US November propylene contracts fall 1 cent/lb

(ICIS) -- US November propylene contracts settled down by 1 cent/lb ($22/tonne, ┬16/tonne) after a hold-out supplier, which had previously pushed for a rollover, agreed to the decrease, market sources said on Monday.

The drop puts November polymer-grade propylene (PGP) at 57.50 cents/lb and chemical-grade propylene (CGP) at 56.00 cents/lb, as assessed by ICIS.

Market participants had initially expected November propylene contracts to fall by 2-4 cents/lb, but that outlook changed early in the month as a result of cracker outages and a jump in crude oil prices.

A recent increase in refinery-grade propylene (RGP) spot prices was also cited as having limited the drop on the contract side. November RGP traded last week at 47.25-48.25 cents/lb, up from 46.00 cents/lb a month earlier.

RGP accounts for around 60% of US propylene supply.

Market participants said RGP prices were rising in response to a downtrend in refinery-sourced propylene inventories, which in early November fell to their lowest level in 15 months.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- TAIF, an investment group based in Russia's Tatarstan region, is to decide on plan to sell shares in its refineries and chemical plants to help fund 347 billion rubles (US$11 bln) of investments. The group is considering selling equity in the TAIF-NK oil refinery and petrochemicals units OAO Nizhnekamskneftekhim and OAO Kazanorgsintez to fund the investment plan through 2016. The three plants are estimated to have net income of 15.6 bln rubles on revenues of 248 bln rubles this year.

Talks are underway with banks, and a decision will be reached on the best way to do this - via loans, bonds, or an IPO. TAIF is planning 88 bln rubles of investment in the TAIF-NK oil refinery, which processed 7.75 mln tons of oil (about 155,000 bpd) last year. The investment will be used to improve the plant's refining depth to 98.5% from 72% now and increase capacity to 10.1 mln tpa year in 2016, according to the group's annual report.

MRC

(LUKOIL) -- Today LUKOIL Finance Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of OAO LUKOIL) has made a partial advance payment under the 1.5 billion unsecured club facility (the ⌠Facility) arranged in August 2010, with the maturity of 1 year. The Facility was guaranteed by OAO LUKOIL.

The advance payment of USD 1 billion was made with the proceeds obtained from the eurobonds issue in November, 2010.

The Facility was arranged by The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UfJ, Ltd., Citibank, N.A., London branch, ING Bank N.V., London branch, NATIXIS, The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V., WESTLB AG, London branch. Citibank International PLC acted as an agent for the transaction.

MRC

(European Plastics News) -- Italian blow molding machinery maker Siapi has worked with Pepsico International on development of a new one-way bulk water container that will be introduced in the Middle-East market early next year.

Developed for Pepsico's Aquafina water brand, the new container has a capacity of 17.5-litres and weighs 340g. The use of one-way containers in the bulk water market is a relatively new but growing trend, according to Siapi.

Siapi said the new container will be produced using an EA2S all-electric stretch blow molding machine.

MRC

(PRW) -- Italian bioplastics producer Novamont and German bioplastics technology company BIOP Biopolymer Technologies have reached a settlement agreement in a seven-year patent dispute.

The dispute dates back to 2003, when Novamont sued BIOP alleging that the German firm's Biopar biopolymer manufacturing process infringed three of its European patents. BIOP responded by filing nullity claims and last year obtained a ruling of invalidity from the Munich patent court on one of the patents involved - EP0327505.

The agreement between the two companies does not restrict BIOP from marketing its Biopar production technologies.

Originally set up to manufacture bioplastics, BIOP changed its strategy to licensing its Biopar technology to third parties last year. The company claims that its bi-continuous-phase technology allows production of a range of potato-starch based polymer blends that can be used in place of PE in applications such as bags and wrap.

MRC