Westlake Chemical Corp. (Houston; www.westlake.com) has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Germany-based Vinnolit Holdings GmbH and its subsidiary companies from Advent International, a private equity firm. Vinnolit is an integrated global leader in specialty polyvinyl…
Clariant AG (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) has announced that it has signed an agreement with Siemens Fuel Gasification Technology to cooperate in the commercialization of a new, jointly developed sour-gas shift (SGS) technology for coal gasification. The agreement appoints Clariant as…
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), has reached its highest peak since February 2008, while also posting its highest year-over-year gain since September 2010. Measured on a…
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com) and the Korean petrochemical company, SK Global Chemical, have signed a 50-50 joint venture agreement in Seoul, South Korea for a total investment of $595 million to manufacture a range of…
Ineos Technologies (Rolle, Switzerland; www.ineos.com) has announced that it is supplying four BICHLOR bipolar electrolyzers to HF Chlor-Alkali’s new plant located in Eddyville, Iowa. The new plant will supply caustic soda, muriatic acid and bleach to an adjacent food-processing facility,…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) today announced the construction of a new plant for polyalkylene glycol (PAG)-based lubricants at its Ludwigshafen site. The manufacturing facility will start operations by the beginning of 2016 and produce PAG lubricant base stocks and…
The Compounding division of Ineos Technologies (Rolle, Switzerland; www.ineos.com) and Doeflex Compounding (Wiltshite, U.K.; www.doeflex.co.uk) have announced the intention to combine their S-PVC (suspension polyvinyl chloride) compounding businesses. The combined business would be run by an integrated management team from…
PAS, Inc. (Houston; www.pas.com), a provider of software for process safety, cybersecurity and asset reliability for the energy, power and process industries worldwide, and Tripwire, Inc. (Portand, Oreg.; www.tripwire.com), a global provider of risk-based security and compliance management solutions, have…
Gazprom Neft (Moscow; www.gazprom.com), SIBUR (Moscow; www.sibur.com) and Titan Group signed an agreement to establish a joint venture (JV) based on Omsk Polypropylene Plant (Poliom). As part of the deal, Sibgazpolimer, a joint venture of SIBUR and Gazprom Neft (each…
Both the Global and the U.S. Chemical Production Index (CPRI) rose during April, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; ). Both the Global and the U.S. Chemical Production Index…