Polymers Petrochemicals Renewability Sustainability 28-01-2019 - Arhive
- Crude Oil Prices Trend
By Daniel Adugbo | Published Date Jan 27, 2019 0:40 AM
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Buhari’s claim oil price averaged
As campaigns ahead of Nigeria’s 2019 general elections get to a crescendo, it is not unusual for politicians canvassing for votes from the electorates across the country to make correct, and most times, bogus claims.
As the number one citizen of the country, when President Muhammadu Buhari says anything, it may be difficult to controvert him.
The Treasury Department plans to claim Venezuela’s U.S.-based international reserves and state-owned assets – including oil refiner and distributor Citgo – on behalf of the newly recognized government headed by opposition leader Juan Guaidó, removing them from the control of President Nicolás Maduro.
In a vaguely worded statement issued late Friday, Treasury said that “the United States will use its economic and diplomatic tools to ensure that commercial transactions by the Venezuelan government, including those involving its state-owned enterprises and international reserves, are consistent” with its recognition of the Guaidó government.
“While plastics have a lot of advantages, it also has a negative impact, mainly on the sustenance of natural resources,” Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu said at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET) held in the city on Thursday.
Talking about the plastic ban in the State, he urged CIPET to create awareness and educate people about the need to recycle and reuse plastic items properly, besides focusing on ways to replace conventional plastics with biodegradable polymers.
Stronger production in the US continued to push propylene contract prices lower in January and is expected to keep downward pressure on the market in the near term.
Propylene contract prices fell in late 2018 as production increased from crackers, refineries and other sources and as year-end de-stocking hampered demand. Inventories rose to a more than three-year high by the end of 2018.
Heading into 2019, tighter supply had been expected to put some upward pressure on pricing due to increased demand from downstream re-stocking and as recent price declines had increased interest in derivative exports.
A lack of high performance composites may lead to catastrophe for Russian aircraft manufacturing, reports Eugene Gerden.
US sanctions imposed against Russia could result in the suspension of the US$ 10 billion MS-21 civil aircraft programme, according to senior officials at the Russia Ministry of Transport and experts at the United Aircraft Building Corporation (UAC) – Russia’s aircraft building monopoly.
The first MS-21, designed to compete with Western rivals Boeing and Airbus and with 100% carbon composite wings, made its maiden flight in 2017 and the first deliveries were scheduled for 2020.
To date, composite materials for the programme have been supplied to Russia from Hexcel in the US and Toray in Japan, since the country lacks its own specialised production, but supplies from both companies are currently suspended.
A 6 million euro European research project is investigating how to significantly improve the recycling of polyurethane plastics, employing methods such as chemical recycling technologies.
Coordinated by Belgian company Recticel, the four-year PureSmart project aims to recover 90 percent of the post-consumer polyurethane in order to create building blocks for existing or new products.
Among others, the project aims to create a new polymer that combines the durability of thermosets with the recyclability of thermoplastics.
SABIC has announced, alongside its customers Unilever, Vinventions and Walki Group, it will be manufacturing certified circular polymers to be used by its customers for packaging solutions for a variety of consumer products that will be launched on the market in 2019.
The certified circular polymers will be produced from a feedstock known as TACOIL – a patented product from UK-based PLASTIC ENERGY Ltd – from the recycling of low quality, mixed plastic waste otherwise destined for incineration or landfill. SABIC will process this feedstock on its production site at Geleen in The Netherlands.
The finished certified circular polymers will then be supplied to the three key customers to use in their development of pioneering, high quality and safe consumer packaging for food, beverage, personal and home care products.
KraussMaffei Group photo German machinery giant KraussMaffei Group GmbH is moving its headquarters and production plant from Munich to Parsdorf, a 30-minute drive from the current location.
German machinery giant KraussMaffei Group GmbH is moving its headquarters and production plant from Munich to Parsdorf, a 30-minute drive from the current location.
Subject to supervisory board approval, the move will start in 2022, but construction on the site can start as early as May, when an extraordinary meeting of the board will convene to decide on the project.
The company is making the move in anticipation of growth both in terms of staffing and production capabilities, Marion Sommerwerck, head of corporate communications and marketing, told Plastics News Europe.
European polystyrene (PS) January demand is particularly strong with multiple producers selling out early in the month due to a combination of pre-buying activity and re-stocking.
Polystyrene cupAvailability was tight with some buyers unable to receive usual volumes from suppliers amid the strong buying interest and despite BASF production cuts having ended as Rhine water levels recovered over the Christmas period.
“PS is probably at the lowest point for the year, so demand is very high. [We had] delivery issues… and blocked orders due to high market demand due to the current low pricing,” one buyer said.
Consumer products companies including Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola are emerging as new targets for global activism, with green groups blaming them for fouling the ocean with plastic and activists urging governments to regulate them.
At the annual World Economic Forum this week, the bosses of these and other firms like Unilever and PepsiCo have been on the defensive, in a way reminiscent of how coal and oil chiefs came under pressure over climate change in previous years.
With another World Economic Forum Annual Meeting complete, I continue to reflect on the headway we’ve made since launching our World Without Waste initiative in Davos one year ago.
We’re making progress. For instance, our global recovery rate is now at 59%. In some countries we are using more than 25% recycled materials in our bottles and cans. And in four countries, we developed a plastic bottle made from 100% recycled material. While we continue to work toward our goals, we are inspired by others working to find solutions, too. The momentum exists, but it’s clear no one can do this alone. This collective challenge is immense, and for real change to occur, it will take companies, governments, and NGOs to come together.
That’s why we recently announced we’re inviting other companies to access our PlantBottle technology free of charge so it will be broadly available, including to our competitors.
Moscow is regaining much of what it lost in Asia, a new drive for power that overtly targets the US while delicately cutting into China’s position and interests
When Vietnam and Russia established a new inter-parliamentary cooperation committee, an agreement finalized in December when Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin visited Hanoi, the camaraderie harked back to their old Cold War ties.
The agreement underlined a recent revival in bilateral cooperation, ranging across trade, investment and energy. But while Russia can’t compete dollar for dollar with China, South Korea or Japan for economic influence in Vietnam, its military ties with Hanoi are still second to none.
The United States becomes a net energy exporter in 2020 and remains so throughout the projection period as a result of large increases in crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas plant liquids (NGPL) production coupled with slow growth in US energy consumption, according to US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2019, released on January 24.
“The United States has become the largest producer of crude oil in the world, and growth in domestic oil, natural gas, and renewable energy production is quickly establishing the United States as a strong global energy producer for the foreseeable future” said EIA Administrator Linda Capuano.
Dow Chemical Co. photo Diego Donoso, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics President. Dow and several other PE makers have added capacity in North America in recent years to take advantage of low-priced feedstock from shale gas and oil.
Dow Chemical Co.’s plastics business has a full agenda for 2019 as it prepares to separate from DowDuPont Inc.
Midland, Mich.-based Dow will become its own publicly traded entity again in early April, less than three years after it merged with fellow plastics and chemicals giant DuPont Co. of Wilmington, Del. DuPont also will become independent, as will a third firm with some units from both Dow and DuPont.
Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics President Diego Donoso recently spoke to Plastics News about new developments for the polyethylene resin market and about sustainability challenges facing the industry.
Yesterday evening in Davos, the European Commission was awarded the 2019 Circular Economy prize by the World Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global Leaders, as recognition of the work done to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy that protects the environment and reduces greenhouse gas emissions while delivering opportunities for jobs, growth and investment. Vice-President Katainen and Commissioner Vella received The Circulars prize offered in the category “Public Sector” on behalf of the Commission.
A new study tracks market opportunities for rigid plastic packaging as it is challenged by flexible formats and growing concern over sustainability.
In a new market report, “The Future of Rigid Plastic Packaging to 2022,” Smithers Pira forecasts that global rigid plastic packaging consumption will be worth $166 billion in 2017, and exceed $200 billion at the end of its study period in 2022.
Volume consumption of rigid plastics globally will reach 52.9 million tonnes in 2017, and is projected to grow over the next five years at an annual rate of 3.7% to 63.4 million tonnes.
According to the report, rigid plastic packaging market expansion will continue to profit from the drive to replace traditional materials—principally glass and metal—with lighter-weight, more cost-effective and higher performance plastic materials in various markets.
