Indian Oil and Natural Gas Corp in talks with Bashneft and RussNeft to merge its Russian assets

(Reuters) -- Indian explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp said it was in talks with Russia's Bashneft and RussNeft to merge its Russian assets, but no approval had been received from the Indian government. On Monday the Indian cabinet had approved the merger proposal that would give state-run ONGC 25 percent stake in the combined entity and access to one of the biggest discovered oilfields in Russia.

ONGC has long eyed a deal with Bashneft, a unit of telecoms-to-oil group Sistema as well as involvement in the Arctic fields of Trebs and Titov, as it seeks to broaden its oil and gas base in Russia, the world's top energy exporter.

But a merger of Bashneft and RussNeft is a long way off. Last week, Sistema President Mikhail Shamolin said the company may consider merging Bashneft and RussNeft once the latter's debt falls below USD 4 billion, but given current oil prices it may be a few years before that debt falls to the required level, the Interfax agency reported.

ONGC already has a stake in Russia's Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in the Pacific, and in 2008 it acquired the Imperial Energy oil company in western Siberia.

MRC

(Focus Taiwan) -- The Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), a global plastics and petrochemicals leader, forecast Monday that its second half revenue would fall by about 20-30 percent from the first half, amid uncertainties over the global economy, China's tighter monetary policy, and the temporary closure of six of the group's plants.

FPG Chairman William Wong estimated at the shareholders meeting of the group's flagship unit Formosa Plastics Corp. that group revenue would fall by between NT$150 billion (USD 5.18 billion) to NT$230 billion in the second half of the year,

Formosa Plastics Chairman Lee said that because China has been one of the world's major chemical and plastic markets, demand will not rebound unless China relaxes its monetary policy.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In Russia over the four months investments in equipment made USD 133, according to MRC EquiPlast. Over this period Russian companies purchased 651 complete equipment lines.

The most considerable investments were made in the sector of IM: over USD 48 were spent for IM equipment (295 complete lines). Mainly investments were made in the central economic region - 133 complete lines and north-west region - 54 items. Companies also developed the sector of production of polymer pipes - USD 18.8 mln (14%), foaming - USD 14.1 mln (11%), profiles - USD 9.7 mln (7%).

In March 2011, among invested USD 46 mln about USD 13 mln were spent for capacities of polystyrene foaming: 5 complete lines were supplied, among them - 2 lines from Krauss Maffei and one line from Heitz. Among invested USD 13 mln about USD 10 mln were spent for equipment for XPS plates production, yet about USD 3 mln - for EPS formworks production.

In April, Russian companies increased investments in processing equipment to USD 50 mln: USD 22.5 mln was spent for equipment for plastics IM, USD 12 mln - for pipes production, and nearly USD 4 mln - compounding.

Detailed analysis on investments in polymers processing by technologies, sectors, finished goods, countries-suppliers and types of equipment is presented in MRC report EquiPlast.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Europe will have to wait at least five years before any significant production rates of unconventional gas are achieved, Erste Group Bank said on Tuesday. ⌠We believe that unconventional gas (such as shale gas and tight gas) will be tapped in Europe, but cannot currently imagine that it could reach the size of US natural gas production, Erste Group Bank said in an analysis.

Environmental concerns regarding potential water and soil contamination were heightened by Europe's heavily populated landscape. This is in contrast to the population densities that explorers and producers in the US have had to deal with, Erste said.

The US also had the advantage of landowners being entitled to royalties from produced natural gas, which is not the case in Europe, the report said.

The latest estimates showed that the EU and Norway had 4,400bn cubic metres (cbm) of proved unconventional gas reserves and anywhere from 3,600-173,000bn cbm - representing around 72-346 years of European natural gas consumption - of potential unconventional gas resources, Erste said.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- PolyOne Corporation will open a new polymer distribution warehouse and sales facility on July 1 in Shanghai, China. This marks the first entry point for PolyOne Distribution into Asia. ⌠PolyOne Distribution is the market leader in less than truckload thermoplastics distribution in North America, and we have a backlog of customer requests to expand our distribution services globally, said Stephen D. Newlin, chairman, president and chief executive officer. ⌠With our most recent investment in Asia, PolyOne Distribution is accelerating the globalization and customer service offerings of this very important platform.

PolyOne has emerged as a leading supplier of polymer materials, services and solutions in the healthcare industry and is recognized for its expertise in serving this market. Since 2006, healthcare sales have expanded 95% and now represent over USD 250 million in annualized sales.

MRC