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CAB Flat in February, ACC says

The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), posted a 0.0 percent change in February on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. On a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis, the barometer…

2018 CEPCI updates: December (preliminary) and November (final)

The preliminary value for the December 2018 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; most recent available) decreased from the previous month’s value. This small decline follows an unchanged CEPCI value from November. The Equipment, Buildings and Engineering & Supervision subindexes all…

Engineering underway for Invista adiponitrile plant in Shanghai

Invista (Wichita, Kan.; www.invista.com) says engineering for a 400,000-ton adiponitrile (ADN) plant in Shanghai, China is underway. The company's estimated investment will be in excess of $1 billion (7 billion RMB). With support of the local authorities, we expect construction…

U.S. chemical production rose in December, ACC says

According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) rose by 0.6 percent in December, following a 0.3 percent gain in November and a 0.4 percent decline in October. During December,…

CAB posts a 0.3% decline in January, ACC says

The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), posted a 0.3 percent decline in January on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This marks the barometer's third consecutive month-over-month…

CEPCI Updates: November (prelim.) and October (final)

The preliminary value for the November 2018 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; most recent available) remained the same as the previous month’s value, although the final value for October was downwardly revised by a tenth of a point. The Equipment,…

SOCAR commissions new bitumen refinery as part of reconstruction

Azerbaijan´s state energy company SOCAR recently held an opening ceremony for its new Biturox plant in the Heydar Aliyev Refinery near Baku, Azerbaijan. EPCM-Engineering Partner Pörner and SOCAR announced a successful commissioning as first part of the refinery reconstruction. SOCAR…

Shell starts production at new petrochemicals unit in Louisiana

Shell Chemical LP (Houston, Tex.; www.shell.us) today announced the start of production of the fourth alpha-olefins (AO) unit at its Geismar, La. chemical manufacturing site. The 425,000-ton/yr capacity expansion brings total AO production at Geismar to more than 1.3 million…

Recently Published Books for the CPI: January 2019

The following is a list of recently published books of relevance for chemical process industries (CPI) professionals   Picturing Science and Engineering: A guide to making scientific photographs for presentations, journal submissions and covers. By Felice C. Frankel, MIT Press,…

2018 CEPCI Updates: October (prelim.) and September (final)

The preliminary value for the October 2018 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; most recent available) fell slightly compared to the previous month’s value. The decrease reversed an upward trend that had been ongoing throughout 2018. The Equipment, Buildings and Engineering…