Oriental Petrochemical restarted PTA plant in Taiwan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oriental Petrochemical is likely to restart its purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant is likely to be restarted in end-December 2013. It was shut down on November 6, 2013 for maintenance turnaround.

Located in Taoyuan, Taiwan, the plant has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, China based company Xianglu Petrochemical started up its new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in end-November 2013. Located in Xiamen, China, the plant has a production capacity of 1.5 million mt/year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. expects to win project finance approval for the USD7 bln expansion of a petrochemical project in Saudi Arabia in H1-2014 despite a series of problems at the existing complex, said Plastemart.

"The Rabigh II plan is on track with an aim to start operation in 2016. The total investment plan of USD7 billion is unchanged," Sumitomo Chemical President Masakazu Tokura told a news conference, adding "Until the project finance is ready, parents companies will be providing money needed to proceed with the Rabigh II project.”" PetroRabigh, a JV between Sumitomo Chemical And Saudi Aramco, has annual output capacity of 18 mln tons of refined products and 2.4 mln tons of petrochemicals.

Part of the construction for the second phase of the project had already begun. Under Rabigh II, an existing ethane cracker will be expanded and a new aromatics complex will be built using around 3 mln tpa of naphtha to make higher-value petrochemical products. The two parent companies will make a planned capital injection of about 100 billion yen (USD986.19 mln) each in PetroRabigh either next year or in 2015.

Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical each hold a 37.5% stake in Petro Rabigh, with the remaining 25% owned by the public.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A division bench of the Calcutta High Court dismissed all appeals of the West Bengal government, WBIDC and Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd over a dispute between them and The Chatterjee Group regarding 155 mln shares of the ailing petrochemical company, as per Plastemart.

The division bench dismissed the appeals and observed that as the Supreme Court held that the trial court order in this regard was just and proper, all the appeals against it had become infructuous.

The trial court of Justice I P Mukerji had earlier restrained the state government from dealing with the disputed 155 million shares of HPL and transfer of the shares to any third party. Challenging this, the state government, WBIDC and HPL, which is at present under the management control of the state, moved the appeal court.

The division bench had directed that the instant process of disinvestment in HPL may continue, but no final decision can be taken without the leave of the court.

As MRC wrote earlier, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) had bid for the shares of HPL which the state wanted to disinvest.

TCG moved the Supreme Court against this order and on November one, the apex court held that the trial court order restraining the state government from taking any step for disinvestment of HPL's 155 million shares was proper. The Supreme Court had also observed that the high court would hear the suit in this regard. The Supreme Court had passed an order of status quo for three weeks on November 1. On November 22, TCG moved a petition before the trial court of Justice I P Mukerji and obtained an interim order of status quo, extending the order of the apex court, regarding disinvestment of HPL shares. TCG argued that as the Supreme Court observed that the high court would hear the case, it had no option but to move the trial court.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- German compounder Polymer-Chemie has expanded the PVC product range and capacity at its Russian subsidiary Polymer-Chemie Rus in Russia’s Tula region, reported K-Zeitung.

The company installed a new extrusion line to produce rigid PVC granules at its plant in Tula.

This EUR12m facility with a capacity of around 28,000 tpa has been producing PVC dryblend compounds since its inauguration with one line in April 2011.

Polymer-Chemie’s latest project is part of an ongoing expansion programme for the site which already serves the CIS countries, including the Russian market.

The company later plans is to complete its Russian product portfolio at the Tula plant, adding capacity for soft PVC compounds in a future expansion stage.

In 2011, Polymer-Chemie Rus was expecting to raise its overall investment in its production unit to around EUR40m, eventually increasing the capacity to 120,000 tpa.

Polymer-Chemie is an independent, privately owned company serving as a link between polymer manufacturers and the plastics processing industry. Polymer-Chemie modifies and compounds polymers, develops customer-specific solutions and keeps adapting its product portfolio to the latest market requirements.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia-based Sabic has officially opened the company’s state-of-the-art SABIC Technology Center (STC) in Shanghai, China in a ceremony which marks another significant milestone for SABIC in China, as per the company's press release.

The center, built with an initial investment of USD 100 million, is one of 17 SABIC global R&D centers of excellence.

The 60,000 sqm state-of-the-art complex houses close to 500 employees including 170 application development and materials technologists. In addition, it also serves as the new Greater China head office for all Shanghai-based employees including R&D and supporting functions.

"SABIC is a company grounded in developing material solutions and has innovation, ingenuity and collaboration at its core, helping us to achieve a deeper understanding of our customers and their business. SABIC is committed to being an inclusive growth partner in the markets we operate in," said Mohamed Al-Mady, Vice Chairman and CEO, SABIC.

The new STC in Shanghai will be leading the development for portable consumer electronics, working closely with OEMs across the globe. It will also focus on developing next-generation innovative technologies and solutions to help the company's customers address some of the most pressing issues in China and the region across major industry sectors including construction, clean energy, electrics and electronics, medical devices, transportation. The overall R&D focus at the STC in Shanghai will be on meeting the needs of our customers in the Greater China and North East Asia.

The center significantly enhance SABIC’s R&D footprint in Asia, building on the existing infrastructure of its application centers - one in Moka, Japan, and the other in Sungnam, South Korea.

As MRC wrote previously, last Friday, SABIC opened its new USD100 million technology center in Bengaluru, India. The technology center will house 300 scientists, whose roles are to carry out research into new platforms for next-generation materials across industry sectors such as construction, clean energy, electronics, medical devices and transportation.

Sabic is ranked among the world's largest petrochemicals manufacturers. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia. The comany manufactures chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is currently the second largest global ethylene glycol producer, the third largest polyethylene manufacturer, the fourth largest polyolefins manufacturer and the fourth largest polypropylene manufacturer. Among its products are propylene, paraxylene, styrene, vinyl chloride monomer.
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