Exploring options

Incident

The Rohm & Haas plant in Louisville, Kentucky has resumed operations after an incident with an overheating railcar that closed the plant.  The railcar was loaded with a monomer chemical produced at an Arkema Inc. plant in Bristol Township and shipped to Kentucky.  No illnesses or injuries have been reported.  Most of the operations at the plant will be closed in 2009 due to the soaring cost of raw materials and a weak housing market.

Production addition

Shell Chemicals Europe BV opened an enhanced flexible polyols production unit at the company’s manufacturing complex in Pernix, The Netherlands.  As a result, the flexible polyol capability has increased from 155 kilotons/year to 225 kilotons/year.  The new capacity will help to meet increased global demand for polyols in slabstock foam, CASE (coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers) and molding applications.

Port terminals

Canpotex Limited plans to build two new port facilities in Prince Rupert and North Vancouver, British Columbia to help ship Saskatchewan potash around the world.  This will help the company add about 11 million tons of potash shipping capacity to its current 12 million tons of capacity/year by the end of 2012.  The combined investment is expected to be more than $500 million.

Rohm & Haas opened its new high-technology plant in Queretaro, Mexico.  The plant will produce emulsion polymers and polyacrylates.  The company expects growth between 10 and 15% in the region.

Production addition

Shell Chemicals Europe BV opened an enhanced flexible polyols production unit at the company’s manufacturing complex in Pernix, The Netherlands.  As a result, the flexible polyol capability has increased from 155 kilotons/year to 225 kilotons/year.  The new capacity will help to meet increased global demand for polyols in slabstock foam, CASE (coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers) and molding applications.

Cooperation

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) plan to expand their cooperation in an ethylene derivatives complex in Tianjin, China.  SABIC is thinking of raising its investment in the project to $4 billion instead of the $1.7 billion initially agreed on last January.

Joint venture

Pliant Corporation and Nova Roll intend to form a joint venture to produce world-class film and packaging solutions.  The business will be headquartered in Moscow, Russia and will produce PVC film, machine-grade stretch film, hand-wrap stretch film, printed-shrink bundling film, food sealant film and barrier film.