LyondellBasell (Rotterdam, the Netherlands; www.lyondellbasell.com) has announced that the Supervisory Board has appointed Bhavesh V. "Bob" Patel chief executive officer (CEO), effective January 12, 2015. Patel succeeds James L. Gallogly, who previously announced his plan to retire. "After a rigorous…
Ingleside Ethylene, LLC, the 50/50 joint venture between Mexichem S.A.B. de C.V. (Tlalnepantla, Mexico; www.mexichem.com) and Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem), has announced that construction of its ethylene cracker at OxyChem’s Ingleside, Tex., complex is underway and the project remains on…
Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.; www.eastman.com) has announced a planned increase in its Eastman Texanol ester alcohol manufacturing capacity in Longview, Tex. The plant expansion is expected to be complete in the second half of 2016 and will increase capacity…
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environmental & Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (MHIEC), a group company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi-global.com), has received an order from the Yamagata Area Environmental Office Association, a body encompassing two cities and two…
Royal DSM (Heerlen, the Netherlands; www.dsm.com) has announced it has reached agreement with Standard Investment for the sale of DSM Synres. Subject to customary approvals and notifications, the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015. Financial…
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) has started construction activities on a new delayed coker unit for ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical BVBA (ExxonMobil) at its Antwerp, Belgian petroleum refinery. Construction on the project, which will expand the refinery’s production capabilities, formally…
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, says that UOP C3 Oleflex process technology started up and has been successfully operating in Russia, producing high-quality propylene to help meet the global supply shortage of the valuable plastics building…
Johnson Matthey (London; www.matthey.com) has agreed to divest its Gold and Silver Refining business to Asahi Holdings Inc., a collector, refiner and recycler of precious and rare metals from waste materials, for £118 million ($186 million) in cash, subject to…
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions Germany to purchase the entirety of its Zimmer polymer technology business. Based in Frankfurt, Germany, the business includes technologies for the…
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (MCI; Tokyo; www.mitsuichem.com) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) have announced the startup of what is said to be one of the world’s largest EPT (ethylene-propylene-dieneterpolymer) plants for a single train under their joint venture (JV),…