BG Group found reason to hope this week that it is making progress toward ending its eight-year battle to build an 8 Bcm/year LNG import terminal at the southern Italian port of Brindisi, 1309-37-1 BG spokesman Neil Burrows said Thursday. 93-51-6

The project has been in a state of limbo for years as BG struggles to overcome numerous hurdles, including vehement opposition by some local authorities and a criminal investigation into allegations of improper conduct related to the authorization process.

On Wednesday, Italys Ministry of Economic Development held a conference to bring officials of various ministries together to discuss progress, as the project enters the last phase of the government authorization process.

The outcome from this was positive as both the Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Environment expressed commitment to resolving the issue and were clear that this process was a reconfirmation of an existing license and not a new license process, 471-34-1 Burrows said. 

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Finlands Neste Oil said Thursday it has received the green light to sell a Belgium petrochemical plant to Chevron Phillips Chemical International, 312-84-5 enabling it to focus more on expanding its base-oil business. 147-85-3

Neste Oil said the competition authorities had approved the sale of its polyalphaolefin production facilities, quality control laboratory, and associated maintenance services at Beringen in Belgium to Chevron Phillips Chemical International, a unit of US petrochemical company, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.

Following the divestment, Neste Oil will concentrate on developing its high quality base-oil business in growth markets where Neste Oil has a clear competitive edge, Neste said in a statement.

Neste Oil said its goal is to become a leading supplier on the global market for Very High Viscosity Index base-oil, which it markets and sells under the NEXBASE brand.

Neste Oil is increasingly concentrating on refining and marketing low-emission, 74-79-3 high-quality traffic fuels and says its sulfur-free NEXBASE base-oils help reduce exhaust and particulate emissions.

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The steep backwardation of the ICE gasoil futures contract and the low water levels in the Rhine river has driven the 10 ppm ultra low sulfur diesel barge premium to its lowest level since April, 7681-11-0 Platts data shows. 107-13-1

The 10 ppm ULSD FOB Rotterdam barge premium to front month ICE gasoil futures dropped $2.25/mt Wednesday to be assessed at $15.25/mt, the lowest it has been since April 27, Platts data shows.

Its the ICE structure that is killing the diesel differentials, one barge trader said.

The front month December contract of ICE gasoil futures was assessed Wednesday $8.75/mt above the January contract and was trading at similar levels Thursday morning. The structure is providing no incentive for traders to store product despite wholesale stocks in Northwest Europe now almost empty.

Stocks are very low but no one wants to buy too much at this kind of level, another barge trader said.

The drastically low water levels in the Rhine river is also deterring buying interest with the river effectively closed to barge traffic into Germany as well as driving up barge freight costs significantly. 110-27-0

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The positive side of the surveys was that inflationary pressures in China could ease further, 527-07-1 creating more room for the central bank to relax policy to support growth. 56-41-7

We can see that the central bank is actually increasing the magnitude of policy easing, although it is still early to call it a comprehensive loosening, said Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist at Nomura.

The prices sub-index of the official PMI fell to 44.4 from Octobers 46.2.

Chinas annual consumer inflation dipped to 5.5 percent in October from Septembers 6.1 percent, pulling back further from Julys three-year peak of 6.5 percent.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the countrys top economic planning agency, forecast that inflation will fall below 5 percent before the end of this year as food price pressures ease, the Economic Daily reported on Nov 14.

The HSBC PMI for November came in lower than its flash number released late in November and based on 90 percent of responses.

Then flash reading of 48 implied annual industrial output growth of 11-12 percent, HSBC said, a pace not seen since 2009 when China was pulling out of the global crisis.

Factory output, which accounts for 40 percent of gross domestic product, 127-18-4 hit its weakest pace in a year in October, even though expansion in the first 10 months of 2011 averaged 14.1 percent.

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In one bright sign though, new export orders in the HSBC survey, 7447-40-7 geared more to smaller and private-sector factories, was comfortably above 50, 67-63-0 suggesting growth.

Chinas economic expansion has been slowing all this year as Europe and the United States -- Chinas top two export markets -- have struggled to recover from the global financial crisis in 2008-2009.

In addition to global headwinds, Chinas once red-hot real estate sector is slowing down as home prices and sales fall.

Chinas central bank cut the reserve requirement ratio for its commercial lenders on Wednesday for the first time in nearly three years to ease credit strains and shore up an economy running at its weakest pace since 2009.

The reserve cut, effective Dec 5, 7681-11-0 reduces the ratio for the biggest banks to 21 percent from a record high 21.5 percent, freeing up funds that could be used for lending to cash-strapped small firms. Analysts said they expect further cuts in bank reserves.

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The official and HSBC purchasing managers indexes are likely to feed worries that the global economy is on a slippery slope as the euro zone is marred by its debt crisis, 27176-87-0 reinforcing expectations that China will ease policy further. 1885-14-9

The official PMI released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) fell to 49 in November from Octobers 50.4, suggesting activity among big manufacturers shrank in November for the first time in nearly three years, or since the global financial crisis.

The reading was below the median forecast of 50 in a Reuters poll. That level demarcates expansion from contraction.

The November PMI dropped further to below the boom-bust line of 50... indicates that the economic growth pace would continue to moderate in the future, Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Centre of the State Council, wrote in the CFLP statement.

The CFLP said the sub-index for new orders fell to 47.8 in November from 50.5 in October, while the sub-index for new export orders dipped to 45.6 in November from Octobers 48.6. Both sets of figures suggest the domestic and overseas new order books are shrinking.

Meanwhile, the HSBC China PMI dropped to a 32-month low of 47.7 in November from Octobers 51. 68213-87-6 A sub-index for new orders skidded to a 32-month low of 45 from 52.6 in October.

The November PMI final reading points to a sharp deterioration in business conditions across the Chinese manufacturing sector, said Qu Hongbin, China economist at HSBC.

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In a positive sign for the euro zone, 24599-21-1 Italian bond yields fell from session highs. In the auction, 8023-79-8 Italys government sold 7.5 billion euros of three- and 10-year bonds, close to the upper end of its target range.

Investors also eyed a meeting of European officials in hopes they will make progress in resolving the regions debt crisis.

The days most actively traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange was AMR Corp (AMR.N), even though it was halted 28 times throughout the day. It plunged 84 percent to 26 cents a share after the company, parent of American Airlines, filed for bankruptcy protection and named a new chairman and chief executive.

After the markets close, Standard & Poors reduced its credit ratings on several big banks in the United States and Europe, including JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Bank of America.

S&P said the actions were the result of a sweeping overhaul of its ratings criteria. The affected banks could see higher funding costs, a fixed income strategist said.

On Monday, U.S. stocks rebounded sharply from seven days of losses, with the S&P closing up nearly 3 percent.

Weakness in some large-cap Internet stocks weighed on the Nasdaq after strong gains in those stocks on Monday. Amazon.com (AMZN.O) dropped 3 percent to $183.39.

The confidence data followed record Black Friday sales, 10043-01-3 giving investors hope that the holiday shopping season will be a solid one for retailers.

Some 6.73 billion shares changed hands during the day on U.S. exchanges, below the daily average of 7.96 billion shares. 

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However, in a sign investors are still nervous about the European debt crisis, 9002-86-2 defensive sectors such as utilities and consumer staples were among the best performers. 123-77-3 The Nasdaq composite index also closed lower.

Helping to lift the mood on Wall Street, the Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer confidence jumped to its highest level since July, handily topping economists forecasts.

Financial shares limited the advance, with the S&P financial index .GSPF down 0.6 percent. Shares of Bank of America (BAC.N) dropped 3.2 percent to $5.08, its lowest closing level since March 2009.

Bank shares have been battered by worries that the impact of the euro zone crisis could spread through the global financial system and their losses highlight the fragility of any stocks rally until European Union policymakers resolve it once and for all.

There seems to be some movement on the European front, but things certainly havent been resolved. Financials are taking a step back, and are kind of keeping a cap on the market as a whole, said Thomas Villalta, portfolio manager for Jones Villalta Asset Management in Austin, Texas.

The Dow Jones industrial average finance/markets/index?symbol=us%21dji>.DJI was up 32.62 points, or 0.28 percent, 619-05-6 at 11,555.63. The Standard & Poors 500 Index .SPX was up 2.64 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,195.19. The Nasdaq composite index .IXIC was down 11.83 points, or 0.47 percent, at 2,515.51. 

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Taiwans China Petrochemical Development Corp., or CPDC, said that it plans to invest T$30 billion 1310-73-2 ($989 million) to build a phenol-acetone plant in east Chinas Jiangsu province.

The project is still being discussed ... The plant will produce phenol and other products such as acetone, said a spokesman from CPDC, declining to provide more information.

The company said that T$11.5 billion of the investment will come from its own funds, while the rest would come through financing from China or other sources, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

CPDC said that the project has been approved by its board of directors and that it would soon submit proposals to Taiwanese and Chinese authorities for approval.
The new plant is expected to begin operations two years after receiving regulatory approvals.

Investing in phenol, a material used in the production of caprolactam, Sodium hydroxide would facilitate vertical integration of the companys operations and secure access to the raw material, CPDCs Chairman Sheng Ching-jing was quoted as saying in a report by Taipei News.

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US Gulf Coast ethane spot values for December delivery fell to under 80 cents/gal Wednesday, 1314-13-2 on weak demand from the chemical sector, market sources said.

Crackers [are] slowing down because of weaker derivative demand ... I think December will be very slow, said one trade source.

Platts assessed purity ethane at the Mont Belvieu, Texas, trading hub at 79.75 cents/gal, down 1 cent from Tuesday.

Ethylene continued to soften for the week, assessed down a quarter-cent Wednesday to 50.50-51 cents/lb as capacity continues to come back on line and downstream demand remains sluggish amid global economic uncertainty and the typical end-of-year slowdown, sources said.

Ethylene has shed 1.25 cents/lb since hitting the 52-cent/lb mark November 23 on the back of production issues, according to Platts data.

Since then, Zinc oxide ChevronPhillips Chemical has resumed normal operations at its Sweeny, Texas, complex, while Shell Chemical was heard to have restarted its OP-3 unit at Deer Park, Texas, following a six-week maintenance.

On Wednesday, LyondellBasell reported to state regulators it was restarting its 1.74-billion lb/year (790,000 mt/year) La Porte olefins unit through December 4.

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