Chemical News
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Polymer Future trading yet to take off in India Aug 21,2007
Four months after it launch of futures trading in polymers in India, NCDEX seems to have met with little success. The daily average volumes in PVC has been ruling at just around Rs 50-60 lakh as against the target of close to Rs 100 crore. Till date there has been no trading in Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) and Polypropylene (PP). The ...>>>
One dies in petrochemical plant blast in Romania Aug 20,2007
A powerful explosion at Romania's biggest petrochemical complex Oltchim, located at the town of Ramnicu Valcea, left one dead and seven wounded. The accident is believed to have been caused by a failure of the circulation pump that increased the pressure at one of the plastic reactors and triggered the blast. No toxic leakage has been reported....>>>
Domestic demand to be driver of growth in Saudi Arabia from 2007-2010 Aug 21,2007
Domestic demand is said to be the main driver of growth in Saudi Arabia for the period 2007-2010, as per a report by Jadwa Investment. As per the report, mega project implementation and broad liberalisation will drive real non-oil private sector growth up to an average of nearly 8% with growth being fastest in manufacturing, communication, finance ...>>>
Terra Nostra expects strong copper prices to continue this year Aug 20,2007
Terra Nostra Resources Corporation, majority owner of two China joint venture companies in the copper and stainless steel industries, today said that the recent price levels for copper, seen substantially as a result of demand for the metal out of China, help position the Company to show strong growth within its copper production business this year...>>>
Price trends of oil, polymer feedstocks & commodity polymers for the week of 13th August 2007 Aug 17,2007
SUMMARY Crude oil futures slumped to US$71.5 for September delivery in the week of 13th August 2007 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This dip is in continuity to the decline prompted by news of a US economy slowdown.Naphtha declined in line with falling crude oil prices.Persistent stringent supplies continue to prompt higher ethylen...>>>
Kemira has completed its strategic review of the Pigments business unit Aug 16,2007
15 Aug 2007 - Kemira Oyj has concluded the evaluation of strategic alternatives for its business unit Pigments. Based on the review, Kemira will remain the owner of Pigments and continue to run it as part of the Kemira Specialty business area along with the ChemSolutions and Chemidet businesses. Evaluation process continues for Chemidet business un...>>>
BASF adds third leg to Ultrason family Aug 16,2007
15 August 2007 – BASF has added a polyphenylsulphone to its Ultrason family of high performance amorphous engineering polymers. The latest addition is Ultrason P, which forms a third component of the range and is being made on the company’s Ludwigshafen plant, which is currently being doubled in size to 12 000tpa. Ultrason P combines the high me...>>>
Four killed in PVC explosion Aug 16,2007
15 August 2007 – Four people have been killed and another four injured after an explosion at a PVC resin plant in the city of Sayansk in eastern Siberia. According to Russian media, the blast occurred yesterday at around 5.30am at the Sayanskkhimplast factory owned by PVC manufacturer Sayanskchimplast. Some reports are saying that “criminal ...>>>
OPEC raises world oil demand forecasts Aug 16,2007
August 15, 2007 - OPEC August 14 raised its forecasts of world oil demand and demand for its own crude this year and next. But it warned that the demand outlook was being clouded by a number of "emerging uncertainties," including the extent of the fallout from the housing loans crisis in the US which has already caused volatile swings in global...>>>
Hexion Posts Loss on High Raw Material Prices Aug 15,2007
Hexion Specialty chemicals reported a net loss of $4 million in the second quarter, compared to a net loss of $75 million in the same period last year. Sales rose 10%, to $1.46 billion. “While we experienced ongoing volatility and historically high prices for several key raw materials, such as phenol and urea, our ability to leverage our contractua...>>>
Akzo to Buy ICI for £8 billion Aug 14,2007
Akzo Nobel will acquire ICI for £8 billion ($16.3 billion), or L6.70/share. The offer is a 22% premium to ICI’s closing price of £5.49/share, the last trading day prior to Akzo’s bid. The bid, however, faces opposition from at least one major Akzo shareholder, TPG-Axon, according to a Reuters news report. Akzo CEO Hans Wijers says he is...>>>
Oil prices stabilize at US$71 a barrel Aug 13,2007
Oil prices stabilized at US$71 levels in Asian trading. Light, sweet crude for September delivery steadied at US$71.58 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore. September Brent crude settled at US$70.27 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London. The previous sessions saw a fall in oil p...>>>
Ruthenium demand to rise Aug 13,2007
Outgoing Anglo Platinum CEO Ralph Havenstein says that there has been significant growth in the demand for ruthenium, particularly for use in hard disk drives, which is expected to continue to have a major influence in the market. Although ruthenium has been used in disks before, it is deposited on newer types of hard disks to increase memory st...>>>
Crude oil futures fall Aug 10,2007
NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Crude oil futures fell on Thursday, as traders took profit at the high price level. Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell 56 cents to 71.59 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for September delivery fell 78 cents to 70.21 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange...>>>
Dow Completes Capital Investment for VERSENE Chelating Agents Aug 09,2007
09 Aug 2007 - The Dow Chemical Company has completed a capital project at its VERSENE(TM) Chelants plant in Freeport, Texas. The undisclosed, significant investment reinforces Dow's commitment to be a reliable supplier of a full range of chelants for current and future demand. "Providing our customers with the highest quality chelating agents, o...>>>
U.S. inventories of crude oil, gasoline drop Aug 09,2007
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. commercial crude oil inventories fell sharply last week while gasoline stockpiles also declined unexpectedly, the Energy Department reported Wednesday. In the week ended Aug. 3, the nation's crude oil inventories dropped by 4.1 million barrels to 340.4 million. Analysts were forecasting a decline of 2 mil...>>>
Russian regulator sees decision on free associated gas price soon Aug 08,2007
Moscow --7Aug2007 Russia's federal tariffs service, which regulates prices for the country's natural monopolies, expects to decide on full liberalization of associated gas prices within approximately three months, head of the service Sergei Novikov said Tuesday. "Last week we discussed the issue with all interested ministries and market part...>>>
Methanol production issues leave US traders in wait and see mode Aug 08,2007
Houston --7Aug2007 The US spot methanol market continued to stagnate Tuesday morning as sources were at odds regarding the actual condition of the methanol market. Production problems in both Chile and Trinidad have led to confusion regarding supply side conditions and have stunted trade activity. "The market is holding tenuously right now...>>>
Emerson to digitally automate Fujian Refining and Ethylene Project Aug 08,2007
Emerson Process Management, has been selected to digitally automate the Fujian Refining and Ethylene Joint Venture Project in Quanzhou City, China. The project is the largest integrated refining and petrochemicals project ever undertaken in China and is expected to startup by 2009. Emerson completed front-end engineering and design in September 2...>>>
Tighter US credit endangers risky chem projects Aug 07,2007
HOUSTON --The recent sell-off on US stock markets reflects tightening credit, which could make riskier chemicals projects harder to finance, an officer with a consultant firm said on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 13,321.08 in intraday trading on Monday. While up from 3 August, the index was down 5% from its 2007 record closing...>>>