Restart planned for CPC's cracker in Kaohsiung

(plastemart) -- CPC Corp. plans to start its No. 4 naphtha cracker in Kaohsiung after the unit has been shut for over a month. The No. 4 plant was closed on November 3 for scheduled repairs. An earlier attempt to restart the cracker a day ago was aborted when dark smoke was detected at the unit.

MRC

Billionaire buys half of Russia's Sibur

(prw) -- Russian billionaire Leonid Mikhelson has purchased 50 percent of Sibur LLC, a major Russian manufacturer of petrochemicals, plastics and rubber.


Moscow-based Sibur said that half the shares were acquired in the name of a company known as Miracle, which is controlled by Mikhelson, and the other half were purchased by a subsidiary, and will be re-registered in Miracle's name once Russia's anti-monopoly agency has approved the purchase.

Mikhelson is the head of Novatek, Russia's largest independent producer of natural gas. He ranked No. 189 on Forbes magazine's recent listing of the world's billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $4.4bn.

At K 2010 in Dusseldorf, Germany, Sibur president Dimitry Konov told journalists that the company was looking to international markets, particularly in China and Europe. The company had annual sales of more than $7bn, he said.

In 2009, Sibur produced 597,000 tonnes of polymers and 339,000 tonnes of rubber, he said.

MRC

Dow Europe announces price increases for PE resins

(adsalecprj) -- Dow Europe GmbH has announced to increase the prices for its polyethylene (PE) resins across the European, Middle Eastern and African regions.

Effective January 1, 2011, or as contract terms allow, Dow Europe will increase prices for all grades of its low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) resins by 120 euros per metric ton.

MRC

Taiwan's TSRC to acquire Dexco Polymers

(MarketWatch) -- Taiwanese synthetic rubber maker TSRC Corp. said it would pay US$168 million to acquire Dexco Polymers Operating Company LLC and Dexco Polymers LP in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday.

In a second statement, also released Friday, TSRC said the acquisition would help it to upgrade its technology, provide its customers a wider array of products, and diversify its customer base across Asia, Europe and the Americas. It also said the agreement still needs to be approved by U.S. and Taiwan regulators and estimated that could happen by the second quarter of 2011.

TSRC makes commodity synthetic rubber for car tires and specialty thermoplastic elastomer products which are used in adhesives, industrial compounds, and shoes.

MRC

Honam gets full acceptance to acquire remaining shares of Titan

(bernama.com) -- South Korea's Honam Petrochemical Corp has received full acceptance to take Titan Chemicals Corp Bhd private, by acquiring the remaining 27.25% shares it does not own at RM2.35 apiece.



Titan shares, for which acceptance had been received by Honam after the posting date and up to 5pm closing date on Dec 24, 2010, were listed as 27.25 per cent, representing 470.89 million shares, said Titan in a filing to Bursa Malaysia today.

On Nov 1, 2010, Titan received a notice of unconditional takeover offer from Honam to acquire all remaining shares (excluding treasury shares) following Honam's sale and purchase agreement in July to buy a 72.32 per cent stake, or 1.25 billion shares, in Titan Chemicals for RM2.94 billion.


Titan is Malaysia's largest integrated olefin-polyolefin producer and one of the largest polyolefin producers in the region.


It operates a total of 10 integrated process facilities in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat in Johor, and also has plants in Indonesia.

MRC