Chemical News
-
High water may force Louisiana chem plants to rely on truck, rail May 11,2011
HOUSTON-Chemical producers along the Mississippi river may rely increasingly on trucks and railcars to move material because of high water and flooding, sources said on Tuesday. The river already has crested at Memphis, Tennessee, and it could crest on the lower Mississippi on 24 May. If water levels become too high, shipping could be proh...>>>
Iran plans new petrochemical contracts on its oil bourse in Kish May 11,2011
Iran plans to launch new petrochemical contracts on the Iranian Oil Bourse on Kish island and is trying to promote existing and planned contracts, market sources told Platts Tuesday. A forum to explain the contracts and the procedures for carrying out transactions on the exchange has been scheduled for May 28 at the Shangri La Hotel in Dubai. ...>>>
China extends antidumping duty on Japan, US, EU chloroprene rubber May 11,2011
China has decided to continued imposing antidumping duty on chloroprene rubber imported from Japan, the US and the EU, China's Ministry of Commerce said late Monday. The measures are effective May 10 for five years, the ministry said. China had previously imposed antidumping duties of 2-151% on chloroprene rubber imported from Japan, the US ...>>>
Americas: EU biodiesel firms probe new loophole on US import duties May 11,2011
European biodiesel makers welcomed Monday an EU decision to stem the evasion of anti-dumping duties on subsidized US biodiesel by exports via Canada, but said companies may now be using Indian ports to skirt the EU trade curbs. EU politicians voted Thursday to extend existing anti-dumping duties on US "B99" biodiesel to Canada and to include imp...>>>
Global spot, short-term LNG trades in 2010 up 40% on year to 727 cargoes May 11,2011
Global spot and short-term LNG trades spiked 40% year on year to 727 cargoes in 2010, compared with 491 cargoes in 2009, due to more attractive spot and short-term LNG prices, and uncommitted supply from the Middle East, according to a report issued by GIIGNL, the global association of LNG buyers. The rise of spot and short-term operations was p...>>>
ExxonMobil girds for fight over US tax breaks for oil, gas sector May 11,2011
Bracing for a fight on Capitol Hill over oil company tax breaks, ExxonMobil's top lobbyist on Monday said the US tax code already penalizes drillers and refiners. Ken Cohen, vice president of public and government affairs, added in a conference call that scrapping some of the current deductions would jeopardize future US production. "I would ...>>>
NWE gasoline crack spreads overtake ULSD, first since Mar 2010 May 11,2011
Physical gasoline cracks have overtaken ultra low sulfur diesel cracks for the first time in over a year, as strength in the US gasoline market is supporting values in Northwest Europe. A measure of profitability, crack spread is the price difference between a barrel of crude and the product made from it. On Monday, European gasoline barge crack...>>>
Analysts look for 1.6-million-barrel build in crude stocks May 11,2011
Weekly oil data from the US Energy Information Administration and the American Petroleum Institute should show a build in US commercial crude stocks of about 1.6 million barrels for the reporting week ended May 9, analysts polled by Platts said Monday. API is scheduled to release its weekly data at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) Tuesday; EIA's weekly ...>>>
Sinopec Wuhan Petchem's delayed coker catches fire; crude throughput unaffected for time being May 11,2011
Sinopec Wuhan Petrochemical's 1.5-mil-mt/yr delayed coker took fire around 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, but crude throughput was not affected for the time being, a refinery source told C1. Up until now, the fire has been put out and the unit has halted operation, the source revealed, adding the other units were in normal operations. It is difficult to ...>>>
China's Apr crude imports slip 0.6% on month to 21.54-mil mt: GAC May 11,2011
China imported 21.54-mil mt of crude in April, slightly down 0.6% from the previous month, up 1.75% compared with a year earlier, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs. The nation's crude imports in the first four months of this year added up to 84.96-mil mt, up 9.13% year-on-year, the data showed. China recorded...>>>
N. China's Tianjin port ships out 134,000mt of oil products in Apr, plunging 37% on month May 11,2011
A combined 134,000mt of oil products were transported southwards from North China's Tianjin port in April, sharply down 79,000mt or 37% from the previous month, according to a port source. The shipments include 40,000mt of gasoline and 94,000mt of gasoil, the source revealed. PetroChina skipped gasoline barge sales in the month because of inf...>>>
Sinopec's daily crude throughput in May estimated up 1.32% May 11,2011
Sinopec's refineries are estimated to process a total of 18.3-18.5-mil mt of crude in May, with daily throughput up 1.32% month-on-month to 593,000mt, close to Sinopec's record high, C1's research showed. Shijiazhuang refinery boosted daily crude throughput by 45% as from the second half of April, after maintenance of a 5-mil-mt/yr crude distill...>>>
Does PP demand signal for an improvement in Egypt? May 10,2011
In Egypt, PP demand has been performing poorly partly stemming from the political turmoil in February as well as the relentless increases materializing both in the local and import markets since the beginning of the year. Regional producers' offers have been following an upward trend since the beginning of 2011 as Middle Eastern PP raffia ...>>>
BASF warns on overexpansion in Asia May 10,2011
There is a danger that overinvestment in petrochemical expansions in Asia will lead to overcapacity, margin erosion and the next big down cycle by 2015, a senior executive with German chemical major BASF said on Friday. Large amounts of capacity additions, coupled with more moderate economic growth in China and the Asia-Pacific region, will crea...>>>
Asia: PTT Asahi to start commercial operations at MMA plant May 10,2011
An industry source based in South East Asia informed a Polymerupdate team member on the startup of a new MMA plant operated by PTT Asahi Chemical. The source said, "located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the MMA plant has a production capacity of 70,000 tonnes/year." The source added, "the company is likely to start commercial operations at the ...>>>
Europe: Plastics packaging industry facing challenges: associations May 10,2011
The plastic packaging industry is facing the multiple challenges of rising raw material prices, supply constraints and liquidity problems, the German Plastic Packaging Association IK and French Plastics Packaging Association ELIPSO said Monday in a joint statement. "Over the past year, the prices of all plastics have been strongly and steadily i...>>>
Asia OX-MX spread narrows to $33/mt after reaching six-week high May 10,2011
The Asian orthoxylene-isomer mixed xylenes spread, based on FOB Korea prices, narrowed by 40% to $33/mt Monday, after reaching a six-week high of $55/mt on Friday, as the crude and aromatics markets rebounded. Upstream, front-month ICE Brent was up by $5.05/barrel or 4.7% from last Friday to $111.83/b at 16.30 pm Singapore time (0830 GMT) Monday...>>>
Asia: Japan utilities buy into Mitsubishi Canadian shale gas project May 10,2011
A group of Japanese utilities have signed an agreement to acquire stakes in Canadian Penn West Energy's shale gas project in Cordova, northeastern British Columbia, by way of shares in a subsidiary of Mitsubishi, the companies said in a joint statement Monday. Chubu Electric, Tokyo Gas and Osaka Gas have each agreed to take a 7.5% stake in Cordo...>>>
EURO GAS: Prices rise on stronger oil and bullish fundamentals May 10,2011
Prompt prices on the Continental European gas markets have followed the bullish moves in oil prices Monday morning. In addition, colder temperatures forecast for the end of the week coupled with reduced LNG deliveries to the UK and Belgium have bolstered demand and helped to support price gains. "Oil prices continue to offer support to Europ...>>>
Asia: S Korea's SK plans to lift overseas upstream revenue by 28% in 2011 May 10,2011
SK Innovation, South Korea's largest oil refiner, said Monday that revenue from overseas oil exploration and development activity was expected to surpass Won 1 trillion ($920 million) this year, up 27.7% from Won 783 billion in 2010. The boost will largely be due to upstream activity in Colombia as well as plans to purchase crude-producing field...>>>