AMERICAS Berry Plastics closing Lakeville, Minnesota plant Berry Plastics Corporation will be closing a film plant in Lakeville, MN, on Aug. 13. Berry will lay off 67 current employees and 28 furloughed workers. Berry announced that the closure resulted from its acquisition of an unnamed company with similar manufacturing capacity. Comments: Berry Plastics was established […]

AMERICAS CMR completes the 16th annual FlexPO international conference in China Chemical Market Resources Inc. (CMR) successfully concluded its 16th annual international conference event earlier this month. The event, FlexPO 2010, was held at the Novotel hotel in Beijing, Jun 9-11, 2010. This year’s event was co-hosted with China National Chemical Information Center (CNCIC), China’s […]

AMERICAS BP oil leak in Gulf of Mexico – Updates After a series of unsuccessful efforts, BP has made some headway in containing the oil spilling out of a well at a depth of 5,000 feet in the Gulf of Mexico. Following the failed “top kill” operation, BP deployed the lower-marine-riser-package (LMRP) cap containment system, […]

ADI Chemical Market Resources has conducted a comprehensive analysis of HDPE and MDPE resin technologies, focusing on production methods, catalyst innovations, and end-use applications. The study covers unimodal, bimodal, and multimodal polyethylene types and their processing via blow molding, injection molding, rotomolding, and extrusion. Key markets include packaging, piping, wire and cable, and consumer goods. […]

If China is the “green giant,” how far behind can India be?  A recent story documents how companies are trying to develop technologies, plants, and businesses that convert rice husk into power, recycle electronic waste, commission green data centers, consolidate wind and solar power, and mass produce electric cars. Unlike China, where its government is […]

The Wall Street Journal today presented an interesting framework to think about investing in oil. The article takes a rather conservative perspective and suggests that investors should look at oil not for growth but for dividends.  So they consider the super majors a better bet than the independents. While several points in the article are […]

AMERICAS PolyOne and Kautex introduce multilayer TPE technology PolyOne Corp. has introduced technology that allows extrusion blow molders to make co-extruded high-density polyethylene bottles layered with thermoplastic elastomers (TPE). PolyOne’s GLS Thermoplastic Elastomers unit unveiled the technology, which it co-developed with Kautex Maschinenbau GmbH. The new process can be used with traditional or recycled HDPE, […]

AMERICAS U.S plastic bag update U.S. to levy fees on bags from Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia The U.S. government plans to impose final duties of up to nearly 96 percent on plastic shopping bags from Indonesia, Vietnam, and Taiwan. The rulings from the Department of Commerce impose specific penalties on 18 companies from Vietnam, two from […]

AMERICAS LyondellBasell Updates LyondellBasell prices USD 2.75 billion senior notes LyondellBasell Industries (LBI) has priced a senior note offering at USD 2.75 billion to support the chemical company’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The notes will be issued by LBI Escrow Corp., which will merge into subsidiary Lyondell Chemical Co., as part of Lyondell […]

AMERICAS LyondellBasell Updates LyondellBasell could emerge from Chapter 11 LyondellBasell Industries (LBI) has reached an agreement that could help it emerge from Chapter 11. LBI’s unsecured creditors swapped sides after being offered an extra USD150 million worth of shares. Unsecured creditors, including bondholders, are estimated to hold around USD 3 billion of debt and had […]

AMERICAS LyondellBasell Updates China Petroleum & Chemical and TPG may acquire LyondellBasell China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) and TPG Capital, L.P. (formerly Texas Pacific Group) are planning a joint bid to acquire LyondellBasell Industries AF S.C.A. Reliance Industries Limited have previously submitted a preliminary non-binding offer to acquire a controlling interest in LyondellBasell in […]

AMERICAS LyondellBasell Updates RIL raises an additional US$763 million to fund Lyondell’s buy Reliance Industries Ltd has raised US$763 million (Rs 3,465 crore), its third big equity fundraising in under four months. With this, the company has raised over Rs 9,000 crore (US$2 billion) by selling treasury stocks in three tranches. Reliance sold 33 million […]