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Dow completes restructuring of ownership for Dow Corning

The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) today announced the successful completion of the transaction to restructure the ownership of Dow Corning. Dow is now 100 percent owner of Dow Corning’s silicones business, which had 2015 revenues of greater than…

KBR awarded license and contract for divided-wall column in China

KBR, Inc. (Houstson; www.kbr.com) announced today it has been awarded a license and basic engineering design contract by a confidential client for a grassroots Distill-Max Stabilizer Column at Shandong Province in China. Under the terms of the contract, KBR will…

Global CPRI falls 0.2% in April, ACC says

The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that the second quarter started on a soft note, with the headline index falling 0.2 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis in…

CAB expands 1.0% in May, ACC says

The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), expanded 1.0 percent in May, following a revised 0.8 percent increase in April and 0.1 percent increase in March. All data…

SABIC inaugurates new research center in the Netherlands

On May 19, 2016 SABIC (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com) inaugurated a new research facility at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen, the Netherlands. The official opening was done by the Governor of the Limburg Province Theo Bovens and Peter Borman,…

U.S. specialty chemicals index slips entering second quarter, ACC says

The Specialty Chemicals Market Volume Index, a tool created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) entered the second quarter of 2016 on a soft note, slipping 0.3 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis in April.…

Economic trends

The March 2016 preliminary value for the CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) stayed even with the value from the previous month, with the Construction Labor, Buildings and Engineering & Supervision subindices all rising, while the Equipment…

Wholesale trade in chemicals expanded in March, ACC says

Wholesale trade in chemicals expanded 0.7% to $10.02 billion in March, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). “At the same time, inventories fell back 2.4% in March and,…

PPG opens applications-development center for liquid coatings

PPG (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.ppg.com) today opened a $3 million state-of-the-art liquid coatings application development center at its Oak Creek, Wisconsin, plant. The new center includes advanced equipment that helps simulate industrial coatings customers’ manufacturing environments to ensure PPG coatings will…

Production of major plastic resins in March rose 5.0% year-over-year, ACC says

U.S. production of major plastic resins reached 7.0 billion pounds during March, a total that is 5.0% higher than the same month last year, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington,…