Canada's NOVA chemicals is confident in the future health of PE sector

(ICIS) -- Despite a third quarter operating loss of $39m (┬28m) for its polyethylene (PE) segment, Canada's NOVA chemicals is confident in the future health of that sector, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday. For the third quarter of 2011, NOVA's PE business fell by 172% from an operating profit of $54m in the third quarter of 2010, based on higher raw material costs and consistent sales volumes, the company said. PE operating profits for the first nine months of 2011 fell by 38% to $110m, from $176m during the same period in 2010.


"Over the last few months, as market prices have come off of earlier peaks, we have seen polyethylene prices move down more rapidly than ethylene declined," said Randy Woelfel, chief executive officer. "That has certainly compressed polyethylene margins to a place that doesn't make any of us happy." The PE market was reacting to a variety of outside influences, including global economic concerns, Woelfel said.


Perspectives of development of polymer markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit will be organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers" presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.


MRC

DuPont's POM to meet the automotive industry's demanding requirements

(PlastEurope) -- New low-emission ⌠Delrin 300TE acetal resin is the first impact-modified POM from DuPont Performance Polymers (Wilmington, Delaware) to meet the automotive industry's demanding requirements for the use of plastics in vehicle interiors, where high resistance to impact load is required, the company says.


⌠Delrin 300TE, which has a melt flow index of 6 g/10min, is considerably more impact resistant than 300PE, a previously launched low-emission grade that also is suitable for use in automotive interiors. It achieves a notched impact strength at 23╟C of 18 kJ/m2. DuPont said that, in common with its other acetal resins, the material combines high strength, hardness and stiffness over a broad temperature range with high abrasion resistance and a low coefficient of friction, high heat deflection temperature, good electrical and dielectric properties and high dimensional stability.


Perspectives of development of polymer markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit will be organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers" presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.


MRC

Bayer boosted its liquidity buffer to cover the impact of the euro zone debt crisis

(Reuters) - German drugs and plastics maker Bayer has boosted its liquidity buffer to cover the impact of the euro zone debt crisis, which has left it with a significant amount of unpaid bills from clients in Italy, Spain and Portugal, its finance director was quoted as saying on Saturday. "At the moment our liquidity position is 3.8 billion euros ($5,2 billion)," Bayer's Chief Financial Officer Werner Baumann was quoted as saying by German newspaper Boersen-Zeitung.


He said that normally the company holds about 700 million euros in liquidity. Baumann expects to keep the buffer until April when the company will redeem a 2 billion euro bond.


Baumann said the company had a significant amount of unpaid bills from clients in Italy, Spain and Portugal as a result of the debt crisis in the euro zone.


Last month Bayer confirmed it expected its 2011 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) before special items would exceed 7.5 billion euros. However, it lowered its full-year outlook for its engineering plastics and foam chemicals division.


Perspectives of development of polymer markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit will be organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers" presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.


MRC

Jacobs was awarded EPCM contract for work on a world-scale project at Jubail Industrial City

(ICIS) -- Jacobs has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract package by Sadara Chemical for work on a world-scale project at Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia , it said on Tuesday. Officials at the US-based petrochemicals engineering company did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement.


Under the terms of the contact, Jacobs will provide front-end engineering design (FEED) and detailed engineering services, in addition to procurement, inspection and delivery of equipment and bulk materials, as well as the overall construction management, "for the Chemicals 1 Envelope of Sadara Chemical," it said.


Saudi Aramco and Dow had announced their respective board authorisations to form Sadara on 25 July, following a project feasibility study and front-end engineering and design (FEED) effort, which began in 2007. The complex is expected to produce polyurethanes (isocyanates, polyether polyols), propylene oxide (PO), propylene glycol (PG), elastomers, linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), glycol ethers and amines.

Perspectives of development of polymer markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit will be organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers" presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.


MRC

Umeco Composites purchased certain of the assets of Fenotec

(Umeco) -- In its first acquisition since divesting its Supply Chain activity to focus on its higher growth advanced composites business, Umeco plc (Umeco') announces today that its German subsidiary Umeco Composites GmbH has purchased certain of the assets of Fenotec Ges.i.L (Fenotec') from the administrator for the cash sum of ┬2.2 million.


The assets purchased, which are located in Beelitz near Berlin, comprise freehold buildings and high quality production equipment which will be used to manufacture Umeco's range of prepreg advanced composite materials. Umeco will employ eleven of the former employees of Fenotec.


Fenotec was placed into administration in December 2010 shortly after investing ┬5 million in new buildings and machinery in a failed attempt to enter the prepreg market. Its failure was caused by a shortfall in sales revenues due to the lack of an industry recognised range of products. Umeco expects to quickly add much needed additional volume by manufacturing in Beelitz its own established range of prepreg materials. It will also distribute from this facility its wide range of structural and process materials for the advanced composites industry.


Umeco's existing European prepreg facilities are in the UK and this acquisition provides both additional prepreg manufacturing capacity, and a distribution base in Continental Europe that will significantly reduce lead times to its customers in Germany and Southern and Eastern Europe.
Umeco also announces today that it has been awarded ┬1.2 million of new business by a customer in Germany. This contract, which is for prepreg materials used in the manufacture of advanced composites components, is expected to be fulfilled over the next 12 months.


Perspectives of development of polymer markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit will be organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers" presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.


MRC