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…
AMERICAS Dow adding polyolefin elastomer capacity The Dow Chemical Company has announced an increased polyolefin elastomers manufacturing capacity at its production facilities in Freeport, Texas, and Tarragona, Spain. The capacity expansions, in conjunction with SCG-Dow Group’s new world-scale specialty elastomers plant in Thailand, which is currently under construction, will result in a net increase of…
AMERICAS DuPont and Invista settle polymers lawsuits DuPont and Koch Industries subsidiary, Invista have signed a settlement agreement resolving three existing lawsuits between the companies – concerning polymers technology, adiponitrile (ADN) technology, and disputes related to existing supply agreements. DuPont filed a lawsuit against Invista in 2008 alleging that Invista infringed upon DuPont patents and…
AMERICAS LyondellBasell ending business relationships in Iran, Sudan, and Syria LyondellBasell Industries is ending its business relationships in Iran, Sudan, and Syria. The decision is the result of a business review that began more than a year ago and was affected by both an increased number of American executives on LyondellBasell’s management team and by…
AMERICAS LyondellBasell approved for NYSE listing LyondellBasell’s shares of its common stock are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 14. Class A ordinary shares will trade under the symbol LYB and Class B ordinary shares under the LYB.B symbol. The company was de-listed from the NYSE after the…