BASF expects record year in 2010

(BASF) -- Demand for BASF's products continued to be high in the third quarter of 2010. There was hardly any sign of the usual seasonal slowdown and the capacity utilization rate was high.


In this favorable economic environment, BASF's business performed better than anticipated. The good business development is expected to continue in the fourth quarter and BASF has therefore raised its outlook for the current year.

Dr. Jurgen Hambrecht, Chairman of BASF's Board of Executive Directors said: ⌠We are now profiting from the favorable economic environment because we further improved our competitiveness in the crisis and made our portfolio even more cyclically resilient through the rapid integration of Ciba.

Net income increased by ┬1 billion to ┬1.2 billion. At 33.4%, the tax rate was lower than in the third quarter of 2009. This was mainly due to the lower earnings contribution from the highly-taxed Oil & Gas segment.

Cash provided by operating activities increased to the high level of ┬5.3 billion. This was partly due to a decrease in net working capital in the third quarter despite continued strong demand.


MRC

(BBC) -- French unions and protesters are mounting another day of strikes and action over the government's pension reform. Aviation officials predict half of flights at Paris Orly airport will be cancelled and 30% at other airports.

Trains, post offices, schools and public services will all be affected again.

Rolling strikes and blockades at oil refineries are continuing and are now into a fourth week, continuing to inconvenience travellers and businesses.

Eleven of France's 12 refineries were closed on Wednesday and fuel imports into France have now risen to more than four times their normal levels.

MRC

(SABIC) -- Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), along with a high-level delegation, celebrated the inauguration of the SABIC Morocco Headquarters in Rabat, Morocco, on October 25, 2010.

The inauguration of SABIC Morocco Headquarters, the company's regional center for the company's business in North and West Africa, reflects the growing importance of the polymers, chemicals and fertilizers regional and global markets.

SABIC has served the Moroccan and African markets with its products for a quarter of a century.

The enhanced presence in Morocco also ties into the ongoing industrial transformation taking place in the country, including new companies serving the automotive industry sector≈a number that is expected to reach 200 companies that will benefit from SABIC's Innovative Plastics products and engineering solutions.

In North and West Africa SABIC looks forward to better serving the needs of customers in the region with increased sales of chemicals, polymers, fertilizers and engineering thermoplastics.

MRC

(ICIS) -- State-controlled oil and gas player PetroChina may book better earnings in the December quarter, benefitting from the recent hike in domestic fuel prices amid continued strength in international crude values, analysts said on Thursday.

PetroChina had a 12.5% jump in third-quarter net profit to yuan (CNY) 34.7bn ($5.21bn) as sales surged 36% to CNY363bn because prices across all its products improved, the company said in a filing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange late on Wednesday.


Crude consumption was expected to spike in November, when China's southern city of Guangzhou in Guangdong province would host the 2010 Asian Games. The month also marks the start of the winter season in the country.

Crude may continue its uptrend for the rest of the year, which would be positive for PetroChina's exploration and production sector, said Grace Liu, a Shenzhen-based analyst.

In the first three quarters of 2010, the company processed 657m barrels of crude oil, representing an increase of 8.3% from the same period last year, while its ethylene output surged 30.5% year on year to 2.67m tonnes.

MRC

(Styron) -- Styron announced that it had assumed ownership of the 50 percent share that was formerly owned by The Dow Chemical Company in joint venture Sumitomo Dow Limited. The announcement was made as part of Styron's presence at K2010, Dusseldorf, Germany.

The company is now a 50:50 joint venture owned equally by Sumitomo Chemical and Styron. The transaction closed on September 24, and financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction is consistent with Dow's divestiture of Styron to Bain Capital Partners in June 2010.

The joint venture will operate under a new name that will be announced around the end of this year, and will continue to be headquartered in Tokyo.

The JV will continue to serve its customers and market polycarbonate products under the trademarks CALIBRE polycarbonate resins and SD POLYCA resins.

MRC