Explosion at Amuay refinery in Venezuela kills 41; fire still burning

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Large columns of smoke and flame billowed over Venezuela's largest crude refinery Sunday, as authorities looked to put out a fire caused by an explosion over the weekend that killed dozens in the country's deadliest oil industry accident.

Government officials on Sunday said the 640,000 bpd Amuay refinery can be restarted in two days once the blaze has been extinguished and the area deemed "secure."

But crews battling the fire, which broke out early Saturday following a likely gas leak explosion that killed 41 people and injured over 80 more, were dealt a setback by shifting winds overnight.

At least one official at the local oil industry union questioned the government's stance that the plant could resume operations in just a couple days.

The Amuay refinery, together with the facilities at Cardon and Bajo Grande, form part of the Paraguana Refining Center , the largest oil processing conglomerate in the world. The facility is part of the larger Paraguana complex, located in the northwestern coastal state of Falcon, with a total refining capacity of roughly 950,000 bpd.

Venezuela supplies about 13 percent of the daily oil and oil products imported into the United State, much of which is gasoline.
MRC

(plastemart) -- Chinese researchers set a new world record in power conversion efficiency for polymer-based organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. The 9.31% efficiency was certified by the Newport Technology & Application Center’s Photovoltaic Lab in Long Beach, Calif.

Unlike traditional, rigid solar cells, organic solar cells are made from flexible polymer. Instead of bulky wires, polymer solar cells use organic electronics, a branch of electronics that deals with conductive organic polymers or small organic molecules. The super-efficient cell utilized a new polymer jointly developed by Solarmer and Philips 66.

Solarmer is a world leader in development of OPV technology. The company's materials portfolio has more than 100 novel high efficiency polymers for OPV.

Phillips 66 is a holding company created through the repositioning of ConocoPhillips. The Company is engaged in producing natural gas liquids and petrochemicals.
MRC

(Business Recorder) -- The National Tariff Commission (NTC) has imposed provisional anti-dumping duty on import of Biaxially Oriented Poly Propylene (BOPP) film, ranging between 22.92 to 62.70 percent from China, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Saudi Arabia, from August 14, 2012 to December 13, 2012.

The anti-dumping duty would be 22.92 percent on the import of BOPP film from Oman (exporter name Taghleef) and anti-dumping duty would be 22.92 percent on the import of BOPP Film (all other exporters).

The anti-dumping duty would be 62.70 percent on the import of BOPP Film from China (all exporters). The anti-dumping duty would be 26.91 percent on the import of BOPP Film from Saudi Arabia. According to the sources, these provisional anti dumping duty is levied for a period of four months with effect from August 14, 2012 to December 13, 2012.

The provisional antidumping duties shall take the form of security by way of cash deposit in Commission's Non-lapsable PLO Account No 187 with Federal Treasury Office Islamabad. Provisional antidumping duties would be collected in the same manner as customs duty under the Customs Act, 1969 (IV of 1969). The release of the investigated product for free circulation in Pakistan shall be subject to imposition of such antidumping duties.

In terms of Section 39 of the Ordinance, the Commission is required to make final determination within 180 days of publication of notice of Preliminary Determination. However, the Commission has planned to finalise this investigation within four months of the publication of this notice of Preliminary Determination, sources added.

MRC

(Plastech) --According to McKinsey's report released in June 2012, the world's economy center is shifting eastward by 140km per year from year 2000-2010. The anticipated economic growth of 47% from 2010 to 2025 comes from 440 cities in developing countries, among which half of them belong to China.

The eastward shifting of economy has also been reflected in the China's plastics and rubber industries.

Last year, China has accounted for a quarter of world's plastics consumption totaling 250 million tons. China has also produced over 54.7 million tons of plastic products last year, which has increased by 22% compared with 2010, and produced over 240 thousand units of plastics machine.
MRC

(basf) -- BASF’s biodegradable plastic ecovio FS Paper takes center stage in a pilot project involving disposable and biodegradable tableware during the ADAC Masters Weekend motorsport event being held from August 24 to 26 at the race track Lausitzring. During the weekend of the event, the Polster Catering company, which is in charge of general catering at the Lausitzring, will use only cardboard trays and paper plates that are compostable. Cups will follow suit next season.

The disposable tableware, manufactured by the Hosti company, is not made of a conventional plastic, but rather of paper that is coated with a thin layer of ecovio FS Paper. This creates disposable tableware whose plastic layer ensures that it does not soak through but which does not have to be incinerated – as is usually the case – after being used. Instead, it can be processed along with the organic waste in order to yield valuable compost.

This high-quality soil is subsequently used again at the Lausitzring in order to upgrade the soil that has been stressed by the open-cast mining in the past. Thanks to this closed loop system, the project partners have breathed life into a project that is unique on the European continent. The Lausitzring is the first large-scale event location in Europe to introduce such a system. This project is part of the "Green Lausitzring", within the scope of which the management company EuroSpeedway Verwaltungs GmbH, in its capacity as the operator of the Lausitz race track, is supporting and testing environmentally friendly technologies.

MRC