Bayer AG to persuade investors to build a chemical plant in West Virginia

(Plastemart) -- Attempts are underway by Bayer AG to persuade potential investors to build a chemical plant on company sites in West Virginia using ethane from adjacent shale-gas deposits. The company is in talks to lease or sell unused parts of two sites covering 1,460 acres (590 hectares) for construction of a cracker to convert ethane into ethylene.

Bayer's sites in New Martinsville and Institute, West Virginia, have access to rail, water and road transportation. The Bayer sites are located atop the Marcellus Shale formation, which according to Energy Department estimates is the largest known US gas field. New drilling techniques are boosting production from shale formations, keeping US prices of natural-gas low relative to oil.

MRC

(Plastics News) -- Beijing-based private equity firm Origo Partners plc is investing an additional US$1.7 million in Chinese recycler Niutech Energy Ltd. to develop the company's first plastics recycling plant in China, where it will turn the waste materials into fuel oil.

Niutech plans to set up a joint venture in Fuyang City, Zhejiang province, with an initial capacity to recycle 20,000 tons of plastic and produce 50,000 barrels of fuel oil a year.

Niutech, based in Jinan, Shandong province, manufactures equipment to use pyrolysis to recycle tires and plastics into fuel oil, carbon black, steel wire and non-condensable gas.

Fuyang is one of China's paper recycling hubs, and according to Origo, that local industry produces an estimated 200,000 tons of waste plastic annually.

MRC

(Plastics News) -- Icelandic plastics converter Promens hf has expanded its capacity in the specialist packaging segment with its purchase of the family-run German company Marwin Plastic GmbH.

Hamburg, Germany-based Marwin Plastic, which molds plastic canisters of up to 30 liters, used for products including hazardous goods, will be integrated with Promens' existing plant for similar blow molded containers in Winsen, Germany.

⌠The acquisition adds approximately 2 million euros worth of business to the existing canister business in Winsen and broadens the range of products we can offer our customers, commented Ragnhildur Geirsdottir, president and CEO of Promens group, in a news release.

Extrusion blow molder Promens Winsen is specialized in the production of UN-approved containers for dangerous goods in the chemical-technical industry.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Some 70,000-80,000 tonnes of US styrene monomer (SM) will flow into China through February, raising concerns of a strong inventory build-up as demand for the product is expected to remain weak, industry sources said on Tuesday.

A portion of the expected volume had started flowing into China this month, as loading of shipments from the US Gulf began in October and would continue up to end-December 2010, they said.

In the week ending 17 December, SM inventory in east China stood at 75,000 tonnes, representing a 15.4% increase from two weeks ago, market sources said.

The volume of deep-sea cargoes scheduled for shipment to China in the fourth quarter was about 10,000 tonnes higher compared with the import shipments in the same period in 2009, based on customs data.

The US supply coming into China were priced at between $1,250-1,325/tonne (┬950-1,007/tonne) CFR (cost & freight) China, said a seller.

Meanwhile, buying indications in east China had been limited over the past two weeks, which could prompt traders to just hold on to their SM stocks, the seller added.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Qatar Petroleum and Shell will jointly study the development of a major petrochemicals complex at Ras Laffan in Qatar, Shell said on Tuesday. The project would include a monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant with a capacity of up to 1.5m tonnes/year that would use Shell's proprietary OMEGA technology, Shell added.

Also under consideration were other olefin derivative plants that would yield more than 2m tonnes/year of finished products, Shell said.

Qatar Petroleum and Shell are jointly building the Pearl Gas to Liquids (GTL) and Qatargas 4 LNG facilities at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar.

MRC