PetroChina offers $1bn for 50% share in INEOS refining

(ICIS) -- INEOS has been offered $1bn (┬740m) by PetroChina for a 50% share in its European refining operation, it said on Monday. The business includes the refineries at Grangemouth in Scotland and Lavera in France.


The partnership with PetroChina, for which a framework agreement was entered on 10 January 2011, would comprise a trading joint venture (JV) and a refining JV, INEOS added.


Core to INEOS was an agreement signed with PetroChina's ultimate parent company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to share refining and petrochemical technology and expertise. The agreement gives INEOS the opportunity to lever its technology and expertise into the China market.


In addition, the JV would aid PetroChina's strategy of building a broader business platform in Europe and of becoming a leading international energy company, INEOS said.


INEOS and PetroChina would now work towards forming the proposed JVs in the second quarter of 2011.


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Plastics Color opens clean compounding plant in California

(PlasticsToday) -- Plastics Color Corp. has opened its new clean compounding facility in Sun Valley, CA, modeling its fourth production plant after its segregated "Plant Within a Plant" concept initially unveiled at PCC's Asheboro, NC campus. The supplier of color concentrates, additive masterbatches, pre-colored resin, and toll compounding initially announced plans for the facility in Southern California in May 2010.


The 30,000-ft2 Sun Valley plant will employ 14 at startup and operate two segregated clean lines, targeting the medical, pharmaceutical, and food-packaging industries The plant will also warehouse PCC's commodity products for distribution to locations in the U.S. and Mexico, as well as storing PCC's black and white products for quick delivery.


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Injection molder Jyoti investing in western India

(PLASTICS NEWS) -- Indian injection molder and compounder Jyoti Plastics Work Pvt. Ltd. is building a US$10 million facility in western India to serve as a base for bringing in manufacturing partnerships, particularly with American and other foreign firms.


The Mumbai-based company plans to open the first phase of the factory in Khadki, Gujarat state, in the next few months with injection molding capability, and finish the other three phases by the end of 2011.


The company currently has three facilities, two in Daman, near Mumbai and one in Dungri, Gujarat. It plans to shift injection molding from one of the two Daman factories, and is going to use the vacant plant for research and development.


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Germany's Bruckner buys Swiss packaging machinery firm

(PLASTICS NEWS ) -- Germany's Bruckner Group, the maker of film stretching lines, cast film machinery and thermoforming and welding machines, has purchased PackSys Global Ltd., a Swiss company that makes specialized packaging equipment. Bruckner of Seigsdorf announced Jan. 31 that it has acquired all shares of PackSys Global from private equity investors.


Based in Zurich, Switzerland, PackSys Global makes lines for aluminum, plastic and laminate tubes, metal and plastic closurtes and monobloc aerosol cans. The company also makes equipment for dry offset printing, which can be integrated into production lines for tubes, metal caps and cans.


PackSys will generate sales of about 70 million Swiss francs ($74 million). The firm employs about 300 people in manufacturing and assembly operations in Switzerland and Thailand, and a software development center in India.


The deal signals that Bruckner is in acquisition mode after selling Kiefel Extrusion GmbH, its blown film machinery business, in 2009 to Reifenhauser GmbH & Co. KG.


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Co-Extruded plastic tubing from NewAge Industries

(Food Online) -- Polyethylene-lined EVA tubing is a co-extruded product now available from NewAge Industries. The tubing combines the functionality of polyethylene with the flexibility of EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) and is used in applications such as food and beverage processing, pharmaceutical uses, chemical transfer, appliances, computer equipment, laboratories, fluid feeds and drains, and more.


Polyethylene tubing is typically a semi-rigid product. The addition of EVA gives it enhanced flexibility and allows its use with economical barb-style fittings. The tubing's patented manufacturing method ensures a permanent bond between the inner and outer layers. First the core of low density polyethylene is extruded, then farther down the production line, the EVA covering is extruded around the core using a patented process. The result is a tubing that offers different performance characteristics for the inside and outside of the tube ≈ cleanliness inside, flexibility outside.


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