Petrobras delays start-up of Comperj to 2016-2017

(Plastemart) -- Petrobras has delayed the start-up of its Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro (Comperj) refinery and petrochemicals project to 2016-2017. The global economic downturn and lower than expected resins demand is being held responsible for the delay. Polymer demand is not as high as it was when the project was planned in 2005. Also the economic downturn led to longer than expected time taken for negotiations with partners for the downstream units. The industry is expected to recover by 2017-2018.

Petrobras now plans to start up the steam cracker at the end of 2016, with the downstream units for polyolefins, styrene and monoethylene glycol (MEG) scheduled to start up at the beginning of 2017. The cracker will have a capacity of 1.07 mln tpa, but the capacities of the downstream polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), styrene and MEG units have not yet been defined.

MRC

At the same time, as Press TV reports, Iran has exported more than $5.64 billion of petrochemical products in the first seven moths of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21).


The figure shows a 50 percent increase compared with the same period last year, Iran's Customs said in a report released on Sunday.

The products included polyethylene, methanol, benzene, ammonia, sulphur, PVC and propylene.

The oil-rich country exported around 14 million tons of petrochemical products worth more than $9 billion in 2009.

MRC

(Plastics News) -- Ashland Inc. announced Nov. 8 that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its global distribution business to investment firm TPG Capital for $930 million.

Ashland Distribution has been a part of Ashland Inc. for more than 40 years. The unit employs 2,000 and has annual sales of about $3.4 billion. The company distributes chemical products in North America, Europe and China.

⌠We are very excited to invest in Ashland Distribution, which Ashland has built into one of the leading global chemical distribution companies, said Michael MacDougall, partner at TPG Capital, in a news release.

The deal is scheduled to close prior to March 31.

The unit's resin suppliers include Sabic Innovative Plastics, LyondellBasell Industries, BASF Corp., ExxonMobil Chemical and Borealis. It operates from 132 warehouses in North America and 14 in Europe, and has its own private fleet of trucks, tankers and trailers that includes a total of almost 1,000 vehicles.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Buyers of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) in Europe have not been able to procure the lower prices for material they were so confident of achieving by the end of 2010, as there is limited availability for most grades, market sources agreed on Monday.

Delays in new capacities in the Middle East, coupled with careful monitoring of output of European product and, more recently, production constraints caused by strikes in France last month, meant that most PE and PP grades were not in oversupply.

In the case of low density polyethylene (LDPE), product availability was restricted globally, and European buyers were even faced with higher prices in November.

High density polyethylene (HDPE) and PP were also firmer than most buyers had expected.

New PE and PP capacities from the Middle East and Asia would have an effect on European pricing sooner or later, several producers admitted. But in 2010, they had not had the impact that most buyers and sellers had anticipated.

MRC

(PRW) -- The Netherlands-based plastics pipes systems producer Wavin has expanded its position in the Swedish market with the acquisition of part of KWH Pipe's local operations.

Wavin has agreed to acquire the underground PE water pipe business of KWH Pipe Sweden, including a PE pipe and fitting factory at Boras and 30 fulltime employees. The business generates sales of around ┬10m.

Neither company has disclosed the value of the transaction, which takes effect from the beginning of December this year.

Finland-headquartered KWH Pipe will continue to operate its District Energy, Weholite and Environmental businesses in Sweden.

MRC