Karpatneftehim to launch four new lines in a month

(Minprom) -- After a two-year overhaul, polyethylene and ethylene workshops are to be launched by the end of August at Kalush-based Karpatneftehim; in the first half of September two new lines - one chlorine and caustic soda, and a PVC unit will be started. Russia's Lukoil-Neftehim invested over $500 mln. into that project.

Comissioning is in process now in Kalush near Ivano-Frankovsk.Officially, polyethylene unit is to start operations on August 25; ethylene unit is to be launched on August 27, chlorine and soda line starts on September 14 and PVC line is to be launched on September 15.

MRC

Lanxess doubles its profit in Q2

(prw) -- Lanxess more than doubled Ebitda year-on-year to ┬269m in the second quarter, and accordingly forecasts Ebitda for business year 2010 of around ┬800m - up from May's estimate of ┬650-700m.

In Lanxess's performance polymers segment, sales rose 71% year-on-year to ┬958m in Q2. The segment's Ebitda jumped to ┬171m from ┬52m a year earlier, attributed to recovery in the tyre replacement and OEM industries.

Group sales overall increased 48% year-on-year to ┬1.83bn, due to both higher volumes and positive currency effects - a weaker euro against the US dollar and Brazilian real. Higher raw material costs were passed on to customers. Lanxess posted a group net profit of ┬131m in Q2, compared with ┬17m a year earlier.

MRC

Dow and Aramco confirmed Jubail for the new JV project

(plastemart) -- Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical Co have confirmed Jubail Industrial City as the planned site location for their proposed joint venture petrochemical project. The decision followed an in-depth evaluation anticipated infrastructure benefits and various potential business integration opportunities at the location - the largest industrial complex of its kind in the world. Front-end engineering and design (FEED) work is expected to be completed in mid-2011.

MRCMRC Reference

Share in the Russian market, 2008:

polyethylene - 2.5% (including LLDPE - 33.1%);

polypropylene - 0.8% (including PP-impact - 1.1%);

polystyrene - 2.6%.

Annual sales growth in Russia, recent 5 years:

polyethylene - 55%;

polypropylene - 28%;

polystyrene - 2%.

Imports by processing technologies:

pipe extrusion;

film extrusion;

sheet extrusion;

foaming

Qatar Petroleum joins Algerian ethane project

(El Khabar) -- Qatar Petroleum (QP) has joined the Franco-Algerian partnership of France's Total and Algeria's Sonatrach in a joint venture project to construct the ethane cracker in Arzew, western Algeria.

The US$5 billion project encompasses the construction of an ethane cracker and three product lines.

Initially, Sonatrach awarded a contract to Total to construct the ethane cracker where Total had a controlling 51% stake of the project and Algeria's Sonatrach 49%. However new governmental regulations obliging local partners to control the majority of any JV project with foreign partners have forced the French oil giant to relinquish some of its share.

MRC

New BZS board of directors represents Bashkhimia interests

(Kommersant) -- On Thursday new staff of Bereznikovskiy Sodoviy Zavod (BZS) board of directors was elected at the special company's stockholders meeting. Representatives of Bashkhimia interests were elected as new board members. Besides that, the new board decided to pass the privileges of BZS single executive organ to Bashkirskaya Khimia Ltd. Earlier the company's CEO was changed due to change of the company's owners. Instead of Yuriy Kovyrzin, who has been the company's head since 2003, new top-manager became Yuriy Ivanovsenior, former chief engineer of Sterlitamak-based Soda Ltd. (Bashkhim affiliate).

MRC