Austrian Alpla secured a legal victory in its battle with Italian company Cobarr

(Food Production Daily) -- Austrian bottle and preform producer Alpla said it has secured an important legal victory in its battle with Italian company Cobarr over a disputed PET patent. Alpla said that the German Patent Court had revoked Cobarr's European patent 0 964 031 with all claims directed to a polyester resin having average nylon domain sizes between 0.2 and less than 1 micron except for those requiring premixing with and/or the presence of a dianhydride. The decision only has jurisdiction in Germany.


Cobarr is a subsidiary of Milan-based M&G (Mossi & Ghisolfi) Group. A company spokesman confirmed the firm would be appealing the decision.


But Alpla signalled its determination to continue with the legal battle.


The Austrian company employs almost 11,000 employees at 128 plants in 37 countries. It manufacturers bottle, performs, caps and tubes, posting a turnover in 2009 of ┬2.145bn.


MRC

The Russian market of PET remains dependent on import supplies

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Despite increased volumes of PET production in 2010 in Russia, the market remains dependent on import supplies of the material which made 11.2 KT in January, according to MRC DataScope. By the end of 2010 the three Russian PET producers increased their production up to 312 KT. Among them 137 KT of PET was produced by POLIEF, 98,3 KT - by Plant of new polymers "SENEG", and 76,7 KT - by Sibur-PETF. Overall imports of primary PET exceeded 260 KT last year.


In January changes in the structure of supplies by countries were marked. The level of December imports was preserved by the companies from South Korea (KP Chemical, Tongkook, SK Chemical). PET purchases from the Chinese companies (Jiangsu Sanfangxiang, China Resources Chemicals, Sinopec, Shanghai Hengyi Polyester) reduced almost twice, and there were only few supplies from Lithuania.


Launch of new capacities in Kaliningrad region will soon reduce the dependence of the Russian market on imports. As we reported earlier, in the second half of February a new Alco-Nafta plant was launched on the basis of Mariyskiy oil refinery with total capacity of 220 KTa. While the enterprise is debugging its technological process, the loading of capacities makes only 60% or 140 KTa.


MRC

BP announced the intention of selling its interests in UK

(BP) -- BP announced today the intention of selling its interests in a number of operated oil and gas fields in the UK. The assets involved are the Wytch Farm onshore oilfield in Dorset and all of BP's operated gas fields in the Southern North Sea, including associated pipeline infrastructure and the Dimlington terminal.


BP anticipates that the staff currently working on these assets will transfer employment to the new buyer when the divestments are completed.


These divestments will allow BP to focus resources and investment on its diverse central North Sea, northern North Sea, West of Shetland and Norway assets and on successful delivery of its new major projects.


BP aims to complete the divestments around the end of 2011, subject to receipt of suitable offers and regulatory and third party approvals.


MRC

Australian Amcor transformed' by Alcan and Ball takeovers

(Food Production Daily) -- Amcor said its profits soared 55 per cent to ┬197m (A$267m) in the six months ending 31 December thanks to significant savings in the wake of the Alcan takeover and steady sales volumes.


The Australia-based packaging giant said it managed to post the positive results despite rising raw material costs, the negative impact from a stronger Australian dollar and an estimated A$20m bill after its domestic packaging distribution operations were hit by the devastating floods in Brisbane, Queensland.


The firm said it had closed three flexible packaging sites during the period and cautioned other facilities would follow later in the year.


Amcor highlighted synergies resulting from plant closures, a reduction in overheads and procurement economies as saving the company ┬37.6m (A$51m) in H1 and promised more was to come in the second half of the year.


The flexible business had also been hit by rising raw material costs - with PET film prices alone soaring by 80 per cent during the period, particularly in Q2. The company said it was passing on price rises to its customers but that the lag in this taking effect had cost it ┬14m in H1, with a similar amount forecast for the second half of the year.


MRC

Naphtha and aromatics prices in Asia surged on Tuesday

(ICIS) -- Naphtha and aromatics prices in Asia surged on Tuesday as global crude futures continued to spike on concerns of supply disruption amid the ongoing political unrest in Libya. At 09:26 GMT, light sweet crude for March delivery was trading at $94.02/bbl, up $7.82/bbl from Friday's close since the US market was closed for a holiday on Monday, while BRENT was up $1.92/bbl at $107.66/bbl. Crude futures were trading close to their highest levels seen since late 2008.


Asian naphtha prices surged to the highest levels since August 2008 at $926-928/tonne CFR (cost &freight) Japan on Tuesday, fired up by soaring global crude futures.


Traders in Asia earlier said prices were rising on reports that a Libyan port was closed. However, a shipping source in Libya told ICIS that ports were not closed though telecommunications were down and contact between agents and ships was through electronic mail.


MRC