Chemical News
-
Taiwan's Shell CPC to release null base oils to spot market in May May 04,2011
Taiwan's Shell CPC would release null base oils to the spot market in May, because it would have to prioritize supplies to its long-term contracted buyers and to its parent companies—Shell and CPC, revealed a company source. The company had been running its base oil facilities at a 90% utilization rate since late March because of feedstock shor...>>>
Taiwan's Formosa awards sell tender for late-May-loading GPC at US$140-145/mt May 04,2011
Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp awarded a sell tender for two late-May-loading green petroleum coke (GPC) cargoes at US$140-145/mt on FOB Mailiao basis on Apr 26, revealed a company source. The prices were US$5/mt higher than Formosa's last awarding prices because many mainland-based traders showed warmer interests in the bidding, an indust...>>>
Sinopec Guangzhou Petchem estimated to refine 15% more crude daily in May May 04,2011
Sinopec Guangzhou Petrochemical plans to process 1.01-mil mt of crude in May, with daily throughput up 15% from the previous month, a refinery source told C1. The refinery completed turnaround on Apr 30, about 10 days later than scheduled, said the source. Guangzhou Petrochemical shut some units for maintenance on Feb 15, including 5.2-mil-mt...>>>
Shandong independent refineries' oil product inventories slump 41.8% to 153,000mt Tue: biweekly May 04,2011
Independent refineries in Shandong Province held about 153,000mt of oil product inventories in total on May 3, sharply down 110,000mt or 41.8% from two weeks ago, C1's research showed. Of the stockpiles, about 60,000mt was gasoline, down 30,000mt or 33%; gasoil plunged 80,000mt or 46% to 93,000mt. The slump could be mainly attributed to the fall...>>>
PetroChina Liaoyang Petchem sets May crude throughput target at 650,000mt, up 20% on month May 04,2011
PetroChina Liaoyang Petrochemical is expected to refine 650,000mt of crude in May, sharply up 20% from actual consumption of the previous month, according to a refinery source. The refinery had to postpone the launch of a 4.5-mil-mt/yr crude distillate unit from Apr 20 to the second half of May because of affected feedstock transportation, the s...>>>
China's manufacturing growth slows in April on policy tightening May 03,2011
SHANGHAI-China's manufacturing growth eased in April as the government's measures to tighten monetary policy started to show signs of helping to slow domestic demand, industry sources said on Tuesday. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) declined by 0.5 percentage points from March to 52.9% in April, according to a report from the China Federati...>>>
Platts US morning market analysis: Benzene prices fall overnight May 03,2011
Asian benzene prices shed $11.50/mt Friday as market sentiment turned bearish over weaker crude futures. At 0830 GMT Friday, June Brent crude futures were down $1.15/barrel at $124.63/b. The FOB Korea benchmark for Asian benzene was assessed Friday at $1,226/mt, down $11.50/mt from Thursday. In Japan, the country's largest refiner, JX Nippon...>>>
Asia: SK Innovation to shut PE, PP units 2016 for maintenance May 03,2011
South Korea's SK Innovation will shut its polyolefin units for scheduled maintenance in 2016 and not in 2011, a source close to the company said Monday. The 2011 schedule that was reported by Platts on Friday last week was the turnaround schedule for 2010. In 2011, the company will neither shut its No. 1 220,000 mt/year polyethylene unit for ...>>>
Isramco says will finalize $750 mil Tamar gas field financing in next few days May 03,2011
Isramco Ltd will finalize and sign a loan package for $750 million for its part in the development of the Tamar offshore gas field, Isramco said on Monday. The company has a 28.75% stake in the field located off of Israel's northern Mediterranean coast. The company said that the agreement was for a $350 million bridge loan and an agreement for a...>>>
Americas: Encana signs gas production sharing deal with distributor NW Natural May 03,2011
Canadian producer Encana Monday said it has signed joint-venture agreement with Portland, Oregon-based Northwest Natural Gas that would see the gas distributor invest $250 million over the next five years for a working interest in parts of Encana's Jonah field in Wyoming. Completion of the agreement comes after the deal was approved late last mo...>>>
ICE Brent crude plunges by $4.00/b in Europe below $1.22/b May 03,2011
Global crude benchmarks plummeted in highly volatile European morning trading Monday with the front month ICE Brent futures contract losing more than $4.00/barrel from Friday's close at one point falling to a low of $121.67/b while June NYMEX light, sweet crude fell more than $3.00 to a low of $110.82/b having settled Friday at $113.93. Prices ...>>>
Asia: Crude oil falls over $1/b in Asia on news of Osama bin Laden's death May 03,2011
Crude oil futures slumped mid-day in Asian holiday trade Monday as US President Barack Obama made a live broadcast to announce that Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was dead, nearly 10 years after the September 11 attacks. At 11:37 am in Singapore (0347 GMT), June NYMEX crude futures were down $1.47 at $112.48/barrel while June ICE Brent futures...>>>
Americas: Proposed deadline for US offshore drilling permits under scrutiny May 03,2011
US offshore drilling regulator Michael Bromwich has for weeks tried to refute what he describes as politically motivated claims that his agency is stalling permits to keep oil companies out of the Gulf of Mexico. A Louisiana businessman, he said, even approached him wanting to know why regulators in Washington "had fully compliant permit applic...>>>
Sinopec to continue to encourage gasoline, gasoil production in May May 03,2011
Sinopec will continue to encourage subsidiary refineries to produce more oil products in May, in a bid to guarantee the supply to the domestic market. The oil giant set May ex-refinery prices of gasoline and gasoil beyond production targets at Yuan 9,610/mt and Yuan 9,094/mt, sharply up Yuan 1,130/mt and Yuan 1,464/mt, respectively, according to...>>>
Sinopec Maoming Petchem to refine 40,000mt/d of crude in May, flat on month May 03,2011
Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical plans to process 1.26-mil mt of crude in May, with daily throughput unchanged with the previous month, according to a refinery source. The refinery recorded normal condensate consumption since end January, at 90,000-100,000mt per month, C1 reported earlier. Maoming Petrochemical, located in Maoming City of South ...>>>
Sinopec Qingdao refinery expected to keep daily crude throughput stable at 28,400mt in May May 03,2011
Sinopec Qingdao refinery is scheduled to refine 880,000mt of crude in May, with daily consumption flat with the previous month, a refinery source told C1. Qingdao refinery would enter a 45-day turnaround from Jun 20, when it would lift topping capacity by 10%, C1 reported earlier. Qingdao refinery, located in Qingdao City of Shandong Province...>>>
Sinopec to raise naphtha ex-refinery price by Yuan 350/mt in May May 03,2011
Sinopec plans to lift naphtha ex-refinery price for its underlying refineries to Yuan 7,860/mt in May, up Yuan 350/mt from one month ago, a source with the refiner told C1. Ex-refinery price of naphtha supplied to eastern chemical enterprises by Tahe Refinery would be hiked from Yuan 6,710/mt to Yuan 7,060/mt at the same time, added the source. ...>>>
Swollen Mississippi, Ohio rivers halt chemical barge traffic Apr 29,2011
HOUSTON-High river levels stalled and delayed chemical shipments in the US as spring storms pummeled a wide swath of states and made many barge waterways inoperable, sources said on Thursday. Major flooding on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers was affecting the midwest and lower eastern states, according to the US Geological Survey. The swol...>>>
Asia: Brunei Methanol to restart 850,000 mt/year plant early next week Apr 29,2011
Brunei Methanol Company will restart its 850,000 mt/year methanol plant in Sungai Liang Industrial Park early next week following a turnaround, a source close to the company said on Thursday. The plant was shut for maintenance from March 19-20 for 40 days. "It will likely ramp up by the week of May 9," said the source, noting that the company wi...>>>
Europe: Hungary's Borsodchem set to start 160,000 mt/year TDI plant in June Apr 29,2011
Hungary's Borsodchem confirmed Thursday that the construction of its new 160,000 mt/year toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) plant in Kazincbarcika, Hungary, is proceeding as scheduled. It added in a statement that "the commissioning [of the plant] is expected to start early June 2011 and the plant will be ready for start early Q3 2011." Borsodchem ...>>>