BASF light stabilizer prolongs the service life of agriculture films

(BASF) -- The light stabilizer Tinuvin a XT 200 from BASF prolongs the service life of films in agriculture. A greenhouse offers plants optimal growing conditions: it protects them against wind and weather while still admitting the light they need to grow. With ideal temperatures and targeted watering, plants flourish at a rate that would be unthinkable in an open field.

Increasingly, conventional glass greenhouses are being replaced by greenhouses consisting of simple frames covered with plastic films and combining lower cost with greater flexibility. 900,000 metric tons of these greenhouse films (usually made from polyethylene) were produced worldwide in 2009. Enough to cover about 800,000 hectares, or roughly the entire surface area of the Greek island of Crete, with greenhouses. To make these films resistant to intense sunlight, light stabilizers - of which BASF offers an entire product range under the trade name Tinuvin - are added to the material.


The light stabilizers protect the plastic against its worst enemy: weathering from the sun's intense UV radiation and the heat developing at the contact points with the metallic greenhouse frame. In fact, plastic films can become brittle and dull within a few weeks, an effect further intensified by the use of some agrochemicals. Unless, of course, they are protected by light stabilizers.


MRC

(RIA Novosti) -- British oil major BP has rejected claims by minority shareholders who filed a suit against its Russian venture over a failed tie-up with Rosneft, BP Russia said on Wednesday.
Minority shareholders in TNK-BP Holding, a joint venture between BP and Alfa Access Renova (AAR) consortium, say their interests were harmed by BP's failure to finalize a USD 16-billion share swap and an Arctic shelf development deal with Russian major Rosneft, as TNK-BP could have participated in the project.

"One of the key arguments for the dismissal of the suit is the absence of any loss or damages whatsoever to the company. Thus, any speculation on the size and availability of a claim for damages is legally absurd," BP Russia said in a statement.

The Rosneft deal fell through after AAR, which represents four billionaires of Russian origin, said it broke TNK-BP's 2008 shareholder agreement under which the partners were obliged to offer all energy project proposals to TNK-BP first.


MRC

(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