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Sinopec and Kuwait Petroleum Corp get government nod for South China project - http://www.plastemart.com/plasticnews_desc.asp?news_id=11302&P=P
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) and Kuwait Petroleum Corp. have received government approval to start initial work on an oil refinery and chemical project in southern China. The approval allows the partners to start feasibility studies on the project. The proposed ethylene plant in Nansha is planned with a production capacity of 1 mln tpa. The Nansha complex, with a planned investment of US$5 bln, would be the largest joint venture in China, exceeding the nearby Nanhai petrochemical facilities built by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and China National Offshore Oil Corp. Sinopec plans to halt expansion work on the ethylene unit at its Guangzhou refinery. The existing 200,000 tpa ethylene unit will be closed after the Nansha plant starts operation. Sinopec had planned to increase the Guangzhou refinery's annual ethylene capacity fourfold to 800,000 tons. China plans to increase oil-processing capacity by 25% by 2010 to meet rising consumption of fuels and petrochemicals.

OPEC decides to maintain current supplies - http://www.rte.ie/business/2007/1205/oil.html

OPEC producers have agreed to keep oil supplies unchanged, according to a senior cartel delegate.

The decision rebuffs consumer country calls for more crude to bring prices down from nearly $90 a barrel.

OPEC also agreed to meet again at the end of January to review its decision, ahead of a regular March gathering, another delegate said.

Ahead of the meeting, ministers said they saw no reason to lift output because they were already pumping enough crude to meet winter fuel demand.

'We've seen nothing yet to justify an increase or a decrease,' said powerful Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi at the meeting in Abu Dhabi.

'Our position is that demand and supply are balanced and there is no need to increase oil to the market,' said Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari.

The 13-member cartel is under pressure from big consumers like the US to raise output to help contain an oil price rally that saw crude hit a record above $99 a barrel on November 21.

Expectations for an increase were one of the factors behind a fall in prices over the past two weeks.

Volga Gas pumps first oil in Uzenskaya field - http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/05122007/323/volga-gas-pumps-first-oil-uzenskaya-field.html

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Volga Gas PLC said it has started oil production at the Uzenskaya field in Russia a year ahead of schedule.

Production from the well, known as Uzenskaya #1, has been kept at 100 barrels per day to limit the production of free gas, it said.

The group will be selling the oil at around 42 usd a barrel. As the production is sold locally, it does not need to pay export taxes which are currently about 35 usd per barrel.

Facilities at the field will be upgraded next year to allow the company utilise the gas. This should lead to increased production rates, Volga Gas (LSE: VGAS.L - news) said.

'We will continue to develop these small, but profitable, supra-salt fields. Our principal efforts remain the exploration/appraisal of the larger supra-salt prospects in the north of the Karpenskiy licence area and bringing Vostochny-Makarovskoye in to production,' said chief executive Mikhail Ivanov.

China Faces Fuel Supply Crisis - http://www.worldenergy.net/public_information/show_news.php?nid=83

China raised domestic gasoline and diesel prices on Thursday, the first increase in 17 months, as officials respond to a worsening supply situation by easing losses at state refiners. The increase will raise gasoline prices by 9% and diesel by 10%.

Officials hope the price increase will spur refiners to boost production and imports, heading off shortages that have caused gas lines, widespread rationing, and at least one death.

The gap between local and global prices remains wide. Diesel costs about $0.64 a liter at the pump in Beijing, versus around $1 in Singapore and $2 in Britain. Tensions are mounting between the government and its increasingly independent oil firms over who should pay for fuel subsidies.

Arab world's foreign investments at $1.7t - http://alleventsgroup.com/admin/index.php

Oil and gas industry faces growing staff shortages - http://www.gulfnews.com/business/Oil_and_Gas/10171079.html

Oil and gas budget cut one-third - Canadian Natural cites higher Alberta royalties - http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/280458

Canadian Natural Resources plans to cut its natural gas drilling in Alberta by 44 per cent, gas output by 12 per cent and its Canadian capital spending by one-third next year, citing the impact of higher Alberta royalties on energy production.

The Calgary-based company said that its budget for Canadian conventional crude oil and natural gas capital spending will fall to $1.7 billion in 2008, with a further $689 million to be spent on conventional crude oil and natural gas abroad.

"Of the reduction in capital spending, 78 per cent or $645 million is due to a reduced drilling program in Alberta largely as a result of the impact of the royalty review changes," the company stated.

In October, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach said the province would go ahead with some of a royalty panel's recommendations, choosing to take $1.4 billion in additional royalty revenues, instead of the proposed $2 billion.

Several major energy companies had warned that royalty increases would discourage their investment in Alberta's resources.

"On conventional natural gas, basically the new royalties make new drilling unsustainable unless you drill very low-rate wells," said Steve Laut, Canadian Natural Resources' president and CEO.

Supergrid to Supply Europe with Wind Power - http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/11/supergrid-to-su.html

The Independent reports that a proposed supergrid could supply Europe with carbon free electricity primarily from wind power. The 5,000-mile electrical grid, stretching from Siberia to Morocco and Egypt to Iceland, would slash Europe's CO2 emissions by a quarter, scientists say.

The scheme would make the use of renewable energy, particularly wind power, so reliable and cheap that it would replace fossil fuels on an unprecedented scale, serving 1.1 billion people in 50 countries. Europe's 1.25bn tons of annual CO2 output from electricity generation would be wiped out. High-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines, up to 100 times as long as the alternating current (AC) cables carried by the National Grid's pylons, would form the system's main arteries. HVDC lines are three times as efficient, making them cost effective over distances above 50 miles.

Building the supergrid would require an investment of US$80bn (£40bn), plus the cost of the wind turbines – a fraction of the €1 trillion the EU expects to pay for a 20 per cent reduction of its carbon footprint by 2020. The average price of the electricity generated would be just 4.6 euro cents per kWh, competitive with today's rates, which are likely to rise as fossil fuels run out. . . .

"We have the technical abilities to build such a supergrid within three to five years," said Czisch, an energy systems expert at the University of Kassel in Germany. "We just need to commit to this big long-term strategy."

The supergrid would draw power from massed turbines in a band of countries to Europe's south and east that have above average wind potential, feeding it to the industrialised centres of Europe. The scale would overcome the biggest obstacle to wind power – its unreliability. In smaller networks, such as Britain's National Grid, calm weather could cut production to zero. But the supergrid would cover a region so large that the wind would always be blowing somewhere.

Gregor Czisch’s dissertation has rattled the energy world. Its main claim: Given the political will, Europe could within a few years meet 100 percent of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources, at no cost difference to today’s fossil fuel-based system.

. . . It would rely on some 70 percent wind energy, backed up by storage hydropower and biomass.

"Some of the best wind capacities lie in deserted areas, such as in Siberia, Kazakhstan and the Sahara," Czisch told UPI. "And then you have the coastal region of Morocco, which has excellent wind capacities."

Photovoltaics don’t play a major role in Czisch’s scenario because they are simply too expensive and because there are other, better sources available, including solar-thermal energy from southern Spain and the Sahara, for example.

Foreword thinking or an absurd suggestion? I don't know that DC lines are three times as efficient as AC lines, but that is a small point. Czisch didn't comment on superconducting transmission, previous post, for some of the main lines, which are higher efficiency and more importantly can conduct up to 10 times the amount of power of today’s conventional copper cables of the same size. The use of superconducting cable would slow down the project, as the production capacity is not available, but the three to five year construction time estimated for the project is much too optimistic, as no doubt is the US$80bn price tag. But despite all these negative comments, I think it would be a great project that could be built within 20 years. Getting the political will is the main problem.

Venezuela, China sign oil accord - http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5279857.html

China plans to invest $4 billion in energy and development projects in Venezuela, and explore for oil in the Faja del Orinoco region.

The move is China's biggest single foreign investment, Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice minister of China's National Development and Reform Commission, said Tuesday at a signing ceremony.

With the addition of $2 billion from Venezuela the fund will total $6 billion. That figure may triple in 10 years, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said at the ceremony. Other accords signed Tuesday promised China a supply of fuel oil and exploration rights to the block called Junin 8.

Chavez reiterated his intention to supply a million barrels a day of crude to China by 2011 and to build three "large" refineries there as he seeks to reduce dependence on the U.S., his country's biggest customer.

The Venezuelan leader said China and his country are aligned by the pursuit of local versions of socialism.

The agreements signed Tuesday follow an earlier statement by Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's minister of energy and oil, that the two countries would create $10 billion in joint ventures.

China's oil giants pledge to increase supplies of refined oil - http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/06/content_7022266.htm

BEIJING, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's two leading oil giants have promised to increase production and supplies of refined oil to ease shortages on the domestic market, the government planning agency said Tuesday.

The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) made the promise at a meeting Monday between their executives and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

CNPC and Sinopec, China's major refiners, had moved to increase their oil production, NDRC said.

CNPC and Sinopec said they would take more measures to secure stable supply of refined oil on the home market.

They would attempt to improve their processing capacity of crude oil and increase the output of oil products. On the precondition of work safety, some maintenance jobs might be postponed.

The two were urged to increase supplies and strictly restrict exports of diesel oil.

Marketing units of the two giants would speed up transport of oil products, and re-distribute inventories at gas stations more efficiently.

In response to recent price hikes on global crude oil markets, the Chinese government raised the prices of gasoline, diesel oil, and aviation kerosene from Nov. 1 to stabilize supplies of oil products at home.

MWH awarded hydroelectric contract in China - http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/370044524.shtml

MWH, a global provider of environmental engineering, construction and strategic consulting services, announced today that it has been selected by Ertan Hydropower Development Company, Ltd. to provide engineering and construction management consulting services for the Jinping I Hydropower project in China.

Located on the Yalong River in the Sichuan Province of southwest China, the Jinping I Hydropower project will consist of a double-curvature, thin arch dam that, when finished, will stand at 305 meters. Among all of the dams completed, under construction or in the design process, Jinping I is considered one of the highest in the world. The project will provide a significant reservoir for flood control and will have a generation capacity of 3600 megawatts. The hydropower produced at Jinping I will ultimately pay for the project’s construction costs, which are estimated at $3.3 billion USD, with MWH’s revenue over the next five years forecasted at more than $5 million.

“EHDC and MWH have worked together since the early 1980s and have developed a strong, mutually beneficial relationship. Having delivered excellent work in the past, we are confident that MWH will continue to help protect the interests of EHDC and the Chinese people in building this historic and strategic hydropower project,” said Chen Yunhua, general manager of EHDC.

In the 1980s MWH provided engineering and construction management consulting services to EHDC on the Ertan Hydropower Station, the first hydroelectric project on the Yalong River and China’s largest hydropower project completed in the 20th century. More recently, MWH provided dam design optimization and geological assessment services to EHDC for the Jinping I Hydroelectric project in November 2002.

“We are delighted to once again team with EHDC on the development of the Yalong River and the historic Jinping I project,” said Alan Krause, president of the Natural Resources, Infrastructure and Industry unit of MWH. “MWH is committed to helping China harness the energy-producing potential of their rivers with hydropower; a mature, reliable and renewable technology.”

In the newly signed contract, MWH will be involved in construction quality control for the concrete construction of the Jinping I dam, and will provide project and executive management training. MWH will also provide a full-time, on-site concrete expert to assist with the planning, execution, quality assurance and quality control of the concrete dam.

Western oil majors hit profit ceiling - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22693162-36375,00.html

EVEN as oil prices continue their climb to the stratosphere, profits for Western oil companies appear to have peaked for the moment - as underscored by a surprisingly weak earnings report from Exxon Mobil.

The reasons include aggressive governments that are grabbing a bigger slice of the oil pie and stingy consumers who are making it hard for companies to pass on higher prices.

Exxon said its profits slid 10 per cent in the third quarter. Exxon, the largest non-state-controlled oil company in the world, is hardly in the poorhouse: it made $US9.41 billion ($10.2 billion) in just three months, still one of the most profitable quarters in US corporate history. But the news drove down Exxon's stock 3.8 per cent, contributing to a 2.6 per cent decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Other oil companies, including BP and Conoco Phillips, reported falling profits last month. Until recently, the companies were able to tack on significant margins when they turned crude oil into petrol and other products for the end user. But as demand has weakened, that is no longer the case.

"The secret ingredient of record profits was refining, and that's gone away," said Paul Sankey, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. "We've entered a phase where the higher the crude price, the lower the refining margin."

This was the second consecutive quarter that Exxon's results fell below expectations, following a string of record profits in the fourth quarter of 2005 and throughout 2006.

Crude oil prices have risen more than 50 per cent this year. Normally the rise in prices would be good for Western oil majors, which pump tens of millions of barrels out of the ground every year which they can now sell for more money.

But the upheaval in the oil market has unleashed a series of challenges. Oilfield costs have risen steeply as rigs, steel and skilled personnel are in high demand. Producing countries are demanding a bigger cut of profits, sometimes by jacking up taxes and at other times by using political pressure to expand the state's ownership of projects.

Russia recently raised its already hefty oil export duty, which, combined with other levies, boosted the state's marginal tax take to almost 90c in the dollar. This has particularly affected London-based BP, which has more exposure than its peers to Russia and to other countries where tax rates are so high that the company derives limited benefit from red-hot crude prices.

In the past two weeks, the Government of the Canadian province of Alberta raised royalties for oilsands deposits, and the US raised royalties for future Gulf of Mexico lease sales.

Exxon and its peers are also finding it hard to boost production in response to higher prices. Exxon said its production of oil and gas fell 2 per cent from a year earlier. That is partly because Exxon was booted out of Venezuela after refusing to modify its contract so the Government could take a majority stake.

The fall-off could accelerate. With access to most of the world's largest resources now off limits to those companies -- known as international oil companies, or IOCs, as opposed to national oil companies like state-controlled Saudi Aramco -- they are finding it harder to replace oil reserves.

"Look at the reserve replacement ratios of the top five IOCs over the last five years compared to the oil price -- there's a huge decline," said Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, the energy watchdog based in Paris.

Perhaps the most challenging factor is that operating expenses are rising faster than the price of oil. Exxon's third-quarter revenue rose 2.8 per cent from the previous year to a record $US102.34 billion, but its costs jumped by 5.1 per cent to $US85.58 billion.

It costs more to do everything, from drilling an exploration well off Canada's east coast to finishing a giant refinery and chemical plant in China's Fujian province.

Exxon's refining margins were also squeezed as earnings in the segment fell $US737 million from a year earlier. The price of the crude oil it bought for its refineries rose, but it could not pass all of that increase along. Exxon is a huge net buyer of crude: it produces about 2.5 million barrels of crude a day from its oilfields, while its refineries buy about 6.5 million barrels.

China Unexpectedly Raises Fuel Prices as Oil Surges - http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDX3O.O4JEhM&refer=home

Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- China unexpectedly increased fuel prices by as much as 10 percent in an ``urgent step'' to help the nation's oil refiners cover surging costs as crude touched records above $96 a barrel.

To ``guarantee domestic refined oil supply and promote energy conservation,'' gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices will rise 500 yuan ($67) a metric ton starting today, the National Development and Reform Commission said late yesterday. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia's largest refiner, surged in Hong Kong and Shanghai trading.

China controls fuel prices to limit their impact on inflation in the world's most-populous nation. The commission, China's top economic planner, said in September there would be no energy price increases this year because inflation was exceeding a government target.

``It's a prudent measure -- to let businesses and consumers face the real price of oil,'' said David Cohen, an economist at Action Economics in Singapore. ``China's probably the biggest source of pressure on global oil prices, because of its surge in demand.''

September's inflation fell to 6.2 percent from an almost 11-year high of 6.5 percent in the previous month as food-price gains slowed. That decline may have led government officials to believe they had room to move on energy prices, Cohen said.

Sinopec, as Beijing-based China Petroleum is known, this week posted a third-quarter loss from turning crude into gasoline and diesel as it strains to supply the second-largest energy market at below-cost prices. Sinopec jumped as much as 11 percent to HK$12.90 in Hong Kong and by 8.9 percent to 27.35 yuan in Shanghai.

Benchmark gasoline prices will rise 9.1 percent and diesel by 9.96 percent, the commission said in its statement. Fuel retailers are able to sell products 8 percent above or below the state-determined levels.

The Chinese government will also increase prices for natural gas, excluding that used for fertilizer, by an unspecified amount at a future date, the commission said.

The higher fuel prices will add 0.05 percentage point to China's monthly inflation figure, the commission said today. ``We will strictly limit the impact of increasing fuel prices,'' the commission said in a statement on its Web site.

Crude oil for December delivery gained as much as $1.71, or 1.8 percent, to $96.24 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since trading began in 1983.

``At crude prices of $80 a barrel, China's refiners would make a loss of 1,000 yuan to process every ton of oil into fuels,'' the commission said in a statement last night. ``Some refineries have halted production due to the losses, putting heavy pressure on market supplies.''

The price increase is an ``urgent step'' to stimulate production and ensure supply, the commission said.

Sinopec's parent, China Petrochemical Corp., said yesterday it will run its refineries at full capacity in November, bearing ``heavy losses'' in a bid to ensure adequate fuel supplies. Sinopec Group has halted most diesel and gasoline exports since the start of the second half to meet domestic demand, it said.

Sinopec posted a loss of 5.3 billion yuan ($709 million) from processing oil in the third quarter because of rising crude costs and government price caps.

The refusal by some non state-owned retail filling stations to sell oil products has increased pressure on Sinopec to ensure adequate supplies to the market, Chief Financial Officer Dai Houliang said in Hong Kong on Oct. 30.

China is trying to tame energy consumption without disrupting the world's fastest-growing major economy. Fees for railway, airplane and other transport services will need to be adjusted because of the price increase, the commission said.

The pace of economic growth and changes in fuel subsidies in China and India are two of five main issues that will determine the outlook for the oil market in coming years, the International Energy Agency said. Subsidies in the two nations amount to about $15 billion a year.

``China and India will dominate oil demand growth estimates'' in the next few years, Fatih Birol, chief economist at the IEA said at a conference in London yesterday. ``The pace of Chinese economic growth is a huge uncertainty.''

The other three issues are oilfield decline rates, the possibility for alternatives to oil as a transportation fuel and whether international oil companies will become ``niche'' operators compared with national companies, he said.

China will be of ``equal'' importance to Saudi Arabia in oil markets in coming years, Birol said, citing the countries' respective influences on demand and supply.

Blackstone To Buy 20% Stake In China National BlueStar - http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i38/8538news2.html

Blackstone executives will join BlueStar's board of directors to assist in firm's growth

Private equity firm Blackstone Group has signed an agreement to buy a 20% stake in diversified chemicals maker China National BlueStar for $600 million.

Under the agreement, Blackstone will buy the stake from government-owned parent firm China National Chemical (ChemChina), which will continue to hold an 80% interest in BlueStar. Two Blackstone executives will join BlueStar's board of directors. They will help build what ChemChina and Blackstone say will be a global leader in the specialty chemical industry.

The deal underscores the advantage of Blackstone's ties with Chinese authorities. Other private equity firms have had a difficult time trying to buy stakes in large government-owned firms in China. But in June, China's state overseas investment agency paid $3 billion for 10% of U.S.-based Blackstone, giving Blackstone what some say is a favored status with government administrators.

The transaction also allows ChemChina to tap into Blackstone's experience and financial expertise in the chemical enterprise. ChemChina Chairman Ren Jianxin says, "Given Blackstone's extensive and successful experience in the global chemical industry, notably past ownership of Celanese and Nalco, this investment will assist BlueStar in its growth and expansion."

BlueStar has annual sales of $4 billion from a variety of products including petrochemicals, specialty chemicals, organo-silicones and silicone resins, water-treatment-membrane modules, and chemical reaction equipment.

The acquisitive chemical maker has undertaken a number of overseas forays. For instance, earlier this year, BlueStar completed the $500 million acquisition of Rhodia's silicon operations to form Bluestar Silicones based in Lyon, France. In 2006, BlueStar bought France-based Adisseo, the second largest methionine animal food additive maker after Degussa, from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

China Raises Heat On Polluters - http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i37/8537notw4.html

Agencies act to halt pollution, which is worsening despite repeated attempts to control it

AS THE QUALITY of the environment deteriorates in China, the government is introducing a series of measures aimed at reversing the trend.

The National People's Congress, China's parliament, is considering setting 1 million renminbi, or $130,000, as the maximum a company can be fined for discharging an excess of water pollutants. At present, the maximum fine is one-tenth that amount.

Separately, the State-Owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission (SASAC), a body that oversees government-owned companies, has ordered 154 state firms to improve their environmental performance. The companies produce power, metals, oil, petrochemicals, and construction materials.

According to government news agency Xinhua, SASAC demanded that the companies improve their energy efficiency 20% and cut their emissions 10% by 2009 compared with 2005 levels. SASAC expects an exemplary environmental performance from state-owned companies, Xinhua reported.

Meanwhile, the State Environmental Protection Agency announced that, over the past two months, it ordered 400 heavily polluting companies to cease business and 250 more companies to stop operating until they upgrade their emissions treatment facilities.

Ma Jun, founder of the Beijing-based Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs, tells C&EN he is encouraged that the National People's Congress is considering raising fines for water polluters. "At present, there aren't sufficient incentives for polluters to change their behavior," he says. Ma's group is a nongovernmental organization that monitors water pollution in China.

But the move can be effective only if China improves its enforcement capabilities, Ma says. Local officials not under the central government's direct control are in charge of fining polluters throughout China, and "they may not be keen to punish a local factory," he says.

Chinese government initiatives to control pollution do not have a good track record. In 1998, the State Council, China's Cabinet, approved a comprehensive plan to prevent and treat water pollution in Taihu Lake, one of China's largest. Late last year, however, a large blue-green algae bloom appeared in the lake due to rising quantities of sewage and industrial effluents.

Thai Firm To Build Big U.S. PET Plant - http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i36/8536news1.html

Thailand's Indorama Polymers plans to build what it says will be North America's largest polyethylene terephthalate plant. Set to open in Decatur, Ala., in 2009, the $140 million facility will add 430,000 metric tons of annual capacity for the plastic to the growing U.S. market.

Although not a well-known name in the chemical enterprise, Indorama already operates PET plants in the U.S., Europe, and Thailand. The company claims to be the world's eighth largest PET producer and that it will rocket to number three following the construction of the new plant and expansion of existing ones.

The world's number one producer, Italy's Mossi & Ghisolfi Group, announced its own North American expansion plans in July. The company said it will build an 800,000-metric-ton facility somewhere in the U.S. while expanding existing facilities in West Virginia and Mexico.

Meanwhile, the number two producer, Eastman Chemical, opened a 350,000-metric-ton PET plant in South Carolina earlier this year, although it announced plans to close an equal amount of older capacity.

According to Indorama CEO Aloke Lohia, the world needs more PET production capacity to serve growing carbonated soft drink, water, and custom container markets. "We see a looming PET shortage in 2009 as each region in the world heads towards self-sufficiency," he says. Indorama notes that it is currently importing PET from Asia to meet demand on the U.S. West Coast.

The Thai company says its plant, to be called AlphaPet, will be located adjacent to a BP facility in Decatur that produces purified terephthalic acid, a key PET raw material. Indorama will employ new technology from the engineering firm Uhde Inventa-Fischer that allows it to skip a production step known as solid stating in which PET's viscosity is increased to facilitate molding into containers.

Rohm And Haas Boosts Display Materials - http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i34/8534news6.html

Rohm and Haas will spend $190 million to acquire a 51% stake in the display materials business of SKC, a South Korean producer of propylene oxide, polyester films, and display materials. SKC is part of the SK Group, South Korea’s main oil refiner and one of the country's largest business groups.

Employing 600 people, SKC's display business consists mostly of plants and technical centers in South Korea, Taiwan, and China. They produce and support light-diffuser films, optical protection films, technology for touch panels, plasma-display filters, and technology to manufacture color filters for liquid-crystal displays.

The business will become part of a joint venture that Rohm and Haas expects will initially record annual sales of $300 million.

Earlier this year, Rohm and Haas spent about $40 million to buy Kodak's light-management films business. Rohm and Haas spokesman Kenneth A. Gedaka says his company will continue to invest in the flat-panel business. "It's an important part of our electronic materials franchise," he says.

Sinopec And Partners Mull Southern China Project - http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i34/8534news5.html

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) and Kuwait Petroleum are talking about building a refinery and petrochemical complex in Nansha, in China’s southern province of Guangdong, Sinopec has confirmed.

According to a report in China Daily, a newspaper owned by the Chinese government, other partners in the $5 billion project could include Dow Chemical and Royal Dutch Shell. Jia Yiqun, Sinopec’s spokesman in Hong Kong, says the report is "basically correct," but he warns that talks are still at an early stage.

A Dow spokeswoman says, "We do not comment on speculation concerning any company, project, or activity."

Partnering with so many companies would go against Sinopec’s recent habit of building plants on its own. Jia notes that Sinopec no longer needs investment capital from foreign partners and also can secure nonproprietary manufacturing processes for most projects.

But senior Kuwaiti government officials are interested in investing in China, Jia says, and Kuwait could supply oil to the project. In recent years, he notes, many international oil companies have become less inclined to invest in petrochemical activities.

India cuts import duty on crude palm stearin - http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BT/Saturday/Corporate/induts.xml/Article/

NEW DELHI: The Government has cut import duty on crude palm stearin, used in the manufacture of soaps and fatty acids, to 10 per cent from 12.5 per cent, the Finance Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

But the commodity will also attract an eight per cent excise duty, the ministry said in a separate notification.

"This has been made conditional for crude palm stearin having free fatty acid 20 per cent or more and imported for the manufacture of soaps, fatty acids and fatty alcohols," a ministry official said.

A trade official said this would prevent diversion of crude palm stearin for making vanaspati or hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Meanwhile, officials said India has asked three state-run firms and a farmers' cooperative to step up edible oil imports as it looks to contain prices and meet a spurt in demand during forthcoming festivals.

August and September will see a handful of religious and national holidays, when consumption rises substantially.

India is the world's second-biggest importer after China.

Government-owned firms - State Trading Corp (STC), MMTC Ltd, and PEC Ltd - have been asked by the Food Ministry to import more oils, officials said. But they declined to give volumes.

The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation will also increase purchases.

The Government, concerned over inflationary pressures in recent months, has cut import duties on a number of products, including edible oils.

This year, STC and the farmers' body have imported 40,000 tonnes of edible oils each, while PEC has bought 10,000 tonnes, officials said.

India imports nearly five million tonnes of edible oils annually, a little over 50 per cent in the form of palm oils from Malaysia and Indonesia, and the remainder mainly soyaoil from Brazil and Argentina. - Reuters

BP plans CATS repair - http://www.offshore-mag.com/display_article/302373/120/ARTCL/none/PIPTR/BP-plans-CATS-repair/

LONDON – Following visual inspection by divers, BP plans a permanent repair to the Central Area Transmission System pipeline in the North Sea. The 36-in (91 cm) line transports gas from the central North Sea to Teesside terminals.

Plans are to install a metal sleeve around the damaged area of the pipe. Design and fabrication of the sleeve are under way, BP says. The installation schedule would give a September re-start to the line.

Discussion Title	Date
test 2	25th May 2010
test	25th May 2010