Recently released market study: Philippines Petrochemicals Report Q2 2011

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 31, 2011 – The market for petrochemicals products will remain healthy in 2011 with GDP growth forecast at 5.3% and growth sustained at near this level going into 2012, according to BMI's latest Philippines Petrochemicals Report. Demand will be supported by both positive domestic economic conditions and export growth. The exchange rate against the US dollar is likely to remain stable, which should benefit Philippines' reg rc helicopter market place ional competitiveness as the Chinese yuan strengthens in value.

In 2010, the year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in plastic products showed a steady decline, largely due to base effects while basic chemicals saw a high level of volatility with sharp rises and dips in output. Performance was patchy, however, with output dipping in Q210 before making a modest recovery in Q310. In 2010, the Philippines had installed PE nameplate capacity of 475,000tpa, PP nameplate capacity of 340,000tpa and PVC nameplate capacity of 100,000tpa, but no ethylene capacity.

Growth in the domestic resins market is prompting oil and petrochemicals producers in the Philippines to consider investment in downstream industries. Plans mooted recently include Petron's indication that it would resurrect plans for a PP plant at Mariveles, in Bataan, with capacity of 160,000tpa PP, expandable to 225,000tpa. The plant will receive feedstock from Petron's nearby 180,000b/d oil refinery at Limay, which can produce 140,000tpa of propylene. Petron is in the process of evaluating the second phase of its refinery master plan, which should entail an additional investment of US$1.5bn. It plans to invest around US$1bn to upgrade its refinery, which will be funded by US$210mn in corporate bonds and a possible share issue. The upgrade will include a second Petro Fluidised Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit - due to go onstream in 2014 - that will enable Petron to fully convert residual products to higher-value gasoline, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), diesel and propylene, used mainly for domestic consumption.

Until a domestic olefins source is developed, the main weakness in the Philippines' petrochemical industry will remain its dependence on imported ethylene and propylene, as well as aromatics and their derivatives. The production of speciality chemicals and propylene is likely to expand as Petron sets up new petrochemicals plants in the country with the proposed new units likely to bolster overall petrochemicals production by 2015. However, no firm plans have been made, so BMI is holding back on building Petron's plans into its forecasts. The situation may change over the coming months, especially if the economic situation forces the company to shelve some of its capital expenditure plans.

In BMI's Asia Petrochemicals Business Environment Rankings matrix, the Philippines helicop ter technology comes 11th out of 12 countries, with 39.9 points, up 0.6pp since the previous quarter due to an improvement in the country risk scenario. This puts it 6.8 points behind Indonesia and 9.4 points ahead of Vietnam. The Philippines petrochemicals sector suffers from a lack of locally available feedstock and a relatively small and inefficient local polymers manufacturing base, which is incapable of supplying the plastics industry. If announced plans for petrochemicals expansion come to fruition, the country could climb up the rankings, but is unlikely to exceed India's score. Nevertheless, the Philippines has a supportive business environment in which the petrochemicals industry can grow.

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Exchange Club of Savannah to Host Discussion on Hutchinson Island Convention Center Hotel Project

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Plans to expand the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center campus to include a 500-room hotel on Hutchinson Island were announced last year, and the Georgia International and Maritime Trade Center Authority selected Journeyman Austin Holdings, Inc. as the developer.

Panelists will include Ruben Rodriguez, Journeyman Austin Holdings' vice president, and Peggy McCue, the company's director of client services, as well as Bob Swerdling, president and founder of Swerdling and Associates.

"We appreciate the opportunity to meet with Savannah's business leaders and provide further details regarding this project," says Rodriguez. "Savannah remains a top attraction for conventions. It truly is a jewel known nationally. Our job now is to continue to work with the Authority to make the desire for a dedicated convention center hotel a reality. It is time for the Trade Center campus to expand and provide such facilities as part of what garbage compactor review effectively is Phase Two of the Trade Center."

During the Exchange Club meeting, the panelists will address the following topics:

- The expansion of the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center campus and the need for a dedicated convention center hotel

Savannah is currently losing convention bookings to other cities because it does not have a dedicated convention hotel that can guarantee room blocks two to three years in advance. Studies indicate that the proposed hotel will double Savannah's convention business, induce 83,000 new room nights in area hotels, create 1,170 new permanent jobs citywide, add $83 million in local spending per year, bring $29 million in earnings to the local economy, and generate several hundred local construction/supply jobs over the next two to three years.

In addition to serving the needs of t helicop ter technology he convention industry and feeding the local economy, the proposed convention center hotel will have a LEED Silver certification, with construction materials used from local sources to reduce transportation mileage and emissions. The hotel would be the first LEED Silver hotel in Savannah.

- The benefit of the convention center hotel to the community

A local Community Participation "Task Force" will be created to interact with the developer, designers and builder. Journeyman Austin Holdings, Inc. is committed to working with local vendors, suppliers, subcontractors and tradespeople and will sponsor training in tandem with Step Up Savannah's Construction Apprentice Program. In addition, a mentor protégé program will be established by the Task Force with the ultimate goal of leaving local small businesses, minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses stronger and better equipped to compete in all markets.

Journeyman's outreach plan will also provide a framework for community participation to include local schools such as Savannah Technical College, Savannah State University and the Savannah College of Art and Design.

- A financing structure that will ensure the best possible public/private partnership and will benefit the Trade Center, all local businesses and the community at large

Journeyman will raise substantial private funding as the major share necessary to take the hotel into private ownership. Chatham County will provide the tax-exempt public financing for the remainder of the public phase, which will include all public spaces, among them the parking garage, the central physical plant and meeting spaces. The county will lease those public spaces to the hotel, recouping the debt service amount each month that it has put forth to finance that part of the project.

About the Panelists

 Ruben Rodriguez has more than 35 years of experience in development, construction and business development, with extensive experience in hospitality and mixed-use development. He has worked extensively with Hilton and Hyatt Hotels and has significant international experience with projects in Asia, Mexico and Europe. For the past several years, Rodriguez has directed high profile construction projects including pre-construction of the Hilton Austin Convention Center Hotel and the Jack S. Blanton Museum at the University of Texas. In addition, he has taken the lead on projects in Albuquerque, Fort Lauderdale and Portland.

Peggy McCue has over 20 years experience in strategic planning, market research and client relations within the design and cons rc helicopter market place truction industry. Over the past decade, she has focused exclusively on the hospitality sector, including select-service and full-service hotels, resorts, convention centers, mixed use, multi-family and senior living developments. In this capacity, she has cultivated relationships with public-private stakeholders, joint venture partners and consultant teams to secure business in more than 10 countries. In addition, she has directed numerous branding and imaging campaigns.

Bob Swerdling has 25 years experience in public finance and has been providing services to municipal clients for more than 15 years. During his career, he has successfully provided financing for more than $4 billion in state and local government projects and initiatives. He has worked from all corners of the public financing business; from a client's perspective as an official of the State of New Mexico, as an investment banker and as a credit analyst.

About the Exchange Club

 The Exchange Club of Savannah meets every week at the Coastal Empire Fairgrounds at 4801 Meding Street in Savannah. Lunch is served at noon, and the program begins promptly at 12:30 p.m. For more information on the Exchange Club, please visit www.savannahexchange.org.

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Indonesia Petrochemicals Report Q2 2011: New research report available at Fast Market Research

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 29, 2011 – Indonesia is set to witness a rise in polymer capacity in 2011 and beyond, although this will not be nearly enough to achieve self-sufficiency let alone an export-oriented industry, according to BMI's latest Indonesia Petrochemicals Report.

PP production capacity is due to expand in 2011, requiring an increase in propylene supplies upstream. Chandra Asri Petrochemicals is carrying out de-bottlenecking of PP production to increase capacity from 360,000tpa to 480,000tpa from Q211 as well as raising ethylene capacity from 600,000tpa to 1mn tpa. Meanwhile, Pertamina is constructing a new 250,000tpa PP plant at its Balongan complex and Polytama is looking at the expanding its PP capacity from 280,000tpa to 440,000tpa in 2011. The expansion of Tripolyta's PP plant in Merak to 480,000tpa in 2011 will provide an extra 120,000tpa of PP capacity in Indonesia. With domestic PP demand due helicop ter technology to reach 1.1mn tpa in 2011, the expansion of capacity at both Merak and Balongan will not be enough to reduce Indonesia's dependency on imported PP. However, BMI also believes that not enough progress was being made to ensure sufficient feedstock supply to the segment.

Chandra Asri Petrochemicals also plans to boost PE capacity from 320,000tpa to 540,000tpa some time in 2014-2016. In addition, its subsidiary PT Indonesia Petrochemicals Butadiene is to set up the country's first butadiene plant with capacity of 100,000tpa. The project costs US$100mn and is due to start in June 201. It is scheduled to be completed within two years. Most of its output will be used domestically, with a significant proportion dedicated to production of synthetic rubber for tyres as well as components used in the automotive sector.

Indonesia is becoming increasingly attractive as an investment destination for petrochemicals producers, particularly from Taiwan. The country is unable to meet its needs in polymer resins, but at the same time Taiwanese majors are facing constraints in building large refinery and cracker investments in China and are seeking locations with a high availability of raw materials. Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) is planning a US$2.8bn petrochemical complex at Kalimantan, which will involve the relocation of a refinery with 100,000-200,000b/d of refined product and a naphtha cracker with 730,000tpa of ethylene production capacity as well as downstream PE, styrene monomer and acrylonitrile facilities. However, it is unclear when the project would come onstream. Dow Chemicals' plans to spend US$500mn on a petrochemicals project, while PT Pertamina is to invest US$200mn in a PE project in Balongan, West Java.

With the petrochemicals industry dependent on the domestic market, economic trends will be crucial to determining the performance of the sector. GDP growth is set to reach 5.9% in 2011 from 5.8% in 2010, which should support output at full capacity. Private consumption and investment growth will continue to power output growth in 2011 as Indonesia embarks o garbage compactor review n what we project to be a decade of robust economic growth averaging about 6.4%. In response, demand for polymers grew by at least 7% in Indonesia in 2010 and is set to strengthen in 2011 with growth of more than 10%.

In the Asia Petrochemicals Business Environment Ratings matrix, Indonesia is 10th out of 12 countries, with 46.7 points, up 0.3 points since the previous quarter due to an improvement in country risks. Indonesia is 7.4 points ahead of the Philippines and 16.7 points behind Australia. Plans for capacity expansion coupled with improved risk could raise the country's petrochemicals rating in the future, but BMI thinks it highly unlikely it will close the rank with Australia or India.

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Flowcrete to Showcase Its Industrial Flooring Strength At Midlands Design & Manufacturing Event

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Notes To Editors

Flowcrete UK Ltd The Flooring Technology Centre Booth Lane, Mo helicopter technology ston, Sandbach, Cheshire CW11 3QF

Flowcrete UK Ltd, part of Flowcrete Group Ltd, is a world leader in the manufacture of seamless industrial and commercial flooring with international  manufacturing facilities in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. Flowcrete supplies world-class seamless flooring solutions to transform environments across the globe including; decorative seamless resins, waterproof car park deck coating systems, seamless resin terrazzo, durable antimicrobial flooring, corr rc helicopter market place osion protection, self leveling Isocrete screed u garbage compactor review nderlayments, underfloor heating and sound-proofing acoustic insulation. Flowcrete's ambitious and dedicated team is inspired by excellence in people, products and service as well as continual innovation and sustainable growth. Flowcrete continues to use its global expertise to introduce environmentally friendly, hygienic and aesthetically attractive floors to create a better and more sustainable world. For further information please contact uk@flowcrete.com Or visit us on the web at www.flowcrete.co.uk Press release issued by Jane Shepherd, Shepherd PR 01538 308685 mobile 07985 129315. www.shepherd-pr.com

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Fluid Research Increases Bottom Line & Decreases Labor Costs with New Thermoset Urethane Dispenser

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 25, 2011 – Fluid Research Corporation (FRC), a leading innovator and manufacturer of precision dispensing equipment, has introduced the Triton HD1033, a dedicated polyurethane dispensing system.

The TRITON HD1033 is a two component meter, mix and dispensing machine ideal for use in encapsulation, and potting and molding of wire harnesses, electrical connector terminations, cables, printed circuitry and other electrical components.

"This turnkey dispenser is integrated with supply tanks and comes mounted on a mobile cart.  Its advanced features make it easy to incorporate into any production area," said Stephen Gordon, FRC's vice president of engineering.  "It's designed to decrease customers' labor costs, material waste and maintenance requirements and to increase productivity and the bottom line."

The TRITON HD1033 features FRC's patented progressing cavity pump technology for superior performance, accuracy and longevity. The intelligence of the system is the TRITON control system which is a proprietary hardware and software controller that provides a single point interface for dispensing and material management.  Parameters such as programmable shot sizes, calibration, vacuum level, degas time, agitator speed, alarm settings and much more, can all be protected by a supervisor's password.

The Triton HD1033 comes standard with multi-zone heating up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, vacuum degassing, and in-tank agitation ensuring optimum conditioning of the polyurethane for degassing.  

The FRC advantage is in solving diver garbage compactor review se and complex fluid management problems with highly customized solutions that may be adapted to a range of requirements to meet most applications.  Custom urethane dispensing systems can be built for ratios of 1:1 to 20:1 and flow rates from 1 gram/sec to 6 liters/min or greater.  FRC is able to dispense fluid viscosities from 1 cP (water) to over 1 million cP.  

About Fluid Research Fluid Research Corporation is a recognized leader in the engineering and manufacturing of meter, mix and dispense equipment for both single and plural component reactive materials including epoxy, polyurethanes, silicones, acrylics, adhesives, paints, pastes, abrasive materials and more.  FRC equipment is used in potting, encapsulation, coating, resin transfer molding (RTM), structural bonding, gasket forming, filter manufacturing, doming and sealing operations, and many other applications. FRC customers range from Fortune 500 businesses to small, niche market organizations and the company specializes in off-the shelf systems and highly customized solutions.  FRC serves a variety of industries including electrical, electronic, medical, aerospace, marine, white goods, leisure, food, communications, automotive, and other markets.  For more information, visit www.fluidresearch.com.

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Natural Gas Customers Get Easy Access to Lower Natural Gas Rates

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 23, 2011 – Lower Electric Bill Today, an online provider of energy information, news, and services, announced today their expansion to the natural gas market. Consumers in deregulated states can now significantly reduce their monthly natural gas bills through a new site: http://www.lownaturalgasprices.com.

Many consumers rely on natural gas during winter months to heat their homes. By expanding to the natural gas market, Lower Electric Bill Today now helps consumers in deregulated states save money year-round – during colder months when natural gas bills are typically expensive and during warmer months when electric bills tend to increase.

"We've already helped thousands of residents and business-owners in deregulated states like Connecticut, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Texas significantly lower their electric bill," said Christina Cleri, president of Lower Electric Bill Today. "But with the nation's natural gas rates also on the rise, we felt it necessary to expand our services to the natural gas market. We now provide a free way for consumers to compare natural gas rates and save just as much money on natural gas as they do on electricity through our new site lownaturalgasprices.com."

In states with a deregulated utility industry, electricity and natural gas service is divided into two separate businesses: supply and delivery. Consumers in deregulated states can pay less for electricity and natural gas by transferring their service to a low-cost supplier. Their local utility company will continue to deliver electricity or gas to their home or business, but thanks to deregulation, consumers can now pay less for it.

"As with electricity, switching to a low-cost natu rc helicopter and car market pl garbage compactor review ace ral gas supplier is fast, simple, and free," Cleri said. "We've compiled a brief list of the most reputable and affordable natural gas suppliers in each deregulated state. To find the best natural gas supplier near you, simply use our website to compare natural gas rates and suppliers in your area."

Independent electric and natural gas suppliers have been well-received by consumers, both for their lower rates and dependability. Consumers that transfer service to a low-cost electric or natural gas supplier can significantly lower their utility bills.

To learn more about deregulation, lower natural gas rates, or how to transfer to a low-cost natural gas supplier, visit http://www.lownaturalgasprices.com or email info@lownaturalgasprices.com.

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Universal Foam Products Encourages Styrofoam™ and EPS Foam Recycling

friendly suggestions for disposing of old Styrofoam™ brand foam and EPS foam products.

The company encourages its customers to recycle their worn out foam products, either by using them for other applications or giving them to acce garbage compactor review pting recycling centers. On its website, Universal Foam Products direc rc helicopter and car market place ts customers to online articles that provide tips on how best to recycle Styrofoam™ brand products and EPS foam.

Universal Foam Products believes recycling is a good step toward improving the industrial sector through cost-effective means and promoting environmental responsibility.  

Always at the forefront of innovation and high quality service, the foam product supplier further supports the Environmental Revolution by making non-HCFC Styrofoam™ brand foam products available to its customers.

The Dow Chemical Company, which owns the trademark for the Styrofoam™ brand, has developed a foaming agent technology that abides by the Montreal Protocol and US EPA guidelines. All of its latest Styrofoam™ brand products are more cost-effective and sustainable than ever.

To learn more about Universal Foam Products and its wide variety of products and services, please log on to http://univfoam.com. Further inquiries may be addressed by calling 410-825-8300.

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