-Bloomberg reported today that Bayer is considering selling its $10 billion MaterialScience unit to focus on its health business. Bayer is reportedly drawing interest from chemical firm Evonik Industries. Bayer MaterialScience has seven manufacturing facilities in the U.S., including sites in Baytown, Channelview and Spring, Texas.
-The price spread between Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate has rebounded to $9 per barrel, just two weeks after hitting a 2014 low of less than $3.70. Via the Wall Street Journal, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories are at an all time high due to a glut of Midwest oil that is stranded on the Gulf Coast.
-Westlake Chemical shut down its Petro-1 steam cracker in Lake Charles, La., according to a report by Platts. A company source on Friday said the outage would last eight to 10 days.
-A report from the Houston Chronicle pours cold water on the idea that government bureaucracy is preventing a flood of American LNG from reaching thirsty global markets. Many of the LNG terminal facilities that are at the top of the government’s queue for full export approval have high price tags and face challenges in securing financing amid uncertainty over demand in key markets.
-Williams Partners is working on restarting four units that were not damaged in an explosion and fire that rocked its Opal, Wyo., gas processing facility last week. Williams said the damage was confined to a small area of its TXP-3 unit. The four undamaged plants have a combined capacity of 1.1 billion cubic feet per day.
