Chemical News
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China: CNOOC Huizhou refinery to slash LPG output over maintenance in late Aug Aug 06,2010
CNOOC Huizhou refinery plans to start 15-20 days of maintenance on a hydrogenation unit as from Aug 20, likely to slash its daily LPG output by about 39% or 400-500mt from 1,100-1,200mt, according to a source with the refinery. As Huizhou refinery tries to ensure supply for truck delivery, its will probably cut supply for barge delivery, a mar...>>>
China: Fuel oil supply from S. China refineries estimated down 8% in Aug Aug 06,2010
Refineries in South China are estimated to supply about 165,500mt of fuel oil in August, down 8% from the previous month, a survey found. This supply comprises 36,000mt of slurry, 57,000mt of bituminous feedstock, which is residue sold under the name of bitumen, 56,500mt of high-sulfur residue, 3,000mt of low-sulfur residue, 8,000mt of heavy c...>>>
Saudi Sipchem to build ethyl acetate/butyl acetate swing plant Aug 06,2010
Saudi International Petrochemical Co. or Sipchem plans to build a 100,000 mt/year ethyl acetate/butyl acetate swing plant at its complex in Jubail Industrial City, the company announced Wednesday. The plant was slated to be commissioned during 2013, and Sipchem has signed an agreement with France's Rhodia to build it. It also...>>>
US propylene inventories gain, close at 3.037 million barrels Aug 06,2010
US propylene inventories gained ground this week, lengthening by 151,000 barrels to close at 3.037 million barrels for the week ending July 30. The previous week inventory levels were at their lowest point since mid-April at 2.886 million barrels. Meanwhile in spot, prices were mostly stable on the week amid thin trade activity. Aug...>>>
China: Will Calcium Carbide Prices Rise on the Shutdown of Plants? Aug 06,2010
High feedstock costs and increasing electricity prices forced more shutdowns of small-scale calcium carbide plants. Distributors focused on whether the shutdowns would push up market prices or impact on the downstream PVC production. Presently, many small-scale calcium carbide plants were shut down or to be shut down in the major production ar...>>>
China's Spandex Capacities Jumped 40.56% in H1, 2010 Aug 09,2010
According to National Bureau of Statistics of China, domestic spandex capacity rose significantly by 40.56% in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, total capacity of domestic chemical fiber industry reached 14.4739 million tons, increasing by 13.43% over the same period of last year. In 2010, chemical fiber industry kept good mome...>>>
China: Sinopec Gaoqiao's Exports Hike in H1, 2010 Aug 09,2010
Sinopec Gaoqiao’s total export volume in H1 touched the highest level in history, up by 46% over the last year. In 2009, the profits of its new polyether products occupied 50% of total profits, compared with 25% in 2004. The company always engaged itself in product innovation and market expansion. For now, there were some breakthrou...>>>
Huntsman Releases Second Quarter 2010 Results Aug 09,2010
IMPROVED DEMAND LEADS TO SECOND QUARTER EARNINGS OF: $116 MILLION IN NET INCOME AND $257 MILLION IN ADJUSTED EBITDA Second Quarter 2010 Highlights Revenues for the second quarter of 2010 were $2,343 million, an increase of 27% compared to $1,846 million for the same period in 2009 and an increase of 12% compared to $2,094 million for the fi...>>>
Stephen F Cooper Elected to LyondellBasell Board Aug 09,2010
LyondellBasell has elected Stephen F Cooper to the company’s supervisory board. Cooper is replacing Philip Kassin, who recently resigned. Cooper is co-founder of Zolfo Cooper, an interim management firm, and has also served as vice chairman and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He was CEO of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in 2005 and CEO of Enron between 2002 an...>>>
Russia: NWE biodiesel prices rise sharply on Russia's grain exports ban Aug 09,2010
Biodiesel prices in NWE rose sharply Thursday afternoon and continue to be supported Friday morning after feedstock prices rallied after Russia announced a temporary ban to grain exports. The ban, which covers wheat, barley, rye and corn as well as wheat and rye flour, led CBOT wheat prices to explode in the Chicago Board of Trade. ...>>>
Japan's Inpex acquires first upstream exploration asset in Peru Aug 09,2010
Japan's Inpex Corporation has taken a foothold in the Peruvian upstream sector through the acquisition of a 25% participating interest in Block 117 in the country's north, the exploration and production company said Friday. Inpex is already involved in a number of exploration, development and production projects in Latin American countrie...>>>
BP says Macondo static kill cementing completed Aug 09,2010
BP has completed the cementing phase of the static kill operation to close its blown-out Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, said Thursday. "BP today completed cementing operations at the MC252 well at 14:15 CDT, as part of the static kill procedure," the company said in a statement. "Monitoring of the well is underway in order to confi...>>>
Gunvor sets sights on expanding LNG presence in Europe, Asia Aug 09,2010
Geneva-based trading company Gunvor has purchased about 20 spot LNG cargoes, which it plans to deliver primarily into northwest Europe starting this winter, according to its head of LNG. "The aim is to link our LNG activities in the Atlantic Basin with our European gas and power positions in order to create an integrated, physical portfol...>>>
Environmentalists call for probe of diesel use in fracking fluid Aug 09,2010
A coalition of environmental organizations is calling on Congress and the US Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the alleged use by two oil field services companies of diesel fuel in their hydraulic fracturing fluids, in apparent violation of federal law. The coalition on Thursday sent letters asking the EPA and the House of r...>>>
BLM plans PRB coal sales in face of environmental opposition Aug 09,2010
The US Bureau of Land Management plans to go ahead with the sale of more than 350 million short tons of coal in the Wyoming Powder River Basin, despite objections and at least one planned lawsuit from environmental groups. The BLM will set a date for the lease sale at a later time, according to a notice to be published Friday in the Feder...>>>
Croatia's Dioki interested in Vinyls Italia investment: ministry Aug 09,2010
Croatian polymer producer Dioki may be interested in investing in Vinyls Italia, Italy's vice-secretary of economic development Stefano Saglia said in a note on the ministry website Friday. Dioki signaled its intention to "invest in the Italian chemical sector" in a meeting with the ministry Wednesday, the note said. Nobody was immediate...>>>
China: SHFE's fuel oil futures delivery stock rises 0.6% to 321,200mt Aug 09,2010
Fuel oil delivery stock for futures in nine appointed terminals of the Shanghai Futures Exchange was 321,200mt in total as of Aug 6, slightly up 4,200mt or 0.6% from one week ago, according to data released by SHFE. The volume accounted for 44.07% of the total storage capacity. Fuel oil delivery warrants inched higher 900mt to 153,300mt. The d...>>>
Brazilian butadiene contract prices raise 2.2% in August Aug 09,2010
August butadiene prices for the Brazilian domestic market were heard at $2,265/mt FOB, an increase of 2.2% over July, said a Braskem source. Generally, Brazilian butadiene contract prices follow the USGC movements. Butadiene demand in the Brazilian domestic market was falling during the last few months. "Ev...>>>
China: Sinopec Yanshan Petchem to send LPG southwards by container ships Aug 09,2010
Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical has basically reached an agreement with the Dalian Inteh Chemical Logistics on shipping its LPG to southern China with containers, a senior with the latter company said. LPG from Yanshan Petrochemical would first be stored in containers before delivered by truck to Tianjin port in North China, where the LPG contai...>>>
Lack of buying interest still affecting coking coal spot prices Aug 09,2010
A still quiet steel market and lower-priced domestic coking coal are still severely limiting China's buying interest for seaborne coking coal, market sources said Friday. Platts adjusted its Australian mid-vol HCC export price down by $1/mt to $176/mt FOB Hay Point. The Chinese and Indian import prices also lost $1/mt to $190/mt CFR Nort...>>>