Total Petrochemicals to invest in polyolefin– increase in PP capacity Total Petrochemicals announced its plans to increase its polypropylene (PP) capacity significantly. Total will build a PP line at its La Porte, TX site or at another, undisclosed location, with a minimum capacity of 300 KT by 2008 or 2009. The company is planning to […]

Dow Chemical and Westlake Chemical announce 2nd quarter earnings Dow Chemical Company Dow Chemical reported sales of $11.5 billion for the second quarter of 2005, a 16% increase compared with the same period in 2004. Net income rose 85% to $1,265 million, and earnings per share were $1.30, an increase of 81% compared with $0.72 […]

Lukoil-Neftekhim to construct polypropylene plant in Russia based on UNIPOL® process from Dow The Dow Chemical Company and LUKOIL-Neftekhim announced that LUKOIL and Dow’s subsidiary, Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology Corporate, have signed a license agreement for Stavrolen to use UNIPOL™ PP process technology from Dow for a new polypropylene plant at Budennovsk, Russia. […]

The Chatterjee Group to Pull out of Basell Deal The Chatterjee Group has pulled out of the Basell acquisition. Access Industries will buy Basell through its Nell acquisition unit for $5.2 billion, including debt. BASF and Shell said that they agreed to sell Basell to a group led by Access, which included the Chatterjee group. […]

Reliance group owners split the assets – Anil Ambani to get RIL and Mukesh Ambani to get Reliance Infocomm Reliance Industries owners Ambani brothers reached an ‘amicable’ settlement of the ownership dispute of Reliance group under which elder brother Mukesh will retain Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and its Petrochemical venture IPCL while Anil gets Reliance […]

Innovene and Delta Oil to explore petrochemical investment in Saudi Arabia Innovene, BP’s petrochemicals and refining subsidiary, and Delta International, a leading Saudi-owned independent development company, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a major investment in Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical sector. The memorandum marks the beginning of negotiations between Innovene and Delta […]

Formosa Plastics Plans Initial Public Offering Formosa Plastics Group announced its plans to merge four US units and sell shares in the combined entity in an Initial Public Offering. The IPO will combine PVC/polyolefins maker Formosa Plastics Corp. USA with plastic pipe producer J-M Manufacturing Co. Inc. and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. The company plans […]

Private equity firms Access Industries and The Chatterjee Group to acquire Basell The long protracted and much-speculated sale of Basell was finalized. The investment group led by New York-based The Chatterjee Group, along with the New York-based Access Industries acquired the assets and operations of Basell for approximately $5.7 billion US Dollars. It is expected […]

Polyolefin producers announce first-quarter earnings Dow Chemical Dow Chemical Company reported total sales of $11.7 billion for the first quarter of 2005. The sales were 25% higher compared to the first quarter of 2004. Net income climbed to $1.4 billion from $469 million in the first quarter of last year and earnings per share were […]

Qatar Petrochemical to Increase LDPE Production Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO) plans to boost the production of low-density polyethylene and ethylene by initiating a major de-bottlenecking. Currently, QAPCO is the largest producer of low-density Polyethylene (LDPE) in the Middle East with an annual capacity of 360,000MT. The company is also stepping up its annual ethylene production […]

Chemical Market Resources Inc. moves to a new home Chemical Market Resources Inc., moved to a new home on March 25, 2005. The premium market research firm and the publisher of this news analysis moved its offices from Nasa Parkway to Blossom Street. The new address and phone number for Chemical Market Resources Inc. are […]

Basell to acquire Repsol YPF’s position in Argentine PP joint venture Petroken Basell announced its plans to assume ownership of the 50% portion of Argentina’s Petroken Petroquimica Ensenada that is currently held by its partner in the joint venture, Repsol YPF. Petroken operates a 180 KT per year polypropylene plant, a 20 KT per year […]