Sabic Innovative Plastics inaugurated its new PP compound plant in Bay St. Louis

(PlastEurope) -- Originally scheduled for commissioning in Q1 2011 Sabic Innovative Plastics on 1 November 2011 officially inaugurated its new PP compound plant in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, USA. The compounding plant, which turns out both PP compounds and ⌠Stamax long glass fibre-filled PP, was modeled after Sabic's compounding facility in Genk, Belgium, which has a capacity of 140,000 t/y and was started up in June 2010.

Output of the new facility is geared towards the North American automotive market. ⌠With the investment in Bay St. Louis, we have taken the expertise that we have accumulated in Europe and the rest of the world and added it to North America, Leon Jacobs, PP global leader Innovative Plastics, Automotive, said.

MRC

(PlastEurope) -- Belgian chemicals and plastics giant Solvay increased its REBIT (recurring earnings before interest and taxes) from continuing operations by 13% to EUR 254m in the third quarter of 2011, as comparative growth against 2010 slowed. In the first half year, earnings rose 22% year-on-year against the 2010 period. Sales in the third quarter were only 5% ahead of last year's period, at EUR 12.5 bn, after 13% growth from July to August last year.

MRC

(Lukoil) -- Lukoil ranked 5th among the oil and gas companies of Europe, Middle East and Africa, and placed 10th among the world's majors in the 2011 list of Top 250 Energy Companies' compiled by the American energy agency Platts. All companies were ranked by four main criteria: asset value, revenues, profits and return on invested capital. The valuation was performed based on Standard & Poor's database which is, like Platts, a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

A year ago, in the 2010 list of Top 250 Energy Companies' by Platts, Lukoil placed 5th in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and was 10th in the world.

MRC

(PRNewswire) -- LyondellBasell Industries N.V. today announced that it is planning to issue an aggregate principal amount of up to $1.0 billion of senior notes due 2021 (the "notes") to qualified institutional buyers in accordance with Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and to certain non-United States persons in offshore transactions in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act.

LyondellBasell intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the notes, together with available cash, to pay a special dividend in the aggregate amount of up to approximately $2.6 billion. The notes are expected to be guaranteed on a senior basis by, subject to certain exceptions, each existing and future wholly owned United States subsidiary of the Company that is an issuer or co-issuer in respect of, or guarantees, any debt securities issued in the capital markets by the Company or any subsidiary.

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SHANGHAI (ICIS)--KP Chemical, South Korea's largest polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle chip producer, is planning to raise the output at its 450,000 tonne/year plant in Ulsan from 80% to 100% next week because of improved market conditions, a company official said on Friday.
KP plans to increase its PET output after the decline in raw material purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG) prices eased an earlier squeeze on PET margins, the company official said.

The company reduced its plant's run rate in early October because of uncertain market conditions in the fourth quarter.
Average spot PTA prices were at $1,145/tonne (┬824/tonne) CFR (cost & freight) China for the week ended 28 October, down by 4% from early October. Spot MEG prices dropped to $1,165/tonne CFR China for the same week, down by 5.5% from early October, ICIS data showed.

⌠Even though PET prices are declining, raw material prices are falling even faster, the company official said. ⌠Margins for PET are starting to see some recovery.
The average spot price for bottle grade PET was at $1,550/tonne FOB (free on board) Korea for the week ended 28 October, down by 6.1% from early October, ICIS data showed. PET has been falling since the middle of September, when the average spot price was at $1,730/tonne FOB Korea.
⌠When there is a sharp downturn in feedstock prices, there is a short-term improvement in margins, said a southeast Asian PET maker. ⌠The lower prices also help to boost demand.

MRC