Russian Uralkali posted a net profit of USD 794 million

(RIA Novosti) -- Russian leading potash producer Uralkali, which merged with Silvinit fertilizer producer this year, posted a net profit of USD 794 million to IFRS for the first half of 2011. The first half 201I net profit results reflect Uralkali's and Silvinit's consolidated financial performance since January 1 this year, the company said in a statement.

The merged company's revenues totaled USD 1.973 billion in January-June 2011 and adjusted EBITDA stood at USD 1.054 billion, with the EBITDA margin of 64 percent, the firm said. The merged company's potassium chloride sales amounted to 5.217 million tons in the period, the firm said

MRC

(Trend) -- Uzbekistan will attract China's Citic Pacific Ltd. to expand capacity of Kungrad Soda Plant, a source in the Uzbek government told Trend on Friday. According to the source, the State Joint-Stock Company Uzkhimprom and Chinese company signed a memorandum of cooperation, which envisages implementation of a project to increase plant capacity by 1.5 times - up to 150 KTa of soda ash by 2015. The contract between CITIC and Uzkhimprom is expected to be signed in the first half of 2012.

At present, the Chinese company and specialists from the design institute "Uzkhimesanoatloyiha", which is included in Uzkhimprom, is developing the preliminary feasibility study at an initial cost USD 50 million, the source said. The project financing is envisaged via a loan from China Exim Bank and the Uzbek side's funds.

Kungrad soda plant, with a current design capacity of 100 KTa of soda ash, was commissioned in August 2006 by China's Citic Pacific Ltd. and Uzkhimprom. The total project cost was USD 100 million.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Formosa Petrochemical Corp has restarted operations at its 700,000 tpa No. 1 naphtha cracker at 65% capacity. The cracker has been shut down since a fire on May 12, as per Reuters. It will a matter of a less than a week that the cracker will start running at full tilt.

A 1.2 mln tpa No. 3 cracker has been shut for a 40-45 days maintenance in mid-August, while its No. 2 cracker is running at full-tilt. Its 540,000 bpd refinery was completely shut following a separate fire in end-July. Run rate at the refinery has been restored to nearly 75%, after restarting its three crude units in stages. However, one of its two 84,000 bpd residual fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) is still shut and will not restart this month because another fire on Sept. 6 at an alkylate unit has caused it to conduct additional safety checks.

MRC

(Plastics Today) -- In Germany, the Plastics and Rubber Machinery group within the country's machine manufacturing trade association, the VDMA, says its members expect exports of plastics and rubber machinery to continue to rise. Last year saw a robust recovery in foreign deliveries by German plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers, according to the VDMA, with annual growth of 25.6%. Despite that surge, exports fell far short of the record achieved in 2008.

Germany is the leading exporter of plastics and rubber processing machinery. According to the VDMA, the countries with the biggest sales markets all boast significantly above-average growth rates. China ranks first with a 67% increase, followed by the U.S. with 60%, India with 95%, Russia with 80.1%, Mexico with 96.8% and Turkey with 87.3%.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- South Africa-based petrochemicals group Sasol Ltd. along with its partners Uzbekneftegaz and Malaysia's Petronas, has agreed to install a gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Uzbekistan, signing an investment deal with the country's Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investment and Trade. Production at the facility will comprise high quality, environmentally friendly diesel, kerosene and naphtha.

The subsequent phase of the venture involves front-end engineering and designing of the plant that is expected to start by the end of 2011. Following the final investment decision, the GTL project will come online in the second half of this decade. As per the feasibility study conducted by Sasol, the venture has the prospects of building a GTL plant in Uzbekistan with an estimated nominal capacity of 1.4 mln tpa. Sasol and state-owned oil company Uzbekneftegaz hold a 44.5% interest each, while Petrona controls the remaining 11% stake.

MRC