Strikes at Total's refineries called off for now

March 1 (plasteurope) -- With unions calling off the planned strikes in Donges, Feyzin, Gonfreville, Granpuits and La Mede for now, production at six French refinery sites is slowly starting up again. Following the intervention of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Total has made numerous wide-ranging concessions, including not to shut an additional refinery, aside from Dunkirk, in the next five years and a job guarantee for all affected workers.

The group said it now expects operations to return to normal within two to three days. By then Total might also lift the evident force majeure on propylene (C3) - a development widely reported but not confirmed by the French group. The strike had affected about a third of France's C3 capacity.

LyondellBasell plans to close PP plant in Italy

March 1 (plasteurope) -- LyondellBasell has said it plans to close its 255,000 t/y PP plant in Terni / Italy because of weak demand. ⌠Demand for PP continues to be affected by global economic conditions and the resulting market environment has made facilities such as Terni no longer economically viable, stated Anton De Vries, LyondellBasell's senior vice president for olefins and polyolefins - Europe, Asia and International.


The company expects to be able to meet projected customer demand for PP with product supplied from its other facilities in Italy, he added.MRC Reference

LyondellBasell. The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PE - 1.4% (including HDPE - 2.5%, LDPE - 0.3%);
PP - 4.1% (including block-copolymers - 9.5%).

Annual sales growth in Russia, during the recent 5 years:
PE - 27%;
PP - 88%.

The leader in the following polymers processing technologies:

pipe extrusion;

film extrusion;

injection molding.

Ineos закрывает завод по производству ПВХ в Уэльсе

Февраль 26 (plasteurope) -- Компания Ineos ChlorVinyls объявила, что закроет свой завод по производству ПВХ мощностью 125 тыс. тонн в год в Уэльсе к концу второго квартала. Поставки клиентам будут осуществляться с заводов, расположенных в Англии: в г. Ранкорн (110 тыс. т) и г. Ньютон Эйклиф (250 тыс. т). Компания Ineos, которая является единственным производителем ПВХ в Великобритании, заявила, что корректирует объемы производства ввиду сокращающегося спроса на рынке.

Коммерческий директор Гейр Тафт сказал, что консолидация производства ПВХ в Великобритании позволит обеспечить стабильные поставки материала клиентам, а также сократить затратную базу компании.

MRCСправка Маркет Репорт

В РФ интересы группы Ineos представлены компаниями Ineos Polyolefins и IneosChlorVinyls.


Доля на российском рынке в 2008 году:
поливинилхлорид - 4.5%;
полиэтилен - 1.9%
(на рынке ПЭНД - 2.8%, ПЭВД - 1.2%);
полипропилен - 1.4%
(на рынке ПП-рандом - 22.1%, ПП-блок - 2.0%);
полистирол - 0.9%.


Поставки по технологиям переработки полимеров:

экструзия ППИ;
экструзия труб;
экструзия пленок;
литье.

Polystyrene imports up 39% in Russia in January

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In January, polystyrene (PS) imports went up by 39% (to 6.94 kt) compared to the same month last year - reported in MRC Data Scope review. There was a serious decrease in demand for PS and styrene plastics at the start of the previous year.

Traditionally, beginning of the year is the time when buying activity is minimal; therefore, polystyrene imports are minor for the time present.


EPS imports increased more than 2.5 times (to 3.08 kt). At the same time, feedstock supply fell by more than two times compared to December. There was a serious decrease in supply of Loyal's material (two times). Russian companies were not importing Wuxi's EPS in January.

In January, ABS imports went up by 18% (to 1.36 kt) compared to the same month last year. The share of injection moulding grades amounted to 87% of overall ABS imports. Major volumes of injection moulding material belonged to feedstock imported from Asian countries (61%).


HIPS imports were 25% down (to 0.99 kt), having decreased nearly two times compared to December. Supply of BASF's material dropped sharply (3.5 times).


In January, GPPS imports increased 1% (to 0.80 kt), those of SAN - 64% (to 0.27 kt); at the same time, SBS imports fell by 19% (to 0.16 kt) compared to the same month last year.

MRC


For more detailed information on the Russian polystyrene market, see Data Scope.

LyondellBasell plans to stop PP plant in Terni

February 26 (polimerica) -- The chemical company has started the employee consultation process regarding a project to permanently shut down the Italian unit. The PP production activities in Italy will be focused on the company's world-scale sites at Ferrara and Brindisi.

⌠Demand for polypropylene continues to be affected by global economic conditions and the resulting market environment has made facilities such as Terni no longer economically viable - said Anton De Vries , LyondellBasell's senior vice president, Olefins and Polyolefins - We expect to be able to meet projected customer demand for polypropylene (including local customers in Terni) with product supplied from our other facilities in Italy".

The Terni plant has a nameplate capacity of 255 KT per year. In conjunction with the shutdown project, LyondellBasell has started consultation with representatives of the employees to determine the appropriate path forward for the employees at the site. The plant currently has approximately 120 permanent employees.

MRC MRC Reference

LyondellBasell. The share in the Russian market in 2008:
PE - 1.4% (including HDPE - 2.5%, LDPE - 0.3%);
PP - 4.1% (including block-copolymers - 9.5%).

Annual sales growth in Russia, during the recent 5 years:
PE - 27%;
PP - 88%.

The leader in the following polymers processing technologies:

pipe extrusion;

film extrusion;

injection molding.