China's Zhejiang Hengyi to invest USD6bln to build petrochemical plant in Brunei

(plastemart) -- Zhejiang Hengyi has signed a land lease agreement with the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) for its Integrated Refinery and Aromatics Cracker Project in Brunei Darussalam.

The China Zhejiang Hengyi (Brunei) PMB Petrochemical Project at Pulau Muara Besar (PMB), Indonesia, is the largest investment project for a privately-owned Chinese company overseas, according to Mr Qui Jian Lin, the Chairman of Zhejiang Hengyi Group.

The project, the largest overseas investment by a privately-owned Chinese firm, is designed to process 15 million tons of crude oil a year and churn out products such as p-xylene and aromatic hydrocarbon.


Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co., Ltd. is a large private corporate group that has a highly integrated industry chain, with the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA, a commodity chemical used to make polyester), polyester spinning and chemical fiber as its main businesses.


MRC

Oil spill at Bashneft-Lukoil Arctic venture

(refinerynews) -- An oil spill in the Russian Arctic affected an area of up to 8,000 square meters after workers tried to open an old well, causing oil to gush uncontrollably for 37 hours, officials said.

The spill at the Trebs field started Friday and continued through the weekend, spurting out up to 500 metric tons of oil a day, the Nenets autonomous district administration said.
The oil well was in the area operated by a joint venture between Russian companies Lukoil Holdings and Bashneft, which received the license to work on the northern Trebs field last year.

The accident was most likely caused by breakage of an old well's corroded plug when workers attempted to operate it, said Viktor Ivkin, head of the Nenetsky autonomous district emergency ministry branch.

Workers managed to stop the fountain of oil Sunday morning, and work was under way to construct a storage facility for the spilled oil, he said.

MRC

EuPR to increase HDPE recycling

(polyestertime) -- EuPR, the Brussels-based organisation representing Europe's plastics recyclers, has developed new guidelines for HDPE bottles with the aim of increasing HDPE recycling.

According to Christian-Yves Crepet, EuPR HDPE working group chairman: "HDPE is a very easily recyclable material. But only 300,000 tonnes of HDPE bottles are being recycled annually in Europe - just 10% to 15% of the total HDPE waste stream. "

However, according to Crepet this situation can be rectified by addressing various areas such as "an increase in the collection rates, the design of HDPE products put on the market and the technological improvements made by recyclers".

"The various actors of the HDPE value chain must now cooperate in order to get HDPE on the path to sustainability," explained Crepet. And in order to help facilitate this that the organisation has produced its HDPE recycling guidelines.

MRC

Faurecia warned its operating income could decrease

(polyestertime) -- Faurecia, the world's biggest maker of car interiors and exhaust systems, confirmed its full-year outlook but warned that its operating income could be at the lower end of its previous forecasts if weakness in the European market persists.

Faurecia, which also makes seats and plastic car body parts for clients including Volkswagen's Audi brand, posted an 8.4 percent gain in quarterly sales, as strong demand in North America and Asia offset a slight decline in Europe.

"The general idea is that we're quite in line with our guidance but that if Europe continues to develop at a substantially lower level than last year, we would be more at the low end of the guidance," Chief Financial Officer Frank Imbert told analysts in a conference call.

"We have no reason to modify the range, the key is still to know where we stand within the range and that depends largely on Europe," he added.

Faurecia said in February that it forecast full-year operating income of between Eur 610-670 million. The higher end of the range would mean an increase of 3 percent from last year's EUR651 million, while the lower end would signify a 6 percent drop.


MRC

Celanese faces profit down in Q1

(Reuters) -- Celanese Corp (CE.N) expects weakness in Europe and much of Asia to linger longer than initially anticipated this year, news that sent the chemical maker's stock down more than 3 %.

The company, which reported lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, is the world's largest producer of acetyl intermediate chemicals, which are used to make paints and glues. Celanese also is a large producer of acetate tow, used to make cigarette filters.

"We expect the current challenging market conditions in Europe and Asia outside of China to continue further into 2012 than originally anticipated," Chief Executive Mark Rohr said in a press release.Celanese shut an acetic acid plant in Singapore during the first quarter because of tough market conditions in Asia, the top executive for the US-based acetyls producer said on Tuesday.

New Celanese chief Mark Rohr said the 600,000 tonne/year acetic acid plant was taken down at the end of the quarter because of declining margins and demand there.
MRC