Production shutdown at Libya

(Plastemart) -- Brent crude settled at US$111.72 after rising past US$114, while light, sweet crude on the Nymex settled at US$96.89. Earlier in the day, oil prices rose by 2% on news of shutdown of oil production in Libya and on fears that the unrest might spread to Saudi Arabia. However, prices recoiled on an announcement by Saudi state oil company Saudi Aramco that all demands for extra oil had been met coupled with news that Tobruk port in East Libya had reopened and a Chinese tanker was being loaded.

MRC

(ICIS) -- The cost of acetone in Europe is set to firm again because of tightness in supply and another increase in the cost of feedstock propylene, market sources said on Tuesday. In relation to the "high" and "unexpected" ┬80/tonne ($111/tonne) increase in the March propylene contract price, a European producer described it as "a disaster for our customers.

⌠This is a disaster for our customers. They are going to kill us. In just one or two hours the cost of propylene increased by ┬40/tonne. We were expecting it (the propylene contract) to increase by ┬20-40/tonne, the producer said.

On the back of another hike in feedstock costs, the producer said its target for spot acetone was now in the low ┬900s/tonne for the solvents market and the high ┬900s/tonne for the pharmaceutical sector.

Tightness in the European market was also fuelling the intention of acetone producers to raise spot and contract prices in March. A number of suppliers said they were totally sold out of material.

While the March propylene contract increased by ┬80/tonne, the March benzene contact price rolled over at ┬1,001/tonne.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Bayer posted a ┬145m ($199m) net loss in the fourth quarter of 2010 due to higher special charges, reversing a ┬153m profit made in the same period a year earlier, the German specialty chemicals maker said on Monday. Sales for the three months to December rose 14.5% year on year to ┬9.01bn, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) soared 34.9% to ┬1.51bn, Bayer said.

Bayer chairman Marijn Dekkers attributed the growths in sales and EBITDA to the strong growth in earnings at the company's material science business, and to positive currency effects.

MRC

(SABIC) -- Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and affiliates of ExxonMobil Chemical announced that work on their proposed elastomers project joint venture has moved fully into Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED).

SABIC and ExxonMobil have selected Jubail Industrial City as the site for the new manufacturing units following a comprehensive evaluation of a number of variables, including integration opportunities with their existing petrochemical joint venture at KEMYA, to determine the best location for producing these specialty products.

As previously announced, plans would establish a domestic supply of more than 400 KTA of rubber, thermoplastic specialty polymers (EPDM/TPE, TPO, Butyl, SBR/PBR) and carbon black to serve emerging local and international markets in Asia and the Middle East.

MRC

(Hot News) -- The Romanian Government initiated procedures for the privatization of Oltchim SA Ramnicu Valcea chemical company, the Economy Ministry announced last Tuesday. It showed that according to a draft letter of intention agreed by the Romanian Government with the IMF, World Bank and the European Commission, the Oltchim privatization is due to be launched in the first half of 2012.

Romanian authorities will acquire consultancy services for the process this year. By August, the government will employ an internationally recognized consultant to prepare the privatization, while the bidding for the sale will take place by mid 2012.

The Romanian state, through the Economy Ministry, controls 54.79% of the Oltchim chemical plant. The company debt amounted to 2.289 billion lei by the end of 2010.
MRC