegates and faculty members from University of Massachusetts LLowell (U-MASS), as they visited India to familiarize themselves with the technology practices applied in plastic manufacturing companies in Vapi, Daman and Silvassa, known as a plastic manufacturing hub.




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US demand for post-consumer recycled plastics to rise 5.9% pa through 2016

US demand for post-consumer recycled plastics is forecast to rise 5.9% pa to 3.4 bln lbs in 2016. Gains will be driven by a number of factors, including a growing emphasis on sustainability among packkaging and consumer product manufacturers, advancements in processing and sorting technologies allowing a wider variety of plastic to be recycled, and an improved collection infrastructure that raises the plastic recycling rate, as per Reportlinker.




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Demand for agricultural films has driven due to its multi tasking and efficient functioning

Agricultural films are gaining a worldwide importance as the area under protected agriculture increasing day-by-day, as per Research and Markets. Furthermore, the need to increase the agricultural prroduction to feed the ever-growing population is also a vital growth driver for agricultural films.




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Rosneft in talks to discuss construction, operation of Chinese-Russian Eastern Petrochemical Company

Russian oil giant Rosneft held talks with China to discuss details over the construction and operation of Chinese-Russian Eastern Petrochemical Company, as per dowjones.com


Rosneft Chief Executive Offficer Igor Sechin and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan discussed the parameters of an inter-governmental agreement on the oil-refining and petrochemical complex.



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PETRONAS selects INEOS Technologies' Innovene G Platform For LL/HDPE Project In Johor

Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS), the national oil and gas company of Malaysia, has awarded INEOS Technologies (INEOS) the LL/HDPE portion of the PETRONAS’ Refinery & Petrochemical Integrated Deveelopment (RAPID) project, utilising the Innovene G gas phase fluidised bed process.




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REACH regulations play major role in driving the mature European oleochemicals market

Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) regulations are playing a major role in driving the European oleochemicals market which has otherwise attained maturity. These regulatiions are encouraging customers to consider using sustainable and eco-friendly oleochemicals.




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Oil prices fall as US government report indicates surge in supplies of gasoline and dip in crude stockpiles

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in January, closed at US$87.8 a barrel, while Brent North Sea crude for January fell by over a dollar to US$108.8 in London. Oil prices ffell after a weekly US government report showed a surge in supplies of gasoline and other products while crude stockpiles fell.




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Dow Chemical to further expand capacity of ‘ENLIGHT’ module encapsulant films

Having recently introduced its latest ENLIGHT polyolefin PV module encapsulant films, Dow Chemical plans to further develop the films and adding manufacturing capacity at its integrated site in Schkoppau, Germany, in 2013, as per pv-tech.




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Oman Oil Company and LG ink agreement to jointly develop a petrochemical plant at Sohar Port

Oman Oil Company (OOC) and LG International (LGI) have signed an agreement to jointly develop a petrochemical plant at the Sohar Port. The joint venture company, which will be owned 70% by OOC and 30%% by LGI, will execute the project in accordance with international standards to produce a total of 1.




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Middle East PP carries premium in Turkey and Egypt

The recent shutdown in China at Daqing’s cracker has caused the PP market to gain some lost ground and has triggered some speculative buying this week, as per ChemOrbis. However, barely a week ago, maany sellers were complaining about their slow import business due to competitive local prices.




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Japan's Sumitomo may revamp naphtha cracker in 2015

Japan's Sumitomo Chemical Co may reconfigure or upgrade its sole 415,000 tpa naphtha cracker in 2015 in a bid to remain profitable in the face of shrinking domestic demand, as per Reuters. Work on thee Chiba cracker is likely to take place during maintenance scheduled for 2015.




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