Sinopec and TPG Capital plan joint bid to acquire LyondellBasell?

Sinopec and TPG Capital, L.P. are reported to be planning a joint bid to acquire LyondellBasell Industries. Other details are not known.


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MRPL sells March naphtha cargo for lower premium

India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has sold March naphtha cargo for a lower premium amid expectations of lower demand because of cracker maintenance next month. A parcel of 35,0000 ton for March 14-16 loading to Shell was sold at a premium of about US$26/ton to Middle East quotes on FOB basis, as compared to a US$31.

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Naphtha prices rebound in Asia

Naphtha prices in Asia have rebounded from very low levels seen earlier in the week to a two-week high. Open spec naphtha for H2-March spiked by US$37 to US$712/MT CFR Japan. Naphtha cracks have also rebounded to a three-session high after dropping to their lowest in two months.

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Honam Petrochemical to expand naphtha cracker capacity by 250,000 tpa

Honam Petrochemical plans to augment naphtha cracker capacity by 250,000 tpa by October 2012 at an investment outlay of 520 bln won (US$453.1 mln). With this, the company will have a total cracking caapacity of 2 mln tpa, making it South Korea's largest producer.

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Kabra Extrusiontechnik plans capacity expansion at Daman to the tune of Rs 85 crores

Kabra Extrusiontechnik has announced plans to expand capacity at Daman at an outlay of Rs 85 crores. The expansion involves investment in machinery and other utilities but it does not include investmeent in land and building.

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Total ethylene consumption will return to 115 mln tons by end of 2010

Total ethylene consumption will return to 115 mln tons by the end of 2010, resulting in zero demand growth for the 2008-2010 period as per a report by MarketPublishers.com.
In 2010, chemicals demand recovery will differ significantly in terms of end-market and geographic region.

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BASF restarts its smaller steam cracker in Ludwigshafen

A fire forced BASF to shut down its smaller steam cracker in Ludwigshafen just before Christmas 2009. BASF has announced the restart of the affected cracker. The restart is expected to ease the tight supply situation in the ethylene market in Europe.

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Environment friendly sleeping mattresses

In the quilted top layer of almost all its mattresses, US based Denver Mattress uses 1-3 inches of soy-based foam, called BioFlex™ Hybrid Foam, that is made from Cargill's BiOH® soy-based polyol. Thiss high-density foam achieves a perfect balance between biobased content and performance including support factor ratio; tensile, tear and elongation strength; height loss; and indentation force deflection.

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PTT Plc to negotiate with contractors of its 18 suspended projects for settlement of penalties

With Siam Cement, Thailand’s PTT Plc is one of the two hardest-hit businesses in the Map Ta Phut suspension case. The two majors each own 18 of the 64 suspended projects that are now facing constructiion delays caused by the Administrative Court's order to suspend work.

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Crude demand expected to rise: prices linger at US$77 in Asia

Benchmark crude for March delivery dipped to US$77.06 at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange., after spiking by two dollars on the previous day. In London, Brrent crude dipped to US$75.

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PET prices continue to be linked to input costs in Europe

PET prices in Europe have increased in January 2010 in line with rising input costs. As per Plastics Information Europe, feedstock MEG prices increased by €125/ton to levels of €785/ton as supply getss increasingly stringent.

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Sluggish demand, lower input costs pull down GPPS and HIPS offers in China

Several producers and distributors in China continue to reduce offers for GPPS and HIPS this week yielding to lower styrene feedstock costs as well as persistently sluggish end demand, as per Chemorbiis.

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Maintenance at Sulfindo’s 80,000 tpa PVC plant in Indonesia: March PVC exports suspended

Indonesia’s Sulfindo Adiusaha plans to suspend its PVC export offers for the coming month due to an ongoing maintenance at its 80,000 tpa PVC plant in Indonesia. The plant, scheduled to restart in latte January following a two-week maintenance shutdown, continues to be off-line, and could resume production later this week.

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PP moves up again in Italy as propylene rises

As February propylene contract price in the European market settled last week with an additional increase of €85/ton (US$118/ton) from January levels, PP price hikes seemed inevitable. As per Chemorbiis, price hikes have emerged for homo-PP from €80-120/ton for February.

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Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan set to develop world class petrochemicals industry in Central Asia

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are set to leverage their strength in oil and gas resources to develop a world class petrochemicals industry in Central Asia, according to a report by Business Monitor Internnational.

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Dow CEO predicts better prospects in 2010

Dow Chemical Co. reported a fall in Q4 sales in North America and Europe as growth in those regions may be eroded by high unemployment. North American revenue tumbled 19% to US$4.12 bln as volumes felll 11% and European sales dropped 3.

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Naphtha prices firm up in Europe

Naphtha prices in Europe have risen, marginally exceeding gains in crude oil prices. Restart of petrochemical crackers supported naphtha prices, offsetting the limited arbitrage to Asia. All three of BASF's European petrochemical steam crackers are now online after two plants restarted after being shut down due to damage by two fires.

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Foster Wheeler and SOFCON ink deal to form joint regional engineering hub in Saudi Arabia

Foster Wheeler AG’s subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has signed a Joint Venture Agreement to form a Saudi Arabian entity with A. Al-Saihati, A. Fattani and O. Al-Othman Conssulting Engineering Company (SOFCON) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Ineos hives off fluorochemicals unit to Mexican conglomerate

In a bid to ease its debt burden, World No 3 chemicals group Ineos, has sold its fluorinated chemicals unit - Ineos Fluor, to Mexican conglomerate Mexichem. The fluorochemicals unit is no longer deemeed as part of the core to the group.

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HPCL naphtha premiums plunge by more than 65% for February

Premiums on February cargoes have plunged by over 65% for India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) amid lackluster sentiment hampered by demand cuts, due to heavy cracker maintenance in March in Jaapan and South Korea.

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