Borealis names Gerd Lobbert as polyolefins executive VP

(Borealis) -- Chemicals manufacturer Borealis has appointed Gerd Lobbert as executive vice president, polyolefins, effective 1 October 2010. He was previously executive vice president, base chemicals, and succeeds Lorenzo Delorenzi, who has left the company. Lobbert joined Borealis in January 2010 having previously held a number of positions at BASF in the US and Europe, specifically in the area of pigments, polymers and additives.

Sergey Andreev, BASF's Russia and CIS CEO, is going to chair an upcoming international "Russian Polymers Summit - 2010" conference organizaed by ICIS and MRC. For more information please visit the Summit's http://www.polymersummit.ru/ official web page.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In March, Iranian polyethylene appeared in Kaliningrad, and in August the first delivery was made to a company in Saint-Petersburg - according to MRC Price reports on the Russian polyethylene market.

At the beginning of the year, European companies began to supply Iranian polyethylene to the European market. In June, HDPE from Iran appeared in the Ukrainian market, and in July overall supplies exceeded 500 tons. In Russia, polyethylene appeared in March when first volumes were delivered to Kaliningrad. This region is geographically isolated from the main Russian polyethylene producers, as a result, Kaliningrad companies are forced to buy major volumes of the material abroad.

In August, a converter from Saint-Petersburg received a pilot lot of film-grade HDPE from Iran. Yet no mass imports into the Russian market are observed. Iranian material is being tested at the moment, but it is possible that this material may take its niche in the Russian market.

MRC

For more information, please, refer to MRC "Polyethylene in Russia" Price reports.

LONDON (ICIS) -- Solvay will invest $4m (┬3.1m) in a minority stake in Polyera Corporation, a materials developer from the printed electronics market based in Skokie, in the US state of Illinois, the Belgium-based chemicals group said on Tuesday.

The investment, in series-B financing for the US firm, complements similar investments Solvay has made in the emerging field of printed electronics, it said. Printed electronics is the emerging industry that relies on printing technologies to manufacture thin, lightweight and flexible devise substrates.

On 5 September, Solvay said that it would invest further in chemicals for electronics in China by building an electronic-grade hydrogen fluoride plant for its Lansol Fluorchem joint venture with a subsidiary of Sinochem Lantian.
Commercial products from the plant would be available later this year. Lansol's chemicals are used particularly for the production of photovoltaic cells.

MRC

(plastemart) -- Thai Plastic and Chemicals expects to restart plans for expansion of its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant at Map Ta Phut, allowing it to run production lines in November. The plant would have full capacity of 50,000 tons. The PVC plant, suspension on which has been lifted, was among 76 projects suspended a year ago because of environmental and health concerns at the estate.

A separate vinyl chloride monomer expansion was deemed to fall into the category of environmentally harmful activities by the court and had its licence withdrawn. The company has coordinated with government authorities to achieve full compliance with laws and regulations at the VCM plant, hoping to get a licence by mid-2011.

MRC

(plastemart) -- State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is eager to set up a multi-billion dollar petrochemical plant in Oman. IOC seeks a commitment from Oman on supply of rich-gas (natural gas containing C2/C3 - ethane, propane, compounds). GAIL and Petronet LNG- India's largest importer of liquefied natural gas, have expressed interest in buying LNG from Oman on long-term contract. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and IOC are keen to join oil and gas exploration and production business in the Gulf nation.

At the 6th Indo-Oman Joint Commission Meeting leaders of the countries expressed satisfaction at their growing ties in the hydrocarbon sector. The possibility of enhancing equity of Oman Oil company in the Bina-Oman Refineries Ltd. from the current 2% to 26% has been discussed.

MRC