My Turn – Commentary on Global Polyolefins and Elastomers – Dr. Balaji B. Singh Disappearing Giants of Polyolefins and Elastomers – With the recent disappearance of Amoco-BP-Innovene, another giant bit the dust. The difference this time – Innovene a much-tooted polyolefins spin-off of BP-Amoco did not even survive the first anniversary of their inauguration. We […]

My Turn- Commentary on Global Polyolefins & Elastomers – Dr. Balaji B. Singh Most polyolefins & elastomers are preoccupied with Global developments in the next decade. All the major organizations are planning on production facilities for commodity-oriented polyolefins for developing countries and are putting most of the innovations and specialties (a bad word) on hold. […]

My Turn – Comments on Global Polyolefins & Elastomers – Dr. Balaji B. Singh Welcome to 2006 – May the New Year bring peace and prosperity – traditionally associated with a peak year. The argument from most of the pundits is not whether this is a peak year for petrochemicals, but how long it will […]

Qatar Petrochemical and Total plan petrochemicals complex Qatar Petrochemical Company announced the signing of a contract with Total to build a petrochemical plant at a cost of $1.2 billion to produce polyethylene in the state. Qatar Petrochemical Company Limited will own 63 percent of the project while Total would own 36 percent and Qatar Petroleum […]

My Turn – By Dr. Balaji B. Singh The Mood in Polyolefins Elastomer Organizations As a part of our work, we continue to keep our fingers on the pulse of the Global Polyolefins and Elastomers industry. The current mood in the industry, especially in the top Global organizations in North America, Europe, and Japan is […]

Titan to undergo expansions – adding polypropylene and metathesis unit Titan Chemicals is investing $158 to expand its petrochemical complex in the southern Malaysia state of Johore, a company. The company plans to build a 100 KT/year butadiene plant, a new metathesis unit to produce at least 115 KT/year of propylene, and a second 130 […]

Westlake announces third-quarter earnings Westlake Chemical Corporation reported a net income of $43.5 million and income from operations of $70.1 million on net sales of $605.4 million for the third quarter of 2005. This compares favorably with the third quarter 2004 net income of $28.3 million and income from operations of $68.9 million on net […]

Polyolefin producers announce third-quarter earnings Dow Chemical Dow Chemical reported third-quarter earnings under which it stated that the sales for the three months ended September 30 set a new third-quarter record of $11.3 billion, 12% higher than the same period in 2004. Net income rose 30% to $801 million, while earnings per share were $0.82, […]

BP’s olefins & derivatives unit, Innovene to be acquired by INEOS BP announced its plans to sell Innovene, its olefins, derivatives, and refining group, to UK-based INEOS. The $9 billion cash sale, subject to regulatory approvals, includes all of Innovene’s manufacturing sites, markets, and technologies. The sale is expected to be concluded early in 2006 […]

FlexPO2005 Rescheduled for March 15-17, 2006 in Singapore – Mark Your Calendars We greatly appreciate the continued patronage of FlexPO2005. The program scheduled for September, 21-23, 2005 in Galveston, Houston, TX had to be re-scheduled due to hurricane Rita – an act of God, or God’s middle managers. We are rescheduling the program to March […]

BP’s petrochemical subsidiary Innovene files for $1 billion IPO The petrochemical subsidiary of BP Plc, Innovene Inc., has registered for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange to raise $1 billion. In 2004, BP decided that it would either sell or float the business. According to the company’s IPO document – […]

Basell and Braskem sign Spherilene® process development agreement Basell Polyolefine GmbH and Braskem S.A. announced the signing of a cooperation agreement for the development of polyethylene grades produced using Basell’s proprietary Spherilene gas-phase technology. Under the agreement, joint development of new and improved Spherilene polyethylene resins will be carried out in Brazil at Braskem facilities […]