PP production facility to be opened in India's Mangalore by 2013

(chemmonitor) -- A new polypropylene (PP) production unit is expected to initiate activity in November-December of this year. The unit is situated in Mangalore (India).

Mangalore Refinery, a local, maker owns the plant. The maker initially intended to open the manufacturing unit by July 2012, but decided to postpone the startup.

However, the company did not explain its decision. The facility will generate up to 0.44 million tonnes per year.

Mangalore Refinery is an oil refinery at Mangalore and is a subsidiary of ONGC, set up in 1998. The refinery is located at Katipalla, north from centre of Mangalore city.

MRPL has a design capacity to process 11.82 million metric tonnes per annum and is the only Refinery in India to have 2 Hydrocrackers producing Premium Diesel (High Cetane). It is also the only Refinery in India to have 2 CCRs producing Unleaded Petrol of High Octane.

MRC

(kemira) -- Kemira Oyj publishes its financial statement bulletin enclosed to stock exchange release.

Kemira reported on Wednesday a 50.6% year-on-year increase in its net profit to EUR37.8m (USD50.4m) in the fourth quarter of last year, despite a surge in raw materials prices.
The firm's revenues slipped by 0.6% year on year to EUR543.3m, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 2.81% to EUR65.9m, the company said in a statement.

⌠Raw material prices increased rapidly in the beginning of the year, it said.
⌠The prices for some of our key raw materials have continued to increase during the second half of the year and are still at a very high level, the company added.
The firm's net profit fell to EUR140.3m in the full year of 2011, compared with EUR646.9m in the same period a year earlier, the firm said.

MRC

(dow) -- Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company , and BioDuro, a PPD Company, announced a three-year, multi-program discovery research agreement to generate novel molecules for synthesizing and testing fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides across a variety of crops.

The two companies will leverage BioDuro's deep expertise in medicinal chemistry and biochemistry and Dow AgroSciences' agrochemical capabilities in this new agrochemical discovery collaboration.

"We are very pleased to announce this novel collaboration between Dow AgroSciences and BioDuro, a respected leader in discovery services," said Daniel R. Kittle, Ph.D., Global Leader, Research & Development, Dow AgroSciences.
"This agreement is another example of our commitment to further enhance Dow AgroSciences' world-class discovery research capabilities by working with the best research teams around the globe to develop new solutions for our customers around the world."

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

MRC

(solvay) -- Solvay has successfully commissioned the largest PEM fuel cell in the world at SolVin's Antwerp plant.

Solvay announced it has successfully commissioned its 1 MegaWatt (MW) industrial demonstration Fuel Cell at the SolVin plant in Lillo, Antwerp, Belgium. This Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell converts coproduced hydrogen (H2) in the plant into electricity and is now producing for weeks at a steady rate. The Fuel Cell has generated over 500 MWh in about 800 hours of operation, which amounts to the electricity consumption of 1370 families during the same time frame.

This successful industrial scale-up project containing Solvay's innovative specialty polymers and SolviCore's membrane electrode assemblies brings PEM Fuel Cell technology to a new threshold. The Fuel Cell also increases SolVin's brine electrolysis' energy efficiency.

Fuel Cells are increasingly considered an important clean power generation technology for a wide variety of applications such as busses, cars, ships, trucks, fork lifts, cogeneration and electricity generation devices. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells produce only electricity and water.

MRC

(bp) -- BP's fourth-quarter replacement cost profit was USD7,606 million, compared with USD4,614 million a year ago. For the full year, replacement cost profit was USD23,900 million compared with a loss of USD4,914 million a year ago.

The group income statement for the fourth quarter and full year includes pre-tax credits related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of USD4.1 billion and USD3.7 billion respectively.

Non-operating items (including amounts relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill) and fair value accounting effects for the fourth quarter had a net favourable impact of USD2,620 million compared with a net favourable impact of USD250 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. For the full year, there was a net favourable impact of USD2,242 million for 2011 compared with a net unfavourable impact of USD25,436 million in 2010.

Finance costs and net finance income or expense relating to pensions and other post-retirement benefits were USD261 million for the fourth quarter, compared with USD346 million for the same period last year. For the full year, the respective amounts were USD983 million for 2011 and USD1,123 million for 2010.

MRC