july 07 update

Production growth in European countries was better than that in other major nations in 2006, as worldwide economies maintained their increases of the past several years, Chemical and Engineering News reports.

The European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), which follows the European region as a whole rather than individual countries, notes that chemical production, excluding pharmaceuticals, grew by 1.9% in the region. This was better than growth that occurred in 2005 and above the long-term average, the trade association says. In 2006, pharmaceutical output grew 7.1%.

Among seven major European chemical-producing countries, the Netherlands and Spain showed the strongest growth, with output, including pharmaceuticals, rising 6.5%. They were followed by Germany, with a 4.3% increase; Belgium, 3.5%; Italy, 2.2%; and the U.K, 1.3%. Production in France was unchanged from 2005.

In the U.S., total chemical output rose 2.1%, according to Federal Reserve Board indexes. This number trailed the percentage increases for all manufacturing, which rose 5.0% in 2006, and for nondurable manufacturing, which was up 2.2%.

Among the chemical sectors, basic inorganic chemicals showed the best growth, rising 4.1%. This is well ahead of the sector’s 10-year average annual growth of just 0.8%. Within this sector, output of synthetic dyes and pigments jumped 13.8%. Production of the other basic category, organic chemicals, grew just 1.6%. This sector’s major chemical industry customer, synthetic materials, produced just 0.5% more in 2006 than in the prior year, with plastic materials and resins up 1.8%, and artificial and synthetic fibers down 10.2%. For both basic inorganics and organics in the U.S., comparisons with 2005 results are somewhat skewed by the effects of the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, which caused production declines in that year for both sectors.

The U.S. chemical industry in 2006, compared with the prior year, was a 0.3% decline in the production index for pharmaceuticals and medicines.

In Canada, total chemical production grew by 1.3% from 2005, according to data provided by Statistics Canada. Among the sectors, basic chemicals increased its output by 3.2%, which was greater than the 2.9% growth in production of pharmaceuticals and medicines.

In Asia, Japan’s chemical production index in 2006 fell 0.8% from the previous year, according to data from the Ministry of Trade, Economy & Industry. All of the indexes for that country’s chemical output

were lower than in the year before. Organic chemicals were down 3.3%; cyclic intermediates and dyes, 3.1%; sodium chemicals, 2.6%; fertilizers, 2.3%; petrochemicals, 2.1%; industrial inorganic chemicals and dyes, 1.3%; synthetic rubber, 1.2%; plastics, 0.5%; and aromatics, 0.1%.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, total chemical production was up 3.5%, while output of rubber and plastic products increased 5.4%, data from the Korea National Statistical Office show. Ethylene production, which sports a 10-year average annual growth of 4.3%, stagnated. Taiwan’s production measures, as reported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, were mixed. Output of all chemicals declined 2.0%, but production of basic chemicals soared 17.0%. The next best growth was for synthetic rubber, increasing

by 4.0%. Also improving were plastics and resins, up 1.1%, and fertilizers, up 1.3%. Output of petrochemicals fell 0.1%, while production of man-made fibers, which has declined for the past two years, dropped 4.3%. Since 2004, output of man-made fibers has fallen 14.9%.

China numbers for organic chemicals were strong. Production of ethylene, the country’s largest volume chemical, was up 16.0%. Refined methanol jumped 42.3%, caprolactam rose 36.0%, and benzene increased 12.4%.

Dow Chemical Co. Expanding Divinylbenzene (DVB) Plant in Michigan

The Dow Chemical Co. is expanding its global-scale divinylbenzene (DVB) plant, located at the company's Michigan operations manufacturing site. Scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2007, the expansion is expected to increase Dow's capacity for DVB by approximately 1,350 metric tpy. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

Huntsman Corp. To Manufacture Bio-based Propylene Glycol

Huntsman Corp. has announced a further step in its plan to commercialize a process for manufacturing propylene glycol from a renewable raw material, and expects it will be available for customer trials sometime in summer 2007.

The company initially will manufacture the bio-based propylene glycol at its process development facility in Conroe, Texas. This facility turns out products in intermediate-scale quantities, pending further scale-up and transfer of the process to Huntsman's larger-scale plants. Huntsman expects its bio-based propylene glycol to be commercially available by 2008.

Engineers Find Way To Make Ethanol, Valuable Chemicals From Waste Glycerin

With U.S. biodiesel production at an all-time high and a record number of new biodiesel plants under construction, the industry is facing an impending crisis over waste glycerin, the major byproduct of biodiesel production. New findings from Rice University suggest a possible answer in the form of a bacterium that ferments glycerin and produces ethanol, another popular biofuel.

"We identified the metabolic processes and conditions that allow a known strain of E. coli to convert glycerin into ethanol," said chemical engineer Ramon Gonzalez. "It's also very efficient. We estimate the operational costs to be about 40 percent less that those of producing ethanol from corn."

Gonzalez said the biodiesel industry's rapid growth has created a glycerin glut. The glut has forced glycerin producers like Dow Chemical and Procter and Gamble to shutter plants, and Gonzalez said some biodiesel producers are already unable to sell glycerin and instead must pay to dispose of it.

"One pound of glycerin is produced for every 10 pounds of biodiesel," said Gonzalez, Rice's William Akers Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. "The biodiesel business has tight margins, and until recently, glycerin was a valuable commodity, one that producers counted on selling to ensure profitability."

Researchers across the globe are racing to find ways to turn waste glycerin into profit. While some are looking at traditional chemical processing -- finding a way to catalyze reactions that break glycerin into other chemicals -- others, including Gonzalez, are focused on biological conversion. In biological conversion, researchers engineer a microorganism that can eat a specific chemical feedstock and excrete something useful. Many drugs are made this way, and the chemical processing industry is increasingly finding bioprocessing to be a "greener," and sometimes cheaper, alternative to chemical processing.

In a review article in the June issue of Current Opinion in Biotechnology, Gonzalez points out that very few microorganisms are capable of digesting glycerin in an oxygen-free environment. This oxygen-free process -- known as anaerobic fermentation -- is the most economical and widely used process for biological conversion.

"We are confident that our findings will enable the use of E. coli to anaerobically produce ethanol and other products from glycerin with higher yields and lower costs than can be obtained using common sugar-based feedstocks like glucose and xylose," Gonzalez said.

The report in Current Opinion in Biotechnology was co-authored by postdoctoral research associate Syed Shams Yazdani. Graduate students Yandi Dharmadi and Abhishek Murarka assisted with the research. Gonzalez's research is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation.

SABIC Shells Out $11.6 Billion for GE Plastics

The GE Plastics auction ended in May when General Electric (New York, N.Y.) and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Houston, Texas) announced an agreement under which SABIC will acquire GE Plastics for $11.6 billion — a deal that makes SABIC, already among the world’s largest producers of polyethylene and polypropylene and the fourth largest polymer producer, even bigger. GE had been actively auctioning its plastics business unit for several months, with rumors of SABIC’s interest prolific in the lead-up to the official announcement.

SABIC has been in an aggressive acquisition mode in recent years; before the GE deal it acquired the DSM Petrochemicals business in Europe and the Huntsman Petrochemicals business in the U.K. In each case, existing management teams continued to manage the business and have been given SABIC’s support to implement various investment and growth initiatives.

SABIC vice chairman and CEO Mohamed Al-Mady calls the acquisition “complementary to our existing business, without any overlaps” and says SABIC has “a long-term, strategic interest in the people, communities, customers, products, plants and technology of GE Plastics.”

“GE selected SABIC as the winner of this auction both for price as well as the company’s premier position as one the world’s fastest growing, innovative companies,” says Jeff Immelt, GE chairman and CEO, noting, “With a strong reputation as a safe, responsible and efficient operator of large, state-of-the-art chemical plants, coupled with a commitment to investment in technology, SABIC is the smart choice to grow the GE Plastics unit.” SABIC employs more than 200 people in the U.S. through its own operations and a joint venture in New Jersey, plus another 500 employed indirectly through suppliers. With the acquisition, worldwide SABIC worker count will swell to 30,000. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close by third quarter 2007.

Rohm & Haas Selling Pigments Business

Philadelphia's Rohm & Haas Co. has signed an agreement to sell its UCD Colorants pigments business to NB Coatings Inc. of Illinois. Terms were not disclosed. The deal is part of Rohm & Haas' strategy to exit the auto-paint business.

Jacobs Receives Contract for Fort Saskatchewan Extraction Plant Project

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced that it received a contract from Aux Sable Canada LP and NOVA Chemicals for the engineering, procurement, and construction management of the extraction plant proposed for Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. Officials did not disclose the contract value.

The proposed extraction plant will have the capacity to process as much as 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Alliance pipeline, and will produce approximately 40,000 barrels per day of ethane. The extraction plant will be owned and operated by Aux Sable Canada LP, with the ethane delivered via pipeline to NOVA Chemicals' Joffre, Alberta, petrochemical complex for use as a feedstock in the production of ethylene.

Engineering work began in March and facility start-up is expected in mid- 2010. Jacobs will access over three decades of experience in gas processing as well as extensive modularization capabilities to engineer and construct the facility.

The proposed project is aligned with the Alberta government's new ethane recovery policy to enhance sources of feedstock for the petrochemical industry. Maintaining and extending the feedstock advantage for production of ethylene is fundamental to the long-term viability of the petrochemical industry in the province. By increasing the recovery of ethane from natural gas exports, this project will help position the Alberta petrochemical industry for future growth.

Ethanol Plant Construction in Eastern Ontario Gets $100 million Financing Package

A $100 million financing package has cleared the way for the construction of a community-owned ethanol plant in Aylmer, ON. Integrated Grain Processors Co-operative and its wholly-owned subsidiary, IGPC Ethanol Inc said the loans are the green light for the 150 million litre ethanol plant. The loan package includes nearly $25 million in bridge financing and a $5.3 million Letter of Credit for the construction of a natural gas pipeline.

North America Construction of Morriston, Ontario will begin work immediately on the project.

“IGPC is developing a viable alternative to petroleum fuel in Eastern Canada, and as a leading finance house in alternative fuels we are thrilled to participate in the funding of this venture,” said Sebastien Ribatto, Managing Director of Soci Det De G Den Derale’s Agro-Industrial and Bio-Fuels Group

IGPC’s 840 farmer and community members have invested over $45 million to launch the community-owned ethanol plant, the largest start-up co-operative venture ever attempted in Canada.

Including the $11.9 million in support from the federal Ethanol Expansion Program and a $14 million capital grant from the Ontario Ethanol Growth Fund, IGPC is putting over $70 million of equity into the project.

IGPC is also eligible for operating grants under the OEGF program which are designed to offset adverse changes to the price of corn and ethanol.

The ethanol plant will be a big boost for Aylmer and the rest of Elgin County. Up to 150 construction workers and trades people are expected to be working on the site over the course of the anticipated 16 month construction period. Upon commissioning, the plant will employ some 35 skilled workers and generate many more spin-off jobs.

The plant will also utilize approximately 15 million bushels of corn creating significant additional demand for Ontario corn.

IGPC project advisor George Alkalay emphasized the groundbreaking nature of the ethanol project: “We have never before seen a start-up co-operative in Canada raise so much equity from so many farmers and community members.”

A last minute refusal by the local gas utility, NRG, to follow through on its earlier commitment to allow lenders to take security in the agreements, threatened to scuttle the project. But with support from its lenders, and a strong ruling by the Ontario Energy Board ordering NRG to execute the agreements necessary for project financing, IGPC was able to close its financing.

The Co-operative now has 30 days within which to secure a reliable supply of natural gas for its ethanol plant. IGPC Vice President Brent McBlain expressed confidence that a solution will be found to the Co-operative’s natural gas troubles.

“The Province has established a regulatory framework which provides gas utilities with exclusive franchise areas. Along with those monopoly privileges comes a very heavy responsibility to serve the public interest, as the Ontario Energy Board has made abundantly clear in its recent ruling.”

Riverstone, Carlyle Group and Dominion Energy Services Chose Site

Riverstone, Carlyle Group and Dominion Energy Services Chose Site for New Bio Refinery

Riverstone Holdings, The Carlyle Group and Dominion Energy Services LLC have chosen Innisfail, Alberta, Canada, as the site for their newest facility. The bio refinery will consist of a combined 100 million-gallon ethanol plant, a 100 million-gallon canola crush facility and a 100 million-gallon biodiesel facility. Commercial production is expected to start in the fall of 2008.

Alfa Laval Receives Large Order For New Successful Product

Alfa Laval one of the leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling – has received an order for the successful high efficiency plate heat exchanger T50. The equipment will be installed in a petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia. The total value is about SEK 190 million. Delivery will take place in 2009.

Alfa Laval’s plate heat exchangers form an integrated part of the plant’s central cooling system in which seawater is used to provide the cooling capacity.

“The demand for the plate heat exchanger T50 has been very strong since it was launched end of 2005, says Lars Renström, President and CEO of Alfa Laval. New products are fundamental for profitable growth and we have increased our investments in research and development with 50 percent since 2004. We focus our investments on areas were we see structural growth, such as energy and energy related industries.”

Alcan Acquires Foamable PET Composites Technology

Alcan Inc. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) on July 5 announced that its subsidiary Alcan Airex (Sins, Switzerland) has acquired the patents and know-how for foamable PET (polyethylene terephthalate) technology from Mossi & Ghisolfi Group (Tortona, Italy), to secure the global availability of PET-based foam core materials for the growing composites, packaging and other industrial markets.

“The acquisition of the patents and the know-how for foamable PET technologies from our Italian supplier will allow Alcan to secure the long-term global availability and supply of PET-based materials to all our customers,” said Pierre Monéton, President, Core Materials, Alcan Composites. “Having the exclusive rights to this technology will enable Alcan to continue to innovate in new PET-based core materials for the wind energy, marine and transportation markets worldwide,” he added.

Alcan says PET has emerged as a key material to serve the increasing demand for sandwich core materials in the expanding wind energy market, and points to the success of AIREX T 90, a PET-based foam core material that was launched in 2005.

Mossi & Ghisolfi Group is the largest producer of PET for packaging applications and is a technological leader in the polyester market. Alcan Inc. specializes in bauxite mining, alumina processing, primary metal smelting, power generation, aluminum fabrication, engineered solutions as well as flexible and specialty packaging.

Akzo Nobel’s Powder Coatings Business Opened Production Plant in Russia

Akzo Nobel’s Powder Coatings business has officially opened its first production plant in Russia on a site which offers ample capacity for future expansion.

The facility is situated in the industrial belt surrounding Moscow at Orekhovo-Zuevo. The EUR 13 million investment places the company at the heart of the Central and Eastern European market for industrial coatings, of which Russia has a 46 percent share.

“This plant is part of an ongoing expansion of our activities in key geographic regions,” said Akzo Nobel CEO Hans Wijers. “We realized some time ago that local production was necessary in order to supply the service expected by our customers, and to keep up with rapidly growing demand. The beauty of this site is that two-thirds remains free for future development, which opens up further strategic opportunities for all our businesses.”

Powder Coatings has been very active in Central and Eastern Europe during the last few years, an area which has a GDP equal to that of China. As well as recently expanding its site at Opava in the Czech Republic—the first phase of a EUR 5 million refurbishment—the business has also inaugurated a dedicated state-of-the-art distribution warehouse in Poland, while another warehouse has been established in Hungary.

Opening a production facility in Russia, however, is perhaps the most significant development, given that in 2006, 80 percent of the powder coatings used in the country was imported.

“Many of our multinational customers have been investing in Russia and this plant will be able to produce to the high standards demanded by the automotive, domestic appliance and construction sectors,” added Powder Coatings General Manager, Rob Molenaar. “This investment continues our strategic goal of locating production close to our customers and will further consolidate our status as the largest global manufacturer of powder coatings.”

Two production lines have been installed and are operating at the new facility, with another two scheduled to be up and running by mid-2008. Powder Coatings now operates 28 plants worldwide.

Jacobs Engineering Group Awarded Lyondell Chemical Technology Ltd. Contract

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has been awarded a contract by Lyondell Chemical Technology Limited, a subsidiary of Lyondell Chemical Company, to provide engineering design services to prepare the technical details of the licensor's project design package for a propylene oxide/styrene monomer (POSM) project in Ningbo, China. This project is slated to be the world's largest, with a production capacity of 274,000 metric tpa of propylene oxide and 620,000 metric tpa of styrene monomer.

Indonesia's Chandra Asri To Commence Commercial Production of Aromatics by 2010

Indonesia's Chandra Asri plans to commence commercial production of aromatics by 2010. This plant will enable the company secure benzene feedstock for Styrindo Mono, Indonesia's styrene monomer plant that it has recently acquired. Chandra Asri has purchased Styrindo, the only ethylene complex operator in Indonesia, from Japanese company Toyota Tsusho. Styrindo is mulling production of butadiene as well as boosting its propylene output by utilizing olefins conversion technology.

Styrindo operates a 340,000 tpa styrene monomer plant with two production lines in Bojonegara in Java, Indonesia. Chandra Asri aims to construct a 20 km long ethylene pipeline to link Bojonegara and its ethylene facility at Merak. The pipeline is slated for completion Q2-2008. These steps are part of Chandra Asri's plans to strengthen the company's position in the petrochemicals market.

Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan, To Invest $6Bn

Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan, To Invest $6Bn in Integrated Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex in Ningbo, China

Formosa Plastics Group of Taiwan intends to invest $6 bn for an integrated oil refinery and petrochemicals complex in Ningbo in eastern China. The project will include a 10 M tonne/y petroleum refining, a naphtha cracker with ethylene capacity of 1.2 M tonnes/y, and aromatics production.

China National Petroleum Corp or China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec, may be a potential partner on the project. The group's investment for the construction of some petrochemical facilities at Ningbo has reached approximately $2 bn. Commercial production of products that include polyvinyl chloride, styrene, acrylonitrile butadiene, and epoxy resins has begun.

Polypropylene and superabsorbent polymers plants are expected complete in Aug 2007 and Oct 2007, respectively. Formosa also intends to build a 200,000 tonne/y phenol plant to combine the production of raw material cumene and derivative bisphenol.

Petrochemical Companies Jumping Into Polysilicon Production

Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC) last week revealed that it is investing NT$460 million from 2006 to 2010 for renewable energy research and development (R&D). CPC projected that Taiwan will demand considerable amounts of polysilicon ranging from 5,000 tons in 2007 to 11,000 tons in 2010. Thus, the company said one of its renewable energy R&D projects will be polysilicon production.

CPC indicated that it would invest NT$1 billion in Kaohsiung for a polysilicon production plant. The company plans to inherit technology from either Hemlock Semiconductor, Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) and Tokuyama. Construction of the plant is expected to be completed by 2010, CPC said. Given that polysilicon production consumes considerable power, CPC said it could generate cold energy from its imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and deliver cost-competitive polysilicon.

Lee Chang Yung (LCY) Chemical Industry, a leading petrochemical supplier in Taiwan, also announced that it plans to produce polysilicon. The company's chairman was cited by a Chinese-language Cnyes.com report as saying that the company plans to invest US$250-300 million in polysilicon production. The company anticipates that production will officially begin in two years, though it did not disclose the location of the plant, according to the report.

Polysilicon production has five main hurdles, namely, a high entry barrier, high power consumption, need for a large plot of land, strict requirement on security and vast capital investment, according to Taiwan's Bureau of Energy.

Qatar Petrochemical Company Signed a $190m Contract

Qatar Petrochemical Company Signed a $190m Contract for Expansion of Existing Ethylene Plant

Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco) signed a $190m Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with Japan Gas Company (JGC), as the main contractor and with Stone and Webster, the technology supplier for the expansion of the existing ethylene plant.

The project is designed to further expand the plant production capacity from 525,000 MTPA to 720,000 MTPA and improve the operating efficiency and to economically utilise the by-products.

The project is scheduled to start up by the end of the second quarter of 2006 and is expected to increase the company's revenue and profits. The additional ethylene production would be utilised in downstream derivative units, while the excess is to be exported to international markets.

To promote valorisation of by-products, the project includes integration of Qapco debutanizer with Q-Chem depolariser stream, thereby producing fully hydrogenated gasoline to the tune of 44,000 metric tonnes that will be supplied to Qatar Petroleum refinery and constitute the prime benzene source for the upcoming Linear Alkyl benzene project and also production of a fully hydrogenated propane/butane mix to the tune of 56,000 metric tons that will be added to NGL production of Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

The project includes revamping the sulphur recovery unit which will improve the sulphur recovery rate to a great extent and installation of a new incinerator which will ensure the reduction of sulphur emission to an environment friendly level.

South Korea’s LG Chem to Acquire, Merge Operations with LG Petrochemical

South Korea's top chemical maker LG Chem Ltd. has decided to acquire and merge operations with its affiliate LG Petrochemical Co. to boost managerial efficiency.

"The decision is designed to develop a global petrochemical company by coping actively with changes in the management environment at home and abroad," said LG Chem in a regulatory filing.

The merged entity will be launched in November, LG Chem said. It said the deal will be carried out by a share swap between LG Chem and LG Petrochemical at a ratio of 1:0.48. LG Chem said the merged company would have an annual capacity of 1.66 million tons of ethylene used as a source of many organic compounds.

Indonesia Welcomes Foreign Investment in Petrochemical Industry

Muhammad Lutfi, chairman of Indonesia's Investing Coordinating Board, said that foreign investors would be particularly welcome in the area of downstream value-adding derivatives in the petrochemical industry.

Lutfi said Indonesia would be among the most progressive countries in the region for foreign investors.

The government was committed to a program of developing 42 derivative industries providing downstream value-added products in the petrochemical sector, said Lutfi.

The Indonesian official also listed areas in which foreign investment will be subject to restrictions: Armaments and high-polluting industries; The transportation sector, in which Indonesia retains the right of cabotage and in which foreign investment will be capped at a maximum stake holding of 49 percent; Mining; and Broadcasting companies with foreign investment capped at 20 percent.

To achieve the targeted economic growth of 6.6 percent per year over the next three years and thereby reduce unemployment from current levels of 9.7 percent to 5.5 percent and the number of people living below the poverty line from 36 million to 17 million, Lutfi said that Indonesia would require investments totaling some 426 billion U.S. dollars.

The government will provide around 72.4 billion U.S. dollars of this investment bill, leaving a targeted contribution of 358.8 billion U.S. dollars from the private sector (both domestic and foreign), Lutfi said.

The infrastructure bill would account for an estimated 123 billion U.S. dollars of the total, he added, with the government contribution set at 24 billion U.S. dollars.

Lutfi also noted that reforms introduced by the new government in Indonesia have so far delivered results which captured in sustained high economic growth (which continued to beat all expectations and came out at 6.6 percent in the first quarter of 2007); the accumulation of reserves now totaling 50.1 billion U.S. dollars; and an effective campaign against inflation which is down to just 1.4 percent in the period January to May this year; interest rates have meanwhile fallen from 12 percent in 2005 to 8.5 percent at present.

Mitsui Chemicals Setting Up S$230m Plant in Singapore

Mitsui Chemicals is setting up a new plant in Singapore to double its production capacity for a resin modifier. The new plant on Jurong Island will cost S$230 million (19 billion yen). It will take Mitsui Chemicals' resin output in Singapore to 200,000 metric tons a year by 2009. This is to meet the rapidly growing demand in Asia.

The resin modifier helps to improve impact resistance for moulding materials and sealability for packaging materials. They are used in automobile bumpers and soles of athletic shoes.

Presidents of Iran, Venezuela Break Ground on Joint Petrochemical Complex

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez broke ground on a joint petrochemical complex south of Tehran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The complex, located in Assaluyeh, some 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) south of Tehran, will produce more than 1.6 million tons of methanol when finished, according to IRNA.

Ownership in the complex is almost evenly divided, with 51 percent to Iran and 49 percent to Venezuela. The countries will begin construction on a second complex in Venezuela soon, at a total combined cost of US$1.4 billion (€1 billion).

The two presidents inaugurated a wholly-owned Iranian petrochemical complex in the same area, with a production capability of more than 4.5 million tons of petrochemical products, IRNA reported.

The two countries have said their petrochemical partnership will help Iran access markets in Latin America and Venezuela those in India. Iran has partnered with Venezuela on several industrial projects in the South American nation, including the production of cars, tractors and plastic goods.

Samsung Engineering to Build $303 million Petrochemical Plant in UAE

South Korea's Samsung Engineering Co. has won an order worth 279 billion Korean won ($303 million) to build a petrochemical plant in the United Arab Emirates.

The plant, to be built by the end of 2009, was ordered by the UAE's Abu Dhabi Polymers Co., Samsung Engineering said in a regulatory filing.

The engineering and construction company has received a total $2.4 billion in orders so far this year, according to a company spokesman.

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