Celanese opened POM production facility in Germany

(Plastemart) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company and a global leader in high performance engineering plastics, announced the opening of its state-of-the art polyoxymethylene (POM) production facility in Frankfurt Hoechst Industrial Park, Germany. With a nameplate capacity of 140 KTa, Celanese's new POM plant will be the world's largest and strengthens the company's Ticona engineering polymers business, including its global operations and advanced technical capabilities. The new manufacturing facility is expected to meet the increased global demand for innovative specialty solutions in polymer-based products.


MRC

Hindustan Petroleum Corp. invited bids to conduct a feasibility study for a refinery and petrochemical project

(Plastemart) -- Hindustan Petroleum Corp. has invited bids to conduct a feasibility study for a refinery and petrochemical project at Visakhapatnam in southern India. The last date to submit tenders for the contract is Nov. 15. The state run oil major is reviving the Visakhapatnam project which was stalled earlier as its partners had pulled out due to the global economic slowdown in 2008-09.


The Visakhapatnam project was initially planned as a joint venture by Hindustan Petroleum, Mittal Energy Investments, France's Total SA, GAIL (India) Ltd. and Oil India Ltd. It was projected to have an export-oriented refinery with a capacity of 280,000-300,000 bpd and a petrochemical plant of at least 1 mln tons of annual capacity. GAIL and Oil India are still interested in the project and is also in talks to Mittal Energy and Total.


MRC

Chemical companies must adapt their business models to the New Normal

(ICIS) -- Chemical companies must adapt their business models to the reality of the New Normal of permanent lower growth and an increasingly volatile macroeconomic environment, a leading consultant said on Monday. A growing elderly population in mature economies has far-reaching consequences for the level and type of demand growth for chemicals, according to International eChem chairman Paul Hodges. Planning for the uncertainties of this new macroeconomic environment is vital, he believes.


He claims that by 2020 an unprecedented 33% of the developed world's population will be over 55 years old. This is thanks to the ageing of the huge post-war ⌠Baby Boomer generation. Older people typically spend less and save more. ⌠Companies need to get to grips with trends such as the ageing population, greater food production and increased water quality and availability. The core market for companies operating in the west will not be the high end of people with lots of money to spend but those on pensions of USD 10,000-15,000 a year [EUR 7,400-11,100 a year].


He said companies which still operate on a model which assumes a high level of spending are already losing pricing power and are issuing profit warnings. The financial crisis currently enveloping mature economies in Europe and the US is the result of policy-makers' refusal to plan for the New Normal, said Hodges.


MRC

LyondellBasell finds no buyer for Berre, France refinery

(Lyondellbasell) -- LyondellBasell announced that the sales offering for the 105,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Berre, France has resulted in no offer to purchase the refinery. As a result, Compagnie Petrochimique de Berre S.A.S. (CPB), the refinery operator, intends to initiate consultations with its works councils, as defined under French law, on a project to cease refinery operations.


"After conducting a thorough sales offering that included reaching out to 85 entities throughout the world with the assistance of Barclays Capital and the Invest in France Agency (AFII), unfortunately not a single bid was received for the refinery," said Jean Gadbois, General Manager of the Berre site.


The petrochemical assets at Berre include a steam cracker and world-scale polypropylene and polyethylene plants owned and operated by another LyondellBasell subsidiary. The potential closure would not affect depot operations or the petrochemical plants and third-party facilities at Berre.


MRC

BASF signed a contract with EuroChem to sell its fertilizer activities in Belgium

(BASF) -- BASF has signed a contract with EuroChem, Moscow, Russia, to sell its fertilizer activities in Antwerp, Belgium. BASF also plans to sell its 50% share of the joint venture PEC-Rhin in Ottmarsheim, France, to EuroChem. The total transaction value is expected to be approximately EUR 700 million. The divestments are subject to approval by the appropriate antitrust authorities. BASF plans to complete the transactions by the end of the first quarter of 2012.


In Antwerp, the scope includes plants for CAN/AN (calcium ammonium nitrate/ammonium nitrate) fertilizers, Nitrophoska fertilizers and nitrophosphoric acid as well as three related nitric acid plants. BASF is in the process to carve out the activities into a separate company. About 330 employees will transfer to the new company which will be acquired by EuroChem.


BASF also plans to sell its shares in PEC-Rhin, which produces CAN/AN fertilizers and the respective intermediates, ammonia and nitric acid. The company is a 50-50 joint venture with GPN, a member of the French Total group, and currently has about 190 employees.


MRC