http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/ en Copyright 2008 Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:15:22 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss terror attacks at Mumbai threaten to further shake business confidence in India at a time when companies across industrial sectors are struggling to cope with severe erosion in demand and profitability and the economy is straining to overcome the pressure of the global economic crisis. The planning, scale and execution of the attacks, which have left over a hundred dead, are mind boggling. By targeting two major hotels and taking hostages, the terrorists have sent a clear signal that they have moved beyond serial bombings. While Indian corporate leaders are putting up a brave front, I suspect there are many are questioning the government's ability to contain such attacks. The attacks in Mumbai comes after a series of bombings at other cities across India in the last few months. Many have criticised the government for not having stricter anti terrorism laws. And this is likely to emerge as a major issue in the general elections that are due next year. There are expectations of a further depreciation of the rupee which has lost 13% of its value against the US dollar in the last three months. And the stock market could also fall when it opens for trading tomorrow, say many analysts. Foreign investors could turn cautious and delay investments till they have greater confidence in the economy. This would be at a time when the country is looking to boost capital flows. Let's hope that the government has learnt a valuable lesson and acts swiftly to contain the damage of this dreadful attack. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/11/mumbai-terror-dents-confidence.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/11/mumbai-terror-dents-confidence.html Companies Economy Government Policy Mumbai terrorist attacks Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:15:22 +0000 this report in today's Financial Express. Aramco's presence would help as it would ensure crude oil supplies to the project. It is also possible that one of the other partners in the project may exit because of the current economic crisis, the report adds. The project has been mooted as a joint venture between HPCL, Gail, Total and Mittal Investment. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/11/aramco-for-vizag.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/11/aramco-for-vizag.html Companies Petrochemicals Refining Gail HPCL petrochemicals refinery Saudi Aramco Total Vishakhapatnam Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:54:29 +0000 Akzo Nobel's announcement of its plan to build a coil and speciality plastics coatings plant in Hoskote, near Bangalore for the high performance steel and aluminium construction markets in India and neighbouring countries. The construction industry in India is currently in a mess but there are no doubts that more homes, roads, ports and airport will need to be built. Demand will eventually return. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/11/it-has-been-a-few.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/11/it-has-been-a-few.html Companies Economy Speciality Chemicals Akzo Nobel coatings steel aluminium Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:32:59 +0000 Notice This blog will be undergoing planned maintenance on the morning (UK time) of Thursday 20, November 2008. During that time you will be able to read this blog, but will not be able to post any comments. We expect full functionality to be restored in the afternoon of 20 November. Thanks for your patience. http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/11/planned-maintenance-20-novembe.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/11/planned-maintenance-20-novembe.html Admin Maintenance Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:38:00 +0000 Ethylene is close to a 3-year low and benzene has fallen to $900/tonne fob Korea, a level last seen in January 2007. With buyers holding back purchases inventories are rising across the chain. Companies are being hit in other ways too. One executive complains of expensive credit with international banks quoting Libor plus 900 basis points, up from Libor plus 100-200 basis points six months back. Indian banks are said to be quoting 18-20%, up from 9-11%. International business is getting more difficult and riskier to transact as companies have to also deal with volatility in foreign exchange rates. ICIS news reports that Indian base oils buyers and sellers of base oils are worried about the high level of credit scrutiny which is making an already difficult business environment even tougher. "LC limits are frozen and there is no credit available for the love of money", said a baseoils buyer. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/10/there-is-no-way-that.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/10/there-is-no-way-that.html Companies Economy Fine Chemicals Petrochemicals Speciality Chemicals base oils benzene credit crisis economy ethylene Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:26:01 +0000 had to halt work on its new R&D centre at Chakan, near Pune, following instructions from the Maharashtra chief minister. The government's directive was aimed at appeasing the local population which has been strongly protesting against Dow and had even forcibly entered the site and set the centre on fire in July. The chief concern of the locals is that the centre would pollute the area which is sacred to them. This is despite reassurances from Dow and local authorities that the company would not be carrying out any manufacturing at the site. Dow's plan is to employ 500 Indian scientists at the centre to work on projects like purifying water for consumption, energy efficiency and the effective use of green technology. Surely, there is no reason to protest against this type of investment. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/10/in-yet-another-blow-to.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/10/in-yet-another-blow-to.html Companies Government Policy R&D Chakan Dow Chemical India R&D Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:15:17 +0000 started pumping oil from its massive KG-D6 block of the Krishna Godavari basin. Initially about 5,000 bbls/day of crude is being pumped out although the plan is to reach 550,000 bbls/day over the next six to eight quarters. While the timing fits well with the company's planned commissioning of its second refinery over the next few months, Reliance has indicated that it is would be selling the oil to Indian public sector refiners such as Hindustan Petroleum which operates a refinery at Visakhapatnam. Gas production is expected to start only in the first quarter of 2009. But how quickly Reliance will be able to sell depends on when an ongoing legal battle with Anil Ambani led Reliance Natural Resources Ltd is settled. The dispute relates to supply and pricing of natural gas. As for the price of gas, although the government has recommended $4.20/mmbtu Reliance appears to be looking for more. "In the long term, we must have a road map towards market price," Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance, said yesterday. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/09/it-is-finally-here-after.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/09/it-is-finally-here-after.html Companies Government Policy Petrochemicals Refining gas jamnagar oil refinery Reliance Industries Vishakhapatnam Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:57:55 +0000 approved a national biofuel policy that is likely set a higher blending target. Details of the policy have not been announced but it has been reported that the government will mandate 20% ethanol or biodiesel blended petrol by 2017. Currently, the country has 5% ethanol blending which would rise to 10% from next month. Experts have already started questioning the wisdom of the new policy. Will enough land be available for biofuel crops such as jatropha? And what implications would this policy have on India's food production? Higher use of biofuels will intensify the debate on the use of farmland for fuel in India, and encourage farmers to reduce grain cultivation for food, says TK Bhaumik, an economist with Assocham, a leading business chamber. "Land is not elastic. If there is more pressure to grow oilseeds or corn to derive biofuels and farmers get a good price for them, they will obviously neglect grain production," he adds. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/09/will-new-biofuels-policy-creat.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/09/will-new-biofuels-policy-creat.html Biofuels Economy Government Policy biodiesel biofuels ethanol jatropha Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:20:26 +0000 drama unfolding outside Tata Motor's Nano plant site in Singur at West Bengal. They also concur that the episode will have serious implications for large investments in India. Violent protests have forced Tata Motors to halt construction and withdraw its employees. It is now putting together a detailed plan for relocation of the plant and evaluating options of building the Nano, the world's cheapest car, at its other plants. It is ironic that the protests are taking place in West Bengal which is led by a communist government that sees the Nano car project as being for the greater good of the community and one that will stimulate employment and attract investments to a state that suffers from a long history of militant trade unionism. One could blame the Singur crisis on India's murky politics where an opposition party is required, almost by compulsion, to take a stand against any major industrial project proposed by a ruling party leaving companies caught in the political crossfire. The protests at Singur are hardly an exception - an isolated incident that is unlikely to come in the way of the central government's grand vision for India's economic transformation through mega industrial projects and the creation of special economic zones (SEZ) . While the scale of the protests at Singur is unprecedented many such scenes are being played out in different corners of the country. Although other Indian state governments have quickly issued invitations to Tata Motors to relocate the Nano project, there is no guarantee that the company will not face similar protests at a new location. The Singur crisis does not bode well for India's plans to develop mega integrated refining and petrochemical sites, also referred to as petroleum, chemicals and petrochemical investment regions (PCPIRs) Each PCPIR needs about 250 sq km (61,776 acres) of land. Given the uproar in Singur for purchase of a little less than 1000 acres one can easily imagine the turmoil that a larger scale acquisition would create. Some state government are already reconsidering their plans for PCPIRs. The Karnataka government is revaluating one at Mangalore while the Andhra Pradesh government is reported to have slowed down land acquisition for a PCPIR along the Visakhapatnam-Kakinada-Rajahmundry corridor. An added problem for chemical investments is the environmental issue. One of the reasons behind Karnataka's decision to revaluate a PCPIR at Mangalore is because of public concern about the impact that chemical plants would have on the local environment. Companies mounting huge investments in India will have to tread carefully, balancing the demands of politicians and the local community with their business goals. The hurdles are not insurmountable but investors will need patience, money and skill to navigate the very bumpy road to projects in India. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/09/singur-saga-spells-trouble-for.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/09/singur-saga-spells-trouble-for.html Companies Government Policy Petrochemicals Refining PCPIR SEZ Singur Tata Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:54:39 +0000 India and Asean are all set to implement an FTA (free trade agreement) from 1 January 2008. Both sides completed six years of negotiations yesterday and a final agreement is due to be signed in December this year. Over 400 products are on the sensitive/negative list and some chemicals have been included. But I understand that polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) do not figure on the list. Tariffs on PE and PP imports from Asean would be phased out over the next two years, thus opening the door for product from Singapore and Thailand just when new export-oriented plants get commissioned. With tariffs on the two products currently at 5%, Indian producers say they will not be too badly affected but they do expect increased competition in the local market. But a bigger threat is looming as India will soon resume talks for an FTA with the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council). Indian petrochemical producers are once again lobbying to ensure their products figure on the negative/sensitive list. Meetings have been held with government officials but I understand the outcome has not been positive. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/fta-woes.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/fta-woes.html Economy Fine Chemicals Government Policy Petrochemicals Speciality Chemicals Asean FTA GCC PE PP Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:07:24 +0000 cracker would be set up in technical collaboration with Lummus And earlier this month, the company was reported to have selected technology from Ineos for its 400,000 tonnes/year hdPE and 400,000 tonnes/year swing lldPE/hdPE plants. The company would also be using Ineos technology for a 900,000 tonnes/year PP plant downstream of an FCC unit at its Jamnagar refinery. While the company is looking at completing the cracker and derivative units by 2012, progress will to a large extent depend on how fast Essar can complete expansion of its refinery from 10.5m tonnes/year to 34m tonnes/year. Financial closure of the expansion project is pending but the company is still holding to a 2010 completion date. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/essar-inches-ahead.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/essar-inches-ahead.html Companies Petrochemicals Refining cracker Essar jamnagar polyethylene PP refinery Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:21:05 +0000 India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has deferred making a decision on a proposed chloromethanes joint venture between a subsidiary of Dow Chemical and Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd (GACL) as the government would like more time 'to examine the proposal', reports ICIS news. The joint venture plans to build a 200,000 tonne/year chloromethanes plant at Dahej, Gujarat state. The project is scheduled for financial closure by late 2008 and commissioning in 2011. The Dow subsidiary that would participate in the joint venture, Dow Europe, is owned by Dow Europe Holding of the Netherlands. Dow Europe Holding is, in turn, owned by Dow Chemical, which is struggling to get past the Bhopal legacy in India. Wonder if that has influenced the government's decision on the chloromethanes joint venture? ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/dow-jv-hits-a-roadblock.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/dow-jv-hits-a-roadblock.html Companies Government Policy Petrochemicals Speciality Chemicals bhopal chloromethanes Dahej Dow Chemical GACL Gujarat Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:16:44 +0000 dipped to 5.2%, down from 10.3% in the previous year and a result of high interest rates and input costs plus the weaknesses in the global economy. A new government report has forecast GDP growth for the year at 7.7%. This is down from earlier forecasts of around 8% and the average 8.8% growth recorder over the past four years. And the panel responsible for this report said: "The downside risk to our growth expectations in 2008/09 is primarily from a further deterioration in global conditions with its attendant impact on India -- be it in the sphere of oil prices or capital markets." India is clearly not immune to developments in the US and global economies. Now is the time to bury the much debated decoupling theory. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/there-are-more-signs-of.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/there-are-more-signs-of.html Government Policy Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:26:19 +0000 India has become the second largest PTA importer in Asia. Indian imports of this fibre intermediate have steadily grown to about 5,000 - 6,000 tonnes/month, up from the usual 2,000 tonnes/month, as a result of expansions in polyester capacities. New PTA capacity is being added with Mitsubishi Chemical's new 800,000 tonnes/year facility slated for start up next year. But demand growth is projected to be faster with PTA imports forecast to climb further. However, India is nowhere close to displacing China as the largest PTA importer in the world. China imported about 6m tonnes last year and India is going to need many more years to catch up.]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/so-what-if-india-is-no2-pta-im.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/so-what-if-india-is-no2-pta-im.html Companies Petrochemicals Asia China Mitsubishi Chemical polyester PTA Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:41:38 +0000 proposal to ban exports of soda ash and trim excise duties on major petrochemical inputs is being considered. Soda ash prices have spiralled this year on the back of rising energy costs with product costing more than Rs14,000/tonne, up from around Rs10,000/tonne last year. User industries are hoping that an export ban will force producers to lower prices and divert material to the domestic market. A final decision on the proposal has yet to be taken with the government waiting for feedback from the Alkali Manufacturers Association of India. But there are no prizes for guessing what the association will have to say about this proposal. ]]> http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/can-export-ban-curb-inflation.html http://www.icis.com/blogs/india-chemicals/2008/08/can-export-ban-curb-inflation.html Economy Government Policy Petrochemicals exports soda ash Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:35:37 +0000