China's Sinopec Beihai Petrochemical starts up new refinery

(ICIS)--Sinopec Beihai Petrochemical has started up its new 5m tonne/year refinery at Beihai in Guangxi and will offer oil products from next month, a company source said on Friday.

The company also plans to start up all auxiliary units, primarily a 1.7m tonne/year fluid catalytic cracker, a 2.6m tonne/year gasoil hydrogenation unit, a 1.2m tonne/year delayed coker and a 200,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant at the same site before the Lunar New Year holiday (22-28 January).


However, initially the units will not run at high operating rates, the source said.
⌠We will begin to supply oil products in January, the source added.
The refinery was previously scheduled to start on 18 December, but production was delayed until late December as a fluid catalytic unit was not ready for operation at the time.

Production at this refinery will help to push up Sinopec's crude throughput in 2012, industry sources said.

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Thailand's Formosa Plastics to complete IIR plant in 2013

(ICIS) -- Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), the biggest plastics group in Taiwan, will complete the construction of 50,000 tonnes/year isobutylene isoprene rubber (IIR) plant at Ningbo of Zhejiang province at the end of the second quarter of 2013, a company source said on Friday.
The company, with investment of yuan (CNY) 18bn (USD2.84bn), started the construction of the plant in September 2011, according to the source.

⌠Domestic IIR producers will facing a challenging market because IIR output is expected to exceed downstream demand in the future, a market player said.




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Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!

Dear friends! MRC is wishing you happy New Year and Merry Christmas! May each day of the New Year bring happiness, good cheer and sweet surprises to you and all your dear ones!
Sincerely yours MRC.

South Stream pipeline gets Turkey green light

(bbc.co.uk) -- Turkey has given permission for the South Stream gas pipeline to be built across its territories, giving the project a clear run into the lucrative energy markets of Europe.
The pipeline will transport Russian gas to Europe under the Black Sea. It will now be able to bypass Ukraine, which had failed to reach an agreement with the pipeline's owners.


Gazprom has a 50% stake in the project, Italy's Eni 20% and France's EDF and Germany's Wintershall 15% each. A short statement from Gazprom said "all necessary and unconditional permits were granted".
The full pipeline is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.
The main rival to the South Stream project is the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline, which is set to carry gas from the Caspian region to Austria, passing through southern Europe.

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Australia investigates Japanese PVC dumping

(plasticsnews) -- The Canberra-based Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) is inviting submissions from industry into whether anti-dumping measures, implemented to stop Japanese manufacturers exporting PVC at prices less than the resin's normal value in Australia, should continue.

Anti-dumping measures currently apply to PVC exports from Japan and the U.S., but the measures for Japanese imports expire Oct. 21, 2012. ACBPS invited industry Dec. 9 to respond to whether measures imposed on Japanese imports should continue for another five years.

Anti-dumping measures were first implemented in 1992 and reimposed in 1997, 2002 and 2007.




ACBPS's most recent inquiry was told about 30 percent of Japanese PVC exports from 2003 to 2006 to all countries were at prices below domestic prices. It was told Australia's PVC market price exceeded Japan's dumped goods by 8 percent.

ACBPS ruled in Nov. anti-dumping measures imposed on U.S. manufacturers exporting PVC to Australia should remain. The measures were due to expire on Jan. 22, 2012.

ACBPS said without anti-dumping measures, it is likely dumped U.S. PVC will undercut other imports in the Australian market and significantly undercut Australia's selling prices.

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