By Malini Hariharan The long-awaited merger between PTT Chem and PTT Aromatics (PTTAR) was finally announced last week. A presentation made to financial analysts gave details on what the merged entity will look like, planned synergies and opportunities for growth. The new company with a total petrochemical capacity of 8.261m tonnes/year and petroleum products capacity […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Map Ta Phut concerns refuse to fade away
By Malini Hariharan Companies with projects at Thailand’s Map Ta Phut must have heaved a sigh of relief last week after the Administrative court ruled that 74 out of 76 suspended projects could move ahead after completing health impact assessment studies and obtaining necessary approvals. The court’s decision was based on a list of 11 […]
Map Ta Phut issue drags on
By Malini Hariharan The Thai government is doing all it can to quickly resolve the Map Ta Phut crisis but full operations at PTT Chem’s new cracker is likely only in early 2011. Feedstock ethane for the 1m tonnes/year cracker will be supplied from PTT’s No6 gas separation plant commissioning of which has been held […]
Taiwan’s tough talk
By Malini Hariharan Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s problems are mounting after two accidents in less than a month at its refinery and petrochemical site in Mailiao, Taiwan. Wu Den-yih, the country’s premier was at the site last week and ordered an investigation report to be submitted on 6 August. And in a bid to reassure residents […]
PTT merger delayed yet again and Map Ta Phut tops new minister’s agenda
By Malini Hariharan A merger of PTT Aromatics and Refinery (PTTAR) and IRPC has once again been postponed to early next year due to concerns about legal issues and the business outlook, reports to Bangkok Post. The legal concerns relate to the country’s competition law and outstanding lawsuits filed by Prachai Leophairatana, the founder of […]
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 growth prospects. The chairman of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association (CPPIA) talked of the […]
Thailand’s Map Ta Phut crisis – the NGO side of the story
By Malini Hariharan Penchom Saetang of Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand (Earth) is not a typical activist vociferously denouncing companies for their environmental misdeeds. She is soft spoken and rational in her criticism of the state of affairs at Map Ta Phut, Thailand’s premier industrial zone and a major petrochemicals hub. After spending over […]
Map Ta Phut pressure mounts
By Malini Hariharan PTT Chem is likely to miss its revenue growth target of 20% this year because of the Map Ta Phut crisis. The company had set a 2010 revenue target of about Baht100bn (US$3bn), up from Baht80bn in 2009, reports the Bangkok Post. As reported by this blog last month, suspension of parent […]
The latest on Mab Ta Phut
By Malini Hariharan There is some good news for chemical companies affected by the Map Ta Phut crisis. The Thai cabinet will ask the Administrative Court to remove 19 projects from the list of 65 projects that had been ordered to stop work. PTT’s No 6 gas separation project and PTT Chemical’s phenol and polyethylene […]
Concerned about the Asean FTA? There’s not much you can do about it.
The implementation of a zero-tariff regime in Asean from 1 Jauary 2010 has raised concerns among polymer producers in Indonesia and the Philippines about intense competition from Singapore and Thailand leading to a erosion in market shares. Producers from these two countries are lobbying to defer or block implementation of zero tariffs. But a trade […]
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