This week's world news

10 September 2007 00:00  [Source: ICB]

Exxon to build mega cracker in Singapore

ExxonMobil Chemical will build a second world-scale steam cracker complex in Singapore - estimated to cost around $4bn (€3bn), and plans to integrate the project with its existing Singapore site in Jurong Island. The new project will include a 1m tonne/year ethylene steam cracker, two 650,000 tonne/year polyethylene units, a 450,000 tonne/year polypropylene unit, a 300,000 tonne/year specialty elastomers unit, an aromatics extraction unit to produce 340,000 tonnes/year of benzene, and an oxo-alcohol expansion of 125,000 tonnes/year.

INEOS completes Borealis Norway deal...

INEOS has completed the €290m ($394m) acquisition of Borealis' petrochemical business in Norway. "The acquisition of Borealis AS is an important development for INEOS Olefins," said INEOS Olefins CEO Tom Crotty. "This not only increases our European manufacturing capacity but also gives us a share of a first-class gas cracker based at the heart of the Norwegian energy industry."

...And lifts ethylene force majeure

INEOS Olefins lifted force majeure on ethylene from its Grangemouth site in the UK on September 3. The news followed the restart of the company's larger 725,000 tonne/year cracker at the site on August 24, after it went down unplanned earlier in the same month.

Croda sells lubricant unit to Lubrizol

UK-based Croda International has sold its refrigeration lubricant business to US-based Lubrizol for £62m ($125m, €92m). "This transaction is part of the restructuring program announced following Croda's acquisition of Uniqema last year," stated Croda. "No manufacturing sites are being sold in this transaction. Going forward, Croda will continue to supply refrigeration lubricant components to Lubrizol."

Elementis finalizes pigment unit's sale

UK-based Elementis has completed the sale of its global pigment business to US-based Rockwood Specialities for $140m (€103m). "The expeditious completion of this transaction was one of our stated goals for the second half of the year and leaves us well positioned to focus on growing our specialty products business," said Elementis CEO David Dutro.

GAIL completes second HDPE unit at Pata

India-based GAIL has completed a second 100,000 tonne/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit at its petrochemical complex at Pata in Uttar Pradesh. With this new unit, the company's total polyethylene capacity will increase to 410,000 tonnes at the Pata complex.

India's CFL to boost DAP production

India's Coromandel Fertilisers Limited (CFL) plans to expand capacity at its diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer plant in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh state, by 44.4%, from 2,700 tonnes/day to 3,900 tonnes/day.

DSM to turnaround Geleen capro plant

DSM will close its 250,000 tonne/year Geleen, Netherlands, caprolactam plant in November for three to four weeks of routine maintenance. "Spot sales will be reduced in advance so that we can build up stocks because it is impossible to bridge a production gap of this length," said a company spokesman.

HSBC: Celanese stock undervalued by 30%

Shares of US-based Celanese remain undervalued by some 30% as their current price does not reflect the continued strength in the global acetyls chain, HSBC said in a research note released last week. Celanese closed last Tuesday at $36.39 (€26.66) versus its 52-week high of $42.49 and its low of $17.45. HSBC's target price is $45.

Finolex delays return to full PVC production

India's Finolex Industries will not resume full production at a 130,000 tonne/year polyvinyl chloride (PVC) unit in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra state, until the middle of the month and not early September as originally planned. "We expect to procure enough vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) feedstock to ramp up operating rates only by then," a source said. The line has been operating at 50% capacity for the past month due to a shortage of VCM.

EPPC plans to start up PDH, PP plants in 2010

Egyptian Propylene & Polypropylene Co. (EPPC) expects to start up its new propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) plants in Port Said, Egypt, in early 2010, a company source said last week. "The mechanical completion will be accomplished by end-2009 but the actual start-up after trial production is only expected in early 2010." The capacities of the PDH and PP plants would be about 400,000 tonnes/year each, he said.

Mattel recalls 800,000 more Chinese-made toys

Mattel has recalled over 800,000 more toys made in China due to safety concerns. "As a result of our ongoing investigation we discovered additional affected products. Consequently, several subcontractors are no longer manufacturing Mattel toys," said the company in a statement. Eleven brands were affected with a total of 530,000 toys removed in the US and 318,000 products elsewhere. Last month Mattel and US regulators recalled millions of toys made in China, following an initial recall on August 1. Some of the toys were found to have unacceptable levels of lead paint.

DuPont declares VAM force majeure

DuPont has declared force majeure on vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) due to supply issues. European and North American VAM buyers and sellers had earlier reported that DuPont was experiencing difficulties. According to a number of market players, DuPont's 335,000 tonne/year VAM plant at LaPorte, Texas was experiencing logistical difficulties. A distributor close to DuPont said the LaPorte facility could lose three to four weeks of production.

Cangzhou Dahua set to restart TDI

China's Cangzhou Dahua is to resume toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) production at its 30,000 tonne/year plant in Hebei province on October 31 after it was put out of action by an explosion in May. "We are now fixing and restoring the equipment for TDI production," a company source said. Five workers were killed and several others seriously injured in May's explosion, local media reports said at the time.

LG Chem to expand battery output

LG Chem will expand its lithium-ion rechargeable battery plants in South Korea and China to meet growing demand in the mobile phone and laptop markets. The firm plans to increase the production of cylindrical batteries by 4.5m cells/year at its plant in Oh-Chang, South Korea, while its polymer batteries' production will be increased by 2m cells/year at its facility in Nanjing, China, both by the first half of next year. The facility in Oh-Chang produces 23.5m cells/year, while the Nanjing plant currently produces 5m cells/year.

Bayer plans to delistfrom NYSE to cut costs

Bayer plans to delist its American Depositary Shares (ADS) from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in order to reduce complexity and costs, which would result in annual savings of €15m ($20.4m). "Bayer will maintain a high level of transparency in its reporting and thus continue to satisfy the requirements of international investors," said chief financial officer Klaus Kuhn.

Taita Chem plans EPS expansion

Taita Chemical, the Taiwanese styrenics producer, plans to raise its total expandable polystyrene (EPS) capacity by 13% to 350,000 tonnes/year by expanding two units in Taiwan and China, a company source said. The expansion is slated to be completed by the second quarter of 2008.

Wilmar cleared of forest burning claim

Singapore-based Wilmar International, one of Asia's largest palm oil producers, has been cleared of illegal forest burning charges by an Indonesian court. "The Singkawang District Court in West Kalimantan has acquitted two officers, from plantations owned or managed by Wilmar, of all charges," the firm said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

In July, environmental group Friends of the Earth Netherlands (FOE) had issued a reported alleging that Wilmar had been clearing land by use of fire.

Rohm and Haas adopts restructuring plan

Rohm and Haas has approved a restructuring plan that will cut about 200 positions and affect third-quarter earnings by 7 cents/share. The plan includes exiting a small digital imaging business line in Bristol, Pennsylvania. The plan is expected to save $15m/year (€11m/year) by mid-2008.

A&W to sell India phosphates unit

Rhodia subsidiary Albright & Wilson Chemicals India agreed to sell its phosphate business to a unit of the Uganda-based industrial group Madhvani International.

Honam to shut down two MEG units

South Korea's Honam Petrochemical will shut two 120,000 tonne/year mono­ethylene glycol (MEG) lines in Yeocheon for maintenance for three weeks starting in late September, company sources said. The cracker, which produces 720,000 tonnes/year of ethylene, will be shut for 30 days from September 27. A third MEG unit with a nameplate capacity of 210,000 tonnes/year at the site will run normally ­during period.

Degussa to up sales in eastern Europe

Degussa is aiming to double its sales in eastern Europe by 2010 through organic growth, cooperative arrangements and targeted acquisitions. "Europe's growth markets are in the east, where Degussa has set up a powerful organization. We will continue to step up the expansion of our business to exploit the growth potential of this large and attractive region," Degussa chairman Klaus Engel said. In the first six months of 2007, Degussa increased its sales in the region by 20% to nearly €200m ($271.7m). "There is high demand for Degussa's products in many markets, especially in the automotive and tire industries, in paint and coating systems, in agriculture and in the electronics industry."

Sibur meets green activists over PVC

Russia's petrochemical holding company Sibur has held discussions with local authorities and environmental activists about the building of a new €650m ($883.9m) 330,000 tonne/year polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant. A meeting between the various parties in the town of Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod region, came to the agreement that the town provided a more "environmentally safe" location for the proposed plant than other alternative sites in the region, according to Sibur. The facility is due to be built at a site where Sibur operates the existing Kstovo Petrochemical Plant. Construction is expected to start in 2008, and the plant is scheduled to come on stream in 2010.

SGL Carbon buys fluorine plastics

SGL Carbon has acquired Dr. Schnabel, one of the world's top producers of fluorine plastic apparatus for corrosion protection. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Dr. Schnabel was formerly a family-owned firm producing pipelines, tubes compensators, containers, columns for heat and material transmission and heat exchangers lined with poly­tetrafluorotethylene (PTFE). The products are used in the electronic, pharmaceutical, chemical and petrochemical industries.

New Zealand denies formaldehyde claim

The New Zealand Retailers Association said that independent tests showed that and textiles sold in the country do not contain formaldehyde in excess of international safety standards as claimed by a local television program. Initial tests conducted by AgResearch in New Zealand, the SGS Textile testing centre in Shanghai, and Intertek in Hong Kong have confirmed that formaldehyde was not detected in the pants and other garments that were tested, the assoc­iation's chief executive John Albertson said in a statement.

Zeon builds film plantas LCD TV demand booms

Japanese chemical producer Zeon has built a yen (Y) 10bn ($86.6m) plant that will produce 15m square meters/year of optical film for liquid crystal displays (LCD) in Himi, Toyama prefecture. The move to boost capacity was due to a rapid increase in demand for large LCD televisions.

Expanded Qatar cracker starts

A Total joint venture has started production at its expanded ethane cracker in Messaied, Qatar. Total formed Qatar Petrochemical (Qapco) with Industries Qatar, which owns an 80% stake in the joint venture. The value of the expansion is $230m (€168m ), Total said. The expansion's ethylene capacity is 200,000 tonne/year, bringing the cracker's total to 720,000/year, said the company.

Uni-systems plans Mexico ethanol plant

Brazil's Uni-Systems plans to spend $120m (€88m) to build an 800,000 liter/day ethanol plant in Mexico. Production should be exported to Texas to be mixed with gasoline. Construction will begin later this year and take 24 months to complete.

Valspar buys teknos

Valspar has acquired Finnish coil coatings maker Teknos Nova Coil for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will help Valspar expand its coil coatings solutions business in northern and eastern Europe, the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company said. Coil coatings are used in the construction industry. Teknos had sales of €31m ($42m) last year. Valspar said in June that it would seek deals outside the US.

Reliance targets Africa logistics

Reliance's acquisition of a majority stake in Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation (GAPCO) is expected to help it market refinery and liquid petro­chemical products in Africa. Mauritius-based GAPCO operates large terminal facilities and a retail distribution network in East Africa including terminals at Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Mombassa in Kenya and Kampala in Uganda.

Strong outlook seen for chemical tankers

A strong outlook has been forecast through 2009 for the liquid chemical tanker market. It is expected that continued strong product tanker fleet expansion will ease the CPP market in the short term, but only until the MARPOL single-hull phaseout deadline approaches in 2010, said Geir Olafsen, research director, Inge Steenland at MariChem Middle East 2007.

Tata mulls European sodium bicarbonate

Tata Chemicals plans to ramp its sodium bicarbonate capacity in the UK and India via its subsidiary Brunner Mond Group (BMGL). As part of its strategy to scale up sodium bicarbonateoutput as global business over the next two years, the company will expand its 70,000 tonnes/year sodium bicarbonate capacity at its inorganic chemical complex at Mithapur in Gujarat. It expanded the capacity to the present level from 53,600 tonnes/year earlier this year.

OM Group scoops up Borchers from lanxess

OM Group has agreed to buy specialty coatings additive company Borchers from Lanxess. The deal is expected to close early in the fourth quarter.

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