LG Chem buys July naphtha at minus USD 3/t

(Reuters) -- LG Chem bought around 50 KT of open-spec naphtha for first-half July arrival at Yeosu at a discount of USD 3 a tonne to Japan quote on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis, lowest level seen in South Korea in nearly eight months, traders said on Wednesday. Sentiment was on a downward spiral since May 13 after Asia's top naphtha buyer Formosa shut one of its three crackers following a fire at a pipeline. "Some traders are under pressure to sell their cargoes," said a source. The last time South Korea saw spot naphtha prices in discount was on Oct. 8, 2010.

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(The Nation) -- PTT will focus on regional growth, having reached the limit in domestic expansion, with the aim of becoming the second-largest petrochemicals player behind national brands in some countries within five years.

The company will also increase the sales ratio of non-oil businesses such as Amazon coffee houses, 7-Eleven convenience stores and quick-service restaurants from 20-30 to 50 % in the next two to three years. The move will offset lower profit margins from oil sales.

Saran Rangkasiri, executive vice president of PTT, said the company would maintain the number of PTT petrol stations in Thailand at about 1,300.

The company has 30 petrol stations in Laos, 46 in the Philippines and six in Cambodia.

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(Arkema) -- On May 31st 2011, Sumitomo Seika announced a project to add a new train to the existing superabsorbent production facility at Arkema's Carling acrylics platform (Moselle, France). This project will expand the site's superabsorbent annual capacity to 47 KT. Startup of the new plant is scheduled for Spring 2013.

SAPs, or Superabsorbent Polymers, are produced from acrylic acid, and are mainly used in the growing market segments of disposable babies diapers, sanitary napkins and incontinence pads.
The commissioning of this new production unit will help strengthen the position of the Carling Arkema site, one of the major world-scale acrylic monomer production plants.

Since 2008, when it acquired Arkema Superabsorbents Business, Sumitomo Seika has been marketing and selling, under its trade mark AQUAKEEP, a wide range of superabsorbents manufactured on the Arkema Carling site.

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(Plastics Today) -- Long long-fiber thermoplastic (LFT)-polypropylene (PP) compounds are extensively employed in automotive applications. They are now taking on a new challenge in a solar application that requires both non-halogenated flame retardance and colorability.

The need to develop these new FR LFT-PP grades arose from the requirement of Tulipps Solar B.V. (Eindhoven, The Netherlands), a startup company working on a new composite-based solar photovoltaic (PV) module system for flat roofs in which the composites are used in place of aluminum components. New regulations are anticipated in many geographies requiring all plastic materials used on roofs to be flame retarded.

Since the composites used in Tulipps' module system needed to be formulated to offer an extremely demanding target service life of 25 years or longer, company founder and managing director, Paul Stassen wanted to ensure the units would comply not only with current regulations but also with future requirements. That presented an interesting challenge, since the composite module system needed both to be flame retardant as well as lightweight and thin, and therefore required high stiffness and strength plus excellent long-term durability - properties that can be affected by the non-halogenated additives package.

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(ICIS) -- Taiwan's Nan Ya Plastics has been given permission to conduct a phased shutdown of its five units at Hai Fong in Mailiao, Taiwan, for safety checks relating to a fire at Formosa's petrochemical complex on 12 May, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the company started the shutdown process for the 360 KTa No 3 MEG plant and 820 KTa No 4 MEG unit, as per the instruction of Yunlin County government, but the shutdown order was lifted in the afternoon, said a company source, who declined to be named.

Tsou said that the local government gave Nan Ya Plastics the leeway to choose the shutdown dates for four of the five plants that were initially ordered to halt operations on 1 June.

Apart from the two MEG units, the company was asked to decide when to shut its 60 KTa 1.4 butylene glycol line No 2 and its 130 KTa bisphenol-A No 4 line. Nan Ya's 110 KTa 7-methyl-1-octanol plant will immediately be shut, Tsou said.

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