The Supervisory Board of KraussMaffei appointed a new Chief Executive Officer

(Krauss Maffei) -- The Supervisory Board of KraussMaffei AG, a worldwide leading manufacturer of plastic and rubber machinery and systems, appointed Jan Siebert as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) effective from January 1, 2012. He will succeed Dr. Dietmar Straub, who is managing the activities of KraussMaffei Group since April 2007 and who is leaving the company at his own request.


KraussMaffei is one of the world's leading manufacturers of machinery for processing plastics, and the only company supplying machinery covering three key technologies for the international plastics and rubber processing industries.


The KraussMaffei Group markets its products under the KraussMaffei, KraussMaffei Berstorff and Netstal brands. The KraussMaffei brand covers the whole spectrum of injection and reaction moulding technology, while KraussMaffei Berstorff specializes in extrusion solutions. The Swiss subsidiary Netstal is firmly established as a premium supplier of high-precision injection moulding machinery. Krauss-Maffei maintains a close-meshed network of over 140 subsidiaries and sales and service agencies close to customers worldwide.


MRC

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