Dow Chemical to permanently shut its four plants in Europe and the USA

(plastermart) -- Dow Chemical permanently closed its extruded foam polystyrene plants at Estarreja, Portugal and Balatonfuzfo, Hungary, at the end of September. Dow will continue to supply products to customers from the remaining stocks.

In April, Dow announced that as part of a drive to reduce costs it would close five petrochemical plants across Europe, North America and Latin America over the next two years.

The other XPS facilities earmarked for closure are located in Terneuzen, the Netherlands and in Charleston, Illinois. Dow will also close its toluene diisocyanate plant in Camacari, Brazil.

The move was in response to continued weakness in the European economy, the company said, as part of its previously announced cost-reduction efforts and its "Efficiency for Growth" program initiated in 2011. Dow estimates it will save around USD250 million from these closures.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow Chemical is a provider of plastics, chemicals, and agricultural products. It is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In September, PET import to the Russian domestic market dropped by 11% from August and made about 10 000 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope.

The decline in imports in September is no surprise. Traditionally, PET-preform makers reduce purchases of granulate from abroad following the end of the season. It is worth mentioning that September PET import volumes almost did not change year-on-year. Domestic companies purchased 9,200 tonnes of PET from the foreign markets during the same month year ago.

Chinese PET dominated in September shipments. The total amount of bottle PET from China made 6,200 tonnes. About 2,700 tonnes of the Korean PET were shipped at the same time. Normally, Russian consumers prefer mostly the Korean material. Such a significant imbalance for the said period can be explained by an attractive discount in the prices of Chinese feedstock producers.

The total import volumes in January-September 2012 made about 125,000 tonnes. This is almost twice less than the year-on-year indices, when the total volumes of imported PET made 247,000 tonnes. The share of domestic plants consumption keeps growing, thus displacing import suppliers. To achieve these goals the domestic PET producers had to reduce prices significantly. Due to this, many plants report the decline in their margins.

MRC

(vinnolit) -- PVC manufacturer Vinnolit officially launched the expansion of its E-PVC plant Burghausen in the "Chemical Triangle" in South-East Bavaria.

Thereby, the production capacity of the world's largest plant for the production of paste PVC increases to 100,000 tons per year. This further strengthens the company's leading market position in specialty PVC.

Vinnolit is the global market leader in the manufacture of specialty PVC,. The dynamic markets, in particular, Eastern Europe, Turkey, China, India and Brazil offer excellent growth opportunities, which Vinnolit is going to use by investing in greater production capacities and innovative products. "The precondition for success is our highly qualified staff, decades of experience, modern facilities and an outstanding product and service quality," said Dr Ralph Ottlinger, Managing Director of Vinnolit, at the commissioning of the expanded facility on 9 October.

At the Burghausen site, the E-PVC plant has been expanded gradually over the last two years and the production capacity has now been increased from 91,000 tons to 100,000 tons E-PVC per year. Thus, the world's largest plant for the production of paste PVC has extended its lead further. Already in 2010, the capacity for lacquer resins in the Burghausen Copo-plant was extended. For these upgrades a total of about 9 million euros have been invested.

Vinnolit company is a key player in the Russian market of emulsion. Last year the company's market share was 26%, second after Khimprom (Volgograd), the only domestic manufacturer of emulsion in Russia.
Over the nine months of this year sales of PVC-E by Vinnolit exceeded 39,000 tonnes, accounting for 48% of the import resin. The main Vinlit's grades of PVC-E are Vinnolit E 80 TT, Vinnolit Е69ST, Vinnolit E68FO.

MRC

(upstreamonline) -- Rosneft is ballooning in size after agreeing a USD28 billion deal to acquire 50% of TNK-BP from Russian billionaire-led consortium Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR).

The state player is splashing out a total of USD45.1 billion in cash as well as a sizeable chunk of its share base for full control of the BP-AAR joint venture.

BP and Rosneft revealed earlier on Monday that the UK supermajor has agreed to sell its half of TNK-BP to the Russian for USD17.1 billion in cash plus almost 13% of its shares.

Rosneft swiftly followed this up with confirmation that it has reached an agreement with AAR to take the other half of TNK-BP in an all-cash deal worth USD28 billion.
MRC

(omanobserver) -- Salalah Free Zone (SFZ) is rapidly acquiring the trappings of a major petrochemicals hub with construction due to commence early next year on yet another world-scale project. The caustic soda and ethylene dichloride venture, promoted by Saltic LLC FZC, is being developed with an investment estimated between USD500 – 600 million.

When operational in 2015, the project will add to a growing cluster of large-scale petrochemical schemes at the free zone, currently comprising a methanol plant run by Salalah Methanol Company, and a giant PET complex owned by OCTAL Petrochemicals.

Additionally, the latest venture will not boost liquid cargoes handled by the adjoining Port of Salalah, but also open up opportunities for investment in an array of downstream value-added investments.

Plans drawn up by Saltic envisage a state-of-the-art complex with a capacity to produce 1,000 tons per day of caustic soda and 1,231 tons per day of ethylene dichloride. The project will be built on a roughly 35 hectare plot acquired from Salalah Free Zone on a 25-year lease (extendable). Caustic soda, one of two principal products of the Saltic plant, has extensive application in a number of industrial processes involving the manufacture of textiles, detergents, pulp and paper, and drain cleaner products, besides potable water production.

Ethylene dichloride (EDC), on the other hand, is used for manufacturing vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), which is the key raw material for producing polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Moreover, sodium hydroxide, a byproduct of the Saltic project, can be utilized in the refining of bauxite to produce alumina. According to officials, the ethylene feedstock for the project will be sourced from markets in the Middle East, as well as via a major Japanese trading firm with which a supply contract has already been signed.

MRC