Azerbaijan to set up polypropylene plant

(fibre2fashion) -- The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) will be building a petrochemical complex having a capacity to produce 550,000 tons of polypropylene, which is widely used in the textile industry, Vice President of SOCAR, Tofig Gahramanov, has announced.

SOCAR will be constructing the oil and gas processing plant and petrochemical complex at an estimated total cost of EUR13 billion, near the capital Baku.

While 30 percent of the capital would be invested by the Azerbaijan Government and SOCAR, the remaining amount would be private investment.

The petrochemical complex is likely to be commissioned by 2020. Besides its own thermal power plant, it will have 30 processing plants to process 10 million tons of oil and 10 billion cu m of gas.

Mr. Gahramanov estimated the payback period of the project to be 6-7 years. He said companies from Japan, Korea, Italy and the US have also shown interest in investing in the petrochemical complex to be set up by SOCAR, which is one of the largest oil companies in the world.


MRC

(polyestertime) -- Iran and its leading oil buyers, China and India, are finding ways to skirt U.S. and European Union financial sanctions on the Islamic republic by agreeing to trade oil for local currencies and goods including wheat,
soybean meal and consumer products.

India, the second-biggest importer of Iran's oil, has set up a rupee account at a state-owned bank to settle as
much as much as 45 percent of its bill, according to Indian officials.

China, Iran's largest oil customer, already settles some of its oil debts through barter, Mahmoud Bahmani, Iran's central bank governor, said Feb. 28. Iran also has sought to trade oil for wheat from Pakistan and Russia, according to media reports from the two countries.
MRC

(plasticker) -- Owing to continued steep rises in energy and raw material costs, from April 1, 2012, Perlon-Monofil GmbH is to raise its prices worldwide for synthetic monofilaments by at least EUR 0.20 per kilogram depending on the field of application and grade.

Perlon-Monofil GmbH is one of five sections belonging to the Semi-Crystalline Products (SCP) business unit of specialty chemicals group Lanxess. It manufactures an extensive range of polyamide and polyester monofilament products for a wide variety of applications, and markets them worldwide under the brand names Perlon, Atlas and Bayco.

The plastic wires are used for the production of durable technical fabrics, cords and ropes with outstanding dimensional stability and high strength. Typical applications include rope manufacture, sports fishing, the paper and sports goods industries, and fences, bracings and guy ropes in agriculture. Products from Perlon-Monofil are noted for their weather resistance, strength, elongation properties, load-bearing capacity and overall resistance properties.
MRC

(plastemart) -- Polymer demand in Thailand, which has been stronger than demand in other Southeast Asian countries for most of the last two months, is beginning cool down following several consecutive local price hikes and with the approach of the Thai New Year holidays next month.

Many distributors report that they are feeling cautious about replenishing their stocks for now given their uncertainty as to how demand will be affected by the upcoming holidays while some converters report that they are starting to feel more comfortable with their stocks these days and are accordingly feeling less pressure to source additional cargoes.

In the PP market, an increasing number of players are beginning to describe demand as normal while several distributors are already shifting their focus towards late April and the period after the Thai New Year holidays. ⌠Prices are stable this week and demand for our end products is normal, reported a converter in the plastic bag sector. Another plastic bag manufacturer stated, ⌠Local prices remain at high levels these days.

We are not planning to make any fresh purchases for now as we are feeling more comfortable with our stocks after pursuing an active purchasing strategy for the past few months. A distributor reported that they are taking a less active part in the market for now while waiting to gauge market sentiment after the holidays.
MRC

(plastemart) -- China's leading oil, energy and petrochemical group Sinopec posted sales of RMB 2.5 tr (EUR 280 bln) in FY 2011.

Its Chemicals business - mostly consisting of olefins and polyolefins - accounting for less than 20% of total revenues to the tune of about RMB 414 bln (EUR 46 bln). Mirroring the group's overall development, this segment managed to raise sales by 29% yoy, posting an operative result of more than RMB 25 bln (EUR 2.8 bln), which topped the 2010 figure by an impressive 71%.

Sinopec produced and sold about 27.3 mln tons of base petrochemicals in 2011, a yoy rise of 17%. Ethylene accounted for 9.9 mln tons, a 9.2% production increase over 2010. This figure includes the output of all of Sinopec's joint ventures as well. The group's nominal C2 capacities amount to about 7.9 mln tons, making it the world's third largest ethylene producer.
MRC