Formosa refinery shut down for safety

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemicals Corp has shut its entire 540,000 barrel-per-day refinery for safety reasons following a fire at the weekend.

One of the three crude distillation units will be shut for a long period without a definite timeframe, while the company is likely to restart the two CDUs in about two days.

MRC

MRC Reference

Formosa

The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PVC-S - 3.0%;

PP - 0.4%.

Annual growth sales in Russia :
PVC - 79 % (over the last year) ;

PP - 272 % (over the last 3 years).

Supply by processing technologies:
profile extrusion

film extrusion

(Uralchimplast) -- Uralchimplast approved economic results of the company's activity in the first half of the year. The session of the Board took place on July 21.

The Board considered the results of the company's activity in the first half of the year and defined the goals till the end of 2010. Positive development dynamics were marked: over the course of the first six months the company was operating within the terms of the adopted budget and generated profit. The Board defined economic results of Uralchimplast as positive.

The main goals for the upcoming period are sales increase and investments into projects.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tight Russian DOP supply together with the impossibility of quick imports of plasticizer continue to push prices up - according to MRC Price reports.

Plasticizer production is still tight in Russia, and DOP demand continues to grow. The biggest plasticizer consumers - plasticized PVC producers - talk about scarce DOP stocks, and the possibility to replenish stocks quickly is nearly zero. Some companies are trying to organize supplies from Europe and Asia. Small volumes of Serbian DOP are to be delivered to the Russian market soon. Supply of South Korean plasticizer is expected in the second half of August. Prices for the future DOP deliveries vary within the range of RUB 84.000 - 90.000/mt, including VAT, DDP.

Prices for Russian plasticizer moved at the level of RUB 85.000/mt, including VAT. Generally, current prices for small DOP volumes in the Russian market are in the range of RUB 85.000 - 100.000/mt, including VAT. In the second half of August, Russian producers are expectedly to increase plasticizer production; as well, additional volumes are going to arrive from Asia. As a result, prices should become more stable in the domestic market.

MRC

For more information about Russian DOP market please refer to MRC Price reports.

(BFNWire) -- Dutch chemical giant Akzo Nobel's net profits rose to ┬273m in the second quarter - up from ┬155m last time - with revenues up 13% at ┬3.9bn.

Strong revenue gains were achieved in the higher growth markets in all business areas.

MRC

(Taiwan News) -- A call to prohibit continuation of Formosa's expansion projects has been made in Taiwan. The Formosa Plastics Group should not be allowed to continue expansion of the sixth naphtha cracker on account of frequent accidents, said the opposition Democratic Progressive Party. The government has been urged to set up a nation wide framework to handle industrial accidents as the current fire emergency equipment at the plant in Mailiao, Yunlin County, is insufficient. Since the plant started operating 18 years ago, there have been several incidents at the site, while there are also more cases of cancer registered in Mailiao than in any other Yunlin County township.

MRCMRC Reference Formosa

The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PVC-S - 3.0%;

PP - 0.4%.

Annual growth sales in Russia :
PVC - 79 % (over the last year) ;

PP - 272 % (over the last 3 years).

Supply by processing technologies:
profile extrusion

film extrusion