Transocean laid the blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster largely at the feet of BP

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Swiss firm Transocean, which lost it's Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, has laid the blame for the explosion and subsequent spill largely at the feet of BP.

In an extensive report, which in parts diverges from US government analyses of the disaster, Transocean acknowledges some failings but what it describes at "the incident it states, was caused by ⌠a succession of interrelated well design, construction and temporary abandonment decisions that compromised the integrity of the well and compounded the risk of failure.

"Temporary abadonment" effectively blames BP as it is a process of plugging a well after initial drilling so that new equipment can be brought in to complete the well in order for production to begin; the report states that BP engineers produced at least five such plans for the well from April 12 to April 20, the day of the blast.

An investigation by the US Coast Guard released in April criticised Transocean and found that the halting of the spill was complicated by ⌠numerous system deficiencies, and acts and omissions by the company and its crew on the rig, according to the Financial Times.

MRC

(Arabain Oil and Gas) -- The International Energy Agency (IEA) is considering whether to add it's oil stocks to the market in a bid to reduce oil prices, according to Reuters. "The IEA can do what it wants, there is no shortage in the market. If they want to release stocks it will be as a mechanism to bring down prices not to fill any supply shortage," an IEA official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

The agency, which represents 28 oil-consumer nations, is considering a rare release of emergency reserves if leading Opec member Saudi Arabia cannot pump enough to fill the gap left by the stoppage of Libya supplies.

In its 37-year history the IEA has released stocks only twice to fill lost supplies - in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait and in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina when it released mostly refined products from Europe for the United States.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Newly independent US-based chemical distributor Nexeo Solutions will first focus on developing its business model and proposition rather than on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), its chief executive said on Thursday.

⌠We are very excited to be a stand-alone company focused exclusively on distribution and will spend 100% of our time, talent and resources on getting our value proposition right - using service as a differentiator, said CEO David Bradley. ⌠We will first focus on developing this differentiated model before undertaking major M&A, he added.

Nexeo Solutions launched on 1 April after the former Ashland Distribution business was acquired by global private equity firm TPG Capital for USD 979m (EUR 685m). While M&A will initially be on the back burner in terms of focus, Bradley did not rule out deals altogether.


Nexeo had 2010 sales of USD 3.4bn, and it operates in three markets - chemicals, plastics and composites. A key element of its business model will be differentiating its service offering, Bradley said.

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(ICIS) -- China's polycarbonate (PC) market is expected to be oversupplied in the fourth quarter of the year because of additional capacities from international producers, which will lead to a fall in prices, market sources said on Friday.

Saudi Arabia major SABIC's 260 KTa PC unit at Al Jubail came on stream in the middle of March. Half of the plant's output of PC is expected to be exported to the Chinese market in the third quarter, market sources said.

Meanwhile, Sinopec-Mitsubishi Polycarbonate (SMP) plans to complete the construction of its 60 KTa PC unit at Beijing by the end of the third quarter and begin operations in the fourth quarter, a source at SMP said. SMP's output will be mostly supplied to the Chinese market, market sources said.

China consumed around 1.1m tonnes of PC in 2010. Of this, 969 KT came from imported cargoes, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China.

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(ICIS) -- Europe is not expected to fully convert to membrane-cell method for its chlor-alkali capacity by 2020 given the high costs involved in the process, an executive at French-based producer Arkema said on Friday. Clarifying comments made in a speech at the 15th world chlor-alkali conference in Singapore, Pascal Maureta, business manager for caustic soda, said on the sidelines of the conference that ⌠we don't have a crystal ball. These predictions are not firm and only made based on today's data, and for a worst-case possible scenario.

European chlor-alkali producers said that the costly conversion to membrane-cell technology came could not have come at a worse time. European regulations require all plants to switch to the more energy efficient membrane-cell method of production by 2020.

Margins for downstream polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which account for the majority of European chlorine use, have remained in negative territory since 2008, they said.

Demand for suspension PVC (SPVC) in 2008 slumped by 25% from record 2007 levels, in line with the global economic downturn. Soaring feedstock prices also squeezed margins, they said.

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