Ineos reported an upset at the ethylene unit at its plant in Texas

(Bloomberg) -- Ineos Group Holdings Plc reported an upset at the ethylene unit at its Chocolate Bayou chemical plant in Alvin, Texas, according to a filing with state regulators. ⌠The olefins 1 unit experienced an upset when the p-rich feed was lost to two of the furnaces resulting in flaring off spec ethylene product, Ineos said a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.


⌠Operations stabilizing the unit to bring ethylene product back on spec and decreased feed to the furnaces, the Lyndhurst, United Kingdom-based company said in the filing.


The Chocolate Bayou plant includes two olefins units and has one of the largest hydrocarbon crackers in the U.S., according to the company website. The plant is located in Alvin, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of Houston.


MRC

Main social programs are carried out at Kulevi Black Sea Terminal

(SOCAR) -- Main social programs are carried out at Kulevi Black Sea Terminal that attaches big importance to social issues of its staff. Along with medical insurance of the personnel, the terminal improves insurance conditions of staff from year to year. This year besides the additional bonus for medicine and stomatology, the policies include health insurance of family members too - spouse and children under 18. These insurance policies cover wide network of clinics in Georgia and Azerbaijan. BST provides the employees with health insurance police since the beginning of operation. According to internal rules of organization, a new employee should pass a waiting period to benefit from health insurance benefit. Waiting period means probation by labour contract and lasts from 3 to 6 months at the most. It should be mentioned that company offers health insurance without any premium contributions from employees.


MRC

SABIC Innovative Plastics announced the newest addition to its Extem UH family

(SABIC) -- SABIC Innovative Plastics announced the newest addition to its Extem UH family of amorphous thermoplastic polyaimide (TPI) resins to meet customer requirements for design-friendly materials that deliver high performance at prolonged extreme temperatures. This unique new grade not only delivers unprecedented heat resistance, but also opens vast new design possibilities by providing exceptional dimensional stability for thin-wall molding. Extem UH resin underscores SABIC Innovative Plastics' ongoing investment in high-end thermoplastic technologies and the company's proactive efforts to track and address fast-evolving customer needs.


Potential applications include wire and cable insulation, high performance connectors and accessories, semicon plasma chamber components and pickup systems, high heat film, bearing cages, gears, membranes, stockshapes and composites.


MRC

Sinopec halts fuel exports on shortage as refiners make loss

(Bloomberg) -- China Petrochemical Corp., Asia's biggest oil refiner, halted fuel exports to ensure domestic supply as high crude costs and retail price caps cause private refiners to cut back on production.


Sinopec Group, as the company is known, ⌠stopped exporting to other regions apart from sustaining the basic resource needs of Hong Kong and Macau, it said in its online newsletter. The Beijing-based company will run its refineries at full capacity and cut petrochemical production to boost output of gasoline and diesel for domestic use, it said.


China's fuel inventories fell last month as consumption rose to a record on demand for travel, manufacturing and spring planting. Retail fuel prices increased an average 10 percent this year, according to Bloomberg calculations, while global crude oil climbed 17 percent.


MRC

European PP buyers are still paying record-high prices

(ICIS) -- European polypropylene (PP) buyers are still paying record-high prices as relief from a relentless round of price increases fails to materialise, sources said on Tuesday. Net homopolymer injection prices are currently trading on either side of EUR 1.400/tonne (USD 2.000/tonne) FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe), recording an almost constant price rise from a low of EUR 600/tonne at the end of 2008.


The expected flood of imports from new production in the Middle East has still not arrived, and sources do not expect this situation to change in the short term.


Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical (Petro Rabigh) is planning to shut its 700 KTa PP plant at Rabigh, Saudi Arabia, at the end of April for approximately two months of maintenance.


Egypt's Oriental Petrochemical Co (OPC) is running its 160 KTa PP unit at about 80% because of a lack of propylene supply from Libya.


Pricing in Europe for April PP has been mixed, with producers taking a different approach to the market depending mainly on their stock position, but there has been no hint of a price reduction from European suppliers.


MRC