Chemical Industry Weekly News Round-Up, March 2

 

Some late earnings trickled in this week, and the news was mixed, though leaning negative. DSM’s fourth-quarter profits fell 43% due to flagging economic growth in Europe. Meanwhile, Ecolab’s net income declined 32% on charges related to the Nalco merger.

 

German chemical industry group VCI says that country’s chemicals output will be flat this year. This represents a cut from the group’s previous forecast of 1% output growth. The weak forecast comes due to a weak economy, especially in Western Europe.

 

An explosion at a chemical plant in China killed 16 workers on Wednesday, and injured more than forty.

 

Lanxess will break ground on a previously announced 140,000 m.t./year Nd-PBR plant at Jurong Island, Singapore in September.

 

 

An editorial in the New York Times discusses how to responsibly drill for natural gas using hydraulic fracturing.

 

A Yahoo News columnist discusses the winners and losers from the rising gas prices in the U.S. Oil companies are among the winners, but refiners are among the losers.

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