SABIC Signs Long Term Storage Agreement with Oiltanking Stolthaven Antwerp

(SABIC) -- At the annual meeting of the European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) in Budapest, SABIC, a global leader in the chemicals and plastics industries, yesterday signed a long-term contract with Oiltanking Stolthaven Antwerp NV for storage services. The agreement, which will go into effect in 2013, will ensure an uninterrupted supply of feedstocks to SABIC's two major naptha cracking facilities in Geleen, The Netherlands. Oiltanking Stolthaven Antwerp, based in Belgium, will provide state-of-the-art storage with zero-emission tanks that exceeds Belgian environmental regulations, helping SABIC to ensure a sustainable supply chain. Next to that, a new jetty will be constructed facilitating insuring a very reliable service, as per SABIC press release. This long-term partnership underscores SABIC's strong commitment to its worldwide customers and service providers as well as to its production facilities at the Geleen site in the southern part of the Netherlands.

Oiltanking Stolthaven Antwerp is a joint venture between Oiltanking GmbH and Stolthaven Terminals B.V. operating an independent terminal in Antwerp handling petroleum products, chemicals and gases.

MRC

(BNAmericas) -- Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem has received proposals from four foreign companies, from the Americas, Asia and Europe, to install a sugarcane-based ethylene facility overseas, Braskem CEO Bernardo Gradin told at Triunfo petrochemical hub in Rio Grande do Sul state, where the company recently began producing "green" polyethylene (PE).

"We have received four invitations from different countries to implement the same project, which could even use Brazilian ethanol," Gradin said.

Braskem inaugurated a facility on September 24 that produces 200,000t/y of "green" ethylene, which in turn is fed into the company's PE units to generate the same quantity of the bio-resin.

The exact location of a new "green" ethylene facility is still being evaluated. Though Braskem's main ethanol suppliers are located in the southeast, installing a plant in this region could be more expensive, Gradin said.

The company plans to announce a new "green" PE project through the end of the year.

MRC

(prw) -- Plastics Capital, the niche plastics products group, has announced that it expects performance for the full year to be in line with market expectations.

According to the company, new business gains have contributed significantly to year-on-year growth, and it anticipates new business will continue to be won during the coming months.

In addition to volume growth, turnover in the first six months has been boosted as Plastics Capital has passed on higher prices for raw materials.

Faisal Rahmatallah, Plastics Capital's executive chairman, said: ⌠The recovery in the markets we serve has continued and we are winning significant levels of new business. We anticipate this trend to continue throughout the remainder of the financial year, which augurs well for bottom line performance.

The company will announce interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2010 in early December 2010.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- A week long unplanned emergency shutdown has been announced by Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL). The aim is to fix a problem in the naphtha cracker complex. This is HPL's second closure after the company increased its capacity under ⌠Project Supermax in August.

MRC

SINGAPORE (ICIS) -- Ya Plastics, a part of petrochemical giant Formosa group of companies, took a heavy beating in the equities market for the second day on Tuesday following the fire on 3 October at its synthetic paper plant in Taiwan's Chiayi county.

The latest fire, which occurred while the two successive fires in July at Formosa's Mailiao petrochemical facility were still fresh in investors' minds, has raised questions about the group's safety standards, said Jack Shieh, executive manager at the Petrochemical Industry Association of Taiwan (PIAT).

While Nan Ya admitted it would not be able to operate the damaged 48,000 tonne/year plant for at least a year, its impact on earnings was expected to be minimal, according to an analyst at an international brokerage firm. The company itself pegged its monthly income loss at New Taiwan dollars (NT$) 150m.

The restart of some plants at Mailiao that were shut during the 26 July fire risked being delayed further after the latest fire, according to Shieh.

MRC