ECN-European Chemical News articles from April 2005

ECN-European Chemical News archives from April 2005

Is China about to implode?(Comment)(Cover Story)
April 4, 2005... China continues to dominate thinking in almost all sectors of our industry, be it commodity, speciality or fine chemicals. Phenomenal growth in the country continues unabated, making a presence there almost mandatory, it seems. Figures...

Operating profit.
April 4, 2005... Fertiliser and speciality chemicals company Israel Chemicals Ltd (ICL) recorded a 75% rise in operating profit to $354.4m on sales 20% up at $2.72bn. ICL said the result reflected a strong market environment for many of its products, leading to...

Dottikon shares.(trading at SWX Swiss Exchange )(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Shares in Dottikon began trading on the SWX Swiss Exchange last week, following its successful spin-off by Ems-Chemie. Ems shares were allocated a tradeable subscription right, with 20 subscription rights entitling the purchase of one share in...

Interim surcharge.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... BASF plans to impose a Europe-wide temporary surcharge of 20 [euro]-90 [euro]/tonne on all paper-coating latex. It said the measure, which will apply from 1 April, was due to increasing raw material costs. BASF said it cannot state the duration...

OMG settles suit.
April 4, 2005... Metals-based speciality chemicals producer OM Group (OMG) has agreed to pay $84.5m to settle the shareholder class action lawsuits relating to OMG's 2003 share price decline--subject to agreement with the lead plaintiff and court approval. OMG...

Yara takes Burrup stake.(AUSTRALIA: AMMONIA)(Burrup Fertilisers Proprietary Ltd.)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Yara, the Norwegian fertiliser group, has signed an agreement worth nearly $100m for a 30% stake in Australia's Burrup Holdings. Burrup has debts totalling $250m, of which Yara will own 30% as part of the deal. The Australian company...

ACC appoints NMA president.(US: SUCCESSOR)(American Chemistry Council appointed National Mining Association's Jack Gerard as president )(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has chosen National Mining Association (NMA) president and chief executive Jack Gerard as its president and chief executive officer (ceo), effective 1 July. He will succeed Tom Reilly, who took over...

Consultant assesses Reach.(EUROPE: REACH)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Data from the European Commission's studies on the possible impact of Reach throughout the supply chain has been forwarded to an independent consultant for analysis, Cefic director general Alain Perroy revealed last week. Speaking on the...

BP Lavera site will go to Innovene.(FRANCE: SPIN-OFF)
April 4, 2005... BP's Lavera site in southern France will fully integrate refining and petrochemicals and become independent from BP France, following BP's olefins and derivatives business spin-off into Innovene, said BP France's chairman and chief executive...

Celanese raises 2005 forecast.(PERFORMANCE: EARNINGS)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Thanks to a better-than-expected first-quarter performance for chemicals, Celanese has raised its earnings forecast for the quarter and also for the full year of 2005. The group, owned by private equity group Blackstone and now...

Elementis sells epoxy business.(EPOXY: URETHANES)
April 4, 2005... Elementis, the UK-based speciality chemicals company, has agreed to sell its epoxy and urethanes products business, Hardman, for around 7.8m [pounds sterling] (11.2m [euro]/$14.9m) in cash to US-based Royal Adhesives and Sealants. ...

UCB reshuffle leads to 7% income rise.(BELGIUM: BIOPHARMA)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... UCB, the Belgian group that is now wholly focused on biopharmaceuticals after the disposal last year of its surface specialities and films businesses, has reported a 7% rise to 363m [euro] in 2004 net ihcome, but says it expects income this...

Solutia set to restructure nylon output.(US: CLOSURE)
April 4, 2005... Solutia, the US fibres, performance films and speciality chemicals maker, plans to shut its nylon industrial fibre manufacturing unit at its Pensacola, Florida, US, plant by the end of May in a move that will affect 140 contractors and six...

Petro-Canada buys stake.(Coastal Petrochemicals )(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Canadian energy and petrochemicals firm Petro-Canada has bought US-based El Paso's stake in Coastal Petrochemicals for approximately Can$92m (58m [euro]/$74m), including working capital and post closing adjustments. Coastal, based in...

Chemical sales on the up.(GERMANY: FORECAST)
April 4, 2005... German chemical firms forecast a gradual slowdown in 2005 following strong performances during the fourth quarter of 2004, figures released by industry association VCI showed. High oil prices, the weak dollar and the gradual cooling of the...

BP focuses on raffinate splitter as root of deadly explosion.(US: INVESTIGATION)
April 4, 2005... Investigators of the deadly explosion at BP's Texas City refinery are focusing on the raffinate splitter within the refinery's isomerisation unit, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has revealed. Fifteen contract...

Mg drives on with merger plan.(MG Technologies AG mergers with its subsidary GEA)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Mg Technologies has finalised plans for a merger with its subsidiary GEA, and will ask the annual general meeting on 7 June to approve a change to the entire company's name to GEA, as well as a move of headquarters to Bochum, Germany. GEA...

French chemicals forecast to make 2005 comeback.(OUTLOOK: PRODUCTION)
April 4, 2005... The French chemical industry should enjoy 'a real rebound' in 2005, with production growth of 3.2%, said the president of trade group Union des Industries Chimiques (UIC) Alain Devic last month. Last year, the industry's output grew by...

Solvay boosts pharma unit.(BELGIUM: ACQUISITION)
April 4, 2005... Solvay, the Belgian pharmaceuticals, chemicals and plastics group, has agreed to buy French family-owned drug maker Fournier Pharma for 1.3bn [euro] in cash. Solvay said it hoped to complete the acquisition during the summer (Q2/3),...

Rhodia in accountancy breach.(FRANCE: INFRINGEMENT)(Autorite des Marches Financiers )(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... France's stock market regulator has accused Rhodia of infringing accounting rules for up to three years going back to December 2000. The Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) alleges that Rhodia did not disclose 'in a sufficiently precise...

BASF brings together nylon production.(NYLON 6: CONSOLIDATION)
April 4, 2005... BASF has announced plans to consolidate its US nylon 6 polymers production into its site in Freeport, Texas, by 2007, in an effort to reduce costs, gain synergies and improve efficiency. BASF intends to phase out nylon production at Enka,...

Coatings firm loses appeal.(US: WOOD PRESERVATIVE)
April 4, 2005... US coatings group PPG Industries faces a bill of about $150m after losing a legal battle with a customer who had claimed one of its wood preservatives was defective. PPG lost its appeal against a decision by the District Court in...

Derivatives are set to reach record prices.(US: FORECAST)
April 4, 2005... The current cycle peak for ethylene will allow derivatives such as polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride and monoethylene glycol to break through historical ceiling prices, says Mark Eramo, CMAI's vice president for olefins and elastomers. ...

European purchasers are rankled by ethylene price.(EUROPE: OLEFINS)
April 4, 2005... Division and disagreement has broken out within the European olefins industry, as the validity of initial quarter two (Q2) ethylene contracts--as a referenced contract number--has been called into question. The first settlement of 750...

Full revival over next two years.(US: CONFERENCE REPORT)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... The global chemical industry in full revival mode, with the current peak expected to last throughout 2005 and 2006 before undergoing a moderate downward correction in earnings in 2007. Gary Adams, president of CMAI told delegates at the CMAI...

Producers plan Ti[O.sub.2] price rise for a 'tough season'.(market analysis)
April 4, 2005... European titanium dioxide (Ti[O.sub.2]) producers are aiming for a fourth successive quarter of price increases as they continue efforts to recoup margins eroded by rising energy and raw material costs. 'We've had terrific increases in the...

Ethyl acetate slow but will rise.(DEMAND: FIRST HALF FORECAST)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Sluggish demand resulted in a disappointing ethyl acetate market during the first quarter (Q1) of this year, but European sellers say they are hopeful that business will soon start to improve. 'Sales have been slower than planned, but we...

BASF ups prices.
April 4, 2005... BASF aims to raise European propionic acid prices by 70 [euro]/tonne due to unsatisfactory margins. The changes, effective immediately or as contracts allow, will also see 2-ethythexanoic acid numbers rise 100 [euro]/tonne. Markets editor...

Lonza mothballs.(Italy facility closed)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Lonza has shut down its 25 000 tonne/year trimellitic anhydride (TMA) facility in Italy for between three and six months. The Italian division of the Swiss chemical company is the sole producer of TMA in Europe. It says the decision was made...

Acetyls increase.
April 4, 2005... Eastman says it needs to increase its acetyls prices because of increased demand and high energy, freight and raw material costs. Acetic anhydride will rise by 2 cent/ lb globally from 1 April. Markets editor jane.gibson@icis.com

Ethanol futures.
April 4, 2005... The Chicago Board of Trade started trading ethanol futures late last month. The front-month contract for June started at $1.19/gal, with a bid and ask price at $1.19 and $1.23 respectively. The futures will be physically delivered using an...

SIS polymer hike.
April 4, 2005... Kraton Polymers aims to raise its SIS polymers by 200 [euro]/tonne from 1 April. The hike is blamed on rising feedstock costs and the need to 'maintain profitability'. Markets editor jane.gibson@icis.com

Correction.(Correction Notice)
April 4, 2005... ICL Industrial Products is raising the price of tetrabromobisphenol-A bis (2,3-dibromopropyl ether) by 15%, and not both tetrabromobisphenol-A and 2,3-dibromopropyl ether as published in ECN on 28 March. Markets editor jane.gibson@icis.com...

Naphtha prices begin to slide: Naphtha numbers have been hit by a supply surplus. However, most markets have been quiet, the BP explosion in Texas bringing a little uncertainty to an otherwise stable mixed xylene market.(Market trends)
April 4, 2005... Naphtha prices dipped to $475-485/tonne cif NWE, as supply in Europe continues to outstrip demand. Material is plentiful, despite European crackers running well. The downslide in crude oil prices has also contributed to lower naphtha prices....

Bulk chemical prices.(Market trends)(Illustration)
April 4, 2005... EUROPEAN Q4 2002-Q1 2004 QUARTERLY CONTRACTS, [euro]/TONNE Ethylene Propylene Butadiene Q1 2004 580 475 520 Q2 2004 607 525 ...

Poor demand impacts market: key producers blame discounted spot deals for some of the very low numbers appearing in March, Meanwhile, Asia's recovery was not as strong as had been expected.(Plastics monitor)
April 4, 2005... European commodity polymer prices continued to fall last month, as concerns regarding lower-than-expected demand and resilient converter inventories continued to impact on the market. Prices dipped by between 30 [euro] and 60 [euro]/tonne,...

Adiponitrile: Asia remains the hot tip for new investment, but companies are unlikely to be spending big money at present. Engineering resins remains the key driver of growth as textile demand continues to slip.(Product profile)
April 4, 2005... Uses Adiponitrile (ADN) is used almost exclusively to make hexamethylene diamine (HMDA), of which 92% is used to make nylon 6,6 fibres and resins. Most ADN production is used captively. Supply/demand World demand is estimated by...

Two more opt for Hazchem.(Hazchem Network membership increases)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Two more companies were due to join the UK's Hazchem Network last week. This will take the membership to 38 since its inception six months ago. Ali Karim, Hazchem's safety and technical director, said that five other companies are also...

18m [euro] for drug service centre.(BELGIUM: PHARMACEUTICALS)
April 4, 2005... New Jersey, US-based pharmaceuticals company Schering-Plough is investing 18m [euro] in a distribution centre in Belgium. The facility is being built at Boortmeerbeek in Flanders and is due to open in early 2006. The company's logistics...

Expansion focus on ARA.(Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp logistics business forecasts)
April 4, 2005... The Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) region in Europe will need further investment in logistics as expansions continues in petrochemical capacity. Speaking at DeWitt's US aromatics seminar in Houston, Texas, last week, Andy Nicholson,...

Chemical tanker trio is agreed.(NORWAY: SHIPPING)
April 4, 2005... The Norwegian shipowner Camillo Eitzen has joined with Bergshav Management in a deal for three new chemical tankers. The three 13 000 dwt epoxy coated tankers will be built in South Korea. Each will cost $18.7m, and they will be financed...

Chinese chequers: any company planning to invest in China should be aware that the tax authorities have introduced tax administration and procedures, with stiff penalties for non-compliance.(China taxation)
April 4, 2005... The article 'The stakes are high' (ECN 10-16 January) highlighted the chemical industry's view of the current climate for investment in China, weighing up the potential for growth, low labour costs and currency exchange incentives against the...

Fortune's cookie: China is predicted to become the world's second-biggest chemical market after the US. But there are risks attached.(China)
April 4, 2005... To say China has become a rising player in the global economy is to state the obvious. Since China began to open its doors to outside business in 1978, its growth has been stupendous, and has accelerated since joining the World Trade...

Long-term plans.(international policy for greenhouse gase management)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... The American Chamber of Commerce in the European Union (AmCham EU) is calling for a long-term international policy approach on climate change. Following its spring council, the AmCham EU said: 'As a result of the EU's unique position in the...

EHS staff survey.(environmental, health and safety)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... According to a study by US-based Business and Legal Reports, only half the environmental, health and safety (EHS) professionals responding to its survey regularly communicate to their businesses the value of their activities. In addition, only...

Pesticide proposal.
April 4, 2005... The European Commission has launched a consultation on a proposal to revise the European Union's pesticide risk assessment rules. Proposals put forward include the use of the substitution principle as well as targets to reduce the overall risk...

WEEE directive to come into effect January 2006.(Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment waste management)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... The UK's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has confirmed that European Union regulations on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (the WEEE directive) will be transposed into UK law during this summer. According to a letter sent...

GM framework of 'high' caliber.(EUROPEAN COMMISSION: REGULATION)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... The European Commission has expressed 'full confidence' in its existing GMO regulatory framework. In a statement, the Commission said the framework was one of the strictest in the world and provided for a 'high level of scientific...

Illegal GM corn is in food chain.(SYNGENTA: GRAIN MIX UP)
April 4, 2005... Syngenta has confirmed that a non-commercial and untested strain of GM corn, Bt10, has been inadvertently mixed with an approved and cultivated strain of corn, Bt11. In a statement, Syngenta said: 'The Bt protein produced is identical to...

Nepic will boost regional growth.(UK: CLUSTER FORMATION)
April 4, 2005... The UK's Pharmaceutical & Speciality Cluster has merged with the Teesside Chemical Initiative to form the North East Process Industry Cluster (Nepic) from the beginning of this month. Nepic will continue the traditions of its founding...

45% will be fine and speciality.(CHINA: MARKET REPORT)
April 4, 2005... China's push to boost production of fine and speciality chemicals to 45% of overall chemicals manufacture offers remarkable opportunities for investment in the sector, says a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). In the latest of its China...

Share placement nets 34.5m [euro].(BELGIUM: INNOGENETICS)
April 4, 2005... Belgian biopharmaceutical company Innogenetics has raised over 34.5m [euro] through the private placement of new shares with institutional investors and one of its reference shareholders, CRI BVBA. Demand for the new shares, priced at 12.60...

RNAi therapeutics.
April 4, 2005... Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Dowpharma, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, have announced an agreement for the manufacture and supply of candidate RNAi therapeutics for Alnylam's lead development programmes in age-related macular degeneration (AMD)...

Express proteins.
April 4, 2005... Australia's Monash University has invested in a 12-module AKTAxpress system, the world's largest parallel protein purification workstation, supplied by medical diagnostics company GE Healthcare. Funded by the Australian Research Council, the...

Go for Gail cracker.(Gail India gas cracker complex at Assam)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Gail India plans to commission its long-pending Assam gas cracker complex in 2010 after reworking the complex's configuration. The gas and naphtha-fired cracker will produce 220 000 tonne/year of ethylene, up from the original 200 000...

Acid build in Urals.
April 4, 2005... Canadian engineering group SNC-Lavalin has won a Can$60m (38m [euro]/$49m) contract from Sredneuralsky Copper Smelter, a subsidiary of UrN Mining and Metallurgical Company, to build two sulphuric acid plants at a copper smelter in Russia's Ural...

Cleaner gasoline.
April 4, 2005... The Belarus-based Mozyr Oil Refinery has selected Axens to supply two clean gasoline technologies: Prime-G+ gasoline desulphurisation and C5/C6 alkane isomerisation. The 1.1m tonne/year Prime-G+ unit will produce ultra-low sulphur catalytic...

P&G invests in fatty acid production in Kuantan.(Procter & Gamble Chemicals)(FPG Oleochemicals)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Procter & Gamble Chemicals and local partner Felda Palm Industries are investing in fatty acid production in Malaysia. Their 50:50 joint venture, FPG Oleochemicals, will build a 120 000 tonne/year plant for vegetable oil-based fatty acids at...

$60m budget for PP fibres in Gravatai.(BRAZIL: FITESA)
April 4, 2005... Brazil's Fitesa is to build a $60m polypropylene (PP) non-woven fibres plant at its site in Gravatai, Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil. Herminio Freitas, Fitesa's director of new projects, said the 15 000 tonne/ year plant will consume...

Sumitomo allies with Toyo Ink.(CHINA: POLYPROPYLENE COMPOUNDS)
April 4, 2005... Sumitomo Chemical and Toyo Ink Manufacturing have formed a joint venture (jv) company in south China to manufacture pelypropylene compounds. To be called Sumika Polymer Compounds (Zhuhai), and owned 55% by Sumitomo and 45% by Toyo, the jv...

Vinyl chloride copolymers up.(GERMANY: BASF)
April 4, 2005... BASF is investing 6m [euro] at its main Ludwigshafen site in Germany to boost capacity for copolymers of vinyl chloride to 12 000 tonne/year. The move is in response to rising demand for special coating systems. BASF sells vinyl chloride...

Study predicts Brazil deficit.(PETCHEMS: INVESTMENT)
April 4, 2005... Petrochemicals investment in Brazil needs to continue without delay to keep pace with rising domestic demand, according to a soon-to-be released study by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). Projected deficits in polypropylene (PP),...

CSCIL plans speciality unit.(Ciba Specialty Chemicals India speciality effect chemical unit)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Ciba Specialty Chemicals India (CSCIL) plans to build a plant to manufacture and export speciality effect chemicals. The proposed unit would cost Rupee500m (8.7m [euro]/$11.4m) and be located at CSCIL's existing site in Goa, India. It has...

BASF to put $260m into South America.(INDIA: SPECIALITY EXPORT)
April 4, 2005... BASF plans to invest $260m in South America over the next five years. The investment will be used to modernise and expand the company's existing plants rather than construct new facilities. The company added that this amount could increase,...

Heavyweight reactors shipped.(Sasol Ltd.)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Sasol is shipping two technology reactors from Japan to Qatar for implementation in the $1bn Oryx GTL project (ECN 10 February 2003). The two cigar-shaped reactors, which are based on Sasol's Slurry Phase Distillate (SPD) Fischer Tropsch...

Petrobras invests.
April 4, 2005... Petrobras is planning to invest $1bn in the expansion of a refinery and the building of an acrylic acid plant in Brazil by 2010. The Minas Gerais State Development Bank will finance the project. Expansion of the Gabriel Passos refinery in Betim...

Propylene push.
April 4, 2005... Thai Olefins Co (TOC) has started expanding its No 1 cracker to raise its propylene capacity by 60 000 tonne/ year to 250 000 tonne/year in the second half of 2005. The ethylene capacity of TOC's No 1 cracker and 300 000 tonne/year No 2 cracker...

Fertiliser upgrade.(Eurochem plans to upgrade Novomoskovsk urea facility)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Russia's fertiliser holding company Eurochem has announced plans to upgrade Novomoskovsk's largest urea facility at its Carbamide-3 fertiliser plant in a Rouble185m (5.1m [euro]/$6.7m) project. A large-scale reconstruction is due to start in...

Elastomer boost.
April 4, 2005... International Specialty Products plans to increase its production of emulsion SBR elastomers at its plant in Port Neches, Texas, US. Having acquired the facility in 2003 and already expanded its capacity in 2004 to 181 500 tonne/year, this...

Let the good times roll (for now).(COMMENT)
April 11, 2005... The 30th annual International Petrochemical Conference (IPC) in San Antonio, Texas, last week was marked by happy expectation--except for the gloomy cloud of natural gas prices on everyone's minds, if not exactly at the door. As did other...

Sigma buy.
April 11, 2005... Sigma-Aldrich completed its acquisition of US-headquartered Proligo from German speciality chemicals company Degussa last week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Proligo employs around 300 staff worldwide and had sales of $40m in 2004. It...

Perstorp buys ...
April 11, 2005... Perstorp bought feed-additives supplier Franklin Holding from Luxembourg-based investment firm Silver Lining Finance on 1 April. Netherlands-based Franklin produces feed additives based mainly on organic acids. It employs 40 people and has a...

... Sells admixtures.
April 11, 2005... Perstorp has sold its Scandinavia-based concrete admixtures business to US WR Grace's subsidiary Grace AB of Helsingborg, Sweden. Perstorp said the unit did not fit its strategy. The concrete admixtures business had annual sales of 2m [euro],...

BP's trading.
April 11, 2005... Innovene, the Olefins and Derivatives business of BP, saw margins 'strengthen significantly in the first quarter of 2005, as industry utilisation rates rose', said BP in its spring trading statement. Aromatics and acetyls, which are now...

Chemicals buck national trend.(LONZA: FIRST HALF FORECAST)
April 11, 2005... The Finnish chemicals industry bucked a national trend in the last few months of 2004 with consistent production growth that spilled over into January 2005, the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland reports. According to the country's...

Ethylene hiccoughs.(GERMANY: RECOMMENDATIONS)
April 11, 2005... The world's first over-the-counter (OTC) ethylene futures contract will not be launched in the first half of April as planned, according to ECN's sister agency CNI. Sources said it would be introduced 'soon', but not this month. The...

Octel looks in to cash transfers.(FINANCE: ETHICS CODE)(Dennis Kerrison )(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Large personal cash transfers by Octel's chief executive Dennis Kerrison within the company may have violated the its code of ethics, and 'elements may have violated certain laws and regulations', the company said in a statement. The...

MG pledges not to sell Lurgi business.(GERMANY: RECOMMENDATIONS)
April 11, 2005... MG Technologies has denied reports in the Austrian press that it plans to sell engineering subsidiary Lurgi to Austrian industrialist Mirko Kovats. The company is not talking about a sale of Lurgi nor is it planning to conduct such talks,...

Strikes hit Arkema while unions and managers talk.(FRANCE: JOB LOSSES)
April 11, 2005... Arkema was hit by strikes last week as the company and central works committee met to find a way forward with job cuts at its Saint-Auban plant. This site will bear the brunt of 548 job losses scheduled across the firm's French facilities. ...

Bank likely to take over Treofan.(GOLDMAN SACHS: OPP FILMS)
April 11, 2005... Investment bank Goldman Sachs looks likely to take over the majority of German OPP films manufacturer Treofan (formerly Trespaphan). Treofan is currently owned by Israel's Dor Chemicals and US private equity group Bain Capital, which...

Formosa agrees to pay a fine.(US: FATALITIES)
April 11, 2005... Formosa Plastics will pay $300000 as part of its agreement with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) following an explosion at the firm's polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant at Illiopolis, Illinois, which killed five on 23...

Clean up order.
April 11, 2005... A US district court in Arkansas has ordered Hercules to pay at least $95m to remediate a US Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site at Jacksonville, Arkansas, but the company plans to appeal. Hercules said it believes the trial court...

New textile fibre jv.(Rhodia and SNIA BPD S.p.A form joint venture with Radici Group)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Rhodia and Snia formed a new textile fibre joint venture (jv) with Italian RadiciGroup. The enterprise will involve Nylstar, the 50:50 jv between Rhodia and Snia, and RadiciGroup's RadiciFibres. The latter will hold the majority stake. Affected...

BP's Texas City disaster: truck is implicated.(BP: EXPLOSION)
April 11, 2005... A diesel lorry could be the source of ignition of the blast that killed 15 workers at BP's Texas City, US, refinery. US Chemical Hazard and Safety Investigation Board investigation manager, Bill Hoyle, said: 'Witness statements indicate...