Air Liquide signs industrial gas deal with PVC maker RusVinyl

SINGAPORE (ICIS) -- French industrial gases producer Air Liquide said on Thursday it has signed an agreement with Russian producer RusVinyl to supply oxygen, nitrogen and compressed dry air to its new polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in Kstovo, Russia.

Air Liquide would invest, build and operate a new air separation unit with a capacity of more than 350 tonnes/day of oxygen in Kstovo, in the region of Nizhegorodskaya Oblast, the company said in a statement.

RusVinyl's new PVC plant was scheduled to start up at the end of 2012, it said.

Air Liquide would also be producing large quantities of liquid air gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, to meet the needs of industrial customers in the Nizhegorodskaya Oblast region, the company said.

⌠The Air Liquide investment amounts to ┬60m ($83.3m) - for the production facilities and for the supply chain - altogether, it added.

RusVinyl is a joint venture (JV) between Russia's chemical firm Sibur and Belgian PVC producer Solvin.

MRC

SINGAPORE (ICIS) -- Styrene monomer (SM) producers in Thailand are considering delaying scheduled maintenance at plants to take advantage of the current strong spot prices of the material, market sources said on Thursday.

Spot prices rose above $1,250/tonne (┬900/tonne) CFR (cost and freight) China this week, up more than $100/tonne from $1,150/tonne CFR China a month ago, based on ICIS data, largely due to buoyant demand for styrenics.

Integrated Refinery & Petrochemical Complex (IRPC) was inclined to push back its planned 30-day maintenance at its 200,000 tonne/year SM facility in mid-October, said a company source.

⌠The postponement of the maintenance is currently being discussed due to strong SM and styrenics prices," the source said.

IRPC also operates a 100,000 tonne/year PS and a 100,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) units at the petrochemical complex, as well as a 30,000 tonne/year expandable polystyrene (EPS) unit.

Another producer, Siam Styrene Monomer Co (SSMC), may also delay the scheduled maintenance of its 300,000 tonne/year SM unit in Mab Ta Phut from mid-November, said market source.

SM values were enjoying a good run due to the seasonally buoyant demand for styrenic resins, particularly in China, where the manufacturing season typically lasts from August to October.

However, with the long holidays across China in recent weeks, factories were expected to continue running at high production rates possibly into November, market sources said.

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SINGAPORE (ICIS) -- Japan's Tosoh Corp shut down its 250,000 tonne/year No 1 vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) line in Nanyo, Yamaguchi prefecture, for a maintenance turnaround on 2 October, a source close to the company said on Thursday.

The shutdown was expected to last until the end of November, the source said.

The company recently restarted its 400,000 tonne/year No 3 VCM line at the same site on 1 October, after a brief shutdown that began in mid-September.

Tosoh has a total VCM capacity of 1.2m tonnes/year at the Nanyo site and is the largest producer of the product in Asia.

VCM is used extensively as a raw material for the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

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ARTIMINO, Italy (ICIS) -- Cepsa Quimica has declared force majeure on purified terephthalic acid (PTA) supplies from its San Roque, Spain, plant, a company source said on Thursday.

The company source said one 150,000 tonne/year line at the plant should have come out of an isophthalic acid (PIA) campaign on 22-23 Septmeber, but was unable to do so.

The source added that Cepsa Quimica expected to be on sales allocation in October.

The plant has a total nameplate capacity of 450,000 tonnes/year, according to ICIS data.

MRC

(BPI) -- bpi.films has extended its range of pallet stretchwrap with the addition of another innovative product - Supreme RIX12. This new, highly versatile, multi-layer cast stretchfilm is aimed at customers employing semi automatic stretchwrapping machines. It allows these users to enjoy a number of advantages normally only afforded by more advanced, power pre-stretch machinery - in particular the ability to apply thinner layers of film which helps to deliver significant cost savings and a marked reduction in packaging waste.

Aside from providing impressive cost and operational benefits, the thinner nature of RIX12 also ensures a number of environmental advantages. As it takes less film by volume to wrap a pallet, less resultant packaging waste is created. Plus, this reduced waste is 100% recyclable.

Commenting on the launch of the new product, Ausra Landey, Marketing Co-ordinator at bpi.films said: ⌠Pallet stretchwrap may be a tried and tested form of transit packaging but that doesn't stop bpi.films looking for new ways of improving upon this popular media.

MRC