Americas top stories: weekly summary

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News from the week ended 8 June

Initial US April, May ethylene contracts settling lower
Initial settlements for US April and May ethylene are at a decrease of 1.5 cents/lb and 0.75 cent/lb, respectively, tracking lower spot prices, market sources said on Monday.

Total, Borealis, NOVA joint project breaks ground on US Gulf cracker
Total, Borealis and NOVA Chemicals held a ground-breaking ceremony on Monday for the construction of a new ethane cracker in Port Arthur, Texas.

US April, May ethylene contracts settle at two-year lows amid long supply
US April and May ethylene contracts settled on Monday for a majority of participants at a decrease of 1.5 cents/lb and 0.75 cent/lb, respectively, amid long supply and historically low spot prices, sinking to their lowest levels in over two years.

Total declares force majeure on PP copolymer from US Texas plant
Total Petrochemicals and Refining USA declared a force majeure on all of its impact copolymer polypropylene (PP) products from its plant in La Porte, Texas, according to a customer letter obtained on Tuesday.

US trade wars would be a big blow to chemical investment – CEOs
Escalating trade tensions between the US and its main trading partners are causing concern and ratcheting up risk. If actual trade wars break out, investment in the US chemical industry would take a big hit, company CEOs said on Tuesday.

Many factors discourage new styrene plants in US, EU
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (ICIS)–Several factors are discouraging companies from adding new styrene capacity in the US or in Europe, the CEO of Trinseo said.

US ethane surges to four-year high on demand, pipeline outage
US ethane spot prices are trading at four-year highs, facing strong upward price pressure from the outage of the Mariner East pipeline, higher cracker demand and rising ethane exports.

US May LLDPE, HDPE contracts fall, LDPE steady on shorter supply
May contracts for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) were assessed at a decrease of 3 cents/lb ($66/tonne) from April while contract prices for high density polyethylene (HDPE) were assessed 2 cents/lb lower. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) contracts were assessed at a rollover.