Octal on course to complete second phase expansion

(Plastemart) -- Global PET packaging leader Octal is on course to complete the second phase of its operational expansion in 2011 after securing a new round of funding from six Middle Eastern banks. Phase two is planned to be commissioned from June 2012, and is expected to add 527,000 tpa of production, making Octal the world's largest producer of PET on one site and the largest PET manufacturer in the world.

Octal officials inked an agreement for US$296 mln in senior term loans from a financing group. As per a release, Octal's current shareholders Muscat Overseas and Oman & Emirates Investment Holding Co. also have agreed to provide a junior debt facility of US$15 mln.

MRC

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc's deal with Russia's state- controlled OAO Rosneft may give the U.K. driller access to one of the largest untapped oil troves left on earth.

Seismic work indicates the three Arctic blocks BP will explore with Rosneft may have as much as 50 billion barrels of oil in place and between 12 billion and 15 billion barrels of recoverable crude, said a person with knowledge of the matter, declining to be identified because the data are confidential. By comparison, about 23 billion barrels have been pumped from the U.K. sector of the North Sea in the last four decades.

BP agreed last week to exchange $7.8 billion of its equity for a 9.5 percent holding in Russia's largest oil producer. As part of the accord, the two companies will explore a 125,000 square-kilometer (48,000 square-mile) area of the Kara Sea, north from Russia's largest developed fields in West Siberia.

BP shares rose as much as 2.5 percent in London and were up 0.2 percent at 500.7 pence at the 4:30 p.m. close. Rosneft rose 5.4 percent in Moscow to the highest since April.

MRC

(Bloomberg) -- LyondellBasell Industries NV said a fire at its La Porte, Texas, plant was in a non-operating part of the facility and has been contained by staff.

The fire occurred in a part of the chemical complex that is being demolished, spokesman David Harpole said in a telephone interview. The fire was unrelated to an earlier flaring incident that was reported on the community hotline, Harpole said, while declining to comment on operations at the plant.

The La Porte complex produces ethylene, propylene, linear low-density polyethylene and low-density polyethylene, according to the company website.

MRC

(PRW) -- Global chemical distributor Univar has signed an agreement to acquire leading Turkish chemical distributor, Eral-Protek. The deal is expected to close in February.

Istanbul-based Eral-Protek is one of the leading players in the region's mid-size chemical distribution sector and has a strong reputation with more than 25 years' experience in the Turkish market.

The acquisition, together with the Istanbul and Izmir operations of Basic Chemical Solutions, whose global business was purchased by Univar in December, will give Univar a solid local presence in the region.

Eral-Protek distributes a wide range of products, including a number of exclusive lines, and has a strong focus on specialty chemicals, which aligns with Univar's own specialty chemical offering. In particular it distributes into the rubber, coating, construction, plastic and composite industries.

MRC

(PRW) -- Silvergate Plastics of Wrexham North Wales has completed a 50,000 pounds programme of improvements that will increase the company's manufacturing capacity by 33% to a sales value of 9 mln pounds.

The improvements include a reduction of rework by 65%, sophisticated overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) monitoring and new mixing procedures. Raw material storekeeping has also been greatly improved.

The changes have been driven by operations executive Joe Dourneen who joined Silvergate almost a year ago. ⌠The people here knew what to do. I have merely helped to transplant and translate that for the benefit of the whole business, he explained.

MRC