Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (Sabic; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com) announced the startup of its new polypropylene (PP) extrusion facility in Geleen, The Netherlands. This new extrusion line adopts state-of-the-art process technology to produce Sabic PP and underlines the company’s drive…
The Industrial Automation division of ABB(Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) has announced that closing of the transaction to form the oil & gas EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) joint venture (JV) with Arkad Engineering and Construction Ltd., a fully integrated EPC contractor…
McDermott International, Inc. (Houston; www.mcdermott.com) and CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) announced that the companies have agreed to combine in an all-stock transaction to create a premier fully vertically integrated onshore-offshore company, with a broad engineering, procurement, construction and installation…
Técnicas Reunidas S.A. (TR; Madrid, Spain; www.tecnicasreunidas.es) has been selected by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) for the execution of a modernization project at the Heydar Aliyev petroleum refinery in Baku, Azerbaijan. The aim of this project…
Sibur (Moscow; www.sibur.com) has launched a terephthalic acid production upgrade at the POLIEF Blagoveshchensk site to expand its capacity to 350,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr). The project seeks to improve the site’s production efficiency and environmental safety. Terephthalic acid is…
AkzoNobel’s Specialty Chemicals business (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) is studying plans to expand production of high-purity vacuum salt at its Delfzijl site in the Netherlands. The project would increase output at the facility by around 25%. The ongoing study is…
Celanese Corporation (Dallas, Tex.; www.celanese.com) announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Celanese to acquire Omni Plastics and its subsidiaries, including the distributor Resinal de Mexico. Omni Plastics is headquartered and has a compounding facility in Evansville, Indiana, with…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and SINOPEC (Beijing, China; www.sinopecgroup.com) will expand the production capacity of Neopentylglycol (NPG) at the state-of- the-art Verbund site, BASF-YPC Co., Ltd. (www.basf-ypc.com.cn), a 50-50 joint venture in Nanjing, China. The plant was established in…
The Chemical Activity Barometer, a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), expanded 0.6 percent in December on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis and 0.4 percent on an unadjusted basis. The CAB is…
International automotive manufacturer Groupe PSA has chosen the Dürr Group (Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany; www.durr.com) as a primary supplier in its global network. The core supplier status was announced during a management meeting between the two companies at Dürr’s headquarters in Germany.…