Assam Gas Cracker Project partially commissioned

Thirty years after it was incorporated in the Assam Accord and eight years after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid its foundation stone, the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL), also known as the Assam gas cracker project, was partially commissioned on Saturday.

Three units of the petrochemical plant — the gas sweetening unit (GSU), C2+recovery unit and polypropylene unit (PPU) — were commissioned in the presence of representatives from Engineers India Limited (EIL), the licensor of the gas sweetening and C2+recovery units, and Lummus Novolen Technology GmbH, Germany, the licensor of the polypropylene unit.

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MRPL to acquire petrochemical plant in Karnataka

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) on Thursday said it will take over a USD 1 billion petrochemical plant adjacent to its refinery in Karnataka in an all share deal.

MRPL had recently raised its stake in ONGC  Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd (OMPL), which is setting up an aromatic complex adjacent to the Mangalore Refinery at a cost of Rs 6,400 crore, to 51 percent. It will now acquire remaining shares.

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Toluene monthly review: 2015 doesn’t begin on a good note

With Crude oil almost breaking the $50 a bbl level, Toluene doesn’t seem to stabilize any soon. Indianpetrochem.com took a review of toluene prices from the 1st of December 2014 till date.

Styrene Monomer dips further amid week buying sentiment in international market

Styrene monomer (SM) market looks uncertain going into the year 2015. The plunge was driven by falling crude, benzene and naphtha prices. The fall was further triggered by weak upstream and energy sentiment combined with sluggish derivative demand.

Methanol Prices Decline Sharply in Indian Market

Methanol prices have decreased consecutively over the last one week on account of slow demand in Indian market. Indianpetrochem assimilated that the rationale behind this drop in prices was low demand for the chemical in the domestic market. Keeping in view with this, importers have been trying to clear off the remaining stock on low margins.

Tumbling Crude oil prices prevent end user in purchasing

Slipping Crude Oil price in the International market and Downward movement of polymer prices in Domestic market have ceased End users to purchase material. They are purchasing only on need basis or adapting wait and watch mode. The OPEC members and Russia are not ready to cut production rate. One of the other reason which is also accountable is demand supply gap. Oversupply of crude Oil is exceeding demand sentiments as the consequence of it crude oil prices are going down.

EVA price journeyed southward as Crude continues sliding in the market

Crude Oil price is tumbling again,  Benchmark Brent Crude has fallen from a high above $115 a barrel to $77 a barrel as abundant supply  has overwhelmed demand. Consequences of this southward journey of Crude oil price,the principal feedstock for EVA i.e. Ethylene prices slides in the key Asian region. Depressed buying sentiment and inactive functioning from the end user sector results in the downward revision for the EVA prices by the Reliance Industries Limited.

Polymer Demand pops out in major market

Polymer demand has started to come out from a sluggish condition in most of the cities now end users are slightly active in purchasing. They are expecting that prices will not decline considerably. International prices were also reported stable. The crude oil price was settled at 80 USD/bbl, which was higher from last week by 2-3 USD/bbl and expected will not go down largely in coming days. On going through the market situation, it is expected that there should be marginally change in prices by domestic producers if any.

PTA manufacturer begs government to raise Anti-dumping duty on PTA to survive. User association opposes the move

Mitsubishi Chemicals Corp India Ltd is seeking for an increase in India's antidumping duties on imports of Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), considering the existential crises the company is going through. According to a company official, sustained imports of cheap PTA from China into India have been causing the company to suffer losses. Though in July this year, India imposed anti-dumping duties ranging from $23.75-117 per tonne on PTA imports from China, South Korea, Thailand and the European Union but it doesn't seem enough for Mitsubishi Chem India to curb the increasing losses.

Fickle Crude Oil prices put more pressure on aromatics and derivatives; market to remain speculative

Crude oil slid to four year low on Brent at $82.34 a barrel yesterday, the lowest since October 2010. Any correction of prices is not expected unless OPEC breaks its silence. Fickle crude is putting aromatics and their derivatives under a lot of pressure. Last week when OPEC cut the demand forecasts for its crude, aromatics in Asian markets came under a lot of pressure. From the June 2014 peak of $1,420 a tonne, the price of benzene (Korea) fell by over 27 percent to $1,035 a tonne. Though far east Asian market showed some recovery yesterday.

Skimpy demand ramshackle Methanol prices in Asian market; recovery not expected soon

Methanol demand has dried out in the Asian market. Booking price fell further by $18 to a new low of $317 per MT in India today. Previous quote of offerd price was in the trading range of $334-$336 per MT. Demand has been moving southwards for quite a long time now. In fact, ever since the festive season arrived, market has not been able to recover the demand.

Mixed Xylene Consumers in Purchasing Spree on Softening Prices

In an interesting trend, traders as well as importers in India are being immensely benefited from the declining Mixed Xylene prices, in an environment dominated by strong demand, especially from the coating and pesticide industries. Price of the aromatic has softened in the country due to Crude Oil prices declining in international markets. Recently, Reliance Industries Limited reduced its ex-work price for the aromatic to Rs 68 a kg from Rs 71.50 a kg. Also, the import booking price has gone down to USD 940 a metric tonne from USD 1000 a metric tonne, on CFR South East Asia basis.