Fire strikes Westlake vinyls chemical plant in Louisiana

(isssource) -- Investigators are still searching for the cause of an explosion and fire Thursday at Westlake Chemical Corp.'s plant in Ascension Parish in Geismar, LA, which knocked out a unit making feedstock for a widely used plastic resin.

The fire erupted at 8 a.m. in the Geismar Vinyls Complex while workers were restarting a unit shut down a few days earlier for normal maintenance, said David Hansen, spokesman for Houston-based Westlake Chemical.
No one was injured and the cause of the fire and explosion remains under investigation, said Karen Khonsari, Westlake Chemical's environmental health and safety manager.
⌠All persons are accounted for, and the fire is currently under control, she said during a news conference Thursday morning.

The affected unit makes vinyl chloride monomer, the feedstock for polyvinyl chloride, a commonly used ingredient in a variety of household products, including piping.
Hansen said the unit makes about 550 million pounds of VCM annually, while the plant makes 60 million pounds of PVC.

MRC

Total evacuates UK platform

(isssource) -- Total UK shut down oil and gas production from its North Sea Elgin/Franklin platform and evacuated staff following a gas leak on Sunday, the company said.

⌠Production has stopped, Total UK said Monday, adding all 238 personnel are safe and no one sustained any injury.

An aerial surveillance flight was to inspect a sheen reported in the vicinity of the platform on Monday, Total added.
The peak production capability for the Elgin/Franklin field is 280,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, 175,000 barrels per day condensate and 15.5 million cubic meters of gas per day (mcm/d), Total said. The cause of the leak was still unknown and investigations were ongoing, Total said.

On Monday morning, 150 non-essential personnel evacuated to Aberdeen and a further 69 employees went to neighboring offshore installations. Oil produced at the facility exports via the BP-operated Forties Pipeline System to Kinneil in Scotland and gas flows through the SEAL pipeline to Bacton in Norfolk.

Gas flow through the Bacton SEAL terminal fell by around 10 (mcm/d) to 7 mcm/d early Monday, data provided by UK energy network operator National Grid showed.

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Shell scrambles to pay huge bill for Iran oil

(Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is struggling to pay off USD1 billion that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and U.S. financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said.

Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at close to USD1 billion. A debt of that size would equate to roughly four large tanker loads of Iranian crude or about 8 million barrels. A Shell spokesman declined to comment.

The European Union toughened financial sanctions and placed a ban on Iranian oil imports on January 23, but gave companies until July 1 to wind down their existing business.

With daily contract volumes of 100,000 barrels, Shell ranked as Iran's second biggest corporate client - along with France's Total (TOTF.PA) - behind Turkey's Tupras. Shell CEO Peter Voser said on March 7 the company would take its final deliveries of Iranian crude "within a matter of weeks".

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Petrokemija management says has no info on plans for privatisation

(daily.tportal) -- Petrokemija's stock has been in investors' focus after the media reported a week ago that the government could privatise the company by the end of the year. Stock exchange analysts expect interest to increase this week as the media speculate that Economy Minister Radimir Cacic's visit to Moscow is, among other things, also related to Petrokemija's privatisation.

A union active in the company forwarded a letter to the top state officials on Sunday night, asking for answers regarding the privatisation.

In the letter, the EKN union recalls that upon signing an agreement on how to privatise Petrokemija on 28 August 1998, the government committed to owning at least 51 per cent of the company's stock, as well as parliament's decision on companies of special state interest.

The state's current stake in Petrokemija is 50.63 per cent.

Last week, the company's shares were among the more traded on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, turning over HRK 12.6 million. The price went up 8.06 per cent on the week, to HRK 228 per share.

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Amcor buys Indian flexible packager Uniglobe

(canplastics) -- In a bid to expand its footprint in India, Australia-based PET packaging supplier Amcor Ltd. has acquired Uniglobe Packaging Private Ltd. for USD20.7 million.

Uniglobe is based 150 km north of Mumbai, and produces flexible packaging for the food, personal care, and health sectors.

Amcor is a global packaging company that manufactures PET containers for beverages, flexible packaging for the food and healthcare markets, tobacco packaging, and corrugated boxes. The company has operations across 30 countries and 89 plants; with this deal, it will increase its facilities in India from three to five plants.

⌠This is an important opportunity to expand Amcor's footprint in the high growth Indian market, said managing director and CEO Ken MacKenzie. ⌠The Uniglobe business comes with a strong management team, and a track record of delivering significant annual sales growth.

The purchase is Amcor's second this month: the company also acquired The Aperio Group, producers of flexible packaging products with 13 manufacturing facilities across Australia and New Zealand.

MRC