Shaw Group selected by GAIL for new 450,000 tpa ethylene plant

(Plastemart) -- The Shaw Group Inc. has been selected by GAIL (India) Ltd. to provide its proprietary technology and basic engineering for a new 450,000 tpa ethylene plant. Shaw also will provide support during detailed engineering, procurement and construction, and commissioning and startup of the plant, which will be part of GAIL's petrochemical complex in Pata, Uttar Pradesh.

Shaw has designed and/or built more than 120 grassroots ethylene plants worldwide. Five of those plants are in India, where Shaw also has participated in numerous projects to revamp or expand existing facilities. Shaw recently announced full commercial operation of a 1.3 million metric ton per year ethylene plant for Eastern Petrochemical Company (SHARQ) in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

MRC

(Plastics News) -- Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. said its board of directors has approved the acquisition of PET resin and polyester filament yarn businesses in Poland and Indonesia from South Korea's SK Chemicals.

In November, Indorama had signed two definitive share purchase agreements, the first with Seoul, South Korea-based SK Chemicals to acquire the PET business of SK Eurochem Sp. z o.o. in Poland, and the second with SK Chemicals' subsidiary SK Syntec to acquire the PET and polyester business of PT SK Keris and PT SK Fiber in Indonesia.

Indorama said it expected the transaction to close simultaneously during the first quarter of 2011, subject to local regulatory approvals and condition precedents in the agreement.

The acquisitions would expand Indorama's global platform and reinforce its focus on the polyester value chain.

MRC

(Plastics News) -- Solutia Inc. will expand production of its acoustic polyvinyl butyral sheet for automotive application to its largest PVB manufacturing site in Gent, Belgium.

The St. Louis-based company already produces standard PVB sheet ≈ which is used as an inner layer in windshields and some other windows in cars and trucks ≈ at Gent. It added production of a PVB with an added improved acoustic performance for architectural uses at Gent earlier this year.

The new automotive acoustic PVB lines, sold under the brand name Saflex Q series, will take place within the existing production facility, using existing infrastructure, the company said in a Dec. 8 news release.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Polypropylene (PP) buyers are being forced to pay more in December because of better-than-expected demand and restricted availability, with some producers beginning to warn of further hikes in January, market sources said on Thursday.

Producers aimed to cover the ┬22/tonne increase in the December propylene monomer contract, a number many now considered too low given the recent rise in upstream costs. The propylene contract settled at ┬960/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe).

Costs had increased considerably in recent weeks. Brent crude oil was back up to $91.46/bbl on Thursday, in line with levels seen only in October 2008, and naphtha was trading at $828-832/tonne CIF (cost insurance freight) NWE.

Some PP buyers were making parallels with 2008, when it seemed that prices could only go one way, before falling spectacularly to well below the propylene contract price. Producers did not envisage such a drop, however.

MRC

(ICIS) -- China's polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) prices may rise at the end of December on restocking activity before levelling out in early January, industry players said on Friday.

Transactions had been slow in recent weeks because many importers were concerned that an imminent interest rate hike aimed at curbing inflation would trigger a downtrend in commodity prices, Chinese traders said.

But any downtrend resulting from the interest rate hike was likely to run its course within days, as the lower prices would lead buyers back to replenish stocks and the restocking activity would push prices higher, they added.

PE and PP might trade higher at the end of December when negotiations for January shipments begin, but the increment in PE prices might be limited if import costs stayed above the retail prices, the Chinese traders said. The import costs of most PE grades were currently above their retail prices, they said.

For example, imported linear low density PE (LLDPE) was selling below yuan (CNY) 11,000/tonne (US$1,653/tonne) EXWH (ex-warehouse) in the retail market, about CNY500/tonne lower than the average import costs of December cargoes, they said.

MRC