Document GK0G5kNre55pyQXq4BG0DrX64

\/ WljM* 'J, /"</v-^'l/W4t*] Chemical Newt, November 16, U74 1 VyfiM . - fa W*Y~^ marketing information uA>a x,.. ------- >: .-- .-1^ , : ranee rocked by oil 8in ----------c-u-t-b-a-crks still report scandal ' Multinational and national oil com panies operating in France found a tiger in their tanks last week in the form of a damning parliamentary committee re port, accusing them of tax evasion, re strictive practices and abuses ofl power against the state. 1 The report also condemns, thel Mini stry of Industry and Directorate of Motor Fuel Supplies, maintaining that "fundamental questions must be lasked of the relationships between the \ state and the oil companies." \ Apart from the tax evasion, cartel and state ministry inadequacy aspect the report, scathing criticism is leve at the methods adopted by oil corr. nies in evaluating crude oil costs. Com panies are accused of basing their crude oil costs purely on OPEC prices, whereas in fact much of the oil \ is available at participation prices, con siderably lower than those posted. H&ZlMcft In this respect M. Jean Chevenier, president of BP France, is personally accused of providing figures evaluating crude at S9-42,/ barrel instead of $8-64/ barrel on a participation basis. On a flow of 850 000 barrels/day, says the report this represents a monthly diffe rential of $20m. The report advocates two priority moves. Firstly, the adoption of an auto nomous agency, to control and admini ster state oil supplies and policies and secondly, considerable simplification of the state petroleum sector, possibly even involving a merger of CFP and Elf-Erap. Oil companies' reaction to the report has been predictably violent and all involved have refuted the allegations made. With much of France still stunned by the report's far-reaching implications, satisfaction rests only with the delighted French Communist Party, which origially campaigned for the report Japanese producer cutbacks continues. Last week. Mitsubishi Chemical announced that it will reduce output of all fibres inter mediates, including caprolactam, DMT and paraxyiene, by around 30 per cent 'for the kMMdiate future. Toray Indu stries has announced similar cutbacks for polyester intermediates, lasting until the end ofthe year. The fibre cutbacks have had a pro found effect on free market caprolactam prices, now down to around SI 2001 300/ton, less' than half their levels earlier this year. Even India is paying only around SI 400/ton for supplies. The synthetic rubber market slump lies behind a new move by Mitsui' Petrochemical, which will close its_ 10 000 ton / year ethylene-propylene rubber plant at' Chiba in March next year. Japanese PVC production will also be cut throughout the industry by about 40 per cent Gelpke turns down 'Chemitrade offer uk trading circles have been alive with! Gelpke & Bate's business. comment over the past few weeks on' an abortive offer by the major trading company Chemitrade, part of the Steuber group, for the privately-owned chemical merchants, Gelpke & Bate. The offer, for an undisclosed sum. was made some time ago and con sidered at length by Gelpke & Bate be fore being turned down. Observers are also commenting that Chemitrade, although profitable, has yet \to match the success of its parent group. With a wide product range and a number of agencies, Chemitrade is thought to have regarded Gelpke's well-founded solvents and aromatics business as a valuable asset. UK trading sources maintain that A comment from the Steuber group Gelpke & Bate, a medium-sized, well- runs as follows: "There have always established and successful trading com- been close commercial relationships be ' pany, was unconvinced that its future tween the Steuber group and Gelpke & lay within the much larger Steuber Bate. .Naturally both companies assess group. It is believed that the possible from time to time whether a closer re loss- of identity engendered by any move lationship would be mutually beneficial. into the Steuber group was regarded The reports circulating in the industry as being potentially damaging to the can onlyNj-elate to one of such assess long-established nature of much of ments". /DSM completes PVC de-bottlenecking dsm stated this week that its PVC cap acity at Beek. the Netherlands has now been de-bottlenecked to 150 000 from 120 000 ton/year, which has been achieved somewhat earlier than origin ally announced. Unit reactor capacity of the four line plant was originally 25 000 ton/year. The company also says that yinyl chloride levels, which are continuously monitored and displayed on recorders at various points in the plant are about _8ppm in the production areas and about 5ppm in the bulk handling sections. Unconfirmed reports from Italy this week indicate that Professor Maltoni is now of the opinion that 20ppm is a safe level for vinyl chloride in plant atmospheres. He has apparently come to this conclusion after repeating his exposure tests with a different strain of rats from that used originally. BP raises UK phenol prices bp Chemicals is expected to increase UK phenol prices on November 18 by around 15/ton. The move is expected to take prices into the 235-250/ton region. With free market phenol supplies still commanding around 325-350/ton. the BP price increase is expected to stick. Market sources report that phenol business, in contrast to other sectors, remains fairly steady. Even the SIR phenol stored in a 1000 ton tank at Barry is moving--slowly. Bayer-Rickman hits fluorine trouble Bayer-Rickman, producing vitreous en amels at Brugge, Belgium, has run into trouble over fluorine emissions. Local authorities have clamped down on fluorine levels at the plant after a cow was found to have been poisoned by the emissions. Fluorine levels must now be reduced to 5 kg/hour until March, rising slightly to 7 kg/hour after construction of a new chimney in April. New elec tric furnaces will come into operation in September 1975. reducing levels to 1 kg /hour. The entire anti-pollution in vestment will cost Bayer-Rickman around BF60m. BFG28974 24041001 40 ECN technical week European Chemical News, November 15,1974 Netherlands sets legal limits for VCM concentrations the Netherlands' government, through its Ministry of Social Affairs (Volksgezondheid), last week adopted a reso lution from its factory inspectorate de partment (Arbeids Irupectie) that j>ermissible vinyl chloride monomer levels m the working atmospheres of PVC plants must not exceed 10 ppm. The current level of SO ppm was introduced earlier this year from the then existing level permitted of 200 ppm. DSM, one of the two Netherlands PVC polymer producers, has stated, in a message to its staff, that the lowered standard will not affect the continuity of production at its Beek PVC complex. As concentrations of more than 10 ppm level may occur in certain plant areais for short periods of time. DSM has now decided that in these situations the workers will be obliged to wear pro tective respiratory devices. Formerly these were only used at concentrations above 50 ppm. Based on Sumitomo Chemical tech nology, DSM's 120000 ton/year PVC facilities have been in operation only two years, and the company states that vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) levels are comfortably below 10 ppm, although not as low as 1 ppm, which has been established as the future per missible limit in the USA. Shell, the other Netherlands PVC producer, operates a 160 000 ton/year PVC facility at Pemis, based on BASF technology. Nearly half of this capacity has been in operation since 1967 and Shell may have difficulties in ensuring that this older plant meets the new 10 ppm limit Shell states however that it can comply in all its plants. DSM has also stated that it is taking measures to ensure additional protec tion during certain operations in the plant, such as the provision of special clothing, and that people directly en gaged in the production of PVC will be instructed at special meetings. At the same time, irrespective of legal requirements, the company will con tinue working towards further reduction of VCM concentrations in PVC plants and of the total VCM emission, accord ing to the statement. Commenting on the cases of illness that have been reported in PVC plants outside the Netherlands, DSM stated that periodic medical examinations have not furnished any medical evi dence of diseases amongst DSM- wor kers .that might have been caused by VCM. All DSM workers are regularly sub jected to medical examinations in which special attention is given to abnormal conditions of the blood indicative of liver disease, as well as to afflictions of fingers and skin, the statement added. Trades Union Action Apart from the request that health and safety matters should be incorpora ted into the annual work contract (the cao), the Netherlands unions are also having discussions with the Netherlands government on legal requirements in general for chemical plants, and on the need for a '`compendium" on chemi cals. The chairman of the Netherlands Trades Unions, Mr. Arie Groenevelt, has written to the Netherlands Minister of Social Affairs, Mr. Boersma, on the need for legal requirements for chemi cal plants. He has suggested that a system should be set up whereby permission is required to sell new chemical products, and also that a catalogue or compen dium should be established which lists process characteristics, toxicity levels and safety requirements, for example, for all chemicals produced. This is in addition to the assertion that the collective work contract, the cao. should be extended to cover health and safety matters (ECN, November 8, page 32). ICI Australia develops water de-salting let Australia's Sirotherm process for de salting brackish water using thermally re-generated ion-exchange resins is now attracting world-wide interest from the process industry and water authorities. A report from the State Government of Australia indicates that a European authority has sought ICI Australia's assistance in evaluating a project to re cover better-quality drinking water from the highly salted river Rhine, and also that Japan has begun a market study of the possible uses of the pro cess. ICI Australia, which jointly deve loped the process with the Common wealth Scientific and Industrial Re search Organization, has offered its Sirotherm process for applications such as a 75m. gallon/day municipal water scheme and the preliminary deminer alization of boiler feed water. ICI offers new polyester resin curing system a new ICI resin-with-catalyst system that cures when exposed to a special bright light and stops when the light is removed has been added to the Impol range of unsaturated polyester resins which came on to the market in February, - impol Xajjmup a number of advan- tages to :USandling of unsaturated polyester zmime. It permits greater flexi bility of workshop and production plan ning because die operator has complete control of when curing starts and when it stops. There is no weighing, mixing or handling of catalysts or accelerators, no waste of catalyst or resin, and no need to clean equipment during breaks in work. Curing is not dependent on workshop temperature, it takes place as quickly or slowly as the operator decides, ICI stated. The process is expected to bring the greatest advantage to traditional contact moulding, in both hand lay up and spray lay up processes widely used in the manufacture of boats, land trans port and prefabricated building units. Another application will be in the mechanical process of filament wind ing. Many other applications are ex pected to be developed by industry. ICI Petrochemicals Division has a full range of standard unsaturated poly ester resins. In addition, new resin sys tems have been developed in ICI's re search laboratories. These are based on pure terephthalic acid and include che mical-resistant resins, heat-resistant re sins, and a range of flexible and rigid gel coats of good gloss and durability. A specially designed plant with a capacity of the order of 20 000 ton/ year of Impol resins, is being built at Wilton, Cleveland (formerly Teesside) at a cost of over 1 million and is sche duled to be on line in 1975. The new plant utilises new ICI tech nology and is being built by ICI's En gineering Services (Wilton) Ltd. Interim production for test marketing purposes is available from an existing multi-purpose plant at Billingham. UK consumption of unsaturated polyester resins is currently around 50 000 ton/year and has shown good historical growth, although generally lagging behind levels on the continent JO and in the USA. Major consuming in dustries are marine, transport, building, and corrosion-resistant plant such as tanks and pipes. The resin is usually areinforced with glass fibre, but may be h* unreinforced, as in castings or lacquer. The major producers are Scott-Bader, Synthetic Resins, Freemans, BP, BIP, Pinchin-Johnson, Cray Valley Products, N and Mitchell and Smith. ! 1 ( f BFG28975 6 ' marketing information European Chemical New*, November IS, 1974 Consumer campaign against PVC fbottles builds up in France the highly-developed French PVC bottle and container industry is com ing under withering fire in the large circulating daily press over the cancer risk issue. With French PVC pro ducers still staying silent over VCM emission levels at die PVC production stage and the posable risks arising dur ing fabrication, the French govern ment may soon be drawn into the controversy. French PVC bottle production totals around 3 000m. units/year, accounting for a huge proportion of 650 000 ton/ year PVC production. The highlyevolved status of die PVC bottle market rules out any large-scale rever sion to glass, according to the major manufacturers. BSN, a major pro ducer of PVC bottles but previously a glass-container specialist, recently judged a return to glass as "completely impracticable". Cost Problems Cost problems are clearly part of the case against glass but the extent to which producers can use these argu ments in the context of a prickly social issue is questionable. Early this year, a Shell study estimated the cost of a 1 litre glass bottle at F 0-23. a return able glass bottle at F 0-36, while a 1 litre PVC boius cost only F 0-16. The major French PVC producers, including Rhone-Progil, Solvay and ATO, have joined other European pro ducers in contacting the EEC Com mission over die adoption of legisla tion on plant VCM emission levels and the French producers are also discus sing the problem between themselves. On their part, the major PVC bottle manufacturers are issuing statements in an attempt to allay public fears, stressing that the problem at the consumer stage is very different to that in the PVC plants. "Somebody drink ing 3 litres of water every day from PVC bottles would only absorb 3-5 grams in their whole life while in a plant, a worker absorbs 10 kg". But after the decision taken recently by Vittel, the large French mineral water company, to abandon the use of PVC bottles, an extensive public campaign is building up which could eventually disrupt a large sector of die PVC processing market. US aromatics prices slip, benzene may firm in Europe in the USA, Corco is reconsidering its planned 318 000 ton/year styrene plant project in Puerto Rico. Poor profit ability (the company recently reported a S14m. third quarter loss) and the slowing styrene market are blamed. US sources say the project oould still re- emerge in the form of a joint venture. Stycane imports from Europe and JuMjtpe placing heavy pressure on US oeuri:t styrene prices, with aize- tteparcels on offer at around S400/ ton. Material thrown up in the domestic market in the form of un committed toll parcels is also on offer at low prices. In Europe, toluene and xylene prices are continuing to fall. Eastern Europe is now offering larger tonnages, with the USSR becoming increasingly active in benzene and toluene. _ But the distinct possibility of a UK coal miners' strike has provided the peg on which to hang industry talk of stronger benzene prices. With refineries maximisiiig heavy fuel throughput, the reduction in light frac tions has slowed the erosion of benzene prices and, throughout Europe, there appears to be considerable effort directed towards stabilization of prices for the aromatics market's main building-block. Rhone-Poulenc bows to fibres slump measures so far announced by Europe's major fibre oompames to combat the demand slump pale beside the new moves announced by France's Rhdne-Poulenc this week. The company's 25-30 per cent fibres cutback has been found "insufficient" and Rhdne-Poulenc will close the 18 plants in its textile division, producing 70 per cent of French fibres output, for 14-28 days between December 1 and January 12, 1975. Nearly 21000 workers are involved. Around 500 textile workers aged between 57 and 65 will be put on the retired list, 300 scheduled vacancies -will not be filled and another 1 000 workers belonging to outside com panies employed on cleaning, main tenance and temporary work will be replaced by Rhdne-Poulenc staff. With a 25 per cent fall in turnover. Rhdne-Poulenc faces the prospect of a severe deficit this year. UK Next? Although the UK's fibre producers have so far remained immune from the traumatic market conditions ruling in Europe, time is clearly running out. Shortages resulting from the Flixborough disaster and various strikes have created a demand backlog and returns from export markets have been high. But the gap. between UK and Euro pean fibre prices has fallen to around 5 per cent and with domestic supplies easing, 1CI and the other major pro ducers are finding it hard to make hard-won price increases stick. Overcapacity also threatens Euro pean fibre markets from the middle of next year. Rough estimates suggest that new acrylics, polyester, nylon capacity will be available to make 1973's booming output equivalent to only 60-70 per cent of overall capacity by that time. US producers raise paraxylene prices recent negotiations have taken US paraxylene contract prices to around 16-21 cents/pound. Producers pre viously selling at 14 cents/pound reportedly raised their prices by 2 cents/pound. rather less than expected. US sources maintain that producers now selling at the top 21 cents/pound end of the range are under consider able pressure to reduce their prices as polyester demand slows rapidly, in line with other world markets. Shell isoprene plant partly operable next month shell Nederland Chemie's Pemis iso prene rubber plant, damaged by fire on October 14, will be brought back into operation sooner than was initially estimated. By mid-December, the part of the plant that was less seriously damaged will be re-started to restore around half of the total 75 000 ton/year capacity. Repairs to the remainder of the plant should be completed in the New Year and the unit is expected to be fully operable again early in February 1975. ICI enters antidepressant drug market ici is to enter the UK's anti-depressant drug market, estimated at around 10m. annually, with its new product Vivalan. gThe new drug, viloxazine hydro chloride. marks a new pharmaceutical departure for ICI, which has previously confined its efforts to drugs for conditions and anaesthetics. According to ICI, clinical trials shown the drug to take effect heart have after O O CO three-four days, instead of several weeks with other anti-depressants. w NTl o to 00 kO On