Chemical News
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Obama deficit plan includes repeal of US oil and gas tax breaks Sep 20,2011
US President Barack Obama on Monday introduced a wide-ranging proposal to save the federal government $3 trillion over the next 10 years by cutting spending and raising taxes, including the repeal of a number of tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry. "We've got one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, but it's riddled with excep...>>>
Petrobras passes first post-Macondo test of deepwater containment Sep 20,2011
US regulators said Monday that Petrobras America passed a surprise drill to prove its ability to respond to a hypothetical blowout at one of its deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said last week's unannounced table-top exercise tested Petrobras' response to an imaginary loss o...>>>
NE. China still ranks as top gasoil producer in Jan-Aug: NBS Sep 20,2011
Northeast China was still the largest gasoil producer in the first eight months of this year, with output hitting 22.19-mil mt, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The volume accounted for 21.51% of China's total, down by 1.3 percentage points year on year, the data showed. Northwest China took up the second place...>>>
Saudi Aramco to supply full amount of LPG in Oct Sep 20,2011
Saudi Aramco plans to supply the full amount of propane and butane required by its customers in October, according to its supply plan published on Sep 17. Loading dates of some cargoes will be ahead of schedules, the plan also showed. Release of the supply plan eased the worries about butane supply shortfall, stated a Taiwanese importer. Sa...>>>
Sinopec Shanghai Petchem shuts 8-mil-mt/yr CDU for one-month maintenance Sep 20,2011
Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical shut down an 8-mil-mt/yr crude distillation unit on Sep 17 for a month-long turnaround, a company source said. Shanghai Petrochemical cut its crude throughput target for September to 750,000mt, with daily consumption down by 17% from the normal level, C1 reported earlier. Located in Shanghai, East China, Shangh...>>>
Greece braces for more austerity to avert default Sep 19,2011
Prime Minister George Papandreou canceled a visit to the United States to chair a cabinet meeting on Sunday, a day before European Union and International Monetary Fund inspectors hold a conference call with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos to hear how Greece will plug this year's budget shortfall. Venizelos told reporters after the meeting ...>>>
Methanol may help satisfy China's growing need for fuel Sep 19,2011
Methanol may be the answer to China's growing appetite for fuel, a consultant said on Thursday. China's supply of fuel has not caught up to the highways it has built and massive number of vehicles on those roads, said Mark Berggren, the managing director of Methanol Market Services Asia. Berggren was a speaker at the 9th Annual Methanol Forum...>>>
Turkish PP and LDPE prices reach par Sep 19,2011
Turkey's domestic producer Petkim is currently offering LDPE and homo-PP at prices close to par after the company’s PP prices had traded with a large premium above LDPE from late June to mid-August. The company’s LDPE prices had traded with a premium above its PP prices for the entirety of 2010 as well as the first few months of 2011, until PP pri...>>>
Shanghai Secco's SM, ACN units could remain shut for 2-3 weeks: source Sep 19,2011
Shanghai Secco Petrochemical's styrene monomer and acrylonitrile plants could take two to three weeks to restart after they were shut September 8 following a fire at a tank farm, a source close to the company said Friday. The company shut all its production units after the fire, and force majeure was declared on the supply of styrene monomer and...>>>
Producer, buyer confirm Q4 NWE methanol CP at Eur315/mt Sep 19,2011
The initial Northwest European methanol contract for the fourth quarter settled late Thursday at Eur315/mt ($434.50/mt) FOB Rotterdam, up Eur20 from the third quarter, sources said. The initial settlement was between Solvadis and Mider-Helm as producers as BASF as a buyer. Mider-Helm and BASF confirmed, while Solvadis could not immediately be...>>>
High Point unit to buy gas pipeline assets from Southern Natural Gas Sep 19,2011
High Point Gas Transmission has agreed to buy about 621 miles of onshore and offshore natural gas pipeline assets in Louisiana from Southern Natural Gas, it said Friday in a statement. High Point Gas, a partnership between an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners and High Point Energy, did not disclose financial terms of the deal. The sale...>>>
US gas demand to rise 3.5 Bcf/d by 2014 due to EPA rules: analyst Sep 19,2011
US gas demand could rise as much as 3.5 Bcf/d by 2014 should new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency go into effect starting next year as coal-fired generators bring their operations into compliance with the new regime, a BNP Paribas analyst's report stated Friday. Given that some federal regulations are likely to get shot down...>>>
Bromwich to remain as head of new US offshore agency Sep 19,2011
Michael Bromwich, who has been the head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement for the past year, will remain with the Interior Department as head of the new Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement until a permanent director can be selected, Interior announced Friday. Bromwich has presided over a major reorga...>>>
NYMEX crude settles $1.44 lower on eurozone debt uncertainty Sep 19,2011
NYMEX October crude futures settled $1.44 lower at $87.96/barrel Friday as uncertainty over eurozone debt issues led investors to lighten up positions ahead of the front-month contract's expiration early next week. October heating oil settled 1.57 cents lower at $3.0089/gal and October RBOB settled 13 points higher at $2.7841/gal. ICE Novembe...>>>
Falling Indian rupee makes polymer imports costlier Sep 16,2011
The fall in India's rupee against the dollar is making the cost of polymer resins higher and has been a cause for concern amongst local buyers, sources told Platts this week. "All traders are bleeding right now," said an Indian trader. "With the 7-9% depreciation in the currency, our cost has been increasing." On Thursday morning, the rupee s...>>>
European PE chain cuts operating rates on as end-user demand slows Sep 16,2011
The European polyethylene value chain has begun or is considering cutting operating rates as end-user demand slows against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, sources said. Many participants in the value chain -- from the steam crackers to the PE producer to the converters -- said they were either considering or already operating at reduced rate...>>>
New Europe gas row erupts as Turkey chases Greece for higher price Sep 16,2011
A new gas row has erupted in Europe with Turkey's Botas demanding a higher price from Greece's Depa for Azeri gas that Ankara re-exports to Greece. Botas was reported as saying Wednesday it would take the matter to international arbitration in Switzerland, while Depa late Wednesday rejected the Turkish claims. "Depa has complied fully and in ...>>>
US FERC okays two pipeline projects to send Marcellus gas to the Northeast Sep 16,2011
Tennessee Gas Pipeline can build a new gas line segment and other facilities to add 250,000 Dt/day of transportation capacity from the Marcellus Shale to the Northeast region, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Thursday. The Northeast Supply Diversification Project includes a 6.77-mile, 30-inch-diameter pipeline loop in northeaster...>>>
European jet barge premiums stable despite poor refining margins Sep 16,2011
European jet barge premiums are holding steady this week, despite poor refining margins across Europe and talk of run cuts, according to Platts data. On Wednesday, jet FOB barges in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp region were trading at a premium of $65.75/mt to the front-month ICE gasoil contract, Platts data show, or a $6.50/mt discount to CIF...>>>
US fines expected against BP, Transocean, Halliburton next week: Bromwich Sep 16,2011
The US government expects to level sanctions next week against BP, Transocean and Halliburton for their roles in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, top drilling regulator Michael Bromwich said Thursday. The companies would receive "initial notices of incidents of non-compliance" that might or might not give specific dollar amounts for the penalties...>>>