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 a…
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 LyondellBasellIndustries (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 Chemical’s…
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 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,…
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 Dow to test plastic waste as a fuel source Dow Chemical Co. will run a one-day pilot test to analyze if plastic waste can be used as fuel in its operations. The trial will take place by the end of July at Dow’s headquarters site. Plastics of all shapes, sizes, and resin types will…
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 P&G to use Braskem’s bioplastic Procter & Gamble (P&G) will use sugarcane based HDPE made by Braskem in some of its packaging for its Pantene Pro-V®, COVERGIRL® and MaxFactor® brands. Pilot products will be introduced globally over the next two years with first commercial products expected on the shelf in 2011. The products will…
COAL Sinopec to build coal-based MTO project in China China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), the second largest oil and natural gas producer in China entered an agreement with the government of Hebi city in China’s central Henan province to jointly develop a 1.8 million ton per year coal-based methanol to olefin (MTO) project. Sinopec…