Valero to shut Aruba refinery by end of March

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Valero Energy said Monday that due to unfavorable refinery economics and the outlook for continued unfavorable refinery economics, refining operations will be suspended by the end of the month at its 235,000 bpd refinery in Aruba.

The refinery has been operating at reduced rates because of inadequate margins resulting in financial losses.

Over the past two years, Valero has thoroughly evaluated all of its alternatives for the refinery and is now considering the possibility of operating a terminal and storage operation at the site.

For the immediate future, Valero will maintain the refinery in a state that would allow a restart.

"We appreciate the diligent and incredible efforts of Prime Minister Eman and his government in helping Valero find an economic alternative that would allow continued operation of the refinery," said Valero CEO Bill Klesse.

"If it had not been for the efforts of the Prime Minister, the refinery would not have restarted in late 2010 and operated over the past 15 months. Our discussions with interested parties, including those facilitated by the Government of Aruba, will continue."
MRC

(plasticker) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company and a global leader in emulsion polymers, recently announced it will raise the price of all vinyl acetate based emulsions (vinyl acetate ethylene, vinyl acetate homopolymer and vinyl acetate copolymer emulsions) sold in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Price increases will range from EUR 60/MT to EUR 95/MT, effective April 1, 2012, or as contracts allow.

This price increase affects applications including, but not limited to, adhesives, paint and coatings, building and construction, nonwovens, glass fiber, carpet, paper and textiles.
MRC

(news.szenergy) -- Shares of petrochemical companies in Asia were lower on Wednesday, in line with regional bourses, on concerns over demand amid a slowdown in China, the region's biggest importer of petrochemical products.

⌠The NDRC [National Development and Reform Commission] raised fuel oil prices twice in two months. Market players are worried that increasing energy cost will weigh on China's economy further, said Wei Tao, an analyst at brokerage Xingye Securities.

China's demand for iron ores has also been softening, as indicated by major Australian miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, and this is deemed as a strong indication that the country's industrial growth is cooling down.

In the middle of last week, Asia's monoethylene glycol (MEG) market was shaken by China's economic concerns, prompting traders with high inventory to offload heavy volumes into the market.

China Premier Wen Jiabao had said that the country's property prices are still far from reasonable levels, indicating that current policies curbing demand will not be relaxed so soon.
Early this month, China's GDP growth target this year was cut to 7.5%, down from the 8% target that was kept for seven years.
Weakness in China's construction sector affects demand for various petrochemicals, including styrene monomer (SM), epoxy resins and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

MRC

(chemmonitor) -- The Moscow-headquartered Russian company TNK-BP finally shut its oil refinery at Lisichansk site (Ukraine) and stopped crude supplying last week on Thursday.

The company is predicted to become an importer of gasoline and diesel fuel on the territory of the country because oil refining is not profitable in Ukraine.

The delivery of feedstock to the site was suspended since early March, and the unit was brought off stream in line with unexpected turnaround.

MRC

(basf) -- The new Opel Astra OPC, a sport coupe, which was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show at the beginning of March 2012, has a seat pan made from a thermoplastic laminate with continuous fiber reinforcement (organo sheet). This is the world's first auto seat pan based on this technology manufactured for a production vehicle. The plastics used are polyamide specialties from BASF's Ultramid product range. The seat pan is 45% lighter than its predecessor.

Thermoplastic laminates with continuous fiber reinforcement, also called composites, are plastic-impregnated fabrics that are processed into laminates. They serve as the reinforcement in plastic parts that must be especially lightweight yet still exhibit exceptional performance.

BASF developed two special Ultramid grades for the Opel Astra OPC seat pan: an unreinforced grade acts as the material in which the glass fiber fabric is embedded, an impact-modified, short glass fiber-reinforced Ultramid is used as overmolding material to achieve the necessary ribs and edges of the part by means of classical injection molding. Thanks to the high strength of the laminate, the wall thicknesses can be reduced considerably, allowing the weight of the seat pan to be lowered distinctly.

MRC