MOU for a petrochemicals project was signed by prominent US and Egyptian companies

(the Daily news Egypt) -- Amid heightened optimism about Egypt's economic prospects at the ⌠Egypt: Forward Forum, an MOU for a multi-billion dollar petrochemicals project was signed by prominent US and Egyptian companies Tuesday.

Basil El-Baz, founder and CEO of Egypt Basic Industries Corporation (EBIC), as well as Chairman and CEO of Carbon Holdings, inked the first of a series of agreements for the development of a USD 3.5 billion naphtha cracker and olefins complex project that will be jointly developed with US companies. Financed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the mega project is expected to create some 3.000 jobs.

The signing of the MOU crowned what most delegates described as a successful forum, which, above all, aimed to boost the confidence of US businesses in Egypt as well as emphasize partnerships and trade as the way forward, setting the scene for the rise of a new generation of entrepreneurs in the ⌠new Egypt following the fall of the previous regime.

According to the United States Trade and Development Agency, which hosted the forum and oversaw the signing of the MOU, the first phase of an ambitious 20-year plan to develop Egypt's petrochemical industry at an overall cost of USD 10 billion was completed in 2008 at a cost of USD 3.8 billion.

The majority of the existing petrochemical plants are producing under-license from US companies, which have a market share of approximately 26%. Market demand for petrochemicals in Egypt is estimated at 6% annually.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Spot ethylene and propylene prices have fallen significantly over the past two months on poor demand from key derivatives polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) that has been weighing on supply, and there is further downside potential, market sources said on Friday.

Ethylene spot pipeline prices have dropped by around 33% since early May, when prices peaked at around EUR 1.230/tonne (USD 1.783/tonne). Prices this week are recorded below EUR 850/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe).

Polymer grade propylene prices on the inland market have fallen by almost 18%. Prices peaked at EUR 1.265/tonne FD NWE at the end of April, but are now in the mid-to-high EUR 1.000s/tonne FD NWE.

Lengthening supplies due to a general reluctance to cut cracker operating rates too significantly because of healthy margins has meant that local suppliers have been forced to cut spot offers. Sellers said that they have been discounting heavily from contract prices, which recently settled at reductions of EUR 95/tonne and EUR 75/tonne for ethylene and propylene respectively.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- As scheduled, Mitsubishi Chemical Corp has restarted the 375 KTa No.1 naphtha cracker at its Kashima plant, as per Reuters. The cracker had been shut after the Kashima complex was damaged in a magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11. The 453 KTa No.2 cracker at the facility resumed operations last month.

mrcplast.com

(Plastemart) -- Samsung Engineering has been awarded a contract worth USD 229 mln for a high-density polyethylene plant (HDPE) by OPaL (ONGC Petro Additions Ltd.), a subsidiary of ONGC (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd).

The plant will be built in the special economic zone of Dahej, Gujarat, to produce 340,000 tpa of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Samsung Engineering was initially notified in May that it would handle the engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning work on a lump-sum turn-key basis with mechanical completion set for August 2013.

mrcplast.com

(Plastics Today) -- As has been widely reported, Danone has switched from polystyrene to polylactic acid, a plastic based on plant starch, for its Activia yogurt cups in Germany. The change was made for packs of 4x115g and 8x115g yogurt. According to a recent study funded by the trade association European Bioplastics, global bioplastics production capacity will more than double from 2010 to 2015, with capacity forecast to exceed 1 million tonnes this year.

PlasticsToday sat down with Steve Davies, marketing manager at NatureWorks, which supplies the PLA used in the Danone yogurt packaging, to talk about the yogurt project and also about his company's ongoing developments. As Davies pointed out, this was not Danone's first use of PLA in yogurt packaging. Stonyfield Farm last year switched from polystyrene to PLA; that dairy is owned 85% by Danone.

According to NatureWorks and Danone, the switch to PLA from polystyrene will improve the Activia packaging's carbon footprint by 25% and use 43% less fossil resources compared to the previous packaging, based on a life cycle assessment (LCA) study conducted by the Heidelberg, Germany-based LCA Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU).

According to Davies, NatureWorks largest markets currently are foodservice wares, flexible films and non-wovens. The fastest growing end-use applications for the company's Ingeo-brand of PLA are in durable goods and non-wovens. Only about 1% of the supplier's output is sold for blowmolding of bottles.

mrcplast.com