(chemmonitor) -- The Mexico-based company Idesa and the Sao Paulo-headquartered Brazilian petrochemicals manufacturer Braskem formed a JV Braskem Idesa, which together with the US-based corporation GE will start polyethylene (PE) complex.
It will result in reduction of Mexico usage of the imported product used in manufacturing and packaging. GE applies the plant with its compressor technology.
Currently, Mexico has to import more than a half of all locally used PE.
(Reuters) -- Chemical maker LyondellBasell Industries NV's quarterly revenue missed Wall Street's expectations and its profit was drained by high supply costs in Europe and Asia.
The mixed results -- profit narrowly beat expectations -- highlight the growing advantage North America has in the production of ethylene. LyondellBasell's European chemical plants use pricey crude oil-derived naphtha to produce chemicals, a process that is much more expensive than in the United States, where cheap natural gas can be used to make the same products.
"U.S. ethylene manufacturers are in a great competitive position relative to other producers," Chief Executive Jim Gallogly said in a statement. Despite the high costs in Europe, the company should see "positive momentum" for the rest of the year
In January, LyondellBasell mothballed its Berre, France, refinery, which employs 370 workers, due to poor European margins. The company said it would try to attract a potential buyer within two years. The closure dented profit at the company's refining and oxyfuels unit, which makes gasoline and other products.
MRC
(Plastemart) -- China's petrochemical industry expanded at much slower pace in the first quarter amid the economic slowdown, according to data released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) as per X inhua.
Petrochemical industrial production rose 16% annually to reach 2.4567 trillion yuan (USD 391.3 billion) in the first quarter, decelerating further from 22.1% in Q4-2011, according to NDRC. From January to March, the petrochemical sector processed 114.91 mln tons of crude oil, up 3.1% year-on-year, while refined oil products added 5.5% annually to reach 69.15 mln tons, according to NDRC. Investment of the petrochemical sector, however, kept rapid growth during the first quarter, with the combined investment amounting to 202.4 billion yuan, up 33.5 percent year-on-year.
MRC
(Plastemart) -- Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP), Indonesia's largest petrochemical firm in which Siam Cement Group (SCG) holds a 30% stake, is expected to finalise in H2-2012, an investment plan for both de-bottlenecking and a downstream petrochemical project that would require an estimated USD800 mln investment.
CAP's board of directors is considering whether or not the company should invest both in de-bottle-necking and downstream petrochemical production at the same time. The global petrochemical industry outlook will be taken into account before the decision is made. CAP has a naphtha cracker with a capacity of 550,000 tpa. It has two polyethylene (PE) plants, three polypropylene (PP) plants, and two styrene monomer (SM) plants. The annual production capacities of PE, PP and SM are 340,000 tons, 480,000 tons, and 320,000 tons, respectively. Investment of USD800 mln in CAP would be lower than the investment required for a new petrochemical plant, which could be as high as USD1.4 bln.
MRC
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