Americas
Olin shareholders approve $5B chlor-alkali, vinyls merger with Dow Chemical
Olin said on Tuesday that its shareholders overwhelmingly approved the necessary stock measures to complete the pending merger with Dow Chemical's US chlor-alkali and vinyl, global chlorinated organics and global epoxy businesses. The deal should be complete in October.
Audubon Engineering plans Colorado expansion
The new office space is located in the Durango Tech Center in Colorado and will provide the necessary capacity to support growing market penetration for engineering services, sales and leadership functions.
GE creates new digital business for industrial internet, software solutions
GE Digital will integrate GE’s Software Center, the expertise of GE’s global IT and commercial software teams, and the industrial security strength of Wurldtech, according to company officials. This new model will be led by Bill Ruh, chief digital officer.
KBC wins consulting contracts to improve margins at Middle East refineries
KBC was awarded a three-year, $8.5-million consulting contract to assist a major Middle Eastern client with margin improvement and workforce capability development across three refineries.
API: Study shows US ethanol mandates in RFS as safety risk
The statutory biofuel mandates in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) are infeasible to achieve in 2015 and beyond and may harm US consumers, according to the API study.
Flint Hills contracts Wood Group for engineering of Corpus refinery upgrade
Wood Group Mustang completed the conceptual and front-end engineering design phases of the project and is now providing detail engineering, procurement services, module fabrication oversight and construction engineering support services. Work is being done in Houston and Bogota, Colombia.
Total limits Texas refinery operations after worker dies in bulldozer accident
Thomas Courts, a 66-year-old contractor from Denton, Texas, drowned in the large pit beneath the coker after the bulldozer he was driving flipped over early on Saturday.
Petrobras to supply naphtha feedstock to Braskem
Npahtha is the main raw material for most of Braskem's chemical and plastic products. However, the contract has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks after allegations of bribery surfaced.
Formosa eyes $9.4-billion chemicals project for Louisiana ethane cracking
The proposed project would be built on the west bank of the Mississippi river near the Gramercy bridge. It would be built in two phases, with the first phase including an ethylene cracker and derivatives plants, including high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, ethylene glycol, and polypropylene.
PTT awards FEED work to Fluor, Technip, SK for Ohio ethane cracker
The project will encompass an ethane cracker and derivatives units by leveraging the availability of feedstock from gas taken from the Utica and Marcellus shale formations to create chemical products.

- IHI, Vopak to launch ammonia terminal project in Japan 7/11
- India's BPCL plans to shut Bina refinery unit for 15-day maintenance in August 7/11
- Soaring electric truck sales deal new blow to diesel use in China 7/11
- Russia`s Tatneft launches new hydrocracking unit on TANECO refinery 7/11
- IEA: Global oil market may be tighter than it looks 7/11
- India must boost its petchem output to counter China's dominance, Reliance says 7/11