India’s Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals has taken initiatives to overcome the hurdles posed by Covid-19 pandemic and has suggested state-owned units to strengthen their performance by exploring Joint Ventures with global enterprises looking for investments. The initiative came on the directions of Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri DV Sadananda Gowda who has … Read more
Clariant Chemicals India Limited announced that it has restarted operations at its production facilities in the country, following the partial relaxations from COVID – 19 related Nationwide Lockdown by Government of India. Clariant’s production facilities situated in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are back in partial operation with limited capacity and will continue with partial … Read more
Deepak Nitrite’s fully-owned subsidiary Deepak Phenolics to begin production of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) at its plant in Dahej, Gujarat, India. The company confirmed in its official disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange that the company commissioned a 30,000 metric ton per annum plant at Dahej to make Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) from Acetone, thus significantly reducing … Read more
India’s chemical exports rose by 7% to Rs 2.68 lakh crore ($35.2 billion) during April-January period of the last fiscal, and became the top exporting sector in the country for the first time, the government said on Saturday. “Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda congratulated the chemicals and petrochemicals industry on becoming the … Read more
Linde announced it has leveraged its broad technology portfolio to sign a new contract with India’s largest refiner Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL). Praxair India Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Linde, will build, own and operate an air separation unit (ASU) to supply oxygen and nitrogen to its incumbent customer, IOCL, for its … Read more
Saudi Aramco’s plan to buy $15-billion stake in Reliance Industries hydrocarbon business may not go through due to the rising risk of collapsing oil prices, US-based brokerage Bernstein has warned. The unique combination of excess crude oil global supply, 30% drop in demand due to coronavirus crisis and continuous price fall weighed heavily on Aramco’s … Read more
ExxonMobil on Wednesday broke ground on its solely funded petrochemical chemical complex in Huizhou, southern China’s Guangdong Province, according to a report by Chinese media Xinhuanet. A special “cloud ceremony” was conducted online with video links connecting the Huizhou Dayawan Petrochemical Industrial Park and locations in Beijing and Dallas due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The … Read more
INEOS and Plastic Energy have agreed to collaborate in constructing a new plant to convert waste plastic into raw material to make new plastic. The new facility would be operational by the end of 2023. Plastic Energy’s proprietary Thermal Anaerobic Conversion (TAC) technology turns previously unrecyclable plastic waste into TACOIL. The resulting material is then … Read more
Nova Chemicals is resuming construction activities at its new polyethylene plant and the cracker expansion project in a phased manner. The company said it has slowly increased the number of employees engaged in the construction of the Corunna site starting Thursday, April 16. Late last month Nova Chemicals announced that most of the construction workers … Read more
Saudi Aramco is in early discussions with lenders for a loan of approximately $10 billion to help fund its purchase of a 70% stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), according to a Reuters report. Last year, Aramco agreed to buy SABIC’s majority stake from the Kingdom’s wealth fund for $69.1 billion, signing one of … Read more
PPG expects that the ‘uncertain’ global economy amidst the coronavirus pandemic will impact its 2020 results. Michael McGarry, Chairman and CEO said Thursday “we will not know the full impact of COVID-19 on PPG and our business for some time but will work with urgency to take proactive actions to limit the impact as much … Read more
Borealis last week issued a force majeure declaration for its Stenungsund steam cracker in Sweden. A spokesperson from the company said that on 8th of April the company declared force majeure for its cracker operations in Stenungsund due to a “technical incident”. The cracker in Stenungsund can produce 625,000 metric tons of ethylene per annum. … Read more
Nippon Shokubai and Sanyo Chemical Industries announced that their merger agreement and formation of joint venture has been postponed over the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This merger was planned to establish a joint holding company, Synfomix, Ltd. by way of a joint share transfer, which would subsequently become the integrated holding company serving as parent to … Read more
Oxea announced that it will implement a 100% sales control on n-Propanol and n-Propyl Acetate effective immediately for 2nd quarter, 2020 in reaction to strong demand coupled with logistics issues and service related to the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. The sales control will be based on the average monthly consumption over the last six months or … Read more
Tata Chemicals announced force majeure on shipments of soda ash to South Africa after government restrictions resulted in the closure of several berths at Maydon Wharf including Tata Chemicals South Africa’s berth at Maydon Wharf 14. The South African government has placed restrictions on the continued operation of various business activities, including port operations due … Read more
Solvay announced that it is withdrawing its full year 2020 guidance issued in February due to heightened uncertainty and prolonged duration of events caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic. The company has reduced its capital expenditure plans for the year by over €250 million ($273 million). “During these challenging times, we are mobilized and we … Read more
Hexcel Corporation (HXL) and Woodward, Inc. (WWD) announced that the companies have mutually agreed to terminate their previously announced $6.4-billion merger deal. The decision has been duly approved by the boards of both companies. The companies decided to call off the mega-merger deal in response to the increasing impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on … Read more
Sumitomo Chemical announced on 2nd April that it invested $30 million in Conagen, a U.S. biotechnology company. The company has conducted joint research with Conagen since 2018 on the biosynthesis of existing chemicals. The fresh investment will further promote its strategic business alliance with Conagen and develop innovative high functional products and processes by way … Read more
Nova Chemicals Corp. is making substantial reductions in its construction activities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are adjusting construction work on our new AST2 polyethylene facility and Corunna cracker expansion projects in Ontario to temporarily focus on only the most critical work, which will result in a reduction of approximately 90% of … Read more
Methanex Corporation (TSX:MX) (NASDAQ:MEOH) said it is taking action to defer approximately $500 million of previously announced capital spending on its Geismar 3 methanol project for up to 18 months. The decision was made considering the significant uncertainty in the global economy from the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a challenging commodity price and project execution … Read more