Americas top stories: weekly summary

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News from the week ended 9 June 2017:

US oil resurgence boosts CP Chem optimism for ethane
The resurgence of US oil production has made Chevron Phillips Chemical more optimistic about the outlook for ethane supplies, the company’s CEO said on Monday.

AkzoNobel sees interest in specialty chems from strategics, private equity
AkzoNobel is seeing strong interest in its specialty chemicals business from both strategic players and private equity firms, although it has yet to officially put the asset on the market, the head of the business said on Monday.

US Dow completes construction of 400,000 tonne/year PE plant
Dow Chemical has completed construction of a new 400,000 tonne/year polyethylene (PE) plant at Freeport, Texas, the US-based chemicals major said in an update on Tuesday.

US still top producer of petroleum, natural gas hydrocarbons – EIA
The US was the top global producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2016, its fifth year in a row, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.

US hydrochloric acid prices jump higher on outages
US hydrochloric acid (HCl) prices jumped higher during the week as plant outages tightened supply in the face of steadily rising demand from the oilfield.

Direction uncertain as US June propylene contract negotiations begin
Discussions for US June propylene contract prices have ranged from a slight increase to a slight decrease amid falling inventories and expectations of increasing supply.