Polymers Petrochemicals Circular Economy Recycling 08-04-2019 - Arhive

This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant

Polymers Textiles Petrochemical Prices

Polymers Petrochemicals Circular Economy Recycling

Crude Oil Prices Trend

Vice President Mike Pence on Friday said the U.S. will sanction dozens of ships tied to Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company, as the White House ramps up financial pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

It is also sanctioning a pair of companies that transport Venezuelan crude oil to Cuba.

“Venezuela’s oil belongs to the Venezuelan people,” Mr. Pence said at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

The sanctions will be levied against 34 vessels that operate under Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. — known as PDVSA.

PDVSA is a “vital source” of the Maduro regime’s wealth, Mr. Pence said.

The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) has spread awareness about the benefits of plastics and responsible resource consumption at a community outreach event supported by BASF in Dubai Festival City Mall last March 28 as part of the 7th edition of GPCA’s Waste Free Environment (WFE) campaign.

Families and visitors of different age visited GPCA’s awareness kiosk and enjoyed a wide range of activities including working with local artisans to produce handicraft from used plastics. Visitors of the mall participated in a recycling competition held by the campaign’s official recycling partner, Bee›ah, for the chance to win a special prize. With the aim to encourage plastic recycling, participants had to dispose of their unwanted plastic bottles at reverse vending machines to take part in the raffle.

The new Oeko-Tex regulations for all certification systems and services have entered into force from April 1. Consumer protection and sustainability along the textile value chain have always been fundamental issues for the Oeko-Tex association. For this reason, existing guidelines of the Oeko-Tex product portfolio are updated at the beginning of each year.

The latest changes relate to the Eco Passport by Oeko-Tex standard. The basis for sustainable production of textiles and leather goods is the use of environmentally friendly chemicals. The Eco Passport by Oeko-Tex certification is expressly aimed at the avoidance of unwanted chemicals, even before they enter the global supply chain. For this, numerous chemicals, including dyes, boiling agents, adhesives, inks, pigments and accessories, are analysed in a confidential, three-stage process, which confirms that the formulation and individual ingredients fulfil specific criteria with respect to sustainability, security and compliance with legal provisions.

“We need to find ways to capture and chemically break down toxic gases for practical, better-performing protective equipment,” Lee said in a statement.

Scientists have developed a new coating for textile fibres that could efficiently capture toxic industrial compounds and chemical warfare agents under real-world conditions, including high humidity. The research, published in the journal Small, may lead to improved masks and personal protective equipment for soldiers and others at risk of exposure.

Researchers at North Carolina State University and the US Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (CCDC CBC) developed functional textiles that neutralised a blistering agent simulant under conditions of 80 per cent relative humidity. The new coating also captured ammonia gas, a commonly produced industrial chemical in the US.

The specialty chemicals company, Lanxess is expanding the new polyamide 6 Durethan P product range with addition of two highly reinforced material variants that can be used as an economical alternative to polyamide 66 materials. Durethan bkv50ph2.0 and Durethan bkv60ph2.0ef have short glass fibre content levels of 50 and 60 per cent by weight respectively.

The ‘P’ in the product name of Durethan P products stands for ‘Performance’ and indicates the high fatigue resistance of these materials against pulsating loads, according to a press release by Lanxess. This means that these grades are many times more resistant to cyclical mechanical loads than standard products with the same glass fibre content. Potential applications of Durethan P series include supporting structures for electrical and electronics modules in batteries for electric vehicles, engine oil pans, oil filter modules and end caps, engine and chassis mounts, damper pistons, and seat shells for passenger cars. In mechanical engineering, the new materials are suitable for dynamically highly stressed components such as gear wheels.

Saudi Arabia is threatening to sell its oil in currencies other than the dollar if Washington passes a bill exposing OPEC members to US antitrust lawsuits, three sources familiar with Saudi energy policy said.

They said the option had been discussed internally by senior Saudi energy officials in recent months. Two of the sources said the plan had been discussed with OPEC members and one source briefed on Saudi oil policy said Riyadh had also communicated the threat to senior U.S. energy officials.

The chances of the US bill known as NOPEC coming into force are slim and Saudi Arabia would be unlikely to follow through, but the fact Riyadh is considering such a drastic step is a sign of the kingdom’s annoyance about potential U.S. legal challenges to OPEC.

Negotiations on the price of European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) started this week to be delivered to the CIS countries in April.  The rising cost of raw materials is forcing European manufacturers to go for a further increase in export prices, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report .

The April contract price of ethylene was agreed at a level of EUR30 per tonne higher than the level of March, which suggests an increase in the cost of PVC production in the region of EUR15 per tonne.  Against this background, European manufacturers announced an increase in the export prices of suspensions for April shipments to the markets of the CIS countries, while discussing price increases that are not proportional to the increase in the cost of ethylene.

It is no longer OPEC and OPECplus countries that are to manage the oil prices, but USA too as it has the highest strategic oil reserve of above 700 million barrels and the highest oil production at 12.2 million barrels which can go up further despite its high production cost per barrel compared to OPEC-plus countries.

There are indications that USA could use its strategic reserve for the obvious reasons – either due to the costs incurred while enjoying its own oil production, or most likely for forcing down the oil prices and preventing it from hitting the magic number of $70.

In a rare show of unity, CEO Ramon Laguarta and CEO James Quincey discussed during a World Economic Forum panel how their companies are reducing plastic use.

The other panelists — Dow Chemical CEO Jim Fitterling and government officials from Vietnam and France — agree that the plastic occupying landfills and polluting oceans is a problem. But they see different ways to address the issue.

In 2016, 480 billion plastic bottles were sold, with less than 50 percent collected for recycling and only 7 percent turned into new bottles, according to Euromonitor data.

Hanoi and Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture will exchange experiences, research and apply the technology for rare-earth waste dumps in Fukuoka to small and medium-sized landfills in Hanoi city.

Hanoi always values cooperation in environmental protection with Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment Le Tuan Dinh said at a meeting with a deputy director of the Fukuoka Environment Department in Hanoi on April 4.

At the meeting, the two sides discussed cooperation on improving environmental quality and responding to climate change, with the priority given to better air quality and minimize plastic waste.

Before the meeting, the Hanoi People’s Committee and Fukuoka prefecture’s authority on October 11, 2010 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), which promoted cooperation in environmental technology and technical staff training, Vietnamplus reported.

DSM announces price increases for its Akulon® and Novamid® polyamide 6 unfilled polymer grades for film, extrusion and unfilled injection moulding in Europe, Middle East, Africa, North America and in Asia Pacific to compensate for increased costs of raw materials and other costs over the past period with immediate effect, where contracts and prior agreements allow.

While DSM continues to pursue and implement cost savings initiatives targeted at absorbing the impact of the raw material escalations, this increase is necessary to ensure DSM’s sustainable long-term position as leading supplier of engineering plastics.

Oil prices gained around 30 percent in the first quarter this year, with both WTI and Brent posting their best quarterly performance in a decade—since the second quarter of 2009.

At the start of the second quarter of 2019, WTI Crude had already topped $60 last week and has been trading above that level in the first week of April, while Brent Crude has been flirting with the $70 mark for days.

At the end of last year, the analysts predicting such a fast rise in oil prices in 2019 were in the minority, after market participants panicked over gloomy forecasts about slowing oil demand growth this year that sent oil tumbling nearly 40 percent in Q4 2018.

Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia, is by far the largest oil company in the world. The company produces around 13 percent of the world’s oil, but its business operations have been notoriously opaque for decades. It has often been stated that the company has plenty of low-cost legacy wells that drop its overall production costs to $10 per barrel, or even lower.

Because there was no way to audit this information, the world was left to guess at the actual breakeven costs for the world’s largest oil company. This week Saudi Aramco lifted the veil on its financial condition in a bond offering for the company.

Cone Denim has launched the next evolution of its Sustainblue collection with eco-friendly Distilled Indigo denims. Cone is bringing Dystar’s Cadira Denim dyeing process to the Americas as part of its commitment to sustainable solutions and innovation. Cadira styles of Distilled Indigo will debut at Kingpins Amsterdam beginning from April 10.

Distilled Indigo fabrics are dyed using pre-reduced liquid indigo dyes which are the cleanest in the market, reducing chemicals and achieving energy and water savings. As the first mill to introduce Cadira Distilled Indigo in the western hemisphere, this collection combines Dystar Indigo Vat 40 per cent Solution, the most eco-awarded Indigo in the world, with the ecologically advanced reducing agent Sera Con C-RDA to create a salt-free dye that completely eliminates hydrosulphite.

Under Armour has partnered with Celliant to create UA Rush, a mineral-infused fabric designed to enhance performance, giving athletes that extra edge by recycling the body’s energy during performance. Under Armour is once again changing the performance apparel game by introducing responsive textiles and gear, scientifically designed to enhance performance.

“UA Rush is Under Armour’s newest performance apparel line, designed to be worn at the time of sweat. This scientifically engineered fabric promotes improved performance and energy return. In simplified terms, UA Rush is intended to provide the same benefits to the body as an infrared saunam,” Under Armour said on its website.

WTI crude prices may touch $70-75, though near this level, we may see a breather in rally.

For global economy, nothing is more political as well as significant than crude oil, which contributes majorly to the cost of productions. That’s why we call it ‘lifeblood of economy’.

The commodity’s price has seen massive volatility, especially since the beginning of 2000. In 2000 a bull rally started from $25 a barrel and saw the peak of $147 in 2008 — a multifold rise.

2008 was the year of subprime loan crisis and prices fell like nine pin and touched a low of $32 per barrel. People learned their lesson and since then hedging activities increased and futures role have widened significantly.

Nifty marks a new all-time high of 11761 while it struggled to maintain the momentum and closed flat.

The weekly charts formed a Jodi which indicates indecision.

This is a very powerful reversal formation, especially when spotted near previous all-time highs.

A rate cut by RBI also failed to cheer the bulls as rising crude prices kept upside capped.

Muscat: Oil prices for the first quarter of 2019 have posted their best quarterly performance since 2009. Buoyed by signs of a tightening market, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead in curbing production, and a decline in production from the US, Russia, Canada, Libya and Iran, among others, oil prices are expected to firm up during second and third quarter of the year.

In research published recently, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) evaluated the state of oil markets for the first quarter of 2019 and provided an outlook for the second and third quarters.

-Polymers Textiles Petrochemical Prices