ICIS - Search Articles by Date : August 16 2004 - August 22 2004

Intellectual profiting
Regardless of what it costs to obtain them, thousands of patents are left, unused, on the sidelines. Cath O’Driscoll finds out what can be done with.... more
(21 August 2004 20:12)

25 years ago
ECN 20 August 1979 more
(21 August 2004 20:12)

Analysts Say Oil at $50 Per Barrel Is Possible
Facing continued uncertainty from possible supply interruptions in Iraq and Russia, crude oil prices neared $47 per barrel last week, continuing a.... more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

IT in Brief
Air Products Moves Online more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

Information Insights-Managing for Change: A Model for Chemical Companies
Following a wave of accelerated spending on information technology (IT) in the 1990s, led by investments in enterprise resource planning (ERP), Y2K,.... more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

Dow, IBM Sign Seven-Year IT Pact
Dow Chemical Company has selected IBM to manage its worldwide IT infrastructure under a seven-year agreement, which covers the broad spectrum of.... more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

US Leads Surge in Global Manufacturing Activity
The US was a major reason for a continued upsurge in global manufacturing operations last month, leading all countries in manufacturing growth for.... more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

Sasol to Double Octene Capacity in Secunda
Sasol will build a new 100,000 ton-per-year 1-octene plant in Secunda, South Africa, to meet growing demand for the plastics additive. more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

Sigma Names New President
Sigma-Aldrich Corp. has appointed Jai Nagarkatti as president and chief operating officer. He replaces David Harvey, who will continue his role as.... more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

Sipchem Selects DuPont VAM Tech
In what looks to be the final piece of its petrochemical puzzle, Saudi In-ternational Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) has signed a definitive.... more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

LCDs Booming, But Oversupply Fears Cloud Horizon
News from the expanding liquid crystal display (LCD) and related materials market is almost uniformly good, but recently there have been voices of.... more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

Specialties Pricing
CROMPTON Corp.’s petroleum additives business has initiated, as of August 16, a global benzene-related surcharge of 8.6c. per pound on all Naugalube.... more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

Terra to Acquire Mississippi Chemical
Terra Industries Inc. has agreed to acquire Mississippi Chemi-cal Corp. for around $268 million. The transaction includes cash and assumed debt of.... more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

Wall Street Pounds the Table for Commodities
Wall Street is pounding the table for commodity chemical stocks because of its forecasts of an impending peak in the cycle in the years ahead. more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

Westlake Completes $159 Million IPO
Westlake Chemical Corp. re-cently completed its IPO (initial public offering), raising net proceeds of around $159 million. While the offer price of.... more
(20 August 2004 18:25)

US market in positive mode
With ethylene stable, polyethylene strong, and nearly all the other chemicals showing favourable conditions, it’s a solid market. Sergey Vasnetsov.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Monsoon misery
India’s economy looks set for a bumpy ride this year, but the going should be smooth for petrochemical producers. Report by Malini Hariharan more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Pursuing profit
Reliance’s new business ventures – gas and telecommunications – are not without challenges, and analysts are concerned about how these activities.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Gail gathers pace
Gail is striving to increase its petchem interests, Malini Hariharan reports more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

UOP likely licensor for Thai phenol
UOP is the likely licensor for PTT Phenol’s phenol project in Mab Ta Phut, Thailand, said an official from the latter company. more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Siam Cement receives bids for ethylene build
SIAM Cement has received bids from contractors interested in building an ethylene/propylene recovery unit for the company’s proposed naphtha cracker.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

UOP tech likely for ATC’s PX
AROMATICS (Thailand) Pcl (ATC) is likely to appoint UOP as the licensor for its second aromatics project in Mab Ta Phut, Thailand. more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Talimu plans first NH3-urea unit
TALIMU Petrochemical is to build a 450 000 tonne/year ammonia unit and an 800 000 tonne/year urea facility. more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Keidanren doubtful about GHG-rights trading plan
THE Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) is doubtful that the environment ministry’s recently announced plan to start a market in.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Losses mount in Kolon strike
THE ongoing labour strike at Kolon Industries has cost the company more than Won50bn (US$43.3m) in lost sales so far, a company source told ACN. more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Specialities roundup
BAIN Capital said it had completed its US$550m purchase of Rhodia’s North American speciality phosphates business. Bain said it had renamed.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Sun owners back Phlox purchase
SUN Pharmaceuticals’ acquisition of Phlox Pharma has been approved by its shareholders, who recently agreed to a share-exchange ratio of 790 Rs10.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Takeda to sell jv stakes from ‘05
STARTING in June 2005, Takeda Pharmaceutical will sell its stakes in five joint ventures, a company source told ACN. more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

New projects summary
As reported in ACN 16-22 August 2004 more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Crystal, Chiyoda to sign soon
GUIZHOU Crystal Organic Chemical Group expects to wrap up negotiations with Chiyoda at the end of this month on an engineering and procurement.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Kingboard plans Panyu phenol
KINGBOARD Chemical Holdings is planning a phenol project in Panyu, Guangdong, China. more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

NPPC now to start up PDH-PP unit in mid ’07
NATIONAL Polypropylene Co (NPPC) has once again delayed the start-up of its propane-dehydrogenation-polypropylene (PDH-PP) project in Al-Jubail,.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Plenty River seeks fresh investors
PLENTY River has started discussions with four potential investors on its ammonia-urea project in the Burrup Peninsula, Western Australia. more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

GeoMaxima mulls plant buy
GEOMAXIMA Holdings is considering acquiring a methanol plant and relocating it to China instead of building a greenfield unit, a company source told.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Shandong builds PVC in two phases
SHANDONG Chlor-alkali Resins Co is building facilities for producing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and caustic soda in China. more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Singpu gets govt nod for Taixing projects
THE Chinese government has approved Singpu Chemicals’ feasibility study on building a 150 000 tonne/year chlor-alkali unit and doubling its aniline.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Wison methanol plant for NCIP
WISON Group plans to build a 300 000 tonne/year methanol plant in the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park (NCIP), Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Resistance building to SBR price hikes
STYRENE butadiene rubber (SBR) prices may have kept pace with feedstock cost increases until now, but buyer resistance is gradually creeping in,.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

PVC spot prices up US$70
POLYVINYL chloride (PVC) spot prices climbed by US$50-70/tonne to US$880-890/tonne cfr China/SEA last week on the back of high feedstock costs,.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Market Trends: Styrene slips
Styrene drops to US$1410/tonne, after a softening in benzene costs. But toluene, mixed xylenes, and orthoxylene continue to rise more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Market Trends: Crude pulls naphtha
Record-high crude threatens to lift naphtha over its 1990 high of US$433/tonne. Butadiene and C2 rise once again, while propylene remains firm more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Outages fan acetic acid rise
ASIAN acetic acid spot prices for August and contracts for Q2 have risen by US$40-50/tonne on the back of tight supply aggravated by recent plant.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

Tight supply fuels phthalic anhydride hike
ASIAN phthalic anhydride (PA) spot prices have surged by US$50-60/tonne in the past two weeks on tight supply, high feedstock costs and strong.... more
(21 August 2004 20:27)

People on the move
Albemarle Kevin Wilson has been elected treasurer at Albemarle. Wilson most recently served as vice president and treasurer for speciality.... more
(21 August 2004 20:12)

New projects summary
As reported in ECN 26 July and 2 August 2004 more
(21 August 2004 20:12)

Safe and sound
Polyolefin plastics producer Borealis takes its safety issues seriously and decided to improve its accident record even though it was already good..... more
(21 August 2004 20:12)

Petchem prices back to the future?
We have entered a new pricing cycle for crude, where ten-year forward crude contracts trade at around $35/bbl. more
(21 August 2004 20:12)

CP Ships reveals $41m profits overestimate
A week later than originally scheduled, CP Ships has released its Q2 2004 results, alongside restated figures revealing a $41m overestimate of net.... more
(21 August 2004 20:12)

LPG carriers see hire rates rise
Shipping consultant Drewry reported small LPG (liquid petroleum gas) carriers have enjoyed a good start to 2004, with spot or one-off hire rates for.... more
(21 August 2004 20:12)

EWS puts timetables online
In an effort to improve the accessibility of its rail freight services, the UK’s largest rail operator EWS has launched the UK’s first online.... more
(21 August 2004 20:12)