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South African companies sign hydrogen agreement
July 1999
from different sources, will guarantee the physical quality of the natural gas passing through it. The project itself will be run by Tractehel Engineering, working in co-operation with its Thai subsidiary, PRO-EN Technologies Ltd.
M E R G E R TALKS END FOR CHEVRON, TEXACO Chevron Corp has confirmed that Texaco has terminated discussions about a possible business combination. Ken Derr, Chevron chairman and CEO, expressed surprise that the Texaco board turned down what he described as a very competitive offer. Derr said Chevron would continue to evaluate attractive acquisition opportunities that would benefit Chevron shareholders.
R O H M AND HAAS, STOCKHAUSEN F O R M JV Rohm and Haas Company of Philadelphia, USA and Stockhausen of Krefeld, Germany, intend to form a global partnership for the manufacture of acrylic acid. The 50-50 joint venture will be fully operational by the end of 2000, with combined manufacturing capacity of 330 000 metric tons per year. Rohrn and Haas will also acquire Stockhausen's merchant monomer business in Europe. Lawrence Wilson, Rohm and Haas chairman and CEO, said the venture with Stockhausen would give the US company an excellent source of acrylic acid in Europe and strengthen its global monomer supply network, supporting the growth of its US$2.4 billion acrylic product portfolio.
Pump Industry Analyst
The joint venture will use Under the planned venture, leading edge ion exchange Rohm and Haas will contribute 165 000 metric tons of its Deer technology developed by the Danish subsidiary of Kemira Park, Texas, acrylic acid manufacturing capacity. Stock- Agro. The company will prohausen will contribute 90 000 duce 150 000 tonnes of potasmetric tons of existing acrylic sium nitrate and 75 000 tonnes acid capacity in Marl, Ger- of dicalcium phosphate under licence. The products will be many, where an additional 75 marketed through Kemira's 000 metric tons of capacity, global distribution network. presently under construction, The Jordanian joint venwill come on-stream before the ture will be finished in 2001. end of 2000. This investment continues Together, the two compaKernira's strategy of expandnies plan to add more than 100 000 metric tons of new acrylic ing outside Europe. It also acid capacity at Marl before I widens the Kernira Agro special fertilisers business. Investthe end of 2003. In addition, Rohm and Haas will build a : rnents in China and Malaysia world-scale butyl acrylate will also increase Kemira plant there so that it can make Agro's special NPK fertiliser acrylic acid esters for its production. European network of acrylic SOUTH A F R I C A N polymer plants, as well as for the merchant market. COMPANIES SIGN
LILLY CLOSES 3 US P L A N T S Industrial coatings and specialty chemical products manufacturer Lilly Industries Inc plans to shut three satellite manufacturing facilities located in Dothan, Alabama; Paulsboro, New Jersey; and Woodbridge, Connecticut. Robert Taylor, Lilly's president and COO, said that the closures represent the cornpany's ongoing programme to increase operating efficiency and capacity utilisation. Manufacturing will be relocated to various Lilly facilities over the next year, with full closure of these satellite-manufacturing plants by the middle of next year.
K E M I R A INVESTS IN J O R D A N Finnish chemical company Kemira and the Jordanbased Arab Potash Company are to invest ~90 million in a potassium nitrate and dicalcium phosphate production plant in Aqaba, Jordan.
HYDROGEN AGREEMENT Air Products South Africa (Pty) Limited will design, engineer, supply and install a new hydrogen plant at Sasol Chemical Industries Limited's (SCI) Sasol site in South Africa. SCI will operate and maintain the plant. The hydrogen produced will be supplied to a number of customers via pipeline and tube trailers. The two companies are investing more than Rd20 million in the project, which will expand Air Products' existing high purity hydrogen supply and pipeline network in the Vaal Triangle region. The hydrogen plant uses pressure swing adsorption technology to produce hydrogen at purity greater than 99.999 per cent by volume.
BASF COATINGS DOUBLES MEXICAN PRODUCTION The annual output of automotive OEM coatings at BASF Coatings' Tultitlfin site
in Mexico is to increase from 7500 to about 15 000 metric tons by the year 2003. This will be achieved through a number of technical and organisational measures that will halve the current lead times in some production processes. The company will invest several million US dollars in more efficient production equipment, including dissolvers, grinding mills, mixing vessels and closed vessels for small batches. This will help BASF reach higher quality standards and ensure improved environmental protection.
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WORLD SHIPBUILDING FACES OVER-CAPACITY A meeting in Paris of the OECD's Council Working Party on Shipbuilding has found that the world shipbuilding industry is in crisis, with prices plummeting and future demand likely to remain weak for some years. Over-capacity in the shipbuilding industry is expected to grow reflecting increased productivity, new facilities and the conversion of naval shipyards to commercial production. The growing participation in shipbuilding by emerging nations such as China is adding to the market imbalance. The meeting participants agreed on the need fbr urgent action to improve market transparency through improved information and analysis of supply and demand. They also agreed on the need to enhance participation of shipbuilding countries that are not currently members of the Working Party, including OECD members such as Australia and Turkey and nonOECD countries such as China, Croatia, India, Brazil and Chinese Taipei.
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from different sources, will guarantee the physical quality of the natural gas passing through it. The project itself will be run by Tractehel Engineering, working in co-operation with its Thai subsidiary, PRO-EN Technologies Ltd.
M E R G E R TALKS END FOR CHEVRON, TEXACO Chevron Corp has confirmed that Texaco has terminated discussions about a possible business combination. Ken Derr, Chevron chairman and CEO, expressed surprise that the Texaco board turned down what he described as a very competitive offer. Derr said Chevron would continue to evaluate attractive acquisition opportunities that would benefit Chevron shareholders.
R O H M AND HAAS, STOCKHAUSEN F O R M JV Rohm and Haas Company of Philadelphia, USA and Stockhausen of Krefeld, Germany, intend to form a global partnership for the manufacture of acrylic acid. The 50-50 joint venture will be fully operational by the end of 2000, with combined manufacturing capacity of 330 000 metric tons per year. Rohrn and Haas will also acquire Stockhausen's merchant monomer business in Europe. Lawrence Wilson, Rohm and Haas chairman and CEO, said the venture with Stockhausen would give the US company an excellent source of acrylic acid in Europe and strengthen its global monomer supply network, supporting the growth of its US$2.4 billion acrylic product portfolio.
Pump Industry Analyst
The joint venture will use Under the planned venture, leading edge ion exchange Rohm and Haas will contribute 165 000 metric tons of its Deer technology developed by the Danish subsidiary of Kemira Park, Texas, acrylic acid manufacturing capacity. Stock- Agro. The company will prohausen will contribute 90 000 duce 150 000 tonnes of potasmetric tons of existing acrylic sium nitrate and 75 000 tonnes acid capacity in Marl, Ger- of dicalcium phosphate under licence. The products will be many, where an additional 75 marketed through Kemira's 000 metric tons of capacity, global distribution network. presently under construction, The Jordanian joint venwill come on-stream before the ture will be finished in 2001. end of 2000. This investment continues Together, the two compaKernira's strategy of expandnies plan to add more than 100 000 metric tons of new acrylic ing outside Europe. It also acid capacity at Marl before I widens the Kernira Agro special fertilisers business. Investthe end of 2003. In addition, Rohm and Haas will build a : rnents in China and Malaysia world-scale butyl acrylate will also increase Kemira plant there so that it can make Agro's special NPK fertiliser acrylic acid esters for its production. European network of acrylic SOUTH A F R I C A N polymer plants, as well as for the merchant market. COMPANIES SIGN
LILLY CLOSES 3 US P L A N T S Industrial coatings and specialty chemical products manufacturer Lilly Industries Inc plans to shut three satellite manufacturing facilities located in Dothan, Alabama; Paulsboro, New Jersey; and Woodbridge, Connecticut. Robert Taylor, Lilly's president and COO, said that the closures represent the cornpany's ongoing programme to increase operating efficiency and capacity utilisation. Manufacturing will be relocated to various Lilly facilities over the next year, with full closure of these satellite-manufacturing plants by the middle of next year.
K E M I R A INVESTS IN J O R D A N Finnish chemical company Kemira and the Jordanbased Arab Potash Company are to invest ~90 million in a potassium nitrate and dicalcium phosphate production plant in Aqaba, Jordan.
HYDROGEN AGREEMENT Air Products South Africa (Pty) Limited will design, engineer, supply and install a new hydrogen plant at Sasol Chemical Industries Limited's (SCI) Sasol site in South Africa. SCI will operate and maintain the plant. The hydrogen produced will be supplied to a number of customers via pipeline and tube trailers. The two companies are investing more than Rd20 million in the project, which will expand Air Products' existing high purity hydrogen supply and pipeline network in the Vaal Triangle region. The hydrogen plant uses pressure swing adsorption technology to produce hydrogen at purity greater than 99.999 per cent by volume.
BASF COATINGS DOUBLES MEXICAN PRODUCTION The annual output of automotive OEM coatings at BASF Coatings' Tultitlfin site
in Mexico is to increase from 7500 to about 15 000 metric tons by the year 2003. This will be achieved through a number of technical and organisational measures that will halve the current lead times in some production processes. The company will invest several million US dollars in more efficient production equipment, including dissolvers, grinding mills, mixing vessels and closed vessels for small batches. This will help BASF reach higher quality standards and ensure improved environmental protection.
ca,?
[--
WORLD SHIPBUILDING FACES OVER-CAPACITY A meeting in Paris of the OECD's Council Working Party on Shipbuilding has found that the world shipbuilding industry is in crisis, with prices plummeting and future demand likely to remain weak for some years. Over-capacity in the shipbuilding industry is expected to grow reflecting increased productivity, new facilities and the conversion of naval shipyards to commercial production. The growing participation in shipbuilding by emerging nations such as China is adding to the market imbalance. The meeting participants agreed on the need fbr urgent action to improve market transparency through improved information and analysis of supply and demand. They also agreed on the need to enhance participation of shipbuilding countries that are not currently members of the Working Party, including OECD members such as Australia and Turkey and nonOECD countries such as China, Croatia, India, Brazil and Chinese Taipei.
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