Lanxess to build EPDM plant in China

(Lanxess) -- Lanxess is building the world’s largest plant for EPDM synthetic rubber in China. The German specialty chemicals company is investing EUR235 million in the unit in Changzhou (Jiangsu Province). This is the largest investment the company has made in China to date.

The plant will have a capacity of 160,000 metric tonnes per year and is expected to start up in 2015.

Lanxess is the world's leading supplier of EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) following the successful acquisition and integration of DSM Elastomers in 2011. It markets its products under the brand name Keltan.

Global demand for EPDM is expected to increase by more than four percent per annum in the coming years, while demand in China is expected to grow by around eight percent, driven above all by automotive and construction industries. China will also continue to be the largest net importer of EPDM in the coming years.

Lanxess will start up a world-scale butyl rubber plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island in the first quarter of 2013 and will break ground for a neighboring neodymium-based performance butadiene rubber plant on September 11 this year.
MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec Group, has set up an engineering and construction company specialized in building refining and petrochemical facilities, paving the way for further expansion of its businesses overseas, report company sources on Monday.

The new company, Sinopec Engineering, was set up in Beijing with capital of 3.1 billion yuan (USD488 million) through the restructuring of Sinopec Group's eight engineering and construction firms.

Sinopec Group, the parent of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, said the unit has the capacity to handle over 20 large-scale engineering, procurement and construction projects simultaneously.

Sinopec Group is one of the major petroleum companies in China, headquartered in Chaoyang District, Beijing. Sinopec's business includes oil and gas exploration, refining, and marketing; production and sales of petrochemicals, chemical fibers, chemical fertilizers, and other chemical products.
MRC

(Chammanager) -- Gazprom and a consortium of Japanese companies are poised to sign an agreement on the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Russia's Far Eastern port of Vladivostok, Gazprom sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

The document could be signed during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok on Sept 8 and 9 after Gazprom finally shelved its long-mulled plans to launch an LNG project on the back of the huge Shtokman gas field in the Barents Sea. The Shtokman project was derailed by sagging demand for the fuel in Europe and the speedy development of shale gas deposits in the United States, which had been viewed as a primary export market for Shtokman. Gazprom will now secure a preliminary agreement to build the Vladivostok plant with Itochu Corp and Japan Petroleum Exploration.

Japan requires additional sources of energy after the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in March 2011. Japan is the world's largest LNG consumer, accounting for almost a third of the global frozen gas utilisation.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – September contract prices of propylene grew by EUR105/tonne, but European makers are going to get a price rise of PP by EUR150-200/tonne, report MRC analysts.

On Friday, September contract prices of propylene were agreed in Europe. Monomer for September shipments rose in value by EUR105/tonne from August. However, this month European makers intend to get an increase in PP prices by EUR150-200/tonne on low margin and tightened supply.

Negotiations on September level of export PP prices for CIS countries have just begun, but European makers are already voicing their bold statements regarding September prices. Price-offers for September shipments of homopolymer PP are voiced in the range of EUR1,320-1,380/tonne, FCA.

It is rather hard for many companies importing European PP to accept the current rise in prices. Over the past two months PP prices have risen by more than EUR300/tonne. As buyers of European PP report, they are already in no position to influence the price formation process since there is no serious alternative at the moment. Over the past two months Asian makers have been selling their volumes quite speedily. Middle Eastern producers decided to adapt to the European market.
MRC

(AMEinfo) -- In a step that reinforces its expansion plans, Intercoil International, the Dubai-based sleep products manufacturer, today announced plans to open its state-of-the-art polyurethane foam manufacturing plant in Ras Al Khaimah in Q 4, 2012, under the entity International industries LLC, a sister company of Intercoil International. The plant located at Al Ghail Industrial area in RAK.

The plant, which becomes fully operational in December 2012, boasts of the latest technologies in foam production, including a fully automated computerized long blocks handling and processing system. These technologies will greatly enhance production capacity, and will enable the company to produce all quality and grades of polyurethane foam including HR, and Viscoelastic.

Intercoil also plans to expand its presence in at least two new countries every year - it currently operates in 8 countries across two continents, and exports to more than 22 countries in the region.
MRC