Sasol, Uzbekneftegaz, Petronas to install GTL project in Uzbekistan

(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

(Plastemart) -- Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE) and ECO Plastics have formed a pioneering joint venture - a first for the UK recycling and beverage industries, the new business will be known as Continuum Recycling Limited. The name reflects the fact that the joint venture company will establish a continuous process for re-processing plastic bottles in Great Britain. Used plastic bottles will be recycled in Lincolnshire and the high quality materials produced will be re-used in new Coca-Cola bottles.

Jonathan Short, Managing Director of ECO Plastics said: ⌠Today's news is important because it demonstrates again our commitment and progress towards realising what will be a revolutionary project for the British recycling and beverage industries. I'm delighted that we are on track to deliver against the ambitious project timetable. ⌠ECO Plastics' plant is already the largest and most sophisticated in Europe and we will now be able to increase capacity from 100,000 tpa to 140,000 tpa of mixed plastic bottles, just under 50% of the total collected last year.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Asian petrochemical shares declined on Friday along with product prices, following heavy sell-offs in the equities and commodities markets overnight on heightened concerns that the global economy is heading towards another recession.

Markets are on their second day of rout, following the US Federal Reserve's comment that the US - the biggest economy in the world - faces ⌠significant downside risks. Asia's stock markets are reacting on Friday to the 3.51% decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average overnight.

At 13:29 hours Singapore time (06:29 hours GMT), South Korean producer LG Chem was down by 5.07%, SK Innovation declined by 6.96% and Honam Petrochemical fell by 6.19% as the KOSPI composite index dropped by 5.56% to 1,700.47. Japanese markets are closed on Friday for a public holiday.

In Malaysia, PETRONAS Chemicals Group was down by 1.08%, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia down by 1.11% at 1,372.37.

Thailand's petrochemical major PTT Chemical was down by 5.99%, while Siam Cement Group fell by 4.41%. The Thai SET index fell by 4.30% at 947.98.

MRC

(MRC) -- August hit another record in the Russian PVC market. Following August results, import volume made more than 57KT. In general, over the first eight months, total suspension import to Russia approached 360 KT, according to MRC DataScope.

As before, a major share of total imports falls on the U.S. and Chinese producers. In general, the structure of suspension imports by major exporting countries is as follows: the U.S. - 24.5 KT, China - 17.3 KT, Ukraine - 3.4 KT.
Over the first eight months, total imports of PVC-S made nearly 360 KT, which was by 66% more year on year. Import resin supplies have already exceeded Russian producers' output. Over the eight months, Russian PVC-S production made nearly 356 KT.

Ongoing devaluation of the ruble and a seasonal decline in November-December will result in a serious drop of PVC-S imports to the Russian market. In September - October, imports decline is expected to make 35-45 KT per month.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- South Korea's SK Engineering & Construction Co. (SK E&C) has secured a USD 3.5 bln contract to build a petrochemical plant in Egypt. The agreement has been made with Egypt private company Carbon Holding- a JV between SK E&C and U.S. engineering firm Shaw Group Inc.

The petrochemical complex to be built in Ain Sokhna, around 120 km east of Cairo, will have ethylene production capacity of 1.35 mln tpa. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2012 and be completed by 2016.

MRC