News aggregator

Honam Petrochemical has purchased around 50,000 tons of naphtha for H1-October delivery. Deals were concluded for open-spec grade at a discount for the first time in about two weeks. As per Reuters, the parcels were bought from sellers who have the o......

After oil prices escalated by almost two dollars on Wednesday on surprisingly strong US and Chinese manufacturing data, they have recoiled on profit-taking. Crude oil dipped on the Nymex to US$73.8, while Brent North Sea crude dropped to US$75.7. The......

September import deals in Asia for PP and PE have been concluded with sizeable increases when compared with August done deal levels, with several producers from the Middle East achieving price increases in excess of US$100/ton on the month, as per Ch......

A Thai court has ruled that nearly all the projects at Map Ta Phut industrial park can resume operations. Most of the US$12 bln investment in new projects have been permitted to proceed, despite environmental and health concerns. Last year?s court de......

Following the two to three weeks of shutdowns for summer holidays in August, Italian buyers have totally resumed their activities this week, as per Chemorbis. Having been in the sidelines for a long period, buyers are trying to understand market mood......

CRUDE OIL

Several traders have roundly turned down new US spot export offers as they were deemed too high for most import markets, as per Platts. Formosa is rumoured to have offered HDPE blow molding at 55 cents/lb (US$1213/mt), LLDPE at 57 cents/lb, and HDP......

Plants at Map Ta Phut have been idle for a year, and construction at some of the new plants halted, because companies failed to carry out environmental and health assessments. 76 projects, worth an estimated US$9 bln, were suspended by a court ruling......

Westlake Chemical Corp is to commence construction of a new chlor-alkali plant at its vinyls manufacturing complex in Geismar, Louisiana, at an investment of US$250-300 mln. Capacity will include 250,000 electrochemical units (ECU's) annually, bring......

Westlake Chemical Corp is to commence construction of a new chlor-alkali plant at its vinyls manufacturing complex in Geismar, Louisiana, at an investment of US$250-300 mln. Capacity will include 250,000 electrochemical units (ECU's) annually, bring......

This week, spot propylene prices in Asia have firmed up by nearly US$30/ton on FOB Korea basis, with the total increase amount reaching almost US$100/ton since the beginning of the start, as per Chemorbis. Prices are moving up despite sliding crude o......

LyondellBasell Industries NV is terminating all its operations in Iran, and also plans to cease all business with Syria and Sudan. Much of the company's business in the three countries involves licensing technology for polymer production. This decisi......

Iran's Pars Petrochemical Company will continue to ship up to 30,000 tons of styrene monomer (SM) to China, despite the Assaluyeh plant being shut for over a week, as per Platts. Sufficient stockpile produced prior to the shutdown of its 600,000 tpa ......

Leading Japanese refiner- JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corp. has shut a 39,000 bpd naphtha hydro desulphuriser and 200,000 tpa No.2 paraxylene unit at its Chita plant after a boiler fire as per Reuters. Both the units are expected to restart this week. ......

DuPont has announced that production for Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) resins has begun at its joint venture, Beijing Hua Mei Polymer Company Ltd. in Beijing. The facility is DuPont?s first operation to make EVA in China. ?With local production, we h......

In Southeast Asia, import PVC business for September is being settled with increases from August done deal level in accordance with developments in the Chinese and Indian markets, as per Chemorbis. Demand from both China and India has been strong ove......

Praxair (Thailand) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc., will build a new, energy-efficient 300 tons of liquid carbon dioxide per day capacity carbon dioxide plant in Map Ta Phut. The plant is scheduled to come on stream in Q4-2011. Praxair (Thai......

Chinese consortium is in a deal with National Iranian Petrochemical Company (NIPC) to invest US$1 bln in petrochemical projects in Iran, as per Mehr news agency. It is the first time Chinese companies participate in the construction or development of......

Naphtha cracking margins in Asia entered positive territory for the first time since May 31, driven by a sharp rebound in spot ethylene prices, as per Platts. Late Thursday, Northeast Asian naphtha cracking margins were pegged at +$0.5/mt, compared......

Steam cracker operators in the US saw strong gains in margins from light feeds as ethylene prices surged early this week, as per Platts. Spot ethylene gained over a penny/lb on Monday and over 2.5 cents/lb on Tuesday on the back of stronger ethane an......