Halliburton has struck a deal to buy Multi-Chem Group

(Arabian oil and gas) -- Halliburton has struck a deal to buy Multi-Chem Group, North America's fourth-largest production chemicals company, in a deal set to plug a gap in its oil and gas extraction services offering. Halliburton Chief Executive David Lesar says there is more demand for oilfield services companies to provide a broader range of services in-house, something the acquisition of Multi-Chem - for an undisclosed sum - will help achieve.

Multi-Chem has 900 customers worldwide and about 750 employees, and there are no plans for redundancies in the combination, according to a company statement from Multi-Chem, which is the fourth-largest production chemicals company.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Formosa Petrochemical Corp has reported the largest drop in monthly revenue among the Formosa Plastics Group's four core companies, as per stock exchange filing. August revenues fell 56.8% sequentially to NT$33.27 bln (US$1.14 bln) on lower capacity utilization and oil product sales due to the recent partial shutdowns of its refining units in Mailiao.

Formosa Petrochemical runs 3 crude distillation units in Mailiao and the refinery accounts for nearly 70% of its total sales. It also operates 3 naphtha crackers there, accounting for about 25% of total sales.

Formosa Petrochemical's revenue dropped 29.6% on an annual basis as the plants stopped operating for 20 days in August because of several industrial safety mishaps, causing oil products sales to fall 76% from July. Sale of ethylene and propylene also witnessed a fall in August with the annual maintenance shutdown of the No. 3 naphtha cracker mid-month.

MRC

(PlasticsToday) -- International Automotive Components (IAC) Group and Reyes Holdings LLP have formed a joint venture to supply injection and blowmolded interior trim components and sequence and assembly services for the Toyota Tundra and Tacoma built at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas Inc. (TMMTX). Reyes Automotive Group II (RAG II) is based in San Antonio, TX and will apply for Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certification, with Reyes holding 51% ownership and IAC having a 49% stake.

IAC, with 2010 sales of $3.7 billion, operates 75 manufacturing facilities in 16 countries, while employing approximately 22,000 people around the world. Toyota broke ground on its TMMTX site in October 2003, building a 2 million sq ft assembly plant on a 2000-acre site in San Antonio. Employees there total 1694 with investment to date of $1.5 billion. Fernando Reyes, president and owner of Reyes Industries Inc., runs a number of manufacturing businesses supplying the military as well as the automotive industry.

MRC

(ICIS-MRC) -- In spite of decreased contract polypropylene (PP) prices in Europe in September, most European producers declared increased export prices for the FSU consumers, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Contract PP prices in Europe for September deliveries fell by EUR 37/t compared to August. Nevertheless, most European producers declared increased export PP prices for the FSU markets. One of the reasons for prices advance is limited PP offer in Europe due to scheduled maintenance stops of some plants. PP-homo export prices in September rose nearly by EUR 10-20/t, depending on the producer, to EUR 1.120 - 1.200/t, FCA.

The same situation occurred to propylene copolymers prices. This month offers for European block copolymers supplies made EUR 1.240-1.300/t, FCA.

Scheduled maintenance stops of some PP productions in Europe limited September export quotas for converters. Some producers don't plan to deliver PP for export in September.

Under the pressure of weak demand and excess PP offers Russian producers had to cut PP prices in September. PP-homo prices in the Russian market decreased by RUB 1.000/t. Only one Ukrainian producer, Linik kept PP prices in early September without any changes. Also PP prices on June range are held in Turkmenistan trading - USD 1.706/t, FOB.

MRC

(Platts) -- The Iranian government is in talks with investors across Asia to establish petrochemical joint ventures in the southeastern port city of Chabahar, a source close to the matter said Sunday. "The Iran government wants to develop Chabahar on the lines of Pars special economic zone in Assaluyeh," the source said. "The plan is to establish methanol, urea and olefins projects in Chabahar in association with foreign partners." The government has already marked a free trade zone in the Chabar for establishing the petrochemical plants, the source said, adding that no major plants are currently located in that city.

At the 9th Iran Petrochemical Forum in Tehran in May, the country's deputy petroleum minister Abdolhossein Bayat had said that petrochemical projects to be located in Chabahar will be given a tax holiday of 15 years.

The establishment of the projects in Chabahar is in line with Iran's plan for the port city to achieve a petrochemical production capacity of 15 million mt/year over the next five years, the source said. This will require investments totaling $20 billion, he added.

MRC