Chemical News
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NWE ETBE premium to MTBE near 3-month high on tight supply Apr 22,2011
Northwest European ETBE premiums over MTBE have risen to their highest level in almost three months due to tighter supplies, trading sources said Thursday. On Wednesday, the ETBE premium to MTBE was assessed by Platts at $167/mt, a level last hit on January 24. This is in stark contrast to a period when ETBE was assessed close to parity or ev...>>>
Asia: SM prices slump in Asia on Tuesday Apr 22,2011
Styrene Monomoer (SM) prices on Tuesday slumped in Asia. Prices fell in line with declining crude and naphtha rates. The price drop was also supported by a tumble in upstream prices of benzene coupled with weak regional buying trends. FOB Korea prices were assessed sharply down at the USD 1430/mt levels, a day on day fall of USD 20/mt. CFR China...>>>
Asia: Coking coal buyers waiting for seaborne market to drop Apr 22,2011
The tradable value of seaborne hard coking coal slipped further Thursday as overall sentiment soured and buyers held back from buying in the hope of lower prices. Premium Low Vol lost $2/mt on the day, reaching $320/mt FOB, its lowest point since February 24. HCC 64 Mid Vol also dipped by the same amount, pulling it below the $300/mt mark, at $2...>>>
Europe: Poland discusses increasing capacity of German gas interconnector Apr 22,2011
Poland's energy regulator, URE, said late Wednesday that the state-run transmission system operator, Gaz-System, will present its opinion on the draft procedures to increase the capacity of the country's interconnector with Germany by the end of April. Gaz-System is working on a project to increse the capacity of the interconnector, located at L...>>>
Asia: Australia Pacific LNG, Sinopec sign binding LNG offtake deal Apr 22,2011
Australia Pacific LNG has signed a binding agreement to supply Chinese state-owned giant China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, known as Sinopec, with 4.3 million mt/year of LNG from its proposed coalseam gas-based project on Curtis Island in the east coast city of Gladstone, the company said Thursday. Sinopec has also agreed to take a 15% inte...>>>
Americas: Industry must disclose fracking fluids, improve standards: Shell Apr 22,2011
Natural gas companies need to disclose the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing, improve operating standards and engage more with local communities if they want to counter anti-industry campaigns and negative news coverage, the vice-president of new business development at Shell Exploration and Production said Wednesday. "You're just not g...>>>
Africa: Shell says it paid Nigeria $3.8 bil tax on offshore oil operation in 5 years Apr 22,2011
Royal Dutch Shell Nigeria says it paid about $3.8 billion in taxes and royalties to the Nigerian government from its offshore and deepwater oil operations between 2006 and 2010. In a briefing note on the company's operations in Nigeria in 2010 published Thursday, Shell said its joint venture operations contributed about $31 billion in revenue to...>>>
Asia: Caltex Australia remains committed to 'tough business' of refining Apr 22,2011
Caltex Australia remains committed to the "tough business" of oil refining in the domestic market, despite the recent announcement that Shell would be closing its plant at Clyde in the east coast city of Sydney, Chairwoman Elizabeth Bryan said Thursday at the company's annual general meeting. "We are an Australian company, listed on the ASX, and...>>>
Americas: USGC ULSD stocks see sharp draw for second week: EIA Apr 22,2011
Ultra low sulfur diesel stocks saw sharp weekly draws last week for a second week in the US Gulf Coast as demand rose and refiners continued to troubleshoot issues, data released by the US Energy Information Administration Wednesday indicated. Total ULSD stocks declined 1.4 million barrels to 104.8 million barrels for the week ended April 15, bu...>>>
Shandong independent refineries' run rate slightly drops to 37.3% Thu Apr 22,2011
Operating rates of independent refineries in Shandong Province averaged 37.3% Thursday, inching down 0.9 percentage points from one week ago, 0.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier, C1's research showed. China Offshore Bitumen shuts 1-mil-mt/yr crude distillate unit for maintenance, as a result of which its crude runs plunged 44% to 4,...>>>
PetroChina Changchun to bring on line 100,000-cu-m oil product terminal end 2011 Apr 22,2011
PetroChina Changchun is expected to put a 100,000-cu-m oil product storage into operation in Changchun City of Northeast China's Jilin Province at the end of 2011, revealed a company source. "The existing storage capacity is not enough to support increase in sales with the development of our business," said the source. The company had to dism...>>>
PetroChina Fushun Petchem shuts 8-mil-mt/yr CDU for three days Apr 22,2011
PetroChina Fushun PetroChina in Northeast China shut down an 8-mil-mt/yr crude distillate unit (CDU) in its No.2 refinery on Apr 21, and it will keep this unit down for three days, according to a source with Fushun Petrochemical. Suspended operation of this unit is because of rising feedstock stockpiles for the refinery's 1.5-mil-mt/yr residue f...>>>
China's LPG imports in May estimated up 27% on month Apr 22,2011
China is forecast to import about 282,000mt of LPG in May, sharply up 27% from C1's estimate for April, up 2.7% year-on-year. Up till Apr 21, Chinese importers have placed orders for about 252,000mt of LPG for May delivery, with 176,000mt to South China, 76,000mt to East China, C1's data show. They are expected to have demand for around 30,000 m...>>>
Operation rate of major refineries rises 2.12 percentage points to 84.8% Thu: biweekly Apr 22,2011
Operation rates of major refineries in China averaged 84.8% on Apr 21, slightly up 2.12 percentage points from two weeks ago, down 1.9 percentage points compared with a year earlier, C1's research showed. Dalian Wepec is yet to resume normal operation after wrapping up turnaround mid-April. Fushun Petrochemical delayed restart of 1.5-mil-mt/yr r...>>>
Europe naphtha demand still weak as high prices persist Apr 21,2011
LONDON-Ongoing high naphtha prices in Europe are continuing to push down demand for the product, sources said on Wednesday. Driven by crude oil price hikes, naphtha reached a 33-month high on 8 April when the range was assessed at $1,054-1,062/tonne CIF (cost, insurance and freight) NWE (northwest Europe). While prices have fluctuated slightl...>>>
Ethylene plant of Total to undergo maintenance Apr 21,2011
An industry source based in Europe informed a polymerupdate team member on the maintenance schedule of an ethylene plant operated by Total Petrochemicals. The source said, “located at Gonfreville in UK, the ethylene plant has a production capacity of 525,000 mt/year. Currently, the plant is operating at normal rates.” The source added, “as pe...>>>
Europe: Toluene prices decline in Europe Apr 21,2011
In Europe, prices of toluene on Monday declined. The price fall was attributed mainly to the slide in upstream energy prices and poor regional buying sentiments. FOB Rotterdam prices of toluene were assessed down on Monday at the USD 1160/mt levels. Regional demand was seen sluggish with sellers struggling to find bids. A toluene seller when...>>>
Asia: PX prices in China decline Apr 21,2011
Weak buying sentiments continued to weigh down on Asia's PX markets at the start of this week prompting regional spot prices lower. On Monday, FOB Korea prices of PX were assessed down at the USD 1580/mt levels while CFR China prices were assessed down at the USD 1600/mt levels. Supporting the drop in prices was a decline in downstream prices...>>>
Asia: German Ferrostaal plans to build methanol cum DME plant in West Papua Apr 21,2011
Germany's Ferrostaal AG plans to begin construction of a $900 million methanol cum dimethyl ether plant in West Papua in 2013, the company confirmed late Tuesday. Indonesian news reports said that Ferrostaal will invest $900 million to build the plant, which will have a design capacity of 1 million mt/year of methanol and 200,000 mt/year of DME,...>>>
Americas: USGC ethane prices rise on correlation to natural gas: traders Apr 21,2011
Purity ethane prices in the US Gulf Coast strengthened Tuesday on higher natural gas futures prices, market sources said. Platts assessed April ethane at 79.25 cents/gal, up one cent from the previous day as NYMEX May natural gas prices rose 12.4 cents to $4.262/MMBtu. Historically, ethane prices have been tied more closely to crude oil and l...>>>