Taiwan's Formosa restart plans may get delayed by fire

(ICIS) -- Taiwan's Formosa group may face further delays in restarting several of its plants at its Mailiao complex following a fire at the site late on 26 July, sources said on Wednesday.
The fire, the fifth such incident at the complex this year, broke out at a section of a hydrogen pipeline in the vicinity, sources said.

⌠There was a small fire, but it did not damage any plants, a spokesperson from Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC) said, adding that the firm's 1.03m tonne/year No 2 and 1.2m tonne/year No 3 crackers at the complex are running at full capacity.

However, Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) had to shut its polyethylene (PE) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) units at the complex as a cautionary measure, an FPC source said.

The affected facilities comprise a 264 KTa linear low density PE (LLDPE) plant, a 350 KTa high density PE (HDPE) unit and a 240 KTa low density PE (LDPE)/EVA swing plant, the source added.

MRC

(ICIS) -- European chemicals stocks fell on Wednesday as earnings from Switzerland-based Clariant and Germany's Merck Group missed analyst consensus estimates.The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx Chemicals index was trading down by 0.52%, indicating that many of Europe's major chemicals companies had also suffered some losses.

Shares of speciality chemicals company Clariant plummeted 12.79% to Swiss francs (Swfr) 13.43 (USD 16.79, EUR 11.58) on the SIX Swiss exchange, after the company reported that its second-quarter sales slipped by 1% year on year to Swfr1.87bn, with its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before exceptional items declining by 9% to Swfr241m.

Clariant's EUR 1.9bn acquisition of Germany-based chemical company Sud-Chemie failed to offset a massive appreciation of the Swiss franc and a 14% rise in second-quarter raw material costs compared with the same period last year.

Chemicals company Merck Group's shares have fallen 6.74% to EUR 73.18 on Germany's Xetra stock exchange, after the company recorded a net loss of EUR 85.9m in the second quarter of 2011 as its Merck Serono division struggled with overcapacity issues and the firm wrote off the value of several experimental treatments.

European chemical stocks were also dragged down on continuing fears over the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and US law makers' inability to come to an agreement to reduce the country's deficit and to raise its debt ceiling.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Low European bitumen prices and high freight rates have kept arbitrages from the US closed for around two years despite it being considered a key exporter into the region, bitumen shipping industry sources said on Tuesday. A second market participant agreed that arbitrages from the US to Europe have been closed for many months.

The second source added that freight rates from the US to Europe would depend on the area of the US in question. Major US ports are located on the east coast, in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Pacific coast.

This market participant went on to say that to transport 7 KT of bitumen from Baltimore, Maryland, to Europe would cost an average of USD 705.000 (EUR 493.500) to containerise the material, and, based on a transit period of 14 days, it would cost USD 300.000 to charter a vessel.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Low European bitumen prices and high freight rates have kept arbitrages from the US closed for around two years despite it being considered a key exporter into the region, bitumen shipping industry sources said on Tuesday.

A second market participant agreed that arbitrages from the US to Europe have been closed for many months. ⌠I don't know of any occasion when this [bitumen] has moved [from the US to Europe], the second source said.

⌠Sending material from the US to Europe is not economical, another shipping source said on 18 July.
The first source went on to say there has been very little market activity in Europe for at least six months. Some of his company's bitumen vessels remain unoccupied.

This market participant went on to say that to transport 7 KT of bitumen from Baltimore, Maryland, to Europe would cost an average of USD 705.000 (EUR 493.500) to containerise the material, and, based on a transit period of 14 days, it would cost USD 300.000 to charter a vessel.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Asian petrochemical producers can expect a weakening of exports if the US - the world's biggest economy - were to default on its debts, analysts said on Tuesday. However, the negative impact will likely be mitigated by the strength of demand coming from China and other emerging markets, they added.

The US needs a higher national borrowing ceiling via legislation by 2 August to prevent it from defaulting on its debts. However, the Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress cannot agree on a plan.

US President Barack Obama warned that a failure on Congress' part to increase the debt ceiling could cost jobs and potentially cause serious damage to the US economy.

Overall consumption from the western industrialised economies will likely remain weak with the US and the eurozone preoccupied with their debt problems, analysts said. There are also concerns that the debt woes of both the US and eurozone may plunge the world economy back into recession, said Naphat Chantaraserekul, a Bangkok-based petrochemical markets analyst at DBS Vickers Securities.

MRC