Establishment of Sadara Chemical Company is making significant progress

(Dow) -- The establishment of Sadara Chemical Company, a planned joint venture under formation between The Dow Chemical Company and the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), is making significant progress following the authorization by the Boards of Directors of both companies in late July.


The two partners are in the final stages of establishing Sadara, and it is expected that the officer and board member nominees will soon be officially announced. The on-line recruitment process for the first in-take of Saudi apprentices commenced in August and the response was overwhelming, with over 6,300 applications received.


Meanwhile, the Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) contract bidding process continues. 50% of the capital investment amount is already under contract with another 20% out for bid. It is expected that all invitation for bids will be out by end of the year.


MRC

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