Shell in talks to settle USD653 mln Brazil contamination penalty

(royaldutchshellplc) -- BASF, the world's biggest chemical maker, is in talks with Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) to determine who should pay a 490 million-euro (USD653 million) fine for contamination in Brazil.

The site in Paulinia was ⌠significantly contaminated by the production of crop protection products, and BASF and Shell were jointly ordered in August 2010 to pay damages to former employees for medical treatment and personal suffering, BASF said in its 2011 annual report.

BASF said its Brazilian unit filed a lawsuit against Shell on March 30, asking a court to declare that Shell is responsible for the full amount of the damages resulting from the contamination at Paulinia. The two companies are in settlement talks, Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF said.

The Paulinia unit was built by Shell, sold to Cyanamid in 1995 and then acquired by BASF in 2000, the German company said in its annual report. The contamination stems from the period before 2000, BASF said.

Jennifer Moore-Braun, a spokeswoman for BASF, declined to comment beyond what is in the annual report. Spokesmen for Shell didn't immediately return calls seeking comment. The suit against Shell was reported today in German newspaper Financial Times Deutschland.
MRC

(plastemart) -- Oil prices retreated in Asian trade as dealers took profits from overnight gains driven by rumours of a supply disruption in Saudi Arabia, as per Economic Times. Reaction to this news is an indication that the oil market is really sensitive to supply disruption. Rumour of the pipeline fire was denied by Saudi officials.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, dipped to USD108.83 and Brent North Sea crude for April delivery settled at USD125.98 in morning trade.

Economic data from the United States and China continues to be positive:
The US Labor Department said claims for US unemployment benefits had fallen to levels last seen in March 2008. A total of 351,000 initial jobless claims were made last week, a decline of 2,000 from the previous week. The US Commerce Department reported that US economy grew faster than initially believed in Q4-2011 at an annual 3%, even as the Federal Reserve warned of a slower pace this year.

Improved performance from October to December 2011 was due in part to positive contributions from consumer spending and private inventory investments. China's manufacturing activity expanded for the third straight month in February as export orders improved, official data showed Thursday.


MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Jacobs Engineering Group was awarded a contract from Solvay for a specialty polymers production plant to be built at Solvay's industrial site in Changshu, located in the province of Jiangsu, China. The plant is scheduled to become operational in the first quarter of 2014 and significantly boost Solvey's capacity.

Jacobs Engineering Group was awarded a contract from Solvay for a specialty polymers production plant to be built at Solvay's industrial site in Changshu, located in the province of Jiangsu, China.

Officials estimated the contract value to be approximately USD9 million (RMB 62 million).Jacobs is executing the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) services contract from its Shanghai operations in China, it said.

Solvay is investing approximately USD160 million (EUR120 million) into this plant, which will produce its products SOLEF PVDF and TECNOFLON FKM, as well as its VF2 monomer.

The plant is scheduled to become operational in the first quarter of 2014 and is expected to significantly boost Solvay's global production capacity for these specialty polymers, officials said.

"We look forward to contributing to this large and significant project for Solvay, drawing upon our strong, sector-relevant technical and project management skills to support the project, said Jacobs vice president Tom Quinn.
MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Air Products has agreed to acquire all of DuPont's interest in DuPont Air Products NanoMaterials, the two companies' 50-50 joint venture serving the global semiconductor and wafer polishing industries. The venture state-of-the-art applications and formulation laboratories in the US and Taiwan.

Air Products has agreed to acquire all of DuPont's interest in DuPont Air Products NanoMaterials, the two companies' 50-50 joint venture serving the global semiconductor and wafer polishing industries. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

DA NanoMaterials manufactures chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries for the semiconductor and wafer polishing industries.

Headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., with regional headquarters in Hsinchu County, Taiwan, the company operates state-of-the-art applications and formulation laboratories in Tempe and Taiwan.DA NanoMaterials has established a portfolio of colloidal silica-based products for copper CMP, tungsten CMP and wafer polishing applications, officials said.

"We are pleased to complete the conversion of DA NanoMaterials, and to continue to build on our electronic materials portfolio," said Wayne Mitchell, vice president and general manager of electronics for Air Products. "This acquisition provides additional scale and synergies to our differentiated materials business within electronics."
MRC

(plasticker) -- The engineering company Uhde Inventa-Fischer has successfully commissioned a plant for the production of polyamide 6.6 for its Chinese customer Huafon Group. The production plant has an annual capacity of 40,000 tonnes and is located at Huafon`s company headquarters in the city of Ruian in Zhejiang Province, P.R. China, announced the company.

Uhde Inventa-Fischer`s energy-efficient, resource-saving and cost-reducing PA 6.6 technology enables Huafon to produce high-quality granulate, which can be used for all applications, such as textiles, tyre cord, engineering plastics and also co-polymers.
Uhde Inventa-Fischer's scope of supplies included the license for the PA 6.6 technology, the basic engineering, supply of all relevant equipment for the plant, the pre-commissioning and the start-up. In addition, the operating personnel of the Huafon Group were trained by experienced Uhde Inventa-Fischer specialists.


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