Chemical News
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Asia: Japan nuclear outages set to trigger spot LNG demand: consultant Mar 14,2011
The temporary shutdown of 20% of Japan's nuclear capacity due to the massive earthquake there will boost demand for fuel oil and spot LNG to make up shortfalls in power generation, Bernstein Research said Friday. The scale of the damage to the country's nuclear power plants may also trigger a rethink of the government's plan to build out new nuc...>>>
UK gas, Asian LNG prices surge on earthquake-led demand in Japan Mar 14,2011
UK forward gas contracts and Asian LNG prices surged Friday as an earthquake in Japan triggered the shut down of nuclear and coal-fired power stations in the country, with LNG as a possible substitute fuel, which means cargoes may be diverted away from the UK and toward Asia, traders said. "The impact of the earthquake in Japan on the UK market ...>>>
Americas: BP expands Brazilian ethanol business with $680 mil deal Mar 14,2011
BP signalled a major expansion of its Brazilian ethanol business Friday agreeing to buy most of Brazil's privately-held ethanol and sugar producer Companhia Nacional de Acucar e Alcool (CNAA) for some $680 million plus debt. The move will allow BP to more than quadruple its Brazilian ethanol production capacity to some 1.9 billion liters/year, a...>>>
Asia: Massive Japan earthquake shuts refineries, power plants, ports Mar 14,2011
Japanese refiners Cosmo Oil and JX Nippon Oil and Energy shut their refineries in the eastern part of the country following a massive earthquake that struck the area on Friday afternoon. Several power plants and ports in the Tokyo Bay area were also closed. An 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck the northeast coast of Japan at 2:46 pm local time (05...>>>
Europe: Rosneft not interested in TNK-BP role in planned alliance with BP Mar 14,2011
Russia's biggest oil producer Rosneft Friday released an official statement to confirm its position that the state-run company is not interested in cooperation with Anlgo-Russian joint venture TNK-BP within a recently announced strategic alliance with BP. "While choosing a strategic partner, Rosneft took into account BP's 40-year experience in [...>>>
China: Yangzhou Shi You Chemical to bring on stream 400,000-mt/yr hydrocracker end Mar Mar 14,2011
Yangzhou Shi You Chemical plans to put a newly-built 400,000-mt/yr hydrocracker into operation in end March, according to a source with the refinery. The refinery is equipped with a 1.2-mil-mt/yr residue fluid catalytic cracker currently, processing Russia M100 fuel oil and homemade residue, the source said, adding its products mainly include li...>>>
China: Yan'an Refinery shuts 1.2-mil-mt/yr continuous reformer for maintenance due to glitch Mar 14,2011
A 1.2-mil-mt/yr continuous reformer and 200,000-mt/yr benzene extraction combination unit at Yan'an Refinery was shut down for maintenance because of glitch, according to a source with Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group, parent of the refinery. The maintenance is expected to last about a week, revealed the source. Yan'an Refinery usually produced...>>>
China's Feb crude imports decline 8.49% to 19.95-mil mt: on month Mar 14,2011
China imported 19.95-mil mt of crude in February, sharply down 8.49% on month while up 7.78% on yearly comparison, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. February's daily crude imports climbed 1.3% from the previous month for there were only 28 calendar days during the month. China's crude imports might go down in March due t...>>>
China: Much more private cars retrofitted LPG engines in C. China's Wuhan amid surging gasoline prices Mar 14,2011
More and more private car owners fitted LPG engines in their cars in Wuhan City of Central China's Hubei Province in face of high gasoline costs. A source with Wuhan Minsheng LPG, a major LPG supplier in Wuhan, told C1 that the company received application to retrofit more than 1,000 cars in the past two months. Wuhan has only 800 private cars e...>>>
Africa:More African nations opt for GM crop trials Mar 11,2011
After decades of resisting genetically modified crops, African nations are joining South Africa in researching and planting biotech crops to ensure food security, according to an industry report released last week. A study shows that the fear of genetically modified crops creating super pests and super weeds down the line is not stopping Africa...>>>
Americas:Why commodities historically offer inflation protection Mar 11,2011
Consumer-price inflation is likely to trend higher, and history suggests that investment through commodities and "floating-rate" loans has tended to fare best at such times, said the chief mutual-fund strategist with DWS Investments on Wednesday. "We think both of those are best suited for this environment to protect clients against inflation g...>>>
Monsanto gets Mexico's nod for GM maize pilot project Mar 11,2011
After long debates and discussions, Mexico on Wednesday approved Monsanto's first pilot project to grow genetically-modified (GM) maize in the country. In a statement issued here, Mexico's Agriculture ministry said it had approved the project to grow GM yellow corn developed by Monsanto on one hectare of land in the northern Tamaulipas state. ...>>>
EU should avoid gas-emissions targets of more than 20%-Cefic Mar 11,2011
LONDON-Cefic is urging the European Commission not to adopt new unilateral greenhouse gas (GHG) targets that go beyond the originally stated 20% reductions, the industry association said on Thursday. Cefic said that efforts by the EU to reduce GHG emissions by more than 20%- thereby setting a new target in the absence of a global climate change ...>>>
Will limited PS demand lead to sales pressure on European sellers? Mar 11,2011
In Europe, PS prices rose significantly for the third month in a row. Styrene costs continue to put pressure on PS markets as they have been retaining their upward momentum since the start of 2011. Plus, crude oil prices are still hovering above the $100/barrel threshold, supporting the upstream markets. Supply concerns are adding to the sentiment,...>>>
Americas: US spot HDPE blow molding prices increase on European demand Mar 11,2011
US HDPE blow molding spot export prices increased nearly 3.5 cents/lb ($77/mt) to 64 cents/lb ($1,411/mt) FAS Houston, trading sources said Wednesday. "I can export all day at 64," a trader said. Traders said they were able to easily sell blow molding into into Antwerp at $1,540/mt CFR. Considering freight of about $70/mt, there was plenty ...>>>
Asia: Kuwait's KPC awards $553 mil LPG tank contract to S Korea's GS E&C Mar 11,2011
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation through its subsidiary Kuwait National Petroleum Company has awarded South Korea's GS Engineering & Construction Co. a Won 620 billion ($553 million) contract to build 10 LPG storage tanks, a source at the South Korean company said Thursday. "We received a letter Tuesday about their [KNPC] decision to award us the co...>>>
Middle East: Iran's 2010-11 polyolefins production lags consumption growth: report Mar 11,2011
Iran would have consumed 1.7 million mt of polyolefins when the Persian fiscal year 2010-11 closes on March 21, up 8% from a year earlier, financial information provider Business Monitor International said in a report released Wednesday. The country would still face overcapacity as it finds it increasingly difficult to export cargoes in the wak...>>>
Asia: Thermal coal markets at risk of 10-15% price correction: sources Mar 11,2011
A correction could lie in store for international coal prices, which have soared beyond the reach of many buyers in emerging economies such as India, warned two market participants during a panel discussion on thermal coal prices at the tenth Coaltrans India conference in New Delhi this week. India-based coal trading firm Knowledge Infrastructur...>>>
Americas: Dominion considering exporting LNG from Maryland terminal Mar 11,2011
Dominion Resources is confident it can export LNG supplied from the Marcellus Shale to markets in Europe and Asia, although it has no timeline for when it will apply for the necessary federal approvals, CEO and President Thomas Farrell said Wednesday. Speaking at CERAWeek, a conference sponsored by the consulting firm IHS CERA, Farrell said its ...>>>
Asia: Japan's Mitsubishi, Mitsui confirm interest in Browse LNG Mar 11,2011
Japanese trading houses Mitsubishi and Mitsui both confirmed their interest Thursday in Woodside Petroleum's proposed Browse LNG project in Western Australia. "We are interested in the project but have not decided yet whether to go ahead," Shunsuke Nanami, spokesman for Mitsubishi said. He added that he could not comment on any specifics of thei...>>>