Polyethylene prices saw in July gains for two consecutive months with additional price increases sought for August. Meantime, petrochemical consumption demand recovery related to automotive and durables, as well as for fuel-related products like methanol, lagged. × Four months into the Covid-19 pandemic petrochemical companies in the Americas saw a significant recovery in demand for
Read More...The U.S. presence of specialty chemical company LANXESS AG includes 18 productions sites and five other locations. Its LANXESS Corporation subsidiary has headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. × Germany-based LANXESS AG has EUR $3 billion (about $3.5 billion) it can use to expand in the U.S. once it finds acquisition targets aligned with a strategy focused
Read More...News Briefs × U.S. July vehicle sales to see third on-month rise in July U.S. new vehicle sales will reach nearly 1.2 million units in July 2020, an 18% on-year decline but the third on-month increase since April, said on July 27 ALG, part of auto price information provider True Car Inc. Excluding fleet sales,
Read More...Purging compound supplier Sun Plastech Inc. is changing its name to Asahi Kasei Asaclean Americas on Aug. 1. Parsippany, N.J.-based SPI joined Asahi Kasei Group of Tokyo nearly 25 years ago. It was one of Asahi Kasei’s original American entities. SPI makes and distributes Asaclean-brand purging compounds. In a news release, officials said that the
Read More...RIO DE JANEIRO—Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA on July 30 posted a loss of 2.7 billion reais ($524 million) in the second quarter, hurt by tumbling oil prices despite record export volumes to China. The result, down from a record quarterly profit of 18.9 billion reais a year ago, came as the company
Read More...NEW YORK—Magellan Midstream Partners LP said on July 30 its refined products pipeline volumes are expected to decline in the second half of this year as fuel demand remains depressed due to the pandemic. Global oil demand plunged by about 30% in April as coronavirus-related lockdowns restricted travel worldwide and sent oil prices crashing. Average base
Read More...US Fracking Set for First Monthly Rise This Year; Permian Leads Recovery The running rate of frac activity in the Permian has shifted from 15 to 20 wells per week in May and June, to 40 to 45 wells per week in the last three weeks. Last week, week 29, activity was particularly strong with
Read More...Canada’s Husky Energy Inc. said on July 30 it had the capacity to ramp up production in the third quarter as about 30,000 barrels of its crude oil remained curtailed per day in Western Canada and the United States. Alberta, the main oil-producing province in Canada, curtailed some 1 million barrels per day (MMbbl/d) this
Read More...U.S. refiner Phillips 66 on July 31 reported a quarterly loss compared to a year-ago profit, as coronavirus-led restrictions on businesses and travel destroyed fuel demand and hurt margins. Fuel demand has plunged as countries around the world limit travel to stem the spread of the coronavirus. This led to a plunge in crude prices, which touched historic
Read More...Stuttgart, Germany-based automotive powertrain and air conditioning supplier Mahle Group is expanding injection molding operations in Murfreesboro, Tenn., adding 140,000 square feet of new production lines and 300 jobs to the area. “The majority of the new business for Murfreesboro will be reallocated from other Mahle locations,” a July 29 news release said. “The addition
Read More...The 30-year mortgage rate in the U.S. is currently hovering around the historically low level of 3 percent. This extremely modest rate is primarily due to the efforts of the Federal Reserve Board, at the behest of the president, to keep interest rates suppressed in an effort to stimulate the economy. As a lifelong student
Read More...Plastics are showing up in unusual applications these days, as businesses reopen but need products to protect employees and customers from the coronavirus. Two unusual examples popped up yesterday. First, in an application near to my heart, the Atlantis became the first casino in Reno, Nev., to reopen its buffet restaurant. The Reno Gazette Journal
Read More...The Netherlands awarded the tender for the subsidy-free offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust (noord) to CrossWind – a joint venture between Shell and Eneco, Kallanish Energy reports. The ministry of economic affairs and climate policy said the companies won the bid thanks to their proposal to apply five innovative technologies to the country’s third offshore
Read More...Antero Resources has reported a GAAP net loss of $463 million or $1.73 per share in the second quarter 2020, Kallanish Energy reports. That compares to a net income of $42 million or 14 cents per share in 2Q 2019. The company has not curtailed any prediction due to the coronavirus pandemic and resulting low
Read More...CMS Energy has announced that it has purchased a majority stake in a 525-megawatt wind project in West Texas, Kallanish Energy reports. Aviator Wind in Coke County near Abilene will be operated by CMS Enterprises, a subsidiary of Michigan-based CMS Energy. It purchased the majority stake from funds managed by Ares Management Corp.’s Infrastructure and
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