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Petrochemicals

Kentucky PVC pipe production facility shuttered

Westlake Chemical Corp.’s North American Pipe Corp. subsidiary has shut down its Springfield, Kentucky, PVC pipe production facility in an effort to reduce costs and optimize production operations as a result of excess capacity in the PVC pipe market.

Dow opens water technology R&D center in Spain

Dow Water & Process Solutions, a business unit of Dow Chemical, celebrated the grand opening of its Global Water Technology Development Center in a ceremony at the Dow facilities in Tarragona, Spain.

Toyo Engineering wins deal from Chandra Asri to build Indonesia's first butadiene plant

A Korean subsidiary of Japan’s Toyo Engineering Corp. has been awarded a contract to build a butadiene plant in Indonesia with a capacity of 100,000 tons/year.

Momentive begins expansion of specialty ceramics plant in Ohio

Momentive Performance Materials has begun expanding specialty ceramic powders production at its manufacturing facility in Strongsville, Ohio, the company said on Friday.

US labels styrene as likely human carcinogen; industry group vows to contest

A trade group representing the US styrene industry said it would vigorously contest a finding from federal health regulators that the chemical is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHH) issued the findings on Friday in its 12th Report on Carcinogens (RoC), in which styrene was listed as a likely cause of cancer in humans.

FMC picks design firm CH2M HILL for engineering on Wyoming soda ash expansion

Construction and design firm CH2M HILL said Thursday that it was selected by FMC Corp. to provide engineering and procurement services for FMC's soda ash expansion in Granger, Wyoming.

Lubrizol shareholders approve sale to Berkshire

At a special meeting on Thursday, shareholders of specialty chemicals firm Lubrizol overwhelmingly approved the acquisition of the company by Berkshire Hathaway for $135/share in an all-cash transaction.

Air Products to expand US nitrogen output, pipeline

Air Products will increase production of ultra high-purity nitrogen and oxygen and expand its nitrogen pipeline serving the electronics industry in Chandler, Ariz., officials said on Wednesday.

BP unveils annual energy review, sees China passing US as top consumer

China became the world’s largest energy consumer in 2010, overtaking the US during a year which saw the global economic recovery drive consumption higher and at a rate not seen since the aftermath of the 1973 oil price shocks, BP said in its annual global energy review.

LyondellBasell to buy Texas olefins pipeline system from BP

LyondellBasell signed a deal to purchase approximately 200 miles of pipeline near Houston from BP. The pipelines and metering stations comprise a Houston-area olefins distribution system transporting ethylene and propylene from Channelview, Texas, to Equistar's storage terminal at Mont Belvieu, Texas, and facilities in Deer Park, La Porte and the Bayport Industrial District in Pasadena, Texas.