Singapore to build floating oil and petrochemicals storage at Pulau Sebarok

(plastemart) -- Singapore plans to proceed with construction of floating oil / petrochemicals storage at Pulau Sebarok to help boost supply of the much needed oil/ petrochemicals storage in Singapore's oil refining/trading hub. Pulau Sebarok is not far from Jurong Island, Singapore's main oil/petrochemicals hub. The island country faces problem of shortage of land amid increased demand for oil storage by traders.

Hence JCT has decided to seek a multi-disciplinary team of consultants 'to develop the preliminary structural conceptual design and construct the VLFS storage facility at the proposed site at Pulau Sebarok'. The consultant is to prepare the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender for the very large floating structures (VLFS), with the tender possibly going out by end 2010 or early 2011. JTC has also embarked on building first phase of Jurong Rock Cavern to store oil underground at an investment outlay of US$890 mln.

Initiated in 2007, Phase I, which developed a preliminary structural conceptual design of an attached-to-land VLFS storage. This was followed by Phase II, that enveloped areas like environmental impact, marine soil investigation and engineering surveys and sea current monitoring and metocean design data analysis. Feasibility studies on the VLFS were completed in March 2010. JTC studies earlier ascertained that to be economical, the minimum storage capacity of a VLFS should be 300,000 cubic metres, or equivalent to that of a very large crude carrier.

MRC

(plastemart) -- Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has reissued a tender to include an additional cargo for this month. On May 10, IOC offered 30,000 tons naphtha for June 10-12 loading from Kandla, but changed the tender in two days to include another 35,000 tons for June 7-10 loading from Chennai. With this, total spot naphtha for June has risen to 65,000 tons vs nearly 215,000 tons sold in May. IOC will be utilizing its naphtha as feedstock at its new Panipat naphtha cracker, impacting its export volumes.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In January - March 2010 imports of polypropylene (PP) into Russia went up by 34% (to 26,63 kt) comparing with same period last year. In March PP imports have reached maximum volumes in five last months and formed 12.51 kt - according to MRC DataScope report.

Imports of propylene homopolymer (PP-homo) increased 19% (to 14,99 kt). Growing imports help to stabilize the situation in the Russian market. PP-homo supplies from Turkmenistan were resumed. In March Turkmenian material formed 48% from the whole PP-homo imports. Over 1 kt of the material were delivered by Linos, Ukrainian PP producer.

Imports of block-copolymer of propylene (PP-impact) have increased more than 1,5 times (to 5,33 kt). In March suppies of the material from Ineos Polyolefins (144 ton). Russian companies have received 433-NA00/Ineos Polyolefins grade.

Imports of stat-copolymer of polypropylene (PP-random) went up by 32% (to 3,7 kt). From the beginning of the year supplies of the material from Sabic have almost totally disappeared (in Q1 just 25 ton were delivered).

MRC

For more information please refer to MRC DataScope reports.

(DuPont) -- DuPont leaders recently told security analysts and investors that the company is executing a rapid commercialization strategy in its Applied BioSciences (ABS) business for a diverse portfolio of high-performance, renewable products that address the needs of large markets. The company has set goals for the ABS business of $1 billion in revenue and $250 million in pretax earnings by 2015.

⌠DuPont is uniquely positioned to lead in industrial biotechnology. We are connecting our core technology capabilities to markets that can be transformed by our science, and this strategy is beginning to pay off, said Tom Connelly, DuPont executive vice president and chief innovation officer. ⌠The Applied BioSciences portfolio is developing solutions to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and continues to be one of the most significant growth opportunities in the company's history.

Investors were invited to Tennessee to see the business' first commercial biomaterials facility and its first demonstration biofuels facility, each of which is bringing DuPont ABS technology to market. The DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products facility in Loudon, Tenn., produces 100 million pounds annually of Bio-PDO. The DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol demonstration facility in Vonore, Tenn., is preparing this second-generation biofuel technology for market.

MRC

(Evonik) -- ⌠We started this year with strong figures, commented Klaus Engel, Chairman of the Executive Board of Evonik Industries AG, today, when the company published its key financial data for the first quarter of 2010. The Group reported a substantial improvement in all major financial indicators. In particular, earnings have increased steadily. ⌠The economy is starting to recover and our confidence is growing. Nevertheless, the economic situation remains uncertain, said Engel.

The Evonik Group grew sales to ┬3,769 million in the first quarter of 2010, a rise of 18 percent on the year-back quarter, which was marked by the economic crisis. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) increased 126 percent to ┬744 million, principally due to far higher volume sales. The EBITDA margin improved to 19.7 percent (Q1 2009: 10.3 percent), bringing it to a good level. EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) more than quadrupled to ┬554 million, driven mainly by the pleasing development of the Chemicals and Energy Business Areas. Overall, the Evonik Group's net income was ┬290 million, compared with a loss of ┬46 million in Q1 2009.

The cash flow from operating activities advanced 20 percent to ┬530 million. This was mainly attributable to a far higher operating result, while net working capital increased as a result of a perceptible upturn in business. The cash flow was sufficient to finance capital expenditures of ┬117 million and to reduce net financial debt to ┬3,192 million, a decline of ┬239 million compared with year end 2009.

MRC