Chemical News
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Spanish cabinet OKs Gas Natural project for Marismas gas storage Jul 19,2011
Spain's cabinet given the go-ahead for Gas Natural Fenosa to explore the possibility of converting three depleted gas fields in southern Spain into gas storage sites. Gas Natural Fenosa's subsidiary Petroleum Oil & Gas Espana will be allowed to conduct tests on the Marismas B-1, Marismas C-2 and Marismas A fields, which it formerly operated, to ...>>>
Future of Mackenzie Valley pipe project uncertain: Alberta energy minister Jul 19,2011
The future of the Mackenzie Valley project remains uncertain after Shell Canada announced Friday its intention to exit the proposed multi-billion dollar natural gas venture, Alberta's Energy Minister, Ron Liepert, said Monday. "At gas prices of $4/MMBtu, we doubt if it will move ahead," he told reporters at Springbank airport, 60 km west of Cal...>>>
Vietnam PV Gas awards contract for Nam Con Son-2 gas pipeline project Jul 19,2011
PetroVietnam's gas unit PV Gas on Saturday awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract for part of the giant Nam Con Son-2 gas pipeline project to a PetroVietnam Construction-led contractor consortium, a PV Construction official said Sunday. The Nam Con Son-2 gas pipeline project includes a 293 km pipeline connecting gas field...>>>
TransCanada says Keystone XL route is shortest, with least impact Jul 19,2011
TransCanada Monday defended the current route for its Keystone XL pipeline project in response to an earlier call by seven US senators who want the US State Department to consider new routes. "The route we have chosen is the shortest route, which means the least environmental impact and the fewest landowners impacted," TransCanada spokesman Terr...>>>
China's Jun crude throughput drops 4.5% daily on extensive turnarounds: NBS Jul 19,2011
Refineries in China processed 35.55-mil mt of crude all together in June, with daily throughput declining 4.5% from May to 1.19-mil mt, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed. The June throughput was down 7.58% from the previous month, down 0.7% from a year ago, according to the data. Major refineries went into maintenance ...>>>
Shandong independent refineries' oil product inventories slip 3% to 457,000mt mid-Jul Jul 19,2011
Independent refineries in Shandong Province held about 457,000mt of oil product inventories in total on Jul 18, slightly down 14,000mt or 3% from two weeks ago, C1's research showed. Of the stockpiles, about 238,000mt was gasoline, down 16,000mt or 6.3%; gasoil inched up by 2,000mt or 1% to 219,000mt. Oil product sales were affected by soft d...>>>
PetroChina Dalian Petchem cuts crude throughput by 40% after weekend CDU fire Jul 19,2011
PetroChina Dalian Petrochemical's crude throughput plunged 40% to 30,000mt per day after the shutdown of its 10-mil-mt/yr crude distillate unit caused by fire last Saturday (Jul 16), according to a refinery source. The throughput may further drop to 25,000mt if production was not resumed in the near term, the source told C1. "It is unknown wh...>>>
US propylene for July falls 4 cents/lb in full settlement Jul 18,2011
HOUSTON-US propylene contracts for July fell by 4 cents/lb ($88/tonne, €62/tonne), market sources said on Friday, confirming an initial settlement reached earlier this week. The agreement puts polymer-grade propylene (PGP) at 78.00 cents/lb and chemical-grade propylene (CGP) contracts at 76.50 cents/lb, as assessed by ICIS. The drop this...>>>
Vietnam Vinabenny defers plan to set up LPG floating storage at Vung Tau Jul 18,2011
Vietnam's VinaBenny has deferred plans to bring to Vung Tau, a VLGC, which the LPG trader intended to use as a floating storage, a source at one of the company's joint venture partners told Platts Friday. "If you look at the freight rates at the moment, it doesn't seem sensible. It seems it would cost around $80 million to buy a VLGC, while time...>>>
Spot NWE benzene higher as August naphtha spread hits $200/mt Jul 18,2011
Spot Northwest European benzene prices strengthen further Friday morning, with further evidence of a widening spread between upstream naphtha and the aromatic. An August trade was reported done at $1,175/mt for a 1,000 mt CIF ARA barge late Thursday, and during the morning spot prices for July were seen at a bid/offer range of $1,160-1,175/mt fo...>>>
Petrobras Biofuels says production up 10-fold in three years Jul 18,2011
Petrobras Biofuels marked three years of existence Friday with a 10-fold increase in production, with annual capacity of 1.7 billions liter/year, up from 170 million liters in 2008, the company said Friday. Growth was helped by the recent acquisition of 50% of the Passo Fundo ethanol plant and expansion of the Usina de Candeias plant in Bahia wh...>>>
US July paraxylene contract settles down 5 cents/lb at 70 cents/lb Jul 18,2011
The July US paraxylene pre-discounted contract was settled at 70 cents/lb ($1,543/mt), down 5 cents from June, a producer said Friday. Buyers had yet to confirm the new contract price, but the decrease had been expected by PET makers as they anticipated the US would follow decreases in Asia and Europe. Asia's contract price was settled earlie...>>>
Advisory panel recommends Pennsylvania impose impact fee on drillers Jul 18,2011
Pennsylvania natural gas and oil drillers should pay fees to offset the impacts their operations are having in the state, a unanimous advisory commission appointed by Republican Governor Tom Corbett said Friday. But the size of the recommended impact fee and how it would be imposed won't be disclosed until the commission delivers its report to Corb...>>>
BHP Billiton to buy US-based Petrohawk for $15.1 billion Jul 18,2011
BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company and Australia's biggest petroleum producer, has made its second major acquisition for this year with an agreement to buy US shale gas producer Petrohawk Energy for $15.1 billion (A$14.15 billion) -- a deal which puts it on track to become a 1 million b/d business within five years, the company said F...>>>
Demand for Nigerian crude cargoes rebounds as SPR effect wears off Jul 18,2011
Demand for Nigerian crude cargoes has picked up significantly after trading stagnated due to the International Energy Agency's release of strategic reserves, sources said Friday. Nigerian sweet light crude barrels are usually bought by US refiners because of their high yield of gasoline and light end-products. However, with half of the strategic...>>>
Caltex Australia signs as customer for new Adelaide fuel terminal Jul 18,2011
Caltex Australia has signed a 25-year deal to be the foundation customer for a new fuel storage facility being built in Adelaide, capital of the state of South Australia, the company said in a statement Friday. The new A$80 million ($86 million) facility is being built by Terminals Pty. Ltd. at Adelaide's Outer Harbor. The company is currently ...>>>
China's gasoil market sluggish amid weak demand in H1 Jul Jul 18,2011
Domestic gasoil market has been sluggish in the first half of July, and both wholesale trading and retail sales have declined moderately on weak end-user demand, C1 found. In the retail market, peak consumption from northern China's agriculture is over, and demand from southern China’s transportation, infrastructure construction and industries e...>>>
PetroChina, Shell, Qatar Petroleum's Taizhou JV project may be downsized to 15-mil mt/yr Jul 18,2011
The National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) may scale down the joint-venture petrochemical complex among PetroChina, Shell and Qatar Petroleum International in Taizhou City of East China's Zhejiang Province to 15-mil mt per year, according to a source with the local merchants bureau. NDRC has approved in principal the project but cut dow...>>>
Public investment in Brazil's sugar-ethanol complex down 13% Jul 15,2011
Brazil's public sector investments in the sugar-ethanol complex fell 13% in the first half of 2011 compared with the same period a year ago to Real 2.9 billion ($1.85 billion), data from Brazil's development bank BNDES shows. In 2010, total governmental investments in the sector in the first half of the year amounted to Real 3.36 billion. With h...>>>
CNOOC-Shell JV ramps up rates at cracker, downstream units after restart Jul 15,2011
China's CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Co joint venture, which restarted its integrated steam cracker and petrochemical complex at Nanhai in China's Guangdong province Sunday, has been ramping up rates, a company source said Thursday. The cracker -- able to make 800,000 mt/year of ethylene and 430,000 mt/year of propylene -- is now running above...>>>