A former BP top manager who supervised the failed deal with Rosneft may join the local firm of the latter

(RIA Novosti) -- Larry Bates, a former BP top manager, who supervised the failed tie-up deal in January between the British oil giant and Russia's largest state-run oil company Rosneft, may join the local firm as vice president, Kommersant business daily said on Wednesday quoting a Rosneft official. Bates may be officially appointed by the end of the year, the paper added. A Rosneft representative said the company was considering Bates' candidacy , but declined to name the exact position, while a source in Rosneft said Bates might be appointed as advisor to Rosneft President Eduard Khudainatov.


In January, BP and Rosneft struck a $16-billion agreement to develop the Arctic shelf with BP getting new reserves and Rosneft gaining shelf technologies it lacked. But the deal collapsed after BP's partners in its local project said the Rosneft deal violated a shareholder agreement between them and the British major.


MRC

BASF further strengthens its broad portfolio of high performance defoamers

(BASF) -- With Efka 2010, BASF further strengthens its broad portfolio of high performance defoamers for industrial coating applications. The new silicone-free defoamer marks the latest addition to this product class and is suited for use in a wide range of solvent-borne coating systems. It can be used for pigmented and non-pigmented systems.


Formulators benefit from the optimized combination of excellent defoaming efficiency and no influence on gloss. The high clarity within the formulation is maintained prior as well as after curing which enables the production of defect-free high quality surfaces for industrial coatings. Efka 2010 is compatible with a variety of different systems including nitrocellulose/alkyd lacquers, 2k polyurethane-, stoving- and acid-cured coatings as well as cold-cured epoxy coatings.


The product is primarily designed for formulations for the furniture and flooring segment and is available within Europe, North America and China. Further market applications include the automotive industry.


MRC

Laffan Refinery faced an outage that caused a temporarily shutdown of the facility

(Arabian oil and gas) -- Laffan Refinery has faced an outage that caused a temporarily shutdown of the facility, a spokesperson from QatarGas said. ⌠Qatargas can confirm that there was an outage at Laffan Refinery. The Refinery was safely shutdown as a result and a full investigation has taken place. The Refinery is being restarted safely at this time, Qatargas spokespersons said. The spokesperson didn't give further details about the shutdown and the expected time to resume production.


Qatar's first condensate refinery, which started production in September 2009, can produce 61,000 bpd of naphtha, 52,000 bpd of kerojet, 24,000 bpd of gasoil and 9,000 bpd of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) when fully operational.


MRC

Borealis was recently awarded the Frost & Sullivan 2011 Europe Product Leadership Award

(Borealis) -- Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions, was presented with the Frost & Sullivan 2011 Europe Product Leadership Award in HVDC Cable Insulation Market during an awards banquet in London on September 29, 2011.


The Product Leadership Award is a prestigious recognition of Borealis' accomplishments in the HVDC cable insulation market, where Borealis has played a pioneering role by introducing crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) based insulation compound Borealis Superclean LE4253DC.


As a result of its high electrical breakdown properties, Superclean LE4253DC brings performance reliability improvements to HVDC cables. The compound offers the right balance between space charge accumulation, conductivity and DC breakdown strength and allows cost effective manufacturing in conventional CV lines. HVDC cables made with LE4253DC/LE0550DC from Borealis are qualified and meet Cigre recommendations.


MRC

In Ukraine PVC production grew in the third quarter

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ukrainian producer Karpatneftechem is increasing suspension PVC production. In the third quarter, overall production of PVC-S made 43.5 KT, as per MRC DataScope. Ukrainian Karpatneftechem (Lukoil Group) keeps on increasing suspension PVC output. In September overall output of the resin made 15.4 KT. Over the last three months, the enterprise produced 43.5 KT of suspension PVC. Over incomplete five operating months, overall output exceeded 53.6 KT. In October a further growth of PVC production in Ukraine is expected. By the end of the year Karpatneftechem is targeting at project capacity of 300 KTa.


Exports is growing along with production. Over the last two months, exports of the Ukrainian PVC exceeded 10 KT. Poor external markets and transport problems, particularly, during supplies to Russia, restrain export sales. Nevertheless, the company management plans to increase exports to 150 KT (to Russia), 20 KT (to the Eastern Europe) and 30 KT (to Turkey).


Investments to Karpatneftechem PVC plant made $234 mln. The enterprise also plans to start production of goods out of PVC-S. Lukoil has already invested more than $500 mln in Karpatneftechem. The president of the company Vagit Alekperov announced to invest yet $500 mln in development of operating enterprises and creation of production of PVC finished goods.


MRC