Americas top stories: weekly summary
ICIS Editorial
07-May-2018
HOUSTON (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News from the week ended 4 May:
US barge/truck
acetone spread flips on
oversupply
A large supply and inventory overhang have
narrowed the spread between large-buyer
barge acetone and medium- and
small-buyer truck/rail acetone.
US-China tariff
threats begin to shift EDC, PVC trade
flows
The tariff threat by China on
US ethylene dichloride (EDC)
and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has
slowed buying activity of those materials from
the US in parts of Asia and is altering trade
flows as market participants move to avoid
becoming collateral damage.
US May benzene
contracts settle lower on longer global
supply
US May benzene contracts settled 6
cents/gal ($18/tonne) lower from April, putting
prices at $2.93/gal free on board (FOB) US
Gulf, as global supply lengthened, ICIS
confirmed on Tuesday.
SABIC, ExxonMobil
create joint venture for proposed US cracker
project
SABIC and ExxonMobil created a joint
venture to develop a complex
in San Patricio county in Texas that
will include an ethane cracker and
downstream units, they said on Tuesday.
US refiners ready
to navigate waves of marine fuel
changes
With new marine
fuel sulphur regulations about 1.5
years away, US refiners have geared up for the
shift in ship fuel supply.
BASF to merge
paper, water chems operations with US’
Solenis
BASF is to merge its water and paper treatment
chemicals operations with Solenis, the former
water technologies business of US-based
Ashland, to create a business with annual
revenues of around €2.4bn, the
Germany-headquartered chemicals major said on
Thursday.
DowDuPont HDPE
debottleneck on track for mid-2018, EPDM unit
end of 2018
US-based DowDuPont is on track to complete its
polyethylene (PE) debottleneck and new
elastomers project during 2018, its chief
financial offer said on Thursday.
US April ethylene
contract settlement delayed amid long supply,
higher costs
US ethylene contract market
participants have been unable to reach an
agreement on an April settlement amid long
supply, historically low spot prices and higher
production costs.
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