Sabic plans mega investments in India

(Plastemart) -- Saudi Arabian petrochemicals major Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) is planning big investments in India for which it is pursuing talks with Indian petrochemical players for a joint venture, in a bid to tap the huge potential of the Indian market with cracker projects and downstream refineries, vice president Asia Pacific and member of the board of directors of Sabic Asia Pacific, told Business Standard.


With annual petrochemical imports of over US$22 billion of petrochemical products, India offers Sabic the perfect platform to tap the potential for its core business areas like chemicals, fertilizers, innovative plastics, polymers and performance chemicals. Currently Sabic's investments in India are limited to facility and technology centres acquired in Baroda and Bangalore through its global acquisition of GE's plastics division a few years ago. Sabic has six offices in India. Alumar said Sabic was planning to expand its research and technology center in Baroda by hiring more than 280 research staff. The facility will be ready by the year-end or early 2012. The company is also setting up a new muti wall sheet (MWS) facility in Baroda. This is expected to commence operations in July 2011.


MRC

NOVA Chemicals agrees for ethane supply from Williston Basin

(Nova Chemicals) -- NOVA Chemicals announced the execution of definitive agreements with Hess Corporation (Hess) and Vantage Pipeline Canada Inc./Vantage Pipeline US LP (Vantage) to purchase and transport ethane production from Hess' Tioga Gas Plant in North Dakota via a proposed pipeline to Alberta, Canada. NOVA Chemicals has the right to purchase 100 percent of the ethane produced at the Tioga Gas Plant under a long-term arrangement.


This arrangement represents one of several NOVA Chemicals initiatives to complement its traditional ethane supply sources in Alberta.


The proposed pipeline will be constructed, owned and operated by Vantage and is expected to start-up in the fourth quarter of 2012, subject to receipt of customary regulatory and other approvals. The proposed pipeline design will allow for the transport of up to 60,000 barrels per day of ethane and will be capable of further capacity additions if required in the future.


NOVA Chemicals develops and manufactures chemicals, plastic resins and end-products.


MRC

PTT Chemical and PTTAR plan to merge

(ICIS) -- Thailand's PTT Chemical and PTT Aromatics and Refining (PTTAR) announced on Friday a plan to merge and create a much stronger entity, ending speculation on the much-delayed consolidation of the petrochemical affiliates of energy giant PTT.


The merged company ⌠will be the largest integrated petrochemical and refining company in Thailand and larger than other southeast Asian peers, PTT said in a disclosure to The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).


The new entity would be PTT's petrochemical flagship company, which would have an 8.2m tonne/year petrochemical production capacity and a 228,000 bbl/day capacity to produce petroleum products, it said in the statement, stating its full support for the merger.


An additional investment of $92m would be needed to build a common product pipeline system and improve supporting facilities of the two companies, it added.


MRC

Non-phthalate plasticizer expansion coming at Oxea

(Plastics Today) -- Alternatives to phthalate plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride are in demand, and suppliers are reacting swiftly. This week, plastics and chemicals supplier Eastman announced it had completed expansion of its capacity for these additives, and Germany's Oxea says it is expanding capacity at an existing line while also starting construction on a new one. Plasticizer demand globally adds up to about $9 billion per annum, according to some published estimates, with the fastest growth for these non-phthalate products.


The Eastman additive, Eastman 168 non-phthalate plasticizer, is produced at the company's Kingsport, TN headquarters. For processors, the additive is a drop-in replacement for some of the most widely used ortho-phthalate plasticizers. These include some of the most widely used plasticizers such as DEHP, DINP, DIDP, DNOP, DBP, and BBP.


Meanwhile at chemicals supplier Oxea (Oberhausen, Germany), officials have announced they will boost their capacity for specialty esters this year and next to keep up with growing demand. The capacity of the existing ester unit in Oberhausen will be extended by 40%, effective the second half of this year. Additionally, Oxea intends to build a new unit in Oberhausen coming online in the second half of 2012. These capacity increases are meant to support "the increasing market shift to phthalate-free plasticizers and to support the strong demand growth of existing customers," reported Oxea. Oxea also supplies phthalate-based plasticizers.


MRC

Plastics recycler MBA Polymers plans expansions

(Plastics Today) -- Post-consumer plastics recycler MBA Polymers (Richmond, CA) has secured $15 million of additional equity funding from Italian private equity company, Ambienta SGR, with plans to use the money to build new factories in Europe and Asia. As part of the investment, Ambienta founding partner and CEO Nino Tronchetti Provera has been named to MBA's board of directors.


MBA's most recent financing round, which commenced last summer, has generated a total of approximately $40 million. MBA Polymers currently operates three plants in Guangzhou, China; Kematen, Austria; and Worksop, England. The company says its customers include top global brands in electronics and appliances. MBA Polymers' 259 employees generated approximately $36 million in revenue in 2010, doubling its 2009 figure.


Ambienta SGR, which came to being in 2007, describes itself as the only Italian asset management firm created exclusively to manage environment friendly investments. MBA will be part of Ambienta SGR's Ambienta I fund.


MRC