Europe top stories: weekly summary

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Europe for the week ended 13 April.

Europe PE buying slows down as buyers expect lower prices ‘after Easter’
Polyethylene (PE) buying in Europe has slowed down significantly in April, and sentiment among many buyers was for prices to fall after the upcoming Easter holidays, sources said on Thursday.

INTERACTIVE: Sharpest rise in non-OPEC crude megaproject production in history for 2017-19
The next two years are likely to see the most significant rise in new crude oil production capacity from new megaprojects in the history of the industry, sector cartel OPEC said on Wednesday.

Germany’s Linde rejects call for AGM vote on Praxair merger
Management at German industrial gases major Linde rejected late on Monday calls from an investor to allow a vote on the terms of a potential merger with US peer Praxair at the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM).

Banner results season for Europe chems in Q1, but ‘sweet spot’ not sustainable – bank
Pre-buying during the first quarter and healthy industrial production rates pushed European chemicals’ prices up, but that level of performance is unlikely to be sustainable, chemical equity analysts at UK-based Barclays Bank said on Monday.

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