Saudi petrochemical exports rise by 32 percent

(ahram.org.eg) -- Increased demand from Asia and Europe and rising prices bring in $2.5 billion for 3Q 2010.

Saudi Arabia's petrochemical exports rose 32 percent during the third quarter, compared to the same period last year, Central Department of Statistics and Information's (CDSI) data was cited by Beltone Financial as showing.

Strong demand from Asia and the EU on top of the rebound in oil prices have helped boost the Kingdom's petrochemical. Exports reached $2.5billion for the period, up from $1.94billion in the previous year.

A total of 5.9 million tons was exported in the quarter. The volume of year on year non-oil exports to Asia increased by 13 per cent and those to the EU by 34 per cent.

Saudi Arabia will add five petrochemical crackers in the next five years, and plans to increase chemical exports.

MRC

(DuPont) -- DuPont recently opened a new research and development facility dedicated to coatings science at the Experimental Station in Wilmington, Del. (U.S.). The new Coatings Technology Center (CTC), established by DuPont Performance Coatings (DPC), will focus on DuPont Refinish Systems products that support the automotive collision industry and DuPont Industrial CoatingSolutions, which markets a wide range of liquid and powder industrial finishes.

⌠Innovation is essential to the continued growth of our coatings businesses, said John McCool, president - DPC. ⌠This investment in research and development clearly demonstrates our commitment to growing our global coatings businesses.

⌠Locating this new facility at the Experimental Station allows us to leverage its unique and powerful base of scientific expertise and advanced research and development facilities, said Lewis Manring, vice president, global technology - DPC. ⌠This facility will operate unlike any previous DuPont coatings laboratory, with a strong focus on inclusive innovation.

MRC

(plastemart) -- The Chatterjee Group has assumed responsibility of the selection process to find a new managing director for Haldia Petrochemicals, with the incumbent Swapan Bhowmik set to retire in three months. The post of managing director has been a long disputed topic between promoters TCG and the Bengal government.

Purnendu Chatterjee, chairman of TCG, is holding interviews on his own with probable candidates to head Bengal's showcase industrial venture. The candidates chosen by Purnendu will have to appear for another round of interview before a search panel that include chairman Tarun Das, Bengal government nominee and state industry secretary Dipankar Mukhopadhyay, independent member Jamshyd Godrej and vice-chairman Purnendu Chatterjee himself. The committee will shortlist the candidate only from the list that Chatterjee is going to provide.

MRC

(plastemart) -- South Korea's SK Energy has completed construction of the world's first naphtha cracking facility that uses advanced catalytic olefin technology (ACO) at Ulsan. This new facility using ACO will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and energy costs by 20% as compared with conventional method at the facility that can produce up to 40,000 tons of both ethylene and propylene. The ACO process can help lower the required temperature to under 700 degrees, from the conventional requirement of over 850 degrees Celsius (1,562 degrees Fahrenheit) for naphtha cracking process. This process allows for scalable production of propylene than ethylene if needed.

MRC

(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