BASF plans new blending facility for antioxidants in Bahrain

(Kunststoffe) -- BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany, has announced plans to build a production facility for customer specific antioxidant blends (CSB) in Bahrain, Saudi-Arabia.

The new CSB plant will come in addition to the existing tolling agreement for CSB with Astra Polymer in the Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia, which is mainly supplying local customers.

As the world's leading Plastic Additives supplier, BASF is committed to support polymer growth in the Middle East Region with local production as well as the services that customers demand.

MRC

(Kunststoffe) -- Tessenderlo Group, Brussels, Belgium, has signed, through its French subsidiary CTS, an agreement with the Chinese authorities to start up a new production plant. This plant will produce thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) and PVC slush compounds for its customers in the automotive industry.

Production is scheduled to start in autumn 2011, with employment growing progressively to approximately 70 people. The new plant will be located in Changsu (Jiangsu province), about 90km from Shanghai.

CTS Automotive Compounds (Changsu) Ltd. will produce for the Asian market with 3 production lines. The products that will be manufactured are CTS Tefabloc compounds (TPEs) for airbag covers, sealing applications, cables and interior parts, as well as the Marvyflo compounds (PVC slush molding) for dashboards and door panels.

MRC

(Bloomberg) -- French refineries remained shut and gas stations ran dry as unions held their fourth strike in two months against President Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age.

French oil companies plan to share supplies and transport in order to combat shortages, says Jean-Louis Schilansky, head of refiners' group Union Francaise des Industries Petroliers.

⌠We have the products in the depots but we can't get them to where they're needed, Schilansky said. ⌠We will work on a coordination of all operators.

France's 12 refineries have been on strike for a week, and no crude is arriving at the ports of Marseille, Le Havre and Nantes.

Exxon Mobil Corp. declared ⌠force majeure, in France, saying it will be unable to meet some of its oil supply obligations and that it has begun shutting down its Gravenchon refinery, the larger of its two oil-processors in the country.

Total SA, the country's biggest oil company, said a quarter of the 4,000 service stations it operates in France face shortages of one or more fuel products because of the strike.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Foster Wheeler USA Corporation, part of its Global Engineering and Construction Group, has been awarded a project management consultancy (PMC) contract by Carbon Holdings for a petrochemical complex in Ain Sokhna, Egypt with a nameplate capacity to produce 1.35 mln tpa of polyethylene. The PE facility is expected to come on-stream in 2015. The terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Foster Wheeler will provide technical support and consulting services to Carbon Holdings through financial close, estimated to be late 2011.

"Foster Wheeler was awarded the PMC after a competitive bidding process in which the firm clearly demonstrated its capabilities as a leading supplier of project management services for major petrochemicals complexes," said Charles Garfinkel, chief investment officer, Carbon Holdings.

MRC

During the nine months of 2010, PP-homo imports to the Russian market made up 75 KT, which was 34% more compared to the same period last year. In September, PP-homo imports exceeded 15,8 KT, which was a record figure for the Russian market.

Traditional suppliers of PP-homo to Russia are Turkmenbashinskiy Refinery (Turkmenistan) and Lisichansknefteorgsintez (Ukraine): they supplied 64% of the overall volume in 2010. In September, PP supplies from Turkmenbashinskiy Refinery for the first time exceeded 8 KT, which was 36,3% more compared to the previous month. Ukrainian PP-homo supplies to the Russian market moved at 3,4 KT, having demonstrated 49,9% increase compared to August.

For more detailed information on the Russian polypropylene market, see DataScope Report.

MRC