India's Haldia halts exports of PE, PP due to outage

SINGAPORE (ICIS) -- India's Haldia Petrochemicals halted exports of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) this week due to an unscheduled shutdown at its cracker complex in West Bengal state, a source close to the company said on Thursday.

The company would likely resume shipping out the polymer products when the petrochemical complex restarts on 9 October, the source said.

⌠Currently, the company has limited inventories of PE and PP, which have to be targeted at key domestic customers, so there's no export availability, the source added.

The company's complex at Haldia, in West Bengal state, houses a cracker with a nameplate capacity of 700,000 tonnes/year of ethylene. It also includes derivative plants that produce 700,000 tonnes/year of PE and 370,000 tonnes/year of PP.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Ineos Group Holdings Plc, the world's sixth-largest chemical company, is switching its focus to establishing ventures in Asia and Middle East from disposals after reducing debt, Group Director Tom Crotty said. "Debt ratios are falling "very fast" and there is no financial need to sell a stake. We are down to around 4.5 times leverage. There's nothing serious in terms of an equity sale." The company is looking to expand its derivatives business, and disposals have been struck off the agenda.

Ineos, which owns a refinery in Grangemouth, Scotland, is still in talks with PetroChina Co. about cooperation. It is also planning to build and operate a 400,000 ton phenol plant with partner Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Co. Ltd. Ineos agreed to sell a fluoro-chemical unit to PVC pipe and resin maker Mexichem SA in February for US$350 mln. Ineos moved its headquarters to Switzerland to cut tax expenses. It had debt of ┬8.6 bln (US$11.9 bln) as of June 30.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- The recently imposed duties on PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) by the European Union, is not likely to have any sizeable impact on Lotte Pakistan's PTA sales, according to The Express Tribune. Over 30% of Purified Terephtalic Acid (PTA) production is sold to the PET sector, while the rest goes to others. Any drop in demand from the PET sector is expected to be soaked by the PSF (Polyester Staple Fibre) segment which remains well in demand as Pakistan is a net importer of almost 100,000 tpa.

The European Union (EU) imposed countervailing duties of ┬44/ton on PET imports from Pakistan, in addition to imposing the same on Iran and UAE. The three together account for about 39% of total PET imports into the EU.

MRC

SINGAPORE (ICIS) -- Nan Ya Plastics, an affiliate of Taiwan's petrochemical giant Formosa Plastics, has launched on Wednesday a comprehensive safety checks of its facilities in Chiayi county after Sunday's fire damaged its 48,000 tonne/year synthetic paper plant.

⌠We have started to look at all the machinery in detail to see if there is anything that needs to be maintained or replaced, said company spokesperson David Tsou, adding that the whole process would take 45 days to complete.

Inspections would be conducted at Nan Ya's 174,000 tonne/year polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe plant, its 56,400 tonne/year PVC sheeting facility and its construction materials plant in the county in southern Taiwan. The plants would continue operating during the safety checks.

The move was meant to prevent a similar incident on 3 October, when a 17-hour blaze damaged Nan Ya's synthetic paper plant and razed a warehouse.

MRC

SINGAPORE (ICIS) -- Dow Chemical has appointed John Buckley as global general manager of its performance materials unit and president of its specialty chemicals subsidiary ANGUS Chemical Co (ANGUS), the company said late on Tuesday.

ANGUS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical, the company said in a statement.

Buckley most recently served as president of Dow's wholly-owned subsidiary AgroFresh Inc. He has been with Dow Chemical for 25 years.

MRC