(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Cabot and joint venture partner Risun Chemicals broke ground on a new carbon black manufacturing facility in Xingtai, China. The new plant will have a Phase I manufacturing capacity of 130,000 tpy of carbon black, and will enable Cabot to increase its carbon black output in China by 25%.
Cabot Corp. and joint venture partner Risun Chemicals Co. broke ground Tuesday on a new carbon black manufacturing facility in Xingtai, China.
The project, announced in March 2011, is scheduled to be completed in mid-2013. Cabot and Risun are investing approximately USD140 million in the new facility, they said, with Cabot owning a 60% equity interest.
In the partnership, Cabot says it brings technology advancements and a leadership position in China while Risun provides the feedstock and energy integration capabilities with its current operations.
The new facility, located about 250 miles (400 kilometers) south of Beijing in Heibei Province, will help support tire and automotive growth in China, officials said.
Carbon black is a reinforcing agent essential in the manufacturing of tires. The material is also used in many automotive parts, including adhesives and sealants, battery materials, coatings, and more.
According to IHS Automotive, China's motor vehicle fleet is expected to grow to approximately 315 million vehicles over the next 10 years, up from 102 million vehicles today.
The new Xingtai facility will have a Phase I manufacturing capacity of 130,000 tpy of carbon black, and will enable Cabot to increase its carbon black manufacturing capacity in China by 25%, the company said.
MRC
(ineos) -- INEOS Group Holdings S.A. confirms a significant improvement in trading in the first quarter of 2012.
Based on unaudited management information INEOS reports that EBITDA for the first quarter of 2012 was EUR465 million, compared to EUR577 million for Q1, 2011 and EUR190 million for Q4, 2011. Comparative information excludes the results of the Refining business, which was disposed of in July 2011.
Chemical Intermediates reported EBITDA of EUR233 million compared to EUR290 million in Q1, 2011. Chemical Intermediates experienced an improvement in performance in the quarter with solid demand across most sectors, which enabled the pass through of the recent increases in raw material prices.
The Phenol business reported a record quarter with good demand and a constrained supply situation (partially due to a heavy industry turnaround schedule) leading to healthy margins. The Oligomers business has experienced strong demand and healthy margins in all sectors.
Volumes and margins for the Nitriles business are now improving after a weak fourth quarter. The Oxide business had a mixed performance for the quarter with good EO demand in Europe partially offset by a weaker MEG market in Asia due to softer polyester demand.
(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- The Seaway pipeline reversal designed to help ease the glut in Cushing, Okla., will begin delivering crude oil to Gulf Coast refineries earlier than expected, a spokesman for the project said. The reversal had been expected to start up by June 1, but now could begin around May 17.
The Seaway pipeline reversal designed to help ease the glut in Cushing, Okla., will begin delivering crude oil to Gulf Coast refineries earlier than expected, a spokesman for the project said.
"It is running ahead of schedule, and we expect delivery of crude oil to begin during the later part of May," said Rick Rainey, a spokesman for Enterprise Products of Houston. The reversal had been expected to start up by June 1.
The Seaway reversal has been highly anticipated by the oil industry because the lack of transportation between the middle US and the Gulf Coast has caused a supply glut and dropping prices for North American oil as production surges from Canada and North Dakota.
The bottleneck is partially responsible for US benchmark oil prices trading about USD15/bbl below international prices. Seaway is joint project between Enterprise Products and Enbridge of Calgary that will move as much as 150,000 bpd this year from the main US oil storage hub of Cushing to refineries on the Gulf coast, and will be expanded to 400,000 bpd early next year.
It is competing with a rival project by TransCanada that could move about 700,000 bpd by mid-2013.