Chemical News
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Europe chemical stocks down further at market close Sep 23,2011
LONDON-European chemical stocks fell further as markets closed on Thursday following a series of gloomy outlooks for the global economy. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said the path to global recovery was narrower than it was three years ago and called for urgent action. Meanwhile, president of the Wo...>>>
Asian SM-naphtha spread at 2-month low as SM falls Sep 23,2011
The spread between styrene monomer and feedstock naphtha has shrunk to $453/mt, the lowest level since July 13 -- when it was at $451/mt -- due to falling SM prices and relatively stable naphtha, Platts data showed. The spread has shrunk by $155.75/mt, or 25.6%, since its peak so far this year on August 5. SM prices have fallen $64.50/mt, or ...>>>
Brazil's PP/PE import market on standby because of strong US dollar Sep 23,2011
Brazilian buyers halted imports of polyethylene and polypropylene this week, the direct result of the US dollar strengthening almost 20% in 15 days. "The import market in Brazil is totally on standby at the moment. The dollar value against the real went from $1.55 to $1.88, and we don't see any possibility of negotiation because of that in the ...>>>
China approves plan for resource tax on oil, gas based on price, volume Sep 23,2011
China's State Council has approved a plan to amend the resource tax on crude oil and natural gas exploration to be levied based on sales value and volume, instead of the current tax applied on just volume, according to a statement issued late Wednesday by the cabinet. The proposal was approved during a cabinet meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiab...>>>
EURO GAS: Prompt reclaims some value amid economic gloom Sep 23,2011
Prompt contracts on the Continental European gas markets managed to reclaim a small share of the previous day's heavy losses by Thursday midday, but as bearish sentiment persists traders expect further losses by the day's end. The restart of the UK-Belgium Interconnector Thursday morning sparked a dramatic move down for day-ahead contracts at th...>>>
US CFTC plans to expand exemptions from position limits regime Sep 23,2011
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission wants to broadly expand the type of derivatives transactions that could be exempt from the agency's forthcoming commodity position limits regime, according to a draft of the final position limits rule obtained by Platts Thursday. Since the position limits proposed rule was first unveiled in January as ...>>>
Argentina turns to corn to step up ethanol mix, eyes possible E25 blend Sep 23,2011
Argentina is betting on corn to boost its ethanol mix with the potential for gasoline blended with 20 or 25% of the additive, an industry insider said Thursday. The government has authorized five projects to supply corn and sorghum-based ethanol to oil refiners, with the $450 million in financing already lined up, Martin Fraguio, executive dire...>>>
Some domestic private petrol stations sell gasoil above retail ceiling Sep 23,2011
Some domestic private petrol stations are selling gasoil above the retail ceiling, as wholesale prices are already largely flat to the retail ceiling amid tight supply, C1 found. The retail prices of zero-pour-point gasoil averaged Yuan 8,485/mt nationwide on Sep 22, just Yuan 40/mt below the average wholesale price, C1 assessment showed. The pr...>>>
Domestic major refineries' operation rate touches year's low in late Sep Sep 23,2011
Major Chinese refineries' average operating rate set a new low for this year in late September, C1 found. The run rate settled at 77.59% on Sep 22, down by 2.06 percentage points from two weeks ago. Run rates dropped most significantly in Central China and East China, because of maintenance in Jiujiang Petrochemical and Shanghai Petrochemical. J...>>>
Shandong independents' run rates rise to 40.7% Sep 23,2011
Operation rates of independent refineries in Shandong Province averaged 40.7% on Thursday, up by 1.8 percentage points from a week ago, C1 research showed. Feedstock shortage affected run rates or restart plans of some of the refineries, in spite of improved sentiment in oil product markets, market sources said. As of Sep 22, a total of 26 in...>>>
Sinopec cuts East, South China butadiene prices by 4% Wednesday Sep 22,2011
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, cut its ex-works prices for butadiene in the eastern and southern provinces for a second time in September, by Yuan 1,000/mt (157/mt), or nearly 4%, to Yuan 26,000/mt, effective Wednesday, traders said. In East China, Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical and Zhenhai Refining & ...>>>
German Lanxess to produce bio-based EPDM rubber in Brazil end-2011 Sep 22,2011
German specialty chemicals group Lanxess expects to produce the world's first bio-based ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubber in Brazil by the end of 2011, the company said Wednesday. The plant at Triunfo currently makes 40,000 mt/year of regular EPDM rubber. EPDM is normally produced from oil-based ethylene and propylene. For the bi...>>>
US-based ExxonMobil to build lubricant base stocks plant in Texas Sep 22,2011
US-based ExxonMobil Chemical broke ground Wednesday on a world-scale plant that will manufacture synthetic lubricant base stocks at the company's integrated refining and chemical complex in Baytown, Texas. The new plant is expected to be completed in 2013 and have the capacity to produce 50,000 mt/year of metallocene polyalphaolefin synthetic lu...>>>
Germany's LANXESS eyes better Q3, growth of 20% in 2011 Sep 22,2011
SINGAPORE-German producer LANXESS said on Wednesday it expects a better year-on-year financial performance in the third quarter, while reiterating its full-year target of delivering a 20% growth in pre-exceptional earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). In the third quarter of 2010, the company posted a more than ...>>>
Israeli antitrust commissioner looks to limit Delek role in private power sector Sep 22,2011
Israel's antitrust commissioner believes that the involvement of the Delek Group in the natural gas sector as well as in the private power field is anti-competitive, according to a legal opinion released on Tuesday. Commissioner David Gilo made it clear that he would not approve any further involvement of the Delek Group in the private power in...>>>
US appeals court clears way for drilling in Pennsylvania national forest Sep 22,2011
Owners of mineral rights beneath the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania and the producers who want to extract that oil and gas do not have to wait for the US Forest Service to perform an environmental impact study before drilling, a federal appeals court ruled. The 3rd US Court of Appeals Tuesday ruling upheld the US District Court for We...>>>
Republicans, Democrats spar on opening sliver of ANWR to drilling Sep 22,2011
The prospects of oil and gas production from a sliver of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was discussed by a key house committee Wednesday in a hearing that turned testy at times and highlighted the vast divide between Republicans and Democrats on the issue. Republican Doc Hastings of Washington, chairman of the House Natural Resources Commit...>>>
Uruguay says Gazprom, BP, Total among companies interested in bidding round Sep 22,2011
Uruguay's Ancap has received expressions of interest from at least 10 foreign companies for 15 offshore oil and gas exploration blocks it is offering in its second licensing round, a company official said Wednesday. Ancap geologist Bruno Conti Paciello, speaking on the sidelines of an energy conference in Geneva, said companies that have express...>>>
Lego to build new Duplo factory in Hungary Sep 22,2011
Lego has announced plans to build a new 80,000m² environmentally friendly factory in Nyíregyháza, Hungary, part of the toy giant's €00m expansion plans. The company already has a plant on the site which manufactures a full range of the group's Duplo brand product range. In a statement, managing director Jens Peter Clausen said: “Exi...>>>
US SBR spot values drop on soft demand, lower feedstocks, imports Sep 22,2011
HOUSTON-Softening demand, lower feedstock costs and imports pushed down spot prices for US styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) this month, market participants said on Wednesday. SBR spot ranges for non-oil grade 1502 and oil-extended grade 1712 dropped by 5 cents/lb ($110/tonne, ?0/tonne) FOB (free on board) USG (US Gulf) from August. September SB...>>>