Entries from Asian Chemical Connections tagged with 'LyondellBasell'

US Petchems "Double Peak" Theory

Wall Street rounding up investors? Source of picture: Rex Features   In a guest blog post, Joseph Chang, the global editor of our magazine, ICIS Chemical Business, echoes our own concerns that it is getting very frothy out there. The...

Formosa Confirms US Cracker Plans

By Malini Hariharan One more US cracker and propane dehydrogenation (PDH) project has been confirmed. After months of speculation Formosa Plastics has announced that plans to build a 800,000 tonnes/year ethane cracker, a 600,000 tonnes/year PDH plant and a 300,000...

Petchems And The Non-Profit Motive

By John RichardsonAS the US contemplates raising its ethylene capacity by up to 29 percent by 2017, we would be fascinated to know whether the companies involved in these proposed expansions, and the "cheer leader" chemical industry observers spurring them...

Power outage hits Al-Jubail plants

By Malini Hariharan A power outage at Al-Jubail has forced crackers and downstream plants at Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, to shut down. ICIS news reports that all polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) plants at the site were shut yesterday. It is...

LyondellBasell Plans US Capacity Additions

                                Jim Gallogly                                Source of picture: ICIS    By John Richardson LYONDELLBASELL has joined the list of US producers that have disclosed ethylene expansion plans as a result of low-cost ethane and the belief that we are heading towards an...

Accident spurs US ethylene; Asia holds steady

By Malini Hariharan Spot ethylene prices in the US have moved up following a fire at Enterprise Products natural gas liquids (NGL) complex at Mont Belvieu, Texas, on 8th February. The complex is said to be among the world's largest...

How Can This Year Not Be A Let Down?

    Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, suggests more oil supply could be on the way       Source of picture: stonesoupstationblogspot.com   By John Richardson CHEMICALS analysts at HSBC have added further weight to the argument that 2011 could...

US Petrochemicals A World Beater

Shell's refinery and petchems complex in Deer Park, Texas Source of picture http://www.msnbc.msn.com/   By John Richardson THE excellent third-quarter financial results of the likes of Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell further confirm the extraordinary turnaround in the cost positions of...

All mixed up in the West

By Malini Hariharan The blog has been writing about the softening in olefin and polyolefin prices in the US. But the European market presents an interesting contrast offering arbitrage opportunities for those willing to take the risk. Operating rate reductions...

Chinaplas: Optimism, consolidation, new plant start-ups and more

By Malini Hariharan Chinaplas has just concluded and my colleagues have filed some great reports from Shanghai. Worries about a margin squeeze in the second half of the year persist but polymer producers seem to be increasingly confident about long-term...

Reliance eyes 2014 start for Jamnagar cracker

By Malini Hariharan Reliance Industries is moving ahead with its Jamnagar cracker project and is looking at completing it in 2014, reports ICIS news. Preliminary activity on the project, which was put on hold after the 2008 economic crisis, has...

What's next for Reliance?

By Malini Hariharan Reliance Industries appears to have hit the end of the road in its quest for LyondellBasell which has filed its own restructuring plan, rejecting a $14.5bn Reliance offer. LyondellBasell has said the Reliance offer was not "sufficiently...

Time to get aggressive

By Malini Hariharan LyondellBasell's board is reported to have rejected Reliance Industries' revised $14.5bn buyout offer. The rejection is not surprising as LyondellBasell is said to have valued itself at $15.5bn in its restructuring plan. Reliance still has room to...

Reliance makes it next move in quest for LyondellBasell

By Malini Hariharan It is not surprising to read that Reliance Industries has raised its offer for LyondellBasell by $1bn to $14.5bn. The blog had been told last month that a higher offer was one of the strategic moves that...

Time for Reliance to make its next move

By Malini Hariharan Reliance's bid to acquire LyondellBasell has taken an interesting turn after yesterday's court ruling. The US bankruptcy court has allowed Lyondell Chemical, the US arm of LyondellBasell, time until 15 April to file a reorganisation plan. During...

LyondellBasell court hearing deferred to 12 Jan

Yesterday's crucial court hearing to determine whether LyondellBasell would have until 6 September 2010 to solicit votes for its reorganization plan has been adjourned to 12 January. It means some more waiting for Reliance Industries which is said to be...

Reliance decision on LyondellBasell after court hearing

By Malini Hariharan Yesterday's media report about Reliance Industries on the verge of taking a final decision on LyondellBasell appears to have been a little premature. My sources say that a decision will be made only after the US bankruptcy...

Will Reliance decide today on LyondellBasell?

By Malini Hariharan Reliance Industries will take a call today on submitting a final bid for LyondellBasell, says this report from CNBC TV18. The report, quoting unnamed sources, adds that Reliance may be having second thoughts about the acquisition. Key...

Crude, Equities & Polyolefin Pricing

This is a huge subject, one that this blog will need to keep revisiting - and if you tell us we've got it wrong, we'll always listen and respond. For what it's worth, the article below might give you some...

Reliance moving fast on LyondellBasell bid

By Malini Hariharan Reliance Industries' bid to acquire LyondellBasell is progressing quite rapidly. I am told that a team of top executives from the company is in the US holding discussions with LyondellBasell. And according to this report in the...